Inside Proton’s AI Reckoning

Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad This year’s election results show voters are really mad about the tech oligarchy, Silicon Valley, and data centers. And the right’s memes aren’t working anymore. Then we discuss how AI-powered reverse engineering is under threat from the AI companies that enabled it. In the subscribers-only section, Sam breaks down the UK’s draconian new anti-porn law. Republicans Learn X Is the Echo Chamber American Voters Reject Tech Oligarchy 'Reverse Engineer Anything': AI Companies Crack Down on the Coolest Thing People Were Doing With AI In the UK, Face Sitting Porn Might Land You in Jail UK Sex Workers Wake Up to Sites Purging Their Content Following Porn Ban Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/vOTfFaUebN8 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m joined by Lindsay Goldwert. Lindsay is a writer and soon to be certified sex educator who has written for the New York Times, New York Magazine, Fast Company, Marketwatch and more. Her newsletter DearStar69 is “for passionate people with curious minds and a never-ending desire to learn more about themselves, in and out of the bedroom,” as she puts it.  She’s also the author of two books, Bow Down: Lessons from Dominatrixes on How to Be a Boss in Life, Love and Work (2020), and her latest bestseller, The Midlife Plot Twist: How to Reboot Your Life Without Burning It Down Even If You Really, Really Want To coauthored with Gabrielle Moss. It just came out in September. We get into why we’re all doing so much self-censoring on the internet these days, honing the skill of confident communication (even if it means embracing conflict), and how her own midlife plot twist meant dropping everything to do stand-up comedy and learning to get comfortable with uncomfortable moments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/404media We start this week with Joseph’s investigation into Proton’s culture of fear and the company’s massive push towards AI. A lot to unpack there. After the break, Sam tells us about the AO3 outage and its fallout. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains: we’re not tech support. Manifestos, Fear, and ‘Loser Thinking’: Inside Proton’s AI Reckoning ‘Wake Up Call:’ Fanfiction Writers and Readers React to AO3 Outage ChatGPT Keeps Telling People 404 Media Can Solve Their Tech Support Problems Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big tech didn’t expect the community pushback around data centers. Developers accustomed to building whatever they want with minimal oversight are facing hard questions about land use, water rights, electricity bills, and noise. To push back on local activism, data center builders are using an old playbook pioneered by the nuclear power and oil industry. On this episode of the 404 Media podcast, Kyle Keeler and Nate Otjen talk with Matthew about how big tech is trying to take control of the narrative around data centers. Keeler is a professor of environmental sciences and studies at Lafayette College. Otjen is a professor of sustainability and environmental studies at Ramapo College. Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/hK_aIf9GEd4 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/404media We start this week with Jason and Joseph’s article about leaked audio from a private police conference. In that audio, Flock’s CEO made all sorts of wild claims about the backlash to his company not being real, and his wife’s advice to never apologize. After the break, Sam tells us why former Yahoo CEO Marrisa Mayer can’t keep pretending ‘gender doesn’t matter.’ In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us about a woman who is facing years in prison because someone else opened a CashApp account in her name. In Leaked Audio, Flock CEO Tells Cops Backlash to the Company Isn’t Real Marissa Mayer Can’t Keep Pretending 'Gender Doesn't Matter' Someone Opened a CashApp In Her Name. She Faces Years in Prison Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the pod we’re joined by Mike Isaac a tech reporter who has been at the New York Times for more than a decade and who just recently announced he’s joining The Atlantic. Isaac  also is the author of Super Pumped, a book about Uber that was adapted into a TV show. Isaac and 404 Media cover the same companies and technologies but we come at them from pretty different angles. He has a very deep background in business reporting and he’s also very well sourced in the valley. We spent a lot of time talking about how the AI race looks right now from his perspective, the challenges in covering it, and also the reemergence of Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick. Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/1sNBtPRo87s Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Jason’s article about how everyone is apparently reverse-engineering everything. After the break, Joseph tells us about a big AI shakeup at consulting giant Accenture. In the subscribers-only section, Sam and Jason discuss the Character[.]ai bankruptcy. ‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the New Wild West of AI Accenture Tells Employees They Can Now Spend Only $29 on Claude Per Month Character[.]ai Bankruptcy Is First AI Bubble Domino to Fall Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big tech is rushing to build hundreds of data centers across the planet to keep up with the computing demand of artificial intelligence. The tech companies are promising the massive buildings will bring jobs and prosperity when they’re built, but communities across the country aren’t buying it and they’re fighting back. People are concerned about water, noise, pollution, and the rising cost of electricity. Anyone who already lives next to a data center knows those fears are well founded. To talk through this, Matthew spoke to Paris Marx. He’s a tech critic, the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of the new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires. Buy Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/PRf8ZtpSqAg Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Kint, the CEO of Digital Content Next, has kept a close eye on some of the biggest tech antitrust and copyright court cases. Kint has a knack for finding particularly incriminating court records in complex ongoing lawsuits. We talk to Kint about the pressures that human creators are under in an AI world, the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI, and why Meta's Cambridge Analytica scandal is relevant again. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/knlbTd5Pij4 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Joseph’s article about Raven, previously known as Geospy. This is an AI tool that can geolocate photos, and now says it can pinpoint a specific house based just on one photo taken inside. After the break, Jason explains why a judge ruled a particular Flock search as unconstitutional. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the wild AI video that has derailed a manslaughter case. AI Company Lets Cops Pinpoint Specific Houses Based on a Single Interior Photo Watch Footage of the Flock Search a Judge Ruled Unconstitutional Her AI-Generated Video Swayed the Judge. The Court Said it Carried 'Undue Emotional Weight' Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices