“It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests”

https://www.404media.co/it-is-trivially-easy-to-use-reddit-to-manipulate-ai-search-research-suggests/

The preprint:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24245

“Slot machine” is a good comparison for chatbot text extruders, but as an insult against ActBlue it misfires horribly.

This one is actually new. It goes on the top of my pile of absurd Daria crossovers, joining those with Hellraiser, the Amelia Peabody mysteries, They Live and Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land.

So far, no cult followers.

To prevent fraud and rule exchanges, tokens can be implemented as a digital entity, representing a fungible unit of value. Tokens can be transferred through cryptographic protocols and governed by rules running in the TMS.

They’re gonna do it. Peer review is going ON THE BLOCKCHAIN

“Endless Shrimp Jesus”: Red Lobster (a) still exists and (b) is going all-in on AI

https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/red-lobsters-ceo-says-hes-153500558.html

Link for that development, in case anyone missed it:

https://awful.systems/post/8263538/11477939

I did, indeed, turn them down, and I told the journal why.

By not thinking about it, one presumes.

Sigh.

ACM will no longer require disclosure of the use of #generativeAI in writing papers… an absolutely terrible change by the @ACM Publications Board to the Policy on Authorship. Yes, this will give ACM more papers. No, the ideology of “number go up” productivism is not the path to responsible, ecological or ethical computing, but to irrelevance.

https://hci.social/@cbecker/116728336094142084

I’ve been programming computers since I was 10, and being a physicist even involved doing that professionally, so I hereby nominate my Daria–Hannibal crossover fic as programmer SF. It’s full of science fiction, both real and fictional.

Pissonus Robotics

Everybody remember Frontiers, the publisher that brought us the rat dck pck? Well guess what…

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

When Frontiers started automating the editorial process, I stayed. I reasoned that as long as the automation could be turned off, human editors can still ensure rigorous, high-quality peer review. This now became impossible - the system has been entirely hijacked by algorithms. ‪

Over the last month I saw that human editors are now stripped of control. I could no longer stop the system from auto-inviting “reviewers” with zero relevant expertise. Even worse - the AI began actively revoking the invitations I manually sent out to actual, qualified experts. ‪

I emailed and met with the editorial office to ask for the AI assistant to be turned off. I was told this is not possible. Instead, I was treated to some vague promises of potential future improvements and a dose of gaslighting. ‪

If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.

https://bsky.app/profile/michael-okun.bsky.social/post/3mnxkxte55s25

Viral: “read a second book”

Spiral: “read a second Borges story”

The author of “Death and the Compass” and “Emma Zunz” is unrecognizable from the description there.

Gwern apparently hates slop for text but loves it for pictures.

The most pedantic nerds on Earth (complimentary) have discovered that Grok leaks its prompts when slopping out Grokipedia pages. Examples:

• "The instructions say “You are an agent that writes the various article sections for an encyclopedia entry on Joseph Kanuku.”

• “[Note: Britannica is encyclopedia, but instructions say no Britannica. Wait, replace with another.]”

• “Wait, instructions say NEVER cite Wikipedia. Oops. Let me adjust.”

• “The instructions say prioritize peer reviewed, books, etc.”

• “Wait, but instructions say never cite social media, so omit that last part. Wait, adjust. Since Instagram is social media, omit that.”

• “Wait, instructions say avoid “References” as a section, but for completeness, I’ve omitted it from structure.)”

• “The guidelines say “Include any of the following where relevant: - Factual details…” under Missing Information or Knowledge Gaps Examples. And in format, it’s to list only critical issues or all missing info or knowledge gaps.”

They want to invent the AI Named For Untruth from the hit Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Do Not Invent the AI Named for Untruth”.

Isn’t that the hat from the picture that Yudkowsky showed off to prove he wasn’t a cult leader? Are they trying to beat the cult allegations by ha ha jokingly wearing the same silly clothes as their founder?

Please enjoy this comment saying “Nate Silver is a major proponent of AI assisted writing” like that’s a good thing, and the reply that argues against slop from the weird premise that enjoying one’s own writing process is bad.

owning us with hats and logic

A lolsob moment:

When the CEO was questioned about “when the $5 Uber rides” end w/r/t token usage, he was confused at the notion the shit was even subsidized.

https://bsky.app/profile/apcarnist.bsky.social/post/3mnq3btjmfc2u

Is our children learning?!

“Failing grades soar as professors see greater AI usage, dwindling math skills in UC Berkeley computer science classes”

https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/academics/failing-grades-soar-as-professors-see-greater-ai-usage-dwindling-math-skills-in-uc-berkeley/article_16fad0bf-02cb-4b8c-8d88-888ffd9f8608.html