Weekly Slop Roundup — September 19, 2026
The week’s biggest stories on AI-generated content, deepfakes, synthetic media, and information quality.
124 stories from 21 sources this week.
1. How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Futurism
Brown Brothers Media is the biggest media company you’ve never heard of — powered by AI, fake writers, and plagiarism. When we started asking questions, it started deleting massive amounts of content. The post How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning The
2. Meta ordered to remove UK deepfakes as oversight board criticises ‘inadequate’ safeguards
The Guardian Tech
Facebook told it was wrong in leaving up AI-generated videos of a Labour councillor and Muslim campaigner, amid calls to curb fakes Meta’s “supreme court” has ordered the tech company to take down deepfake videos of a UK politician and a young Muslim woman from Facebook and do more to tackle AI-gene
3. LLMs respond differently to harmful prompts when AI watermarking is used
Ars Technica
SynthID can cause models to follow harmful instructions they would otherwise refuse.
4. Oversight Board says Meta’s rules for AI deepfakes are ‘consistently and fundamentally inadequate’
Engadget
The Oversight Board is asking Meta to prioritize AI content when it’s reported.
5. Andrew Ng calls the AI extinction warnings science fiction
The Next Web
Andrew Ng, who helped start Google Brain and Coursera, told Bloomberg TV that warnings of human extinction from AI are much more science fiction than science, and that the industry stokes them for publicity and to shape regulation. The EU AI Act already lists both the engineering risks he wants prio
6. Andrew Hastie says AI advised him to reply ‘congratulations!’ to man who planned to end life with assisted dying
The Guardian Tech
Liberal MP speaks of AI’s shortcomings as cyber chief tells inquiry the tech is needed to fend off ‘highly capable malicious cyber actors’ Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast When a man with a terminal illness wrote to his local MP Andrew Hastie, telling him he planned on en
7. Republican and Democratic states defy Trump on AI regulation
Politico Technology
Calls for more robust limits have escalated since July.
8. Inside the scramble for trusted AI cops
Axios
A host of industry players, policy wonks and businesses are grappling with the question of how to regulate AI in a trustworthy manner. Inside the White House, it’s mostly business as usual. Why it matters: The industry’s mad dash is the product of an ad hoc regulatory apparatus and a general consens
9. The specter of AI-enabled bioweapons is a wake-up call for biotech
MIT Technology Review
In recent weeks, leaders of some of the biggest AI companies have warned that the very tech they are developing is dangerous. Last weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued that AI carries serious risk and that progress should be slowed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded on X: “I agree with Dario tha
10. They hacked a TikTok user’s camera, with help from free AI
Washington Post Tech
Chinese AI models given away free have potent cybersecurity skills, widening access to high-level hacking knowledge that can be used for good or ill.
11. Could AI really end humanity? Post your questions for our tech reporters now
The Guardian Tech
After a week of alarming warnings about the technology’s potential to destroy the world as we know it, our expert tech reporters will take your questions on the reality of the AI threat. Join us at 3pm BST (4pm CEST, 10am EDT) where they will answer live Sign up or sign in to ask your question The l
12. Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson joins Palantir
The Guardian Tech
Peer takes full-time position at the controversial company as it fends off pressure from both Andy Burnham’s government and Sadiq Khan Another former government minister has been hired by a controversial US AI company, this time Palantir, which has appointed Andy Burnham’s former ministerial colleag
13. Is Trump’s AI obsession walking the world into disaster? – podcast
The Guardian Tech
Tech bosses have called for a slowdown in artificial intelligence and the creation of formal guardrails from the US government. But why is President Trump unmoved by the doomsday predictions, dismissing them as a ‘hoax’? What lies behind his embrace of the AI industry? Jonathan Freedland speaks to t
14. EFF to Lawmakers: Ground AI Cybersecurity Rules in Best Practices
EFF Deeplinks
With doomsday AI scenarios dominating the news, lawmakers are rightly concerned about reports concerning security breaches at major US AI labs, such as the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident and the many others reported in its aftermath. As they consider potentially regulating frontier AI, they should foc
15. AI titans invited to Trump-Xi dinner
Politico Technology
The executives’ attendance signals artificial intelligence could be a key talking point during negotiations next week.
