Threat Index: Media
"AI"
"AI" is the term misleadingly applied to generative software like LLMs (Large Language Models) and any similarly complex automated program. Before LLMs, when people used the term 'AI', they generally were referring to a much more advanced theoretical technology that mimics human intelligence and doesn't actually exist. Since LLMs have become widely available, people have begun referring to them as "AI" largely due to marketing, often applying their ideas of that advanced fictional technology to these much more limited programs. Both the existence of this technology and the general ignorance of how it actually works are causing lots of problems. It is best to avoid generative "AI" like LLMs and image generators, and be very selective about the technology you do use.
A Non-Anthropomorphized View of LLMs [video]
★ How to do anything without AI [video]
Gradual-Disempowerment.ai [website] - Systemic Existential Risks from Incremental AI Development
QuitGPT.org [website] is organizing Americans and people around the world to quit ChatGPT.
Iocaine [website] - The deadliest poison known to AI
brockovichdatacenter.com [video] - A map of major AI data centers in the U.S. that are either operational or under construction, overlaid with locations where community members have emailed in concerns.
TheCon.AI [website] - How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want
☺ Why is AI Such a Freakin' Liar? [video] by Ryan George
☺ Your Uncle Who Can’t Spot AI [video] by Ryan George
AI Slop [video - yt] by Last Week Tonight [videos] with John Oliver
AI is messing with our mental health [video] by Some More News [yt]
Will A.I. Slop Kill the Internet? [video - yt] by Ordinary Things
☺ AI Bots Have Taken Over Facebook [video - yt] by Ryan George Extra Plus! [yt]
AI is NOT your friend [video - yt] by Louis Rossman
AI chatbot uses fake citations [article] by Rolling Stone
AI doesn't reduce work, it intensifies it [article] by Harvard Business Review
AI images [video] by Last Week Tonight [videos] with John Oliver
☹ AI boyfriend funerals [video] by LaoWhy86
☹ AI Toys Are Recording Childrens' Conversations [video - yt] by Vanessa Wingårdh
☹ We Investigated Al Psychosis. What We Found Will Shock You [video] by More Perfect Union
☹ Chatgpt turns people into bots [video] by Vanessa Wingårdh
☹ Kids cant read and teachers are quitting [video] by Vanessa Wingårdh
☹ ChatGPT Religion: The Disturbing AI Cult [video] by Vanessa Wingårdh
AI Agent Published a Hit Piece On Me [article]
AI schools and social media [video - yt]
AI Ads Are Out of Control [video - yt]
☹ This AI killed 3 people [video - yt]
Bots, Scams, the Internet, and You [video]
☹ Facial recognition is jailing the wrong people, but police keep using it anyway [article]
☹ Microsoft Windows Agentic AI Malware [video]
☹ AI Is A Massive Problem. Here's Why. [video]
☹ Writers Are Being Accused of Using AI — No Matter What They Do [video]
AI cannot self improve and math proves it [article]
✦ SlopScan.ava.pet [software] [git] - Tired of having to manually traverse commit histories to find out whether a repository has been made using AI/LLMs? There's now an easier way! Access the first version of repo-slopscore at slopscan.ava.pet, paste in https:// git repo URLs and have it scan repositories for signs of AI activity.
How to recognize and block AI-powered scam attempts [video]
☹ Disturbing Crimes Committed With AI [video]
Data Centers
An Incomplete List of Successful Anti-Datacenter Legislation [article]
Want to Resist a Datacenter? These Organizers Share How [article]
Will (And Should) The World Be Covered In Data Centers? [video] by Some More News [yt]
☹ Datacenters are Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons [video] by Benn Jordan [yt]
☹ I Live Next To Amazon's Largest Data Center. They're Stealing Our Water [video] by More Perfect Union [yt]
☹ Amazon’s Secret Plot to Build a Data Center in the Desert [video] by More Perfect Union [yt]
☹ We Found the Hidden Cost of Data Centers. It's in Your Electric Bill [video] by More Perfect Union [yt]
Censorship
Awesome Anti-Censorship [git] is a curated list of open source tools and readings for fighting Internet censorship. Inspired by the awesome list.
