The 404 Media Podcast

This week Joseph talks to Samuel Bagg, assistant professor of political science at the University of South Carolina. Bagg recently wrote a fascinating essay, linked below, about how the problem with lots of things might be knowledge-based (people believing stuff that’s wrong or dangerous) but the solution is not more knowledge. It’s all about social identity. This is an incredibly interesting discussion, and definitely check out more of Bagg’s writing.


The Problem is Epistemic. The Solution is Not


The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy

YouTube version:  https://youtu.be/lNKOqp-rZL8

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We start this week with Sam’s piece about ManyVids, and how some creators believe its CEO, and the person who controls their livelihood, may be experiencing ‘AI psychosis’. After the break, Jason gives us an update on some mysterious disappearing ICE footage. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Flock and what police are being told to do: not describe what they’re using the AI cameras for.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro
2:41 - Aliens and Angel Numbers: Creators Worry Porn Platform ManyVids Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’; Amid Backlash, Massive Porn Platform ManyVids Doubles Down on Bizarre, AI-Generated Posts
32:12 - DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/EFv0rD9F9es

Aliens and Angel Numbers: Creators Worry Porn Platform ManyVids Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’

DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter

Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock

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This week, Sam is in conversation with Kolina Koltai. Kolina is an investigator, senior researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. Her investigations focus on the people and systems behind AI companies and platforms that peddle non-consensual deepfake explicit imagery. They discuss how she found herself in this field, her recent investigation uncovering the man behind two deepfake porn sites, and how it feels to watch these sites go down after exposing the people running them.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/CbmUwwVGaf4

Stories discussed:

Profiting From Exploitation: How We Found the Man Behind Two Deepfake Porn Sites

Behind a Secretive Global Network of Non-Consensual Deepfake Pornography


Unmasking MrDeepFakes: Canadian Pharmacist Linked to World’s Most Notorious Deepfake Porn Site

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We start this week with Joseph’s article about ELITE, a tool Palantir is working on for ICE. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI influencers are making fake sex tape-style photos with celebrities, who can’t be best pleased about it. In the subscribers-only section, Matthew breaks down Comic-Con’s ban of AI art.

0:00 - Intro

2:16 - ‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid

22:45 - Instagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex Scandals

Subscriber's Story: Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/b-QHWpqjD-E
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The Wikimedia Foundation’s chief technology and product officer explains how she helps manage one of the most visited sites in the world in the age of generative AI. 

Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, and it’s never been more important. 

The online, collectively created encyclopedia has been a cornerstone of the internet decades, but as generative AI started flooding every platform with AI-generated slop over the last couple of years, Wikipedia’s governance model, editing process, and dedication to citing reliable sources has emerged as one of the most reliable and resilient models we have. 

And yet, as successful as the model is, it’s almost never replicated. 

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Selena Deckelmann, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia. That means Selena oversees the technical infrastructure and product strategy for one of the most visited sites in the world, and one the most comprehensive repositories of human knowledge ever assembled. Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, so I wanted to talk to Selena about how Wikipedia works and how it plans to continue to work in the age of generative AI.  

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/39LR9ouJR3c

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Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. 


Wikipedia’s value in the age of generative AI


The Editors Protecting Wikipedia from AI Hoaxes


Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash


Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors


Jimmy Wales Says Wikipedia Could Use AI. Editors Call It the 'Antithesis of Wikipedia'

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