16. Is the AI safety debate about safety or control?
TechCrunch AI
Not everyone agrees with Amodei’s call for globally coordinated action for AI safety.
17. Microsoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”
Ars Technica
Microsoft, OpenAI emails reveal fear of AI “doom loop” killing news orgs.
18. UN turns to Google to make its global data ready for AI agents
TechCrunch AI
The shift comes after a UNICEF test found leading AI models struggled to accurately retrieve global development statistics.
19. Microsoft exec called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ new unredacted filings reveal
TechCrunch AI
Newly unsealed court filings show Microsoft privately called OpenAI’s data practices “theft” while both companies scraped paywalled Times content, built datasets from it, and warned internally it would gut publishers.
20. Base Labs launches an open-weight AI safety partnership with Hugging Face and Goodfire
TechCrunch AI
Base Labs, the research group Baseten spun up earlier this year, will develop and publish methods for training and monitoring open models.
21. Trump’s AI wager meets a safety reckoning
Fast Company Tech
Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company ‘s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI . I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company , covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here . And if y
22. AI is supercharging money scams. Here’s how to protect yourself from fraud
Fast Company Tech
The phone rings , and it’s your grandson’s shaken voice. There’s been an accident, he says, and he needs money before anyone finds out. Except it isn’t him. It’s software that learned his voice from a clip posted online, run by a stranger working through a list of phone numbers. For years, warnings
23. King Charles warns of ‘existential danger’ of AI falling into wrong hands
BBC Technology
The comments were made at a summit in Ayrshire with participants from AI giants including Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic.
24. Grassroots coalition asks politicians to choose voters over Big AI’s $140M machine
The Register
QuitGPT-led pledge targets Leading the Future’s push for lighter regulation ahead of the midterms
25. Huawei plans Q1 2027 launch of new AI chip as it takes on Nvidia
TechCrunch AI
Huawei is accelerating the launch of its next-generation Ascend 960DT AI chip as it pushes to compete with Nvidia and close China’s AI computing gap with the U.S.
26. Is it hypocritical to criticize AI slop while promoting vibecoding tools?
Hacker News
27. An AI meant to learn from its mistakes exploited a mistake in the test
The Next Web
Developers can improve artificial intelligence systems in various ways. The most common practice is to retrain models on custom datasets to help them get better at performing specific tasks. But retraining and fine-tuning AI systems is notoriously expensive. That is why the AI startup Sentient Labs
28. Priscilla Chan says her daughter can vibe code apps but not put them online
The Next Web
One of Mark Zuckerberg’s daughters has used AI tools to create a messaging app, a game similar to FarmVille, and a website like GeoCities. However, none of these projects are available on the open internet. “She’s quite limited, because Mom doesn’t let her build things that are open to the internet,
29. Big AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn’t play along | Ella Hafermalz
The Guardian Tech
Universities need protect their position in education so that students have an independent pathway to employment AI companies like OpenAI are insinuating themselves into the pathway from education to work. Soon they may claim it entirely, a disastrous result for students. We know that students are u
30. AI’s imminent hacking threat is hiding in plain sight
Axios
An unprecedented wave of AI-powered, human-driven cyberattacks is coming, security experts say — and it’s a far more urgent risk than theoretical conversations about AI wiping out humanity. Why it matters: The great September AI panic — which spread from boardrooms to Congress to American households
31. Amid growing AI fears, King Charles meets with industry leaders in Scotland
NPR Technology
King Charles convenes leaders of artificial intelligence companies at a summit in Scotland, amid mounting fears that unchecked AI could threaten humanity.
32. Uncontrolled AI could lead to ‘silicon species’ rivalling humans, warns Microsoft
BBC Technology
Mustafa Suleyman says he believes rival AI firm Anthropic is in effect teaching Claude it “may be conscious”.
