The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

Educators are reaching into their toolbox in an effort to adapt their instruction to a world where students can use ChatGPT to pull out a five-page essay in under an hour.   Teachers are working to make artificial intelligence (AI) a force for good in the classroom instead of an easy way to cheat as they balance teaching the new technology with honing students’ critical thinking skills. “Even before the AI era, the most important grades that we’d give at the school that I led and when I was a teacher, were the in-class writing assignments,” said Adeel Khan, CEO and founder of MagicSchool and former school principal, noting the assignments worth the most are normally final exams or end-of-unit tests.   Khan predicts those sorts of exams that have no access to AI will be weighted more heavily for students’ grades in the future. “So, if you’re using AI for all of the formative assignments that are helping you practice to get to that final exam or that final writing test … then it’s going to be really hard to do it when you don’t have AI in those moments,” he added.  The boom of generative AI began shortly after students got back in the classrooms after the pandemic, with educators going from banning ChatGPT in schools in 2023 to taking professional development courses on how to implement AI in assignments.   President Trump recently signed an executive order to incorporate AI more into classrooms, calling it the technology…Educators seek to combat AI challenges in the classroom

Dateline: Toronto, 8th May 2025.A Michael Miebach, the CEO of Mastercard, was interviewed by Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (which has a stake in Mastercard), for Nicolai’s interesting “In Good Company” podcast series. The conversation turned to fraud, and Michael made a key point about the impact of fraud beyond financial losses, saying “once you’re defrauded, you lose trust in digital solutions”.Subscribe nowBanks Are The Place To StartMiebach is spot on. Financial fraud subverts the digital economy and holds back the benefits of digital business. I my view. the financial sector has a responsibility to the wider economy (and society) and it is reasonable for the economy to expect a response from the sector because raising the bar on security is not only about reducing transaction friction and costs (which we will return to later), it is about making society better. An infrastructure that is more secure is good for all of us.It seems to me that banks should create this new infrastructure because it’s not only a way for banks to save money, it’s also a way for banks to create new products and services that mean new revenue streams. In fact, it could be that security – in the form of identification, authentication and authorisation services around digital identity – is not simply an additional revenue stream in the future but that identity is bigger than payments to banks.(Indeed Mastercard is about to pilot a new service in Europe that will give banks…Building Trust Beyond Financial Services

Public narratives about science are often shaped less by data than by incentives. When storytelling replaces evidence, we risk stifling innovation that could solve real problems — and ignoring the need for sensible safeguards where they’re actually warranted. Both outcomes endanger public safety and erode trust in science.   Nowhere is this clearer than in the unfolding convergence of nuclear energy and artificial intelligence.  The failure to scale nuclear power remains one of the great moral and strategic tragedies of the modern era. Over 8 million lives are lost each year to fossil fuel-related pollution. Billions live without access to reliable energy, stunting economic growth, hindering industry and deepening poverty. Forests are cleared for agriculture where nuclear-powered greenhouse farming could have fed millions. Freshwater shortages, geopolitical instability and dependence on hostile oil regimes all trace back to one failure: We abandoned the promise of nuclear energy, not because the science demanded it but because incentives aligned against it.  The safety profile of nuclear energy has been well established. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that nuclear causes fewer deaths per terawatt-hour than oil, wind or hydro. Oil results in 18.4 deaths per terawatt-hour, while nuclear accounts for only 0.03. Even factoring in high-profile accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power remains remarkably safe. Modern reactor designs have only improved these margins.  So why did we turn our backs on nuclear? Not because the science changed, but because the story did — and because too many actors benefited from telling the…Regulations based on vibes don’t work — policy must come from facts and data 

