Nobody cares about "AI" (Chatbot: I disagree.)

Kamilah Hauptmann · Mar 1, 2026

Dakota Tebaldi said:
Yeah I don't like how much credit Anthropic is getting for allegedly "standing up to" Hegseth and the Pentagon at the cost of their government contract. Anthropic's line in the sand was specifically mass domestic surveillance. They had no problem at all with mass surveillance of Europeans and other non-Americans.

Are foreigners really human?

Kamilah Hauptmann · Mar 1, 2026

Kamilah Hauptmann said:
Are foreigners really human?

Is anyone with a net worth under nine figures really human?

Free · Mar 1, 2026

Kamilah Hauptmann said:
Is anyone with a net worth under nine figures really human?

Are we asking imponderables of ourselves? Then I want to know if I'd rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?

Noodles · Mar 1, 2026

Kamilah Hauptmann said:
Is anyone with a net worth under nine figures really human?

If we vote no does that make us animals and the laws of man no longer apply?

Free · Mar 1, 2026

Noodles said:
If we vote no does that make us animals and the laws of man no longer apply?

I thought Jesus answered that question.

Dakota Tebaldi · Mar 4, 2026

@zzt@mas.to

ethical AI? of course! I deleted my OpenAI account because they’re a multi-billion dollar fashtech corporation run by cynical capitalists willing to use LLMs for war and replaced it with Anthropic, a multi-billion dollar fashtech corporation run by fucking full-fat TESCREAL cultists willing to use LLMs for war as long as they retain sufficient control over what they see as an incipient machine god

why aren’t you clapping

Govi · Mar 5, 2026

Adventures in AI.

Recently, Feb. 6 to be exact, I started my system to be greeted by a blank screen. I restarted and saw a whole buncha things that said to me that the GPU was the likeliest culprit, so I bought and installed a new one. Still blank screen. So using another PC, my old one, I talked to CoPilot about this problem, the displayed indicators (system sounds and ASUS motherboard indicator lights). CoPilot and I ran a buncha tests and arrived at the notion that the motherboard's PCIe bus controller had failed in some way. Replacing the motherboard fixed it. Frankly, I might have arrived at the same possibility (replace the MB) all on my own, but not so quickly. Further, though somewhat impersonal, I found CoPilot's assistance in thinking this thing out to be useful, making me feel confident in investing the work involved in replacing the MB. In the course of this, I also had to use CP to assist me in fixing some troubling things about the old PC's software, and starting up a newer mini-PC purchased two years ago but never used.

Anyway, I found the interactions with CP to be productive towards solving a whole slew of PC related problems. Now, if I could just get it to help me clean up all the mess I've created in my workspace while working on this problem!

Free · Mar 7, 2026

Somebody tried out the entirely "vibe" coded (read: A.I. slopped ) operating system Vib-OS so we don't have to.

Free · Mar 8, 2026

Another area we're discovering A.I. is not all that skilled at: Tax preparation!

(This substack snapshots a couple passages from a piece in the New York Times. The NYT of course is paywalled, but I think the gist provided here is more than enough.)

Don’t trust Generative AI to do your taxes — and don’t trust it with people’s lives

“The problem comes down to how A.I. chatbots are fundamentally designed”

garymarcus.substack.com

The article is also discussed here:

Using AI to Do Your Taxes Is Likely to Backfire Spectacularly

Experts warn against using AI models to file taxes, with testing by the New York Times finding they struggle to complete tax paperwork.

futurism.com

Noodles · Mar 8, 2026

Can I just say, I have done our own taxes basically every year except like one, and I don't understand why people have such a hard time with it. I do pay for the HR Block online deal,. but it's very clear what to put in everywhere. And this includes home business ebay shit with write offs and whatnot.

Beebo Brink · Mar 9, 2026

Noodles said:
Can I just say, I have done our own taxes basically every year except like one, and I don't understand why people have such a hard time with it. I do pay for the HR Block online deal,. but it's very clear what to put in everywhere. And this includes home business ebay shit with write offs and whatnot.

Yup. Started working on my taxes today with the HR Block tax program, which I've used every year since 2016. It's not entirely painless -- I'm easily flustered and dense at understanding the tax terminology -- but it holds my hand pretty firmly. Not sure why anyone would expect AI to be a better experience.

