A Boring Dystopia

To our even bigger surprise, we found little to no effect. People who use generative AI quite frequently in their daily lives – at least every other day – did penalize AI use slightly less when AI authorship was disclosed, compared with people who never or rarely use AI. But participants were no more skeptical by default: When authorship was not disclosed, heavy AI users, light AI users and nonusers all tended to assume the text was written by a person and formed essentially the same impressions.

Americans love to gamble. But placing bets on wildfires, floods and storms comes with serious moral and social costs

Private healthcare provider Numan revealed that Blackpool, in Lancashire, has been forecast to have the highest number of preventable deaths in 2026.

Per 1,000 residents, a total of 54.86 years is expected to be lost due to lifestyle, vaccine, and infection-related health issue

sauce

The Spotify spokesperson said estate or rights holders for a deceased artist can opt into the company’s new tool if they have an account. For those artists who don’t have accounts, either alive or deceased, the spokesperson said, Spotify will continue to rely on its internal detection and accountability systems

...

In the jazz genre alone, Moran said, impersonation by AI has struck pianist Benny Green, saxophonist Antonio Hart, drummer Nate Smith, the Australian band Hiatus Kaiyote and singers Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazzmeia Horn and Freddy Cole, the brother of Nat King Cole.

Fuck AI, Fuck Spotify

Arguably more terrifying than boring, but the process of humiliation, endless lines and hostile beaucracy must be mindnumbing in the worst way too.

Asked how he's sure that AI isn't overhyped, Garman said, "People ask me that all the time. I think it's like one of the funnier questions I get." He proceeded to ask people in the audience to raise their hands if they're seeing positive ROI now from their AI investments or if they expect to see it within six months.

The audience complied and Garman estimated about 70 percent of audience members had raised their hands.

It would be remarkable if such a large portion of attendees had actual knowledge of AI costs and returns in their company. If you ask this reporter, it was a smaller percentage than that.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40388

Even after one of the largest environmental remediation efforts in California history, dangerous levels of lead persist in residential neighborhoods surrounding a former battery smelter in Southeast Los Angeles, according to a new study from the University of California, Irvine's Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health. The research is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The findings reveal a serious public health failure while also highlighting the power of community-driven research to hold institutions accountable and drive meaningful change.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Japan’s demographic crisis is playing out even behind bars. The number of elderly inmates has quadrupled over the past 20 years. Around a fifth of people over 65 live below the poverty line, struggling to make ends meet. Some go to extraordinary lengths to improve their circumstances, deliberately getting caught shoplifting in the hope of landing in prison. There, they can access a secure place to live, proper meals, and medical care – basic necessities often denied to them outside.