20250511 - Soundcloud claims the right to train AI on all your songs
Release Date: 05/11/2025
20250606 - Builder․ai even more fake: creative accounting, no AI, no money
Pivot to AI
Hey. I’m Natasha, your AI companion. Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: Voluntary Petition for Non-Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy (PDF) How this Microsoft-backed billion-dollar London startup made 700 engineers sitting in India pose as AI tool Fake it till you unicorn? Builder.ai’s Natasha was never AI – just 700 Indian coders behind the curtain Inside the collapse of Microsoft-backed UK tech unicorn Builder.ai US Prosecutors Sought Builder.ai Data After Sales...
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20250605 - Generative AI runs on gambling addiction: just one more prompt, bro!
Pivot to AI
Vibe coding and chatbot girlfriends Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: AI-first - We're just 6 months away from AGI ;-) The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models replicate the mechanisms of a psychic’s con How much of AI's recent success is due to the Forer Effect? Is GenAI Digital Cocaine? “try replacing ‘ai’ with ‘cocaine’ in all the posts you read about it. it's pretty funny” Hooked by Nir Eyal: (UK), (US) Wikipedia: Barnum...
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20250604 - Washington Post is going to AI to clean up amateur right-wing op-eds
Pivot to AI
Surely there are more subscribers to lose Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: The Washington Post’s New Mission: Reach ‘All of America’ The Washington Post Plans an Influx of Outside Opinion Writers Bezos' changes at 'Washington Post' lead to mass subscription cancellations — again Embattled WaPo Publisher Met With Conservative Editor for Advice on Recruiting More Right-Wingers Despite Bezos’ Efforts to Shove WaPo Opinion to the Right, Op-Eds Still Taking Defiantly...
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20250603 - Let’s put more AI slop into advertising!
Pivot to AI
Brought to you by Facebook and Veo. Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: Meta Aims to Fully Automate Ad Creation Using AI Mark Zuckerberg says people can fill the need for friends with AI, but ‘there is no replacement’ for human relationships, psychologist says Google Veo 3: Creative thinkers must adapt to avoid disruption Consumers wary of AI-generated marketing content, AI-driven ad targeting Campaign Tech Awards Special thanks to Steve Farrugia, who gave me a pile of...
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20250602 - Fighting the AI scraper bots
Pivot to AI
We are lucky they are so very stupid. Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: 1 Million Third-Party Android Devices Have a Secret Backdoor for Scammers jwz's Blog: Previously on Pivot to AI: What the floods of AI scraper bots look like in 2025 That RationalWiki configuration fragment: set $BOT ""; if ($uri ~* (/w/index.php)) { set $BOT "C"; } Full Pivot to AI playlist:
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20250601 - Business Insider layoffs as traffic drops — but publisher Axel Springer says: AI will fix it!
Pivot to AI
it was Google wot done it Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: Sources: Business Insider layoff memo: rchive: Google fixes bug that led AI Overviews to say it’s now 2024 Politico’s Newsroom Is Starting a Legal Battle With Management Over AI Previously on Pivot to AI: Google’s AI Overview directly takes readers away from its own source sites video: Full Pivot to AI playlist:
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20250531 - Microsoft and AI: spending billions to make millions
Pivot to AI
But we’ll make it up in volume Text version: Patreon: Patreon (enterprise rate): https://www.patreon.com/checkout/davidgerard?rid=6951364 Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt: Hey, go listen to me on the Phil Ferguson Show! (my bit starts about 16:40) Sources: Microsoft Touts AI Sales at Town Hall, Reveals Barclays Contract Barclays Bank signs 100k license Copilot deal with Microsoft Microsoft's non-profit AI adventures Microsoft’s CEO on How AI Will Remake Every Company,...
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20250530 - The UK will totally replace two-thirds of junior civil servants with AI chatbots, says the chatbot
Pivot to AI
sure, Pete Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt: Sources: Reeves confirms 15% cut to Civil Service running costs State of digital government review The UK government thinks AI can do two-thirds of the most junior civil servants’ work RE: Methodology behind £45bn estimate in the State of Digital Government Review (PDF) Previously on Pivot to AI: ChatGPT predicts tremendous role for ChatGPT in UK government Tony Blair Institute reports on AI in the labor market — using numbers they made up...
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20250529 - Game studios love AI! The gamers ... hate it
Pivot to AI
What do you want them to do? Pay artists? Text version: Patreon: Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt: Sources: ‘An Overwhelmingly Negative And Demoralizing Force’: What It’s Like Working For A Company That’s Forcing AI On Its Developers TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. FORM 10-K For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 (PDF) ELECTRONIC ARTS INC. Form 10-K For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 (PDF) Ubisoft's NFT announcement video is overwhelmingly disliked “how are the ghost recon NFTs doing?”...
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20250528 - Google takes AI propaganda to the movies
Pivot to AI
Ignore those strikes over AI in films! Text version: Patreon: Patreon (studio rate): Ko-Fi: Buy me nice things: Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt: Sources: A short film program to explore AI on screen Darren Aronofky’s Primordial Soup and Google DeepMind are partnering to explore AI’s role in storytelling Darren Aronofsky’s AI-Driven Studio Primordial Soup Inks Google DeepMind Partnership, First Film Project to Premiere at Tribeca Festival Inside Google's plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday Google has quietly...
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Sources:
"FYI: Soundcloud's Terms of Services" https://bsky.app/profile/thomasbrunet.fr/post/3lopl7pehqs27
SoundCloud Terms of Use https://soundcloud.com/terms-of-use
SoundCloud Terms of Use (11 February 2024) https://web.archive.org/web/20240211121702/https://soundcloud.com/terms-of-use
SoundCloud Terms of Use (12 February 2024) https://web.archive.org/web/20240212150215/http://soundcloud.com/terms-of-use
AI (and other) Companies: Quietly Changing Your Terms of Service Could Be Unfair or Deceptive https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy-research/tech-at-ftc/2024/02/ai-other-companies-quietly-changing-your-terms-service-could-be-unfair-or-deceptive
"I don't have that verbiate on the Canadian terms of service, in that section" https://bsky.app/profile/huntingbenjamin.bsky.social/post/3loqq5mjlw22t
SoundCloud Quietly Updated Their Terms to Let AI Feast on Artists' Music https://futurism.com/soundcloud-ai-terms-of-service
SoundCloud Says It “Has Never Used Artist Content to Train AI Models” After Backlash on Terms of Service Change https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/soundcloud-clarifies-ai-stance-after-online-backlash-1236212574/