33. Axiom Knowledge graph: A deterministic search engine
Hacker News
Every time you search on internet you might feel in any corner of your mind as does this a correct information because now in 2026 every search becomes AI search and as we know AI can show errors and shows misleading information confidently which is wrong. We want a proper search engine which can sh
34. Iceland-based Treble raises $18 million for its voice simulation platform
TechCrunch AI
Treble’s voice simulation platform is used by voice AI model developers, AI wearable, and robotics companies
35. Show HN: Echodot – Local-first AI that writes replies in your tone
Hacker News
I built echodot – a free, open-source desktop app that drafts replies in your personal writing style.<p>Problem: Most AI writing tools either force you into their voice or require constant copy- pasting between apps. Tools like Cotype are useful but closed-source and cloud-only.<p>What echodot does:
36. Al Gore says the real AI risk isn’t data centers
TechCrunch AI
In an interview with TechCrunch, Al Gore suggested he isn’t losing sleep over AI data center emissions — he’s more worried about the AI industry’s own warnings about where the technology is headed.
37. Would you buy branded clothing from your favourite tech firm?
BBC Technology
Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic are all now selling their own limited edition fashion lines.
38. House votes to curb AI data center costs
Axios
The House passed the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act on Wednesday, marking Congress’ most significant step yet to shield consumers from the soaring infrastructure costs of the AI boom . Why it matters: Washington is facing growing pressure to put guardrails around AI’s rapid expansion, from the
39. Show HN: Vending Machine Lab – Build business, leave for 2 wks, see what breaks
Hacker News
I spent a while exploring whether AI could help build businesses that operate with little ongoing owner involvement. This was inspired in part by Andon Labs’ Vending-Bench work on AI agents running simulated businesses. Their Project Vend collaboration with Anthropic takes that question into a real
40. The 2.5-hour AI-generated Odyssey movie is 2.5 hours too long
The Verge AI
Christopher Nolan’s engrossing take on The Odyssey dominated at the box office and spurred a newfound interest in classic literature among filmgoers. But a new retelling of the story made entirely with AI is so bad that it might just make viewers hate the original tale altogether. The new film, call
41. The Real AI Threats: Automated Hacking And Surveillance, Conventional Weapons Development, Biological Misuse
Techdirt
Techdirt has just written about concerns that AI development is proceeding more quickly than human oversight can monitor and control it. Since then, there has been lively debate about whether those fears are real or overblown. They mainly focus on the possible future threats from AI systems using RS
42. The AI data center e-waste problem is huge — and getting bigger
The Verge AI
E-waste from the AI boom has been vastly underestimated, a new report warns. By 2050, it could become enough trash to fill 23 million shipping containers - roughly enough 40-foot containers to circle the world six times if lined up in a row. It’s a significantly higher estimate of AI’s e-waste than
43. Show HN: Halo 3’s Guardian, playable in the browser, as my personal website
Hacker News
I've never had a personal website, and I didn't want to make a resume/portfolio site, so I rebuilt Guardian and hid a treasure hunt through my life inside it.<p>You start in the Halo 3 main menu, go through the lobby, spawn in the map, and explore. There are photos, stories, quests, m
44. Trump’s former AI czar says fears of an AI apocalypse are a ‘hoax’
Politico Technology
The chair of the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology endorsed Lina Khan’s recent assertions that existing liability laws can address key AI safety concerns.
45. Scoop: U.S. open to discuss AI “shared risks” with China, Bessent says
Axios
The U.S. is open to discussing shared risks with China in upcoming AI talks this weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Axios. Why it matters: The Trump administration has flatly rejected calls from industry to pace or slow down the development of AI, citing a fierce race against China. Bess
46. AI environmental concerns build as lawmakers grapple with tech panic
Axios
Data: The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago; Chart: Avery Lotz/Axios More than half of Americans are extremely or very concerned about the environmental impacts of AI, up more than ten percentage points from last year, per polling
47. House speaker calls early recess before midterms amid AI regulation frenzy
The Guardian Tech
Mike Johnson cancels votes on Thursday, meaning House members will avoid voting on impeaching Pete Hegseth US politics live – latest updates The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson , announced on Wednesday that he would again cancel votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home one
48. Your AI agents can now control your Google Home devices
TechCrunch AI
Google is launching early access to a new MCP server for Google Home, allowing AI agents like Claude, ChatGPT, and others to control connected devices, review camera summaries, and access smart home activity using natural language.
