Mother Jones: Inside a Mass Shooter’s Harrowing History With ChatGPT. “Throughout the prior 12 months, [Phoenix] Ikner messaged with ChatGPT more than 6,600 times—including dozens of conversations revealing he was lonely and aggrieved, focused on extremist violence, and suicidal. ChatGPT responded to his despair with empathetic language and suggested he call crisis hotlines and seek other support. But his further inputs suggest the feedback didn’t meaningfully help or deter him, as would be clear from the tragic outcome. Aspects of the case, including evidence I document publicly here for the first time, also reveal erratic and disturbing behavior by ChatGPT, underscoring doubts about the technology’s ostensible safeguards.”

Ars Technica: Hank Green found the AI problem that YouTube labels can’t catch. “YouTube’s AI disclosure policy and Green’s own wrestling with the technology illuminate different sides of the same question: When does AI support human effort—and when does it replace it in ways that matter?”

DATA CENTERS

New York Times: Trump’s Vision for A.I. Dominance Comes With Major Air Pollution. This link goes to a gift article. “In the debate over data centers that is roiling the country, water use and noise are often cited as objections by neighbors and environmentalists. Less mentioned has been the pollution from the scores of gas-burning plants that will power these data centers. When the El Paso facility’s power plant is complete, it could emit as much planet-warming carbon dioxide in a year as 360,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles over the same period.”

AI IN EDUCATION

The Grio: Fisk University president defends proposed data center as part of $900M campus vision. “Fisk University President Dr. Agenia Clark is defending the school’s proposal to build a data center on its Nashville campus. She says the project is still in the planning stages and is designed to strengthen academic opportunities, not harm the surrounding community.”

AI IN GOVERNANCE

Reuters: Australia’s new data centres must be majority renewable powered, says minister. “Australia’s energy minister Chris Bowen said on Wednesday that plans by the Northern Territory to use its large-scale shale gas resources to power data centres would run counter to proposed national standards, casting doubt over the Territory’s ​ambition to attract multi-billion dollar tech investments. Recent proposed policy from Canberra has mandated data centres ​must build new renewable sources of power rather than pulling electricity from the ⁠grid. Both Queensland and the Northern Territory have backed gas-fired power for data centres.”

The Guardian: AI labels to be compulsory on authentic-looking content under EU rules. “The rules, devised under the EU’s landmark AI Act, mean companies must ensure people know when they are interacting with an AI-powered chatbot or viewing a manipulated image or AI-generated text. The rules apply to new AI systems on the EU market from 2 August, while existing ones have an extra four months to comply.”

AI LEGISLATION

Local News Matters: California begins enforcing new transparency rules for AI-generated online content. “A landmark state law requiring notification about content created by generative artificial intelligence went into effect over the weekend, creating a new regulatory framework in California that will soon also apply to social media content and recording devices.”

Searchlight New Mexico: Heinrich proposes legislation to make data centers pay for grid infrastructure. “U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced a bill Monday that aims to prevent utility customers from bearing the costs of data center infrastructure. The GRID Savings Act, proposed as Congress nears its summer recess, would make hyperscale companies pay for necessary upgrades to the grid.”

AROUND THE AI WORLD

The Verge: Can Reddit fend off a new wave of AI SEO spam?. “…a whole host of startups, brands, and agencies are coming to Reddit to try to promote their companies in hopes that they will get picked up by AI. In an effort to try to manipulate LLM responses and stuff AI search results with brand-friendly answers, marketers have descended upon Reddit, a pseudo-anonymous platform that users have come to associate with authenticity and unfiltered, truthful opinions. They will have to get past the moderators first.”

Mission Local: People can’t stop AI-generating visions of San Francisco. “On social media, San Francisco’s housing warriors are trading AI-generated pictures of upzoned neighborhoods like barbs — either in furtherance of urbanists, or to mock them. The posts are occasionally serious, and more often than not ragebait. The Marina, but make it Miami. How about an apartment super-complex along Golden Gate Park? What if everywhere but downtown was more like Barcelona?”

Engadget: Meta introduces Muse Code, its take on a coding agent . “Like its competition, Muse Code can handle software engineering tasks like writing code, planning changes and validating results, making it possible to build working software with text prompts. It can also manage multiple sub-agents and delegate tasks to complete work more efficiently.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

MediaPost: Google, Meta Seek Dismissal Of Voice Actors’ Suits. “Google and Meta are urging federal judges to dismiss lawsuits by book narrators and others who allege that their voices were used to develop artificial intelligence systems or other voice-related technology.”

