687: Uncanny Spaceballs

Techdirt has finally accepted the inevitable and gone full democracy blog—because let’s face it, politics and tech are now the same dumpster fire. Google rolled out AI Mode for Search, proving once again that the internet is just Clippy with better branding. Meanwhile, Billy McFarland insists Fyre Festival 2 is totally happening, despite Mexican officials pointing out that his coordinates literally lead to the ocean. Speaking of fraud, Tesla sales are in freefall thanks to Elon’s alt-right cosplay, and people are setting Teslas on fire in protest. And in rich-guy disconnect news, Google’s Sergey Brin thinks engineers should work 60-hour weeks to build the AI that will replace them. That’s some late-stage capitalism poetry right there.

Elsewhere, Trump Media paid Don Jr. nearly a quarter of its revenue to show up twice, while indie musicians can’t afford to tour, proving once again that grifting is more profitable than making art. Technicolor shut down overnight, stranding 10,000 workers because Hollywood’s financial planning is apparently as stable as a Starship rocket launch. Oh yeah, SpaceX exploded another one.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s attempt to upscale A Different World turned it into a Lovecraftian horror show. A quarter of Y Combinator startups now run on “vibe coding,” meaning their software is basically a Ouija board with extra steps. The AI takeover continues as OpenAI plans to charge $20,000 monthly for specialized AI "agents," proving once again that the revolution will be monetized. Meanwhile, Moscow's Pravda network has been poisoning Western AI chatbots with Russian propaganda, because if you can't convince humans, just brainwash the robots that humans increasingly trust.

On the bright side, hackers brought the Humane AI Pin back to life after it was bricked, transforming an overpriced paperweight into... a slightly less useless overpriced paperweight. ChatGPT can now directly edit code in macOS development tools, making it easier for AI to introduce bugs you never would have thought of yourself. Over At the Library, check out "The Tempest" by Peter Cawdron for your first contact fix, and if you're worried about where society is heading (and who isn't?), Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" offers a survival guide for our slow-motion constitutional collapse. Finally, in "everything is fine" news, 82% of indie artists can't afford to tour anymore.

Enjoy the dystopia, kids – at least we still have our sense of humor.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/687

FOLLOW UP

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

Google announces ‘AI Mode’ as a new way to use Search, testing starts today

Government Officials for Announced Fyre Festival 2 Location Say Event “Does Not Exist”

‘I’m selling the Nazi mobile’: Tesla owners offload cars after Musk’s fascist-style salutes

Tesla Just Got Even More Bad News

Tesla Just Got News About Its Sales in Germany, and It Shows That Elon Musk Has Seriously Messed Up

Arsonists Set Fire to a Dozen Teslas, Charging Stations Amid "Anti-Capitalist Coordination to Target Tesla"

Google’s Sergey Brin Says Engineers Should Work 60-Hour Weeks in Office to Build AI That Could Replace Them

Ex-Amazon VP explains why rich a-holes with helicopters and personal assistants don't get why you hate your commute

Trump Media Paid Donald Trump Jr. Nearly A Quarter Of Its Annual Revenue. He Attended Just Two Board Meetings

IN THE NEWS

Cinema Giant Technicolor's Abrupt Shutdown Affects 10,000 Workers Worldwide

US employers cut more jobs last month than any February since 2009

No part of Amazon is 'unaffected' by AI, says its head of AGI

ChatGPT doubled its weekly active users in under 6 months, thanks to new releases

Hugging Face's chief science officer worries AI is becoming 'yes-men on servers'

A well-funded Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western artificial intelligence tools worldwide with Russian propaganda

OnlyFans Model Amouranth Held at Gunpoint for Her Crypto in Home Invasion

Crypto Soars Then Plunges Following Trump’s Post About a Strategic Reserve

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Establishes the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile

Trump creates a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve one day ahead of White House crypto summit

CFPB drops Zelle lawsuit in latest reversal under Trump administration

Canadian Municpalities and the Canadian Supreme Court to stop using twitter.

Ontario once again promises to nix $100 million Starlink deal over Trump tariffs

OpenAI reportedly plans to charge up to $20,000 a month for specialized AI 'agents'

Kevin Rose, Alexis Ohanian acquire Digg

Does the World Even Want Digg in 2025?

Scrolling Through Social Media Has a Unique Effect on Your Body

SpaceX's latest Starship test flight ends with another explosion

A second Intuitive Machines spacecraft just landed on the moon — and probably tipped over

Touch down on the moon with private Blue Ghost lander in this amazing video

MEDIA CANDY

How Many Episodes Should You Watch Before Quitting a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis

Netflix Is Using AI to Upscale a 1980s Sitcom and the Results Are Borderline Horrific

Daredevil: Born Again

David Duchovny to Explore Real-Life X-Files for History Channel

Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

Ancient Mysteries

In Search Of...

82% of indie artists can’t afford to tour anymore

APPS & DOODADS

The Humane Ai Pin Has Already Been Brought Back to Life

ChatGPT on macOS can now directly edit code

A quarter of startups in YC's current cohort have codebases that are almost entirely AI-generated

The Vanishing Middle Class of Tech

Will the future of software development run on vibes?

Hallucinations in code are the least dangerous form of LLM mistakes

AT THE LIBRARY

The Tempest (First Contact) by Peter Cawdron

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

Warning - Domestic

Is Trump preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act? Signs are pointing that way

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