Ars Technica: “85 percent of invalid papers continue to be shared after they’ve been retracted. Keeping track of when a paper has been retracted can be a challenge. Most scientific literature is published in for-profit journals that rely on subscriptions and paywalls to turn a profit. But that trend has been shifting as various governments… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Internet
Four Key Instruments of Russian Propaganda
United 24 Media: “Russia’s propaganda machine uses a calculated strategy—dismiss, distort, distract, and dismay—to manipulate perceptions and erode trust in truth worldwide. The world is only now confronting information warfare, but Russian propaganda has been refining it for decades. The term “disinformation” itself is a product of propaganda, deliberately crafted by Joseph Stalin to sound… Continue Reading
What’s New in AI and Other Tools
JournalistsToolBox.AI: Liner – Uses ChatGPT 4o and Claude for deep search. Results have a Perplexity feel. Produces images, graphics and other tools built in. ONA: Archive of AI Case Studies in Newsrooms – An updated list of how newsrooms are using AI in various projects. It’s updated often. Eleven Labs Prompting Guide – Guide to… Continue Reading
Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
Simon Willison’s Weblog – “A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024. Here’s a review of things we figured out about the field in the past twelve months, plus my attempt at identifying key themes and pivotal moments.” A lot has happened in the world of Large… Continue Reading
2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market
“Thomson Reuters a global content and technology company, and the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law today released the 2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market. The report notes a transformative shift in the legal profession amid the evolution from traditional practices to innovative business models. Law firms… Continue Reading
Study Finds TikTok Is Likely Vehicle for Chinese Propaganda
Network Contagion Research Institute & Rutger – Information Manipulation on TikTok and Beliefs About China, December 2024. “Three studies explored how TikTok, a China-owned social media platform, may be manipulated to conceal content critical of China while amplifying narratives that align with Chinese Communist Party objectives. Study I employed a user journey methodology, wherein newly… Continue Reading
2025: Keep democracy alive. Our New Year’s resolution
FrameLab – Advice for defeating the authoritarian threat – “It is hard to compete with Woody Guthrie’s timeless list of New Year resolutions from 1943, which includes these ever-relevant goals: Work more and better. Read lots of good books. Keep hoping machine running. Help win war – beat fascism. Wake up and fight. But here’s… Continue Reading
Updated Map of copyright lawsuits v. AI companies
Chat GPT is Eating the World: We updated our map of all 38 U.S. copyright lawsuits against AI companies. The PDF below has clickable links to each docket and names of presiding judges. The symbols next to each case name represents the type of underlying works at issue: books (16 cases) newspapers (3) online news… Continue Reading
The Internet Is Not Forever
Zeit Online: “The Internet is forever. At least, that was the promise — and the threat — of the digital age, echoed across browsers, clouds, and platforms. A silent warning accompanied every upload: be careful what you post — this will last forever. But with each passing day, it becomes increasingly clear how deceptive that… Continue Reading
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Ars Technica: “Apple has agreed (PDF) to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then sold to third parties for targeted ads. In the proposed class-action settlement (PDF) — which comes after five years of litigation — Apple admitted to no wrongdoing. Instead,… Continue Reading
Inside Pinterest’s quest to restore internet optimism
Fast Company – “Most social media platforms have devolved into a network of bottom-feeders and rage-baiters. Yet somehow, Pinterest has kept its joy. According to Sprout Social’s 2024 content strategy report, more than half of social users think of Pinterest as “more positive” than other platforms. When Bill Ready became Pinterest’s CEO in 2022, he… Continue Reading
Fact-checking information from large language models can decrease headline discernment
psypost.org – “A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences investigates how large language models, such as ChatGPT, influence people’s perceptions of political news headlines. The findings reveal that while these artificial intelligence systems can accurately flag false information, their fact-checking results do not consistently help users discern between true… Continue Reading