Pinterest users have been complaining about mass bans for days, many claiming that they’ve been locked out of their accounts without clear justification. The social media platform finally addressed the furore on Thursday after Mashable reached out, however the response is unlikely to appease many users. SEE ALSO: Pinterest wants teens to log off during school hours Reports of Pinterest’s inexplicable mass bans began circulating recently, with users flocking to other platforms such as X to complain about suddenly losing their accounts. The r/Pinterest subreddit has been overtaken by posts about the issue, while the comment sections on Pinterest’s official Instagram and TikTok accounts have been flooded with by irate users asking the company to fix it.Users have accused Pinterest of issuing sweeping bans for no discernable reason, in circumstances where there is allegedly no clear violation of its Community Guidelines. Some state that they’ve had completely new and unused accounts banned, while others claim they’ve lost accounts that are over a decade old.Pinterest enables users to save images in virtual pinboards, making it particularly popular with people gathering inspiration for creative projects or event planning, as well as collating fashion or home decoration ideas. As such, an unexpected ban can mean the loss of years of careful work and curation.Yet despite the widespread outrage amongst users, Pinterest maintained silence on the matter for days. This has left users to speculate, with some theorising that AI moderation may be the culprit. Pinterest’s Help Centre states that it uses AI in…Pinterest finally broke its silence on the mass bans, and its only made users angrier

Dateline: Woking, 1st May 2025.During the Great Fire of London, in 1666, the famous diarist Samuel Pepys buried his cheese and wine in his garden to keep them safe from the conflagration threatening to consume everything in its path. I was thinking about this because of the terrible Los Angeles wildfires in which dozens of people died and damage was in the hundreds of billions.Subscribe nowFireI could not help but reflect on how money works in times of disaster, whether that disaster is caused by the climate or conflict or cyberterrorism. What is the best way to ensure you can buy groceries when systems are down! While Italian parmesan cheese and French wine are no longer the symbols of great wealth that they used to be, I could not help but reflect on Pepys precautions when reading about the fires raging around southern California. If Pepys had lived in an age of cryptocurrency, I am sure he would have followed my lead and buried his hardware wallet rolled up in tinfoil under a tree in his backyard and engraved the pass phrase on a metal plate buried in a secret location with the directions to it held sealed by a lawyer, only to be revealed after his death.It seems that many people did not take such precautions. I read that Angelenos fleeing the wildfires have lost their hardware wallets and their digital assets. One unfortunate 70-year-old resident’s life savings (mostly in Bitcoin) were lost when her private key, written on…Cash and Catastrophe

Living together in a gigantic six-bed, five-bath property in Miami, eight conventionally attractive women sunbathe in bikinis, twerk in matching jammies, and dance by the pool in almost-sheer bodycon dresses. This is not a new-age iteration of the Playboy Mansion; there are no silk robe-clad men in sight, and in fact, no men at all. This is the Bop House, a content creator mansion founded by 20-year-old Sophie Rain and 22-year-old Aishah Sofey at the tail end of 2024. While you may be well-versed with Hype House, Sway House, and the many dupe content mansions that have sprung up since the pandemic, Bop — or “baddie on point” — is part of a growing niche of homes like the Creator House and Rebel House that exclusively host OnlyFans creators. In the four months since Bop’s inception, Rain and Sofey have recruited Alina Rose, Camilla Araujo, Julia Filippo, Summer Iris, Ava Reyes, and Joy Mei to their mansion. (Mei has since left, according to Bop House’s Instagram bio.) SEE ALSO: Trump divides the porn industry. He also might ban it. The uber-successful creators have over 40 million social media followers between them, while Bop House has over four million combined followers on TikTok and Instagram. That’s not all. Rain claimed that the content house earned over $10 million in December alone, and its prosperity has already inspired a rival OnlyFans-only mansion called the Asian House. In case you’re curious about the kind of videos that Bop posts to garner clout at breakneck speed,…The OnlyFans creator mansion thats dividing the internet

X’s user base in the European Union is now officially lower than it was prior to Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company.And that’s according to a new report from Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter, but you knew that). The social media platform now has a total of 94.8 million monthly active users in the EU.That’s a loss of roughly 11 million European users from X’s previous transparency report, as highlighted by Social Media Today.Mashable previously reported on X’s declining user base in the EU last fall. Now, we know that X’s European user base has continued to drop. In 2022, before Musk acquired the social media platform, the company had more than 100 million users in Europe.How do we know X’s user base is dropping in the EU?As part of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), tech companies like X are required to provide content moderation transparency reports throughout the year. As a result, X is forced to share internal information, such as its monthly active user base, that it might otherwise keep private.This week, X published its April DSA transparency report, the first of 2025. The report covers October 2024 through March 2025.The latest report shows that X’s user base in the EU has declined by more than 10.5 percent since its October 2024 report, which covered the previous period between April trough September of that year.X saw the biggest decline in France with a loss of more than 2.7 million monthly active users, dropping from 20.1 million users…Elon Musks X lost 11 million users in the EU over the past 5 months