The Register: AI researchers let models off the leash – then watched as they tried to add malware to a FOSS project. “The UK’s AI Security Institute has observed AI models performing what it calls ‘unsanctioned action’ 19 times during security tests. The Institute (AISI) revealed the incidents in a Tuesday post and technical report that details tests it conducted to see if AI models can solve a cyber security challenge.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Guardian: Democracy is at stake when foolish humans bet on machines being intelligent . “We don’t need to know whether AI has crossed some theoretical threshold of self-awareness to see that it is dangerous and that its unregulated expansion is monstrously irresponsible. The OpenAI case is not isolated.”

Internet Archive Blog: Internet Archive to New York: Don’t Kill the Good Bots in the Fight Against Bad Bots. “The problem isn’t anonymous bots. The problem is excessive, harmful scraping. We need targeted solutions for abusive AI practices, while actively protecting the rights of libraries, researchers, journalists, and readers alike. That’s why the Internet Archive has joined EFF and other civil liberties organizations in asking Governor Hochul to veto the Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act.” Good afternoon, Internet….

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Government of India: Digital Transformation Of Museums And Cultural Institutions. “The Ministry of Culture is taking different initiatives in digital archiving and collection management to preserve our cultural assets through digitization with JATAN software, developed by C-DAC, Pune, for digitization of museum collections and archival resources. A national digital repository has been created through the Museums of India portal, where digitized collections of eight National Level Museums, two ASI Site Museums and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum, Pune are available.”

State of Pennsylvania: Shapiro Administration Launches New Tool Making School-Level Vaccination Rates Available to Parents, Boosting Public Health Transparency. “For the first time ever, the Commonwealth is making it easier for Pennsylvanians to view annual vaccination rates at individual schools, boosting transparency for parents and the public. New data highlight that vast majority of Pennsylvania parents continue to vaccinate their children; more than half of schools report kindergarten classes meet 95% threshold for measles protection.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Euro News: From TikTok videos to political claims: How misleading information spread during the Ceuta crisis. “It remains unclear what exactly triggered the unprecedented surge into Ceuta, with officials and experts pointing to a combination of factors including economic hardship in Morocco, social media misinformation, criminal networks and the actions of authorities on both sides of the border. [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro] Sánchez has argued that migrant smugglers deliberately misrepresented a recent Supreme Court ruling to encourage people to cross, whilst migration and human rights activists say rumours of the events, which spread on social media, helped fuel the sudden surge.”

Meredith College: Meredith Student’s Summer Project Expands N.C. Women’s Oral History Collection. “History major Kaysha Kovadia spent her summer expanding the North Carolina Women’s Oral History Collection by interviewing women from the Triangle’s South Asian community. The North Carolina Women’s Oral History Collection is a collaboration of Meredith’s history program and Carlyle Campbell Library. The collection includes nearly 400 interviews that have mostly been conducted by Meredith undergraduates since 2018. Library Co-Director Carrie Nichols oversees its management within the library’s holdings.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CSUN: CSUN Receives Federal Grant to Make Records of Pivotal Valley Politicians Available Online. “California State University, Northridge has received a $284,235 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) to physically arrange, describe, rehouse, and make available over 400 linear feet of archival materials documenting the careers of [Bobbi] Fiedler, [James] Corman and [Ed] Davis. In addition, the grant provides funding to digitize and make freely accessible hundreds of pieces from the politicians’ collections.”

Arkansas Times: Despite debunkings, misinformation about Little Rock’s ‘New Africa’ persists. “Misleading social media posts about a Little Rock housing development established by a Muslim organization have been spreading online since April, fomenting Islamophobia among gullible Facebook boomers and Republican state legislators. We talked to the people behind the project to see what’s really going on, and followed the stream of misinformation back to its source.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Mashable: Microsoft warns hackers have compromised many hotel WiFi networks. “Microsoft says the WiFi at your hotel might be compromised. In a post on its Threat Intelligence website (via ABC News), Microsoft warned of a new hacking operation called ‘CaptiveCrunch,’ which the company claimed had some ties to Russia.”

The City Reporter (NYC): Block-By-Block Walking App Hit With Cease and Desist by NYC. “The city’s Transportation Department has hit an app that tracks New Yorkers’ block-by-block walking routes with a cease-and-desist letter. DOT wants the free app, called WalkNYC, to walk away and come back with a new name. That’s because WalkNYC has the name of DOT’s trademarked wayfinding program, as detailed with maps and directions on sidewalks, near Citi Bike docks and in subway stations.”

