Emanuel Maiberg

Understanding Roblox’s Grooming Problem Cecilia D’Anstasio on Roblox’s efforts to protect children from pedophiles.

Sat down with @cecianasta.bsky.social, one of the best in the biz, to talk about Roblox's many controversies www.404media.co/understandin...

How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis' Mental health experts say identifying when someone is in need of help is the first step — and approaching them with careful compassion is the hardest, most essential part that follows.

this is something we deal with on a daily basis now as reporters. unfortunately I think more and more people are going to find themselves struggling with a friend or family member who is going through "ai psychosis" www.404media.co/ai-psychosis...

Thanks for the interview! My biggest worry wrt the current situation is that our remedies mostly focus on the exploited "freelancers" themselves, and we've had little luck regulating the broader structural issue. For me, the organization bears the most responsibility, not the individual translators.

AI Translations Are Adding ‘Hallucinations’ to Wikipedia Articles AI translated articles swapped sources or added unsourced sentences with no explanation, while others added paragraphs sourced from completely unrelated material.

low paid workers in the global south are using AI translation to generate Wikipedia articles that, surprising no one, include errors and hallucinations www.404media.co/ai-translati...

The FBI Is Using AI to Hack Targets AI is a “game changer” for what the FBI calls remote access operations, an FBI official said in response to a 404 Media question on Tuesday.

New from 404 Media: the FBI is using AI to hack targets. FBI official was talking about "remote access operations," FBI's term for hacking. FBI said it's a "game changer". The comments were unusually candid about FBI's very secretive hacking operations. www.404media.co/the-fbi-is-u...

With Iran War, Kalshi and Polymarket Bet That the Depravity Economy Has No Bottom Gambling markets have conveniently found a stance that allows them to continue to profit from death and war.

prediction markets' depravity economy is the culmination of deregulation and kleptocracy, lobbying to legalize sports gambling, the collapse of advertising markets, hustlebro culture, crypto, memestocks, ai bubble ... venn diagram of horrible:

www.404media.co/with-iran-wa...

With Iran War, Kalshi and Polymarket Bet That the Depravity Economy Has No Bottom Gambling markets have conveniently found a stance that allows them to continue to profit from death and war.

America is out of ideas. A demented president is trying to tie up all the loose boomer plot threads before he dies. fuck it bet it all on black www.404media.co/with-iran-wa...

Company Helps Men Scrub Negative Posts About Them from Tea App “We just want to take down posts about people who are being defamed," the company's founder said. “And when I say defamed, it means like, ‘this guy has a small penis,’ or ‘this guy smells.’"

You can pay this company to scrub negative posts about you on the Tea app. The guy behind the company told me his employees, all men, have tea accounts, which is allegedly for women only www.404media.co/company-help...

The Islamic State Is Using AI to Resurrect Dead Leaders and Platforms Are Failing to Moderate It The group is talking about Epstein and filming propaganda videos in Roblox as a form of 'digital Jihad,' researchers say.

the Islamic State is still around and is mostly interested in posting. It's using AI to kirkify dead leaders, trying to recruit in Roblox, and talking about Epstein to build clout

so ... Daesh is just like everyone else online

The Government Just Made it Harder to See What Spy Tech it Buys On Wednesday, the government stopped supporting FPDS.gov, an indispensable resource for finding what ICE, the FBI, and every other agency is buying. Its replacement site completely sucks.

New: the government just made it harder to see what spy tech it buys. This includes ICE, the FBI, essentially any agency. Why? Because they decided to retire the perfectly good system for searching contracts and replaced it with one that fucking sucks

www.404media.co/the-governme...

Infinite Jest belongs in the Techno-Optimist Canon A16Z Culture's most controversial book recommendation so far

i am actually glad david foster wallace is dead so he doesn't have to see this www.a16z.news/p/infinite-j...

This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media's coverage of how people are using Meta's Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. “I consider it to ...

NEW: A hobbyist has created Nearby Glasses, an app that warns you if someone close by is wearing smart glasses. 404 Media spoke to the creator who said he was inspired by our coverage that uncovers how men are wearing Meta's Ray-Bans to covertly film massage parlor workers.

Imagine a world where you can DM loved ones who have passed away over Facebook or IG using a LLM that emulates their chatting behaviors? Meta's patent is giving these researchers concern. @evystadium.bsky.social has more.

