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With Opening Day upon us, it seems like a reasonable time to go over the lineup: Who’s on first, What’s on second, and I Don’t Know is on third. While that old Abbott and Costello routine has been around for nearly a century, the questions it poses are more timely than ever in our AI-driven world, when we frequently don’t know who or what we’re talking to. The latest tech craze is AI agents that are being used to manage tasks previously completed by you. The more you use the agent, the more it knows about you, and the more it can be deployed to act on your behalf. Which leads us to a headline like this from the NYT (Gift Article): Sorry, Mom. You’re Chatting With an A.I. Agent, Not Your Son. “Will Laverty, 18, a software engineer who came to San Francisco from Australia a month ago, had a backlog of texts from friends and family asking what he had been up to in California. While it made him feel ‘kind of guilty,’ he put his parents in a group chat with his A.I. agent. ‘Pretty much all the things I wanted to tell them in my head, it already knew about from tracking everything about my life, and it could just tell them without me having to think.’”
+ In a world where AI can represent you, how will you be able to prove that you are really you? Just this month, Benjamin Netanyahu had to release a series of proof of life videos after an image that made it look like he had a sixth finger went viral. Many people are still convinced he’s dead. This represents a big problem for world leaders, but it also represents a big problem for everyone else. Experts are now recommending that you and your family members have a code word that you can use to prove you’re who you say you are. The BBC’s Thomas Germain decided to run a little test to see if he could prove he’s real. I tried to prove I’m not AI. My aunt wasn’t convinced. (Here’s a dead giveaway when it comes to my identity. If you contact me during tonight’s Giants-Yankees opening night game and I respond, it’s definitely AI.)
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Thou Dost Protest Too Little
Earlier this week, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, and Michael Stipe performed at Democracy Now’s 30th Anniversary event. While I’m inspired that many musical legends have risen to the moment (and can’t wait for Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams tour to arrive in San Francisco), I worry that what we’re seeing isn’t exactly a youth movement. (And no, you can’t count Neil Young as a Young person.) Why are the college students and other young people who were so fired up to protest an Israel-Hamas battle on the other side of the world largely sitting on their hands when it comes to the dismantling of American democracy, including the betrayal of allies, the killing of Americans, and what appears to be a strategy-free war of choice? Rose Horowitch in The Atlantic (Gift Article) attempts to give a few answers to that question (though I imagine there are many more). Where Are All the Campus Protests?
+ At universities, are we seeing more knee-bending than fist raising? Boston University Pulls Pride Flags, Raising Free Speech Worries.
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Let’s Tray Table the Issue
“Almost everywhere you look, there’s airline trouble. A tragic crash at LaGuardia Airport. Long lines at airport security. Thousands of cancellations because of bad weather in Dallas and Atlanta. Higher prices. More proposed airline mergers. And a spate of near misses in the sky. You could blame human error or partisan fights in Washington for some of these issues, but there is a deeper story behind the turbulence: Nearly half a century ago, the U.S. government abandoned its position that regulation and investment were critical elements for America’s transportation infrastructure.” Ganesh Sitaraman in the NYT (Gift Article): This Is Why Flying Is So Awful.
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Will They Reap the Harvest?
“I’ve heard all the arguments both for and against legalizing online gambling. What I think is missing from that conversation is the fact that it’s not really just gambling online that has been legalized. What has been legalized is extraction, and the new methods of extraction that are possible using the internet and mobile devices. These companies have identified a group of people with a monetizable compulsion, and we have legalized the tools needed to industrially harvest money from them.” Defector: Why I Got Out Of The Gambling Business.
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Extra, Extra
Platform Over Function: “What makes the Los Angeles case unique is that, rather than trying to persuade the jury that the content on Meta and YouTube is harmful, the plaintiff’s attorneys framed the case around the actual design of the social media platforms.” Meta, YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction lawsuit. This is the second big tech-related decision this week. “A New Mexico jury determined Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms, a verdict that signals a changing tide against tech companies and the government’s willingness to crack down.”
+ A Peace of Work: “Various news agencies and Iranian state media have reported that Tehran has responded ‘negatively’ to the US proposal to end the war, but there are contradictory statements over whether it has rejected it outright. Reuters news agency, citing a senior Iranian official, reported that Tehran’s initial response to the proposal was ‘not positive’ but that it was still reviewing it. That is at odds with a report by the Iranian state-owned Press TV, which quoted a senior political security official saying Tehran has rejected the proposal, while putting forward its own conditions to end the war. Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, citing a ‘knowledegable source’, reported that Tehran will not accept a ceasefire and believes it would not be ‘logical’ to enter talks.” In other words, the peace talks are as confusing as the war has been. Here’s the latest from The Guardian and AP.
+ Putin New Perspective: “In February, something shifted. Mr. Putin began, suddenly, to pay attention to the flagging economy. There were even signs he might be changing his mind on negotiations with Ukraine, perhaps seeking an exit from the conflict. Then came the war in Iran.” For Putin, the War in Iran Changed Everything.
+ Blue Devil and Red Devil: “As a boy, Majok Bior escaped a country engulfed in war. As a gifted student, he won a full scholarship to Duke University and looked toward a dazzling future. Bior studied computer science at the North Carolina campus during his freshman year and was a winger on an intramural soccer team. After finishing the fall semester of his sophomore year, Bior returned to Uganda for winter break. He played chess with friends and recounted the brutal winters and demands of chemistry class. Then President Trump began to ban students from Africa, starting with South Sudan where Bior was born. He hasn’t returned to campus since.” WSJ (Gift Article): He Had a Full Ride at Duke—Until America Cut Him Off. (Feel safer?)
+ Lactose Intolerant: “The video was meant to show that the U.S. military, which for months has bombed boats it says are carrying drugs from South America, was ‘now bombing Narco Terrorists on land,’ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media.” NYT (Gift Article): The U.S. Said It Helped Bomb a Drug Camp. It Was a Dairy Farm.
+ Viewfinder: Wapo (Gift Article): In Trump’s war messaging, veterans see something new — and disturbing. “Service members and families who lost loved ones say the Trump team’s memes and jokes trivialize combat and sacrifice. Trump aides say the backlash sends views soaring.” (And these days, what matters more than views?)
+ Resort Re-Sorted “Democrat Emily Gregory won a special election Tuesday for the Florida state House district