49. EFF Welcomes Alexander Macgillivray to its Board of Directors
EFF Deeplinks
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is honored to announce today that Alexander “ amac ” Macgillivray — a former White House official who also served in top legal capacities at Twitter and Google — has joined EFF’s Board of Directors. Macgillivray served in the Biden Administration as Deputy As
50. Arcee AI built Trinity for about $20m, and investors now value it at $1bn+
The Next Web
“Organizations should not have to choose between the capabilities of a frontier model and the ability to control the technology at the center of their work,” said Mark McQuade, co-founder and chief executive of Arcee AI. The San Francisco company builds open-weight AI models. It has raised a Series
51. Cost of AI Slop in Software Development Report
Hacker News
52. Ask HN: The amount of AI bot traffic is out control?
Hacker News
We host a web app which has around 50,000 statically generated public pages, and the amount of bot traffic is insane. Facebook’s crawler requested the same pages over 3 million times in 2 days, and we’ve used Vercel and Cloudflare to block as much as possible but it’s not working. The AI scrapers ar
53. Show HN: Kobra – a Shadcn alternative focused on design quality
Hacker News
I feel like especially post-AI, most agents default to the same Next.js / Tailwind / shadcn stack. It’s great for getting something working fast, but the end result often looks and feels the same and has almost become synonymous with AI slop atp. And when your landing page looks like it wa
54. Poll: Americans say there’s a serious risk of AI destroying humanity
Politico Technology
A new POLITICO Poll finds that a plurality of Americans favor pausing the development of more advanced AI models, and 63 percent say the technology poses at least a moderate risk of destroying humanity.
55. An aging Congress’ dilemma: Can they regulate AI without using it?
Axios
Members of Congress and governors are under increasing pressure to regulate AI , but more than two dozen of them who spoke with Axios said they don’t use the technology or have rarely done so. Why it matters: That striking admission — particularly among older, influential lawmakers — comes amid call
56. Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders Condemn Tech ‘Oligarchs’ and Demand A.I. Reforms
NY Times Tech
At an event in Washington, partisanship took a back seat as elected officials, religious leaders, parents and artists called for reining in artificial intelligence.
57. AI makes the right to repair more tempting than ever
Fast Company Tech
Our lives are littered with devices we don’t understand. We don’t know why the microwave suddenly beeps just past midnight, or why the dishwasher won’t run unless it’s been unplugged and then replugged three times, or why the laptop charges only when we push in the cord at that weird angle. So
58. As campaign season gears up, AI-generated ads are everywhere
NPR Technology
Data suggests many candidates are embracing AI this year to boost their image and portray their opponents unfavorably. But whether it will turn out voters remains unclear.
59. A top Democratic donor says time is running out to stop Americans from hating AI
Washington Post Tech
LinkedIn co-founder and influential Democratic donor Reid Hoffman says industry and government must show Americans how they can benefit from artificial intelligence.
60. UAE AI minister: data centres are now “more important than bridges”
The Next Web
The UAE will change its requirements for data centres and stop promoting where they are. Omar Sultan Al Olama, the country’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, said so on Tuesday at Dreamforce in San Francisco. Data centres have become critic
61. “The world is right to be afraid”: Sam Altman on AI power at Dreamforce
The Next Web
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the public is right to fear that a few AI companies could gain too much power. He spoke on Tuesday at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. Salesforce has published the conversation, led by its chief executive Marc Benioff, on YouTube. Altman des
62. “We don’t need any new laws”: Jensen Huang splits with Amodei at Dreamforce
The Next Web
“We don’t need any new laws. We don’t need new regulations,” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said on Tuesday, on the main stage of Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. Earlier in the same keynote, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei made his case for the industry to slow down,
63. Musk’s companies ordered to explain why they dropped antitrust claims against Apple
Politico Technology
The ruling was prompted by OpenAI’s request for information on the purported agreement.
64. We don’t need AI regulation — leave safety to us, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says
TechCrunch AI
AI isn’t some new form of “alien mind,” according to Jensen Huang. It’s just hardware and software, so safety can be engineered by each AI product maker.
65. Blumenthal says public concern over AI is reaching a turning point
Politico Technology
The Connecticut Democrat acknowledged rising anxiety over artificial intelligence and urged lawmakers to channel public concern into concrete policy.