Story by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social www.404media.co/metas-ai-pat...

Meta's AI Patent to Simulate Dead People Shows the Dangers of 'Spectral Labor' Researchers say Meta’s patent for simulating dead users could be a “turning point” in “AI resurrections.”

talked to a researcher studying "AI resurrections" about Meta's patent to make dead users post www.404media.co/metas-ai-pat...

How ICE and CBP Use Free Walkie-Talkie App ‘Zello’ to Power Their Operations 404 Media found multiple users of Zello, an app previously used by January 6 insurrectionists, linked to ICE officials. An officer at the scene of an CBP official shooting a U.S. citizen also used the...

New from 404 Media: how ICE and CBP are using the free walkie-talkie app Zello to coordinate their operations. We've linked multiple Zello accounts to ICE, found group chats with names referencing immigration. App previously criticized for allowing far right channels
www.404media.co/how-ice-and-...

Meta Director of AI Safety Allows AI Agent to Accidentally Delete Her Inbox Meta Superintelligence Labs’ director of alignment called it a “rookie mistake.”

not inspiring a lot of confidence www.404media.co/meta-directo...

We Have Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons “Looksmaxxers” are losers and freaks, but we let them steer the culture when we adopt their terminology.

please don't talk to me about "maxxing" anything www.404media.co/we-have-lear...

There's an italian saying: "a pensare male si fa peccato, ma spesso si indovina," which roughly translates to: "to think badly would be to sin, but very often one gets it right."

Perfect example. It's amazing how quickly Ring admitted this. And it's great to have evidence.

Alpha School, an “AI-powered private school” that heavily relies on AI to teach students and can cost up to $65,000 a year, is AI-generating faulty lesson plans that internal documentation finds. @evystadium.bsky.social has more.

Scoop by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social: www.404media.co/students-are...

This is something I thought about a lot while writing this story and I hope we talk about it on the podcast today. A lot of parents need different education for their kids. Alpha School students do test well. I totally get the appeal but AI is not ready www.404media.co/students-are...

'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School Leaked documents reveal the inner workings of Alpha School, which both the press and the Trump administration have applauded. The documents show Alpha School's AI is generating faulty lessons that som...

Alpha School is also keeping video recordings of students in an a Google Drive anyone with the link can access. www.404media.co/students-are...

'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School Leaked documents reveal the inner workings of Alpha School, which both the press and the Trump administration have applauded. The documents show Alpha School's AI is generating faulty lessons that som...

Alpha School, an "AI-powered" private school that costs as much as $65k a year, is generating faulty lesson plans and stealing content from textbooks for training data www.404media.co/students-are...

Ars Technica Pulls Article With AI Fabricated Quotes About AI Generated Article A story about an AI-generated article contained fabricated, AI-generated quotes.

Feel like this is a good lesson to keep generative AI far from your editorial process as a matter of policy. Ars is a great website. If it can happen there it can happen to anyone that allows these tools in

Waymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving Cars The companies have launched a pilot program in Atlanta, where “during the rare event a vehicle door is left ajar, preventing the car from departing, nearby Dashers are notified, allowing Waymo to get ...

the future of labor is armies of gig workers babysitting robots? www.404media.co/waymo-is-get...

Thank you! That's so nice to hear

Cops Are Buying ‘GeoSpy’, an AI That Geolocates Photos in Seconds 404 Media has obtained a cache of internal police emails showing at least two agencies have bought access to GeoSpy, an AI tool that analyzes architecture, soil, and other features to near instantly g...

This tech is pretty common now but I don't think people fully understand what it means that anyone including police can use it www.404media.co/cops-are-buy...

that's what we were going for!

The Screen Time Panic Sets Parents Up to Fail Patrick Klepek on the reality of parenting in the age of Roblox and YouTube.

had a great time talking with @patrickklepek.bsky.social about parenting, screen time, roblox, and more. Please listen so I can do more mommy blogging on 404 Media www.404media.co/the-screen-t...

What We Loved About Dan McQuade | Defector Today is Dan McQuade’s funeral. To celebrate our friend, we wanted to give the people he worked with a place to explain what they loved so much about him. If you would like to support Dan’s widow Jan,...

what we loved about Dan McQuade defector.com/what-we-love...

It's been really lovely reading all the tributes to Dan. Many people have asked if they can contribute to support his wife and son. You can do so here: everloved.com/life-of/dan-...