Congress has passed a bill that forces tech companies to take action against certain deepfakes and revenge porn posted on their platforms.In a 409-2 vote on Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Take It Down” Act, which has received bipartisan support. The bill also received vocal support from celebrities and First Lady Melania Trump. The bill already passed the Senate in a vote last month.The Take It Down Act will now be sent to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.First introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar in 2024, the Take It Down Act would require that tech companies take quick action against nonconsensual intimate imagery. Platforms would be required to remove such content within 48 hours of a takedown request. The Federal Trade Commission could then sue platforms that do not comply with such requests.In addition to targeting tech platforms, the Take It Down Act also carves out punishments, which include fines and potential jail time, for those who create and share such imagery. The new law would make it a federal crime to publish — or even threaten to publish — explicit nonconsensual images, which would include revenge porn and deepfake imagery generated with AI.Digital rights groups have shared their concerns regarding the Take It Down Act. Activists have said that the bill could be weaponized to censor legally protected speech, and that legal content could be inaccurately flagged for removal.Despite these concerns, the Take It Down Act even…Congress passes ‘Take It Down’ Act to fight AI-fueled deepfake pornography

California’s Senate Judiciary Committee, with bipartisan support, approved Senate Bill 243 this month, requiring that AI companies “protect users from the addictive, isolating, and influential aspects of artificial intelligence chatbots.” It is the first bill of its kind in the U.S.   On the day of the bill’s hearing, its author, U.S. Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Calif.), held a press conference where he was joined by Megan Garcia, who last year sued the AI company Character.ai, alleging that its chatbot had played a role in her son’s suicide. Garcia testified in support of the bill, stating that such chatbots are “inherently dangerous” and can lead to inappropriate conversations or self-harm. “Technological innovation is crucial, but our children cannot be used as guinea pigs to test the safety of new products,” said Padilla.  Similar bills are currently working their way through legislatures in several states. These are vital steps in the right direction. Comparable legislation is urgently needed nationwide.   What is at stake? Our kids’ safety and emotional development and our capacity for critical thought — perhaps even our democracy.  A 2024 Pew Research poll found that nearly half of Americans reported using AI several times a week, with one in four using it “almost constantly.” A 2025 Gallup survey revealed that nearly all Americans rely on products that involve AI, even though most aren’t aware of it.  New research is beginning to illuminate the significant consequences. A 2025 study published in Societies found “a very strong negative correlation between subjects’…Reclaiming critical thinking in the Age of AI  

California’s Senate Judiciary Committee, with bipartisan support, approved Senate Bill 243 this month, requiring that AI companies “protect users from the addictive, isolating, and influential aspects of artificial intelligence chatbots.” It is the first bill of its kind in the U.S.   On the day of the bill’s hearing, its author, U.S. Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Calif.), held a press conference where he was joined by Megan Garcia, who last year sued the AI company Character.ai, alleging that its chatbot had played a role in her son’s suicide. Garcia testified in support of the bill, stating that such chatbots are “inherently dangerous” and can lead to inappropriate conversations or self-harm. “Technological innovation is crucial, but our children cannot be used as guinea pigs to test the safety of new products,” said Padilla.  Similar bills are currently working their way through legislatures in several states. These are vital steps in the right direction. Comparable legislation is urgently needed nationwide.   What is at stake? Our kids’ safety and emotional development and our capacity for critical thought — perhaps even our democracy.  A 2024 Pew Research poll found that nearly half of Americans reported using AI several times a week, with one in four using it “almost constantly.” A 2025 Gallup survey revealed that nearly all Americans rely on products that involve AI, even though most aren’t aware of it.  New research is beginning to illuminate the significant consequences. A 2025 study published in Societies found “a very strong negative correlation between subjects’…Reclaiming critical thinking in the Age of AI