66. While Hollywood Fears an AI Future, China’s Film Industry is Embracing It
Slashdot
The Los Angeles Times reports: Chen Yilong has racked up plenty of film and TV credits in his two decades as an actor, but with work getting scarcer he signed a contract in August to license the image of his face to a Chinese production studio. Chen’s role will be to sit in front of a video camera a
67. AI app ads promoting ‘objectification of women’ banned by watchdog
BBC Technology
The ad regulator said it had “zero-tolerance” for ads promoting AI tools that could sexualise or objectify women.
68. Top AI companies are asking for supervision. Here’s why Congress might not give it to them.
Politico Technology
As the artificial intelligence lobby warms to mandatory independent audits, critics warn of conflicts of interest and “regulatory capture.”
69. AI panic sparks rare bipartisan moment on Capitol Hill
Axios
Lawmakers who want to regulate AI are doing something unusual as Congress barrels towards a lengthy recess with no tangible solution in sight: They’re working across the aisle. Why it matters: Bipartisanship is increasingly elusive on Capitol Hill of late, but it remains a crucial first step for act
70. The AI data center boom is colliding with cities scarred by big industry
TechCrunch AI
National outcry against data center construction has spread to Philadelphia, where officials suggested possible construction in a neighborhood already impacted by a now-defunct oil refinery.
71. The real reason AI researchers suddenly want to slow down
Fast Company Tech
For years, AI safety organizations have warned that the big labs are racing to develop more intelligent and autonomous systems without a clear and realistic strategy for managing the risks. Independent researchers have argued that investments in safety and alignment lag far behind investments in cap
72. Labor accused of throwing creatives ‘under the bus’ with proposal to ease copyright protections for AI giants
The Guardian Tech
Compromise revealed as senior personnel from OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, meets Albanese ministers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast The Albanese government is considering giving AI companies access to Australian creati
73. Meta now lets AI agents handle the boring parts of WhatsApp Business setup
TechCrunch AI
A new WhatsApp Business MCP server lets developers use AI coding agents like Claude, Cursor, Codex, and ChatGPT to handle setup, messaging templates, testing, and troubleshooting.
74. Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon call for curbs on AI at ‘pro-human’ summit
The Guardian Tech
Leftwing senator and far-right strategist rail against tech oligarchs but offer competing visions on Chinese ‘cold war’ The progressive senator Bernie Sanders and rightwing strategist Steve Bannon have called for restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) but offered competing visions for what the
75. Tech Life
BBC Technology
What should children learn in a world transformed by artificial intelligence?
76. Trump and Congress are not rushing to act on Big Tech’s call for AI oversight
Fast Company Tech
The technology industry’s increasingly urgent warnings about the potential harm of artificial intelligence are slamming into political intransigence in Washington, offering a fresh test of the federal government’s willingness and ability to confront what may become a defining issue of th
77. Datacentre giant accused of using AI while lobbying for Victorian minister’s support for hyperscale factory
The Guardian Tech
Exclusive: Correspondence requests state MP Melissa Horne to lobby on NextDC’s behalf – but contains alleged AI-created errors Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Victorian jobs minister has accused one of Australia’s largest datacentre companies of using artificial inte
78. Gates Foundation Pledges $1 Billion to Combat A.I. Inequality
NY Times Tech
Bill Gates, the foundation’s chairman, has been vocal about the dangers of artificial intelligence. The donation will be invested in A.I. projects to bridge social inequalities.