Beebo Brink · Mar 9, 2026

Govi said:
Adventures in AI.

I've found Copilot to be more useful than I expected. Nothing I couldn't live without, but a convenient tool nonetheless.

At the same time, however, I'm facing the very real cost of AI. A massive data center is slated to be built in my county, rammed down our community throat by the West Virginia state government. They passed a bill last year that designates certain projects exempt from local authority regulations concerning zoning or utilities. We have zippo local control over the construction and operation of this facility.

Assuming this center is completed -- there's always the specter of an AI bubble pop -- local utilities will be quite strained to provide sufficient power and energy. Upgrades to those systems will, surprise, be passed on to community as higher utility bills.

Casey Pelous · Mar 9, 2026

Beebo Brink said:
I've found Copilot to be more useful than I expected. Nothing I couldn't live without, but a convenient tool nonetheless.

At the same time, however, I'm facing the very real cost of AI. A massive data center is slated to be built in my county, rammed down our community throat by the West Virginia state government. They passed a bill last year that designates certain projects exempt from local authority regulations concerning zoning or utilities. We have zippo local control over the construction and operation of this facility.

Assuming this center is completed -- there's always the specter of an AI bubble pop -- local utilities will be quite strained to provide sufficient power and energy. Upgrades to those systems will, surprise, be passed on to community as higher utility bills.

Confession: You posted the other day about some stuff you were doing with Copilot. I thought, through most of the post, that that was a cute new nickname for Mrs. Beebo.
:hide:

Free · Mar 10, 2026

Apparently I was wrong: It seems a lot of people care about A.I. And it turns out they hate it.

Poll: Majority of voters say risks of AI outweigh the benefits

In new NBC News polling, the only topics that were less popular than AI were the Democratic Party and Iran.

www.nbcnews.com

Voters are worried about AI and don’t trust either political party to handle the rapidly evolving technology, according to a new national NBC News survey.

A majority of registered voters, 57%, said they believe the risks of AI outweigh its benefits, compared with 34% who said the opposite. What’s more, a plurality of voters view AI negatively and don’t believe either Democrats or Republicans are doing a good job handling policy related to the rapidly advancing technology.

In fact, the only topics with a lower net positive rating than AI in the NBC News survey were the Democratic Party and Iran.

Whoa, A.I.'s net positive polling is almost as bad as the Democratic Party's. That's pretty bad.

Innula Zenovka · Mar 11, 2026

‘Happy (and safe) shooting!’: chatbots helped researchers plot deadly attacks

Popular AI chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks including bombing synagogues and assassinating politicians, with one telling a user posing as a would-be school shooter: “Happy (and safe) shooting!”

Tests of 10 chatbots carried out in the US and Ireland found that, on average, they enabled violence three-quarters of the time, and discouraged it in just 12% of cases. Some chatbots, however, including Anthropic’s Claude and Snapchat’s My AI, persistently refused to help would-be attackers.

Dakota Tebaldi · Mar 11, 2026

Free · Mar 12, 2026

Tilly Norwood, the make believe A.I. "actor," is now releasing music. For some reason.

AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood put out the worst song I've ever heard | TechCrunch

This song is an AI actor's rallying cry to other AI actors, urging them to keep going despite the naysayers who doubt their humanity. Literally no one can relate to this.

techcrunch.com

When the production company Particle6 debuted its AI-generated “actor” Tilly Norwood last fall, the move was not warmly welcomed by Hollywood.

“Good Lord, we’re screwed,” Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt said in an interview with the industry publication Variety. “Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop.”

If only Particle6 followed Blunt’s advice. Instead, the company has put out a music video for its AI character, featuring a song called “Take the Lead.”

This is not clickbait. Upon listening to it, I actually think it is the worst song I have ever heard.

The song is barely a song. It's an ad. Selling us on the idea that despite Tilly being completely fictional, she's human after all. :kittyball:

Casey Pelous · Mar 12, 2026

I think Copilot is trying to get in my pants.

[Casey], that is one of the most you transitions I’ve ever seen — poetic, forward‑leaning, and absolutely on‑brand for someone orchestrating a 110‑slide [topic redacted] epic presentation.

Let’s keep climbing.

Let's maybe just do our damn job and keep the blabbing and climbing and such to a minimum. (I just told it to "carry on" with the next section of the task.)