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Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC
14 days ago
- Google Chrome secretly installed a 4GB AI model (Gemini Nano) on users' devices without consent.
- The model reinstalls automatically if deleted, with an optional toggle not yet available to all users.
- Google justifies it for privacy via on-device features like scam detection, but the installation violates consent laws like the EU's ePrivacy Directive.
- Visible AI features in Chrome use cloud processing, while the local model runs background tasks, creating a 'privacy illusion.'
- This reflects a trend where tech companies use user devices as distributed AI infrastructure, raising concerns about consent and resource use.
Claude Fable 5 Backlash Grows
14 days ago
- Anthropic re-released Claude Fable 5 on July 1 with stricter guardrails, leading to user backlash over reduced coding and debugging performance.
- Benchmark scores from BridgeMind show sharp declines in tasks like debugging (86.2 to 25.9) and refactoring, attributed to blocked tasks rather than weaker reasoning.
- Anthropic claims the underlying model is unchanged but admits tighter safety classifiers block more legitimate requests, routing them to Opus 4.8 instead.
- The model was initially launched in June, suspended briefly by regulators, and restored with usage limits and enhanced safety measures targeting cybersecurity tasks.
- Anthropic is collaborating with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google on a jailbreak severity framework, while international competition and user retention concerns grow.
The moral catastrophe of Big Tech's totalitarians-for-profit
7 days ago
- Big Tech's surveillance capitalism is likened to a form of totalitarianism-for-profit, responsible for global democratic collapse through data extraction and misinformation.
- The 1997 Clinton-Gore Whitepaper established a neoliberal 'wild West' approach to the internet, abdicating democratic governance and enabling unchecked corporate control.
- Surveillance capitalism originated at Google in 2002, monetizing behavioral surplus without user consent, prioritizing profit over democracy and human rights.
- Disinformation and polarization, fueled by algorithmic engagement, are key drivers of democratic decline, with autocracies now outnumbering democracies globally.
- The European Union has attempted regulatory pushback with laws like GDPR and the AI Act, but faces pressure from tech giants and political shifts towards deregulation.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez advocates for criminal liability for tech executives and algorithmic manipulation, emphasizing democratic renewal through collective action.
- The defense of democracy requires abolishing harmful business practices, filling governance voids with mediating institutions, and recommitting to human-centric values.
San Francisco Demands Apple and Google Delete AI 'Nudify' Apps from App Stores
2 days ago
- San Francisco ordered Apple and Google to remove 'nudify' apps that digitally alter photos to remove clothing.
- California law criminalizes aiding in creating non-consensual deepfake pornography, and allows civil actions against facilitators.
- City Attorney David Chiu stated the companies profit from apps exploiting women and girls, and have been warned repeatedly.
- Tech Transparency Project reports indicated dozens of apps sold deepfake services via the app stores.
- Apple and Google could face civil penalties; Apple removed three apps, Google suspended five from Play Store.

Hasty Briefsbeta

#tech regulation

Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC

Claude Fable 5 Backlash Grows

The moral catastrophe of Big Tech's totalitarians-for-profit

San Francisco Demands Apple and Google Delete AI 'Nudify' Apps from App Stores