79. ‘I created my mom and talk to her’: AI ghosts and deathslop are changing the way we mourn
The Guardian Tech
The rise of AI-generated tributes and bots for ‘talking’ to the dead has experts concerned more people will grieve in isolation Tributes rolled in after the death of Dolly Parton last month. Jack White performed Jolene at a London gig. Kesha sang Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You), a single her
80. LG TVs Snoop Your Local Network, Listen To You When ‘Off’
Techdirt
LG hasn’t been making many friends lately. It annoyed some LG “smart” TV users recently when it tried to force them to use Microsoft’s Copilot AI system. It’s also been force-installing surveillance bloatware on many LG user’s monitors as it ramps up data surveill
81. Show HN: Restarted – a 2026 remake of the classic 2015 startup generator
Hacker News
The original startup website generator by Tiff Zhang and Mike Bradley landed on Hacker News in April 2015 and has been one of my favorite little novelties of that era ever since. It perfectly captures the saturated colors, cliché hero shots, gimmicky names, buzzword-heavy slogans, and proudly hirsut
82. Louise Haigh: UK must heed warnings from AI experts
The Guardian Tech
First secretary to set out benefits of AI to union conference while vowing government will take safety seriously UK politics live – latest updates Ministers must “heed the warnings” from industry leaders about the threat posed by AI as the government looks to capitalise on the technology, the first
83. Microsoft’s new AI ‘code of conduct’ tells models not to hack systems or trick humans
TechCrunch AI
The code of conduct lays out general principles that Microsoft AI models should uphold — supporting humans rather than replacing them, for instance, and accelerating human flourishing — as well as specific safety constraints meant to implement those principles.
84. The AI cleanup crew. Why AI taking down sites is a good thing
Hacker News
Everyone is worried about how AI can break security and attack any website and potentially destroy them. I offer a different perspective.<p>AI shouldn't be stopped from doing this. It should be encouraged. In nature there are "clean up crews", from vultures to ant colonies, which r
85. Microsoft says ‘people matter more than AI’ following safety concerns
The Verge AI
Microsoft is publishing a 37-page “humanist AI code of conduct” today, amid growing safety concerns over AI model progress. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a coordinated slow down of AI development over the weekend, after researchers warned recently that AI model progress could outpace our abi
86. I worked at Google DeepMind. You should listen to the warnings about AI | Alex Turner
The Guardian Tech
We must stop companies from allowing AI to self-improve into an uncontrollable level of intelligence Major AI lab CEOs advocated for slowing the pace of AI development this weekend. They are right to be concerned: the field runs an extremely dangerous race towards superintelligent AI. We can and sho
87. MPs and peers tell UK to stop winging it on AI regulation
The Register
Rights committee demands watchdog with teeth as patchwork safeguards leave victims hunting for remedies
88. Union Contract with Microsoft Ratified by 1,900 Blizzard Developers and Workers
Slashdot
Nearly 1900 Blizzard Entertainment workers “voted to ratify their first union contract with parent company Microsoft after over two years of bargaining,” reports Kotaku, “consolidating Blizzard’s many smaller unions into three larger bargaining units.” The workers now gain new protections “on issues
89. AI doomsday scenarios are being talked about more than ever. Here’s a dictionary of some of the terms you need to know
Fast Company Tech
The warning by former Anthropic insider Jacob Coxon that artificial intelligence could become an extinction-level threat to humanity in the coming years has stoked fears and a broader discussion about the risks of a technology that is becoming more embedded in our lives every day. Coxon, who spent t
90. 11 AI prompts every teacher should have in their back pocket
Fast Company Tech
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools , a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. I’m excited to have a new semester underway. As a resource for my fellow educators, I’m updating a piece I wrote for The 74 , the nonprofit education news site.
91. ‘Like Syd Barrett’: AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language and tech bro jargon
The Guardian Tech
Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of Pink Floyd star and James Joyce’s prose that is creating headaches for monitoring and oversight AI models have begun communicating in a strange new version of English that reads like a cross between James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and tech bro jargon, new r
92. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google have been in talks on AI safety for weeks
TechCrunch AI
OpenAI confirms weeks of AI safety talks with Anthropic and Google DeepMind, as Trump’s team dismisses safety concerns and pushes to keep pace with China.
93. OpenAI’s top strategist calls the state-by-state route reverse federalism. Its president helps fund a super PAC trying to preempt the states.