Freedom.Press - the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) builds secure communications tools, teaches journalists how to keep themselves and their sources safe, monitors and documents every press freedom violation in the U.S. and advocates for the public’s right to know
RSF's World Press Freedom Index - compares the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.
Free Speech Index - rates each state on how well it supports the free speech and association rights of individuals and groups interested in speaking about candidates, issues of public policy, and their government.
FreedomHouse.org - Freedom House tracks fundamental freedoms and rights in 208 countries and territories worldwide.
TheFire.org - The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty.
IndexOnCensorship.org - a nonprofit that defends people’s freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution.
EoTArchive.org - captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations
Unredacted.org [website] [bsky] [mastodon] is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that builds Internet infrastructure and services to help people access the open Internet and protect their right to privacy.
USCCR.gov - U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
ACLU.org - American Civil Liberties Union
The internet is dying [video] by Vanessa Wingårdh
Book bans are for weenies [video] by Some More News [yt]
☹ People killed for knowing too much [video]
☺ Goon with the Wind [video] by Internet Comment Etiquette
☹ ok this is actually the most insane censorship i've seen [video]
☹ AI Censorship Is Getting Out Of Control [video]
Manipulation
☺ What The Hell Happened To Google Search? [video]
Manufacturing Consent [ebook] by Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective [video - yt] by Veritasium
Masterclass in manipulation [video]
Doublespeak: The Rhetoric of the Far Right Since 1945 [ebook]
Doublespeak: From Revenue Enhancement to Terminal Living : How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You [ebook] by William Lutz
The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us [ebook] by James W. Pennebaker
Social Media Is Out of Control | Compilation [video] by Ryan George
how billionaires made you addicted to your phone [video - yt] (and how to unrot your brain) by Happy Pancake
Oil Propaganda In TV Shows [video] by Climate Town [yt]
Misinformation [video] by Last Week Tonight [videos - yt] with John Oliver
Native Advertising [video] by Last Week Tonight [videos - yt] with John Oliver
Sinclair Broadcast Group [video] by Last Week Tonight [videos - yt] with John Oliver
This Scientist FAKED Decades of Research on Alzheimer's [video] by Happy Pancake
Holocaust Denial [video] by Decoding the Unknown [yt]
Propaganda and mass persuasion a historical encyclopedia, 1500 to the present
Uncovering Chinas Uygur Propaganda Campaign [video] by LaoWhy86 [yt]
China Bribed Me To Post Propaganda [video] by LaoWhy86 [yt]
The Anti-Vax Movement is Even Worse than you Think [video] by Into the Shadows
The Food Pyramid is a Giant Scam Paid for by Big Corporations [video] by Into the Shadows
Dead Internet Theory is Real [video]
Brainwashing Situation is Crazy [video]
The Insane Lies About The Texas Blackouts [video] by More Perfect Union [yt]
Algorithms are breaking how we think [video] by Technology Connections [yt]
How the Right Infiltrated Pop Fandoms [video] by Taylor Lorenz [yt]
Investigating deepfakes [video] by CoffeeZilla [yt]
The Bizarre World of North Korean Influencers [video] by Fern [yt]
Deceptive Patterns [ebook] - Exposing the Tricks Tech Companies Use to Control You by Harry Brignull (2023)
DarkPatternsTipLine.org or HallOfShame.Design - Deceptive Services to Avoid
TotalPropaganda.net [website] - a blog illuminating the shadowy minds of far-right actors from a linguistic perspective.
DistractionIndex.org [website] - The Distraction Index publishes a weekly, frozen record of U.S. political events scored on two dimensions: constitutional damage (Damage score) and media hype / manufactured distraction (Hype score). The goal is to help citizens distinguish between events that cause real democratic harm and events that are engineered to dominate attention.
Fighting cocomelon for my kids attention [video] by Ryan George [yt]
How Fake Viral Science Videos Fool You [video]