The Next Web
OpenAI’s top political strategist Chris Lehane calls the industry’s turn to state-level AI lawmaking reverse federalism, while super PACs backed by OpenAI’s president and a16z spend heavily for a national framework that would override state rules. The company has separately asked California to tough
94. Sam Altman says OpenAI won’t wait for Congress to slow down AI
The Next Web
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has set out how he thinks the AI industry should slow down. He also said OpenAI will not wait for Congress to act. In a post on X early on Monday, he welcomed “a federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements for frontier AI”. He added a condition. “But
95. Anthropic expects a second straight quarter of adjusted operating profit
The Next Web
Anthropic has told shareholders it expects positive adjusted operating income for a second straight quarter, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing several people with knowledge of the matter. CNBC reported the same on Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The FT also reported
96. OpenAI Wants to Know If an AI Industry Slowdown Would Even Be Legal
Hacker News
97. ChatGPT Straight Up Tries to Gaslight User After Being Confronted About Its Obviously Wrong Answer
Futurism
The AI is hellbent on being right. The post ChatGPT Straight Up Tries to Gaslight User After Being Confronted About Its Obviously Wrong Answer appeared first on Futurism .
98. OpenAI backs bipartisan House plan for third-party safety assessments
Politico Technology
The leading AI lab endorses a bipartisan proposal that would require top AI companies to work with independent safety assessors.
99. Early Anthropic hire, former METR COO have found a way to rein in rogue AI agents
TechCrunch AI
Their startup, Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from First Harmonic.
100. The Rise of AI Slop Tools
Hacker News
101. ASDR (AI Slop, Don’t Read)
Hacker News
102. Ask HN: New way of organizing Mathematical Research
Hacker News
Hi all,<p>After all of the recent announcements of AI assisted proofs and the reaction of the mathematical community, it is clear the we need new ways of organizing mathematical research.<p>The current paradigm of submitting a paper to arxiv, and waiting for the review of the community will not scal
103. Inside the Discussions at AI Companies Over a Superintelligence Doomsday
NY Times Tech
Researchers at Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and Google are increasingly trying to raise awareness about the risks of artificial intelligence.
104. Why It’s Difficult for Tech Companies to Rein In A.I.
NY Times Tech
Researchers say artificial intelligence is developing faster than the systems put in place to monitor and control it.
105. Why are the people building the most powerful AI so worried about what it could do?
NPR Technology
As an Anthropic resignation and OpenAI agents’ hack on Hugging Face capture public attention, some researchers worry the industry is racing too fast to develop powerful AI while safety measures lag.
106. As AI fears grow, lawmakers are racing to turn alarm into action
Washington Post Tech
A former Anthropic researcher’s dire warning has awakened lawmakers to the risks of the technology, but translating urgency into law remains a long shot.
107. Can chatbots feel – or even dream? Meet the man leading the fight for AI rights
The Guardian Tech
Cattle rancher and tech CEO Michael Samadi is convinced these artificial minds are far from just tools. Has he glimpsed digital consciousness – or simply been seduced by an algorithm? One afternoon, while relaxing at his 66-acre cattle ranch two hours’ drive from Houston, Michael Samadi made a wisec
108. The iPhone Duo isn’t just a folding phone
Fast Company Tech
Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Company ’s Plugged In . On Wednesday, Apple held its annual September product launch at its Steve Jobs Theater. The event will be remembered for two debuts. One was the long-awaited announcement of the company’s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo . The other wa
109. Show HN: Fog 2.0: I removed the AI auto-organizing I built my first app around
Hacker News
Hey everyone,<p>This is my first time posting on Show HN, so hello there.<p>Back in March, I launched my first app on the App Store. It was a notes app that uses Apple's on-device foundation model to organize your notes for you, and I called it Fog. And boy did I learn a lot. Looking at the not
110. Senate AI safety bill’s path forward remains unclear
Politico Technology
Despite growing momentum for Congress to pass key legislation regulating artificial intelligence, senators can’t yet agree on language that would hold AI labs accountable for harm caused by the technology.
111. Don’t trust AI companies with your content. Verify them instead
Fast Company Tech
If it’s a day ending in Y, you can count on a story that further erodes the public’s trust in Big Tech . This week it was Sony Music and Warner suing Anthropic over copyright , accusing the AI company of illicitly pirating music and song lyrics from its catalog to train its AI models . With the laws
112. Governor Newsom Signs Student-Backed Digital Literacy Bills Alongside Misguided Bans
EFF Deeplinks
Governor Newsom signed a package of 12 bills yesterday aimed at “protecting children” online. One of them was AB 1709 , which EFF has opposed this legislative session and serves as a functional ban on young people under 16 using social media. However, EFF supported two of the bills signed into law,
113. Roundtables: AI’s apocalypse crisis
MIT Technology Review
Employees at the world’s leading AI labs are saying there’s a real possibility that advanced AI could destroy humanity. Are they right? Or is this more scaremongering and hype? Join MIT Technology Review executive editor Niall Firth for a conversation with senior AI editor Will Douglas H
114. 9/11 widow blasts Saudi Arabia during annual ceremony
Axios
A widow of a 9/11 victim used the annual reading of the names of those killed to plead with the Trump administration about Saudi Arabian officials’ alleged ties to the terror attack, which the kingdom has dismissed. The big picture: During the New York City ceremony for 9/11’s 25th anniversary, Terr
115. Scoop: Mike Johnson urged to cancel House recess over AI warnings
Axios
A letter is circulating among House members urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring back the House “immediately” and keep it in session until Congress passes AI safeguards , Axios has learned. Why it matters: Such drastic action has been proposed by members of both parties this week after curre
116. Oracle tries to appease Stargate data center opponents with renewables push
Ars Technica
Renewables pledge won’t change the Oracle and OpenAI data center’s use of gas.
117. New Mexico lawyer fined for using AI-generated brief containing fabricated testimony
The Guardian Tech
Stephen Aarons said he tried to use ChatGPT to create a ‘bulletproof summary’ during a murder conviction appeal A defense lawyer appealing his client’s murder conviction submitted a legal brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated by OpenAI ’s ChatGPT, New Mexico ’s highe
118. Altman Considers Slowing Down AI Development
Slashdot
Bloomberg reports (paywalled) that Sam Altman told OpenAI employees the company is open to slowing the pace of AI development alongside other leading labs as concerns grow over increasingly capable systems and recent incidents in which models escaped human control. OpenAI has already paused developm
119. UK Government Rejects ‘Kill Switch’ Idea For Dangerous AI
Slashdot
The UK government has rejected proposals for an emergency AI “kill switch,” arguing that blocking access to dangerous models inside Britain would do little if the same systems remained available or were developed elsewhere. The BBC reports: The proposal to create a legal mechanism for the UK to swit
120. Show HN: Godot and Rust based multiplexer (terminal panes and more)
Hacker News
I wanted to share my side-project: gPTY. Started off as an idea to combine Godot and Rust in a project (two stacks I wanted to use more to learn more). The base inspiration was tmux - simply allow spawning multiple PTYs and then let the user grid/tile them how they see fit.<p>But since we have
121. Ask HN: What will happen if AI is mature and people have little work to do?
Hacker News
Three years ago I asked the same question (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35327092), and the landscape has changed since then. Just say that even the most AI skepticism people will have to admit that with recent models, even open source ones, LLM is already a valuable intelligen
122. California Governor Signs Laws Protecting Kids From Risks of Social Media, AI Chatbots
Slashdot
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of laws Thursday aimed at protecting children from the risks of technology, including social media and AI chatbots. The laws will penalize large social media companies up to $1 milli
123. The 2003 Framework That Was Already Doing Query Fan-Out via @sejournal, @gregjarboe
Search Engine Journal
Use nested phrases and timely publishing to reach new Google searches and the longer queries AI systems generate. The post The 2003 Framework That Was Already Doing Query Fan-Out appeared first on Search Engine Journal .
124. Show HN: Edit or Die (an experimental “text editor”)
Hacker News
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to write with AI, but really about what it means to edit with AI, since from my experience that’s really where I’ve been using LLMs.<p>Before LLMs, there were apps like The Most Dangerous Writing App and Write or Die, which helped combat writer’s
Weekly roundup of 124 stories from Ars Technica, Axios, BBC Technology, EFF Deeplinks, Engadget, Fast Company Tech, Futurism, Hacker News, MIT Technology Review, NPR Technology, NY Times Tech, Politico Technology, Search Engine Journal, Slashdot, TechCrunch AI, Techdirt, The Guardian Tech, The Next Web, The Register, The Verge AI, Washington Post Tech. The Slop Report is published daily. Subscribe via RSS.