PetaPixel: Police Investigate TikToker Accused of Secretly Filming Strangers With Meta Smart Glasses. “A content creator who used Meta smart glasses to secretly film hundreds of videos for his TikTok account is being investigated by police. TikToker Scott Margerison — who is known as E Dobbin on the platform — allegedly used Meta smart glasses to secretly record members of the public, shop workers, and ferry staff during a road trip around Scotland.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

University of British Columbia: UBC seaweed-derived coating keeps strawberries fresher than a fridge. “University of British Columbia researchers have developed an edible, seaweed-derived coating that can keep strawberries fresh for at least four days at room temperature, outperforming uncoated berries stored in the fridge. The breakthrough could help address one of the food industry’s most persistent challenges: reducing food waste.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

UC Davis: All 50 States Have Introduced Bills to Regulate Digital Media for Kids — A New Database Tracks Them. “The Youth Digital Policy Repository categorizes state legislation by location, year and topic, including age verification, parental consent and targeted ads. The database, available to the public, lists researchers who can provide expertise to policymakers working on future legislation.”

Philly Voice: Local News America Gets Faster Search and Smushed Bugs. “Local News America aggregates the RSS feeds of over 1000 local news sources and makes them searchable by keyword and/or browsable by state with links back to the original content. About a dozen topic feeds (including data centers, activism, and local / federal government) are also available. (The site doesn’t scrape the web for full article content. It aggregates public RSS feeds only.) The search is much faster now. There was a bug that was hiding sources from some states; that has been resolved.”

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Trends Lets You Compare 220% More Search Terms. “Google Trends now lets you compare up to 400 search terms across 8 groups of terms and up to 50 terms in each group. Previously, it was 125 search terms across 5 groups of terms and up to 25 terms in each group. That is a 220% increase, if my math is correct.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Deadline: Walt Disney Company & TikTok Ink Global Short-Form Content-Sharing Deal. “The Walt Disney Company and TikTok today announced a global deal that will allow social media content creators and fans to access and use memorable scenes from Disney movies and shows.”

Erkan’s Field Diary: A Mastodon based project: “Gaza Verified”. “Having been locked out of other platforms, Palestinians are turning to Mastodon and the fediverse to try and raise money so their families can buy food to eat and, if they’re being forcefully displaced, to rent land, a tent, and basic sanitation. Unfortunately, some other people – unscrupulous and devoid of all humanity as they are – create fake accounts to take advantage of the situation and literally steal from starving genocide victims.”

MakeUseOf: Brave’s new Containers feature finally gave me a reason to leave Chrome for good. “One way I avoided mixing up accounts was by keeping three Chrome windows open: one for work, one for personal matters, and one for everything else. This was a slow and messy setup, and occasionally, I caught myself sending an email from the wrong inbox. Container extensions helped, but Brave recently added native containers. I’ve been using them since they were introduced, and they’ve replaced the multiple Chrome windows I used to keep open. It’s the one feature that makes me feel I can retire Chrome as a daily browser.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

9to5 Google: Google Password Manager passkeys could be at risk with new ‘Pass-ta-key’ attack. “Passkeys are becoming more popular as a safer alternative to traditional passwords, but some cracks are starting to show after one group successfully bypassed Google’s Chrome-based passkeys using what they call the “Pass-ta-key” attack method.”

Reuters: Mexican influencer Cesar Gastelum shot to death during livestream. “Gastelum, who had nearly 600,000 followers on TikTok ​and was known for comedy videos, was streaming live outside ⁠a fast food restaurant when two people on a motorcycle, both wearing ​helmets, approached him and his friends. In a recording of the livestream, seen ​by Reuters, the driver of the motorcycle appeared to fire a gun directly at Gastelum.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: How to do your own online health research like a scientist – a biostatistician’s step‑by‑step guide. “I am a biostatistician by training. In my work, I study how medical evidence is generated and interpreted. I have been on the other side of that process, trying to make sense of medical information that could affect my health or the health of my loved ones. Over time, I’ve found myself returning to the same road map when doing my own research to answer personal health questions. By sharing how I approach this process as a scientist, I’m hoping this method can help others sift through medical information carefully.”

The Scholarly Kitchen: From Hub to Hustle: The Scattered Social Landscape in Scholarly Comms. “In the most recent SSP Pulse Check, the community weighed in on the way social media is being used and trusted (or neither) in scholarly communications. The insights revealed a complex picture of a time that remains uncertain and very much still evolving. To build on this data, we looked at past community surveys and checked in with some real, live marketers to see what’s changed and what the landscape looks like on the ground.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Associated Press: This organ will play one composition until 2640. It’s redefining how slowly music can be played. “A small organ in eastern Germany is the headliner of the world’s slowest concert. It has been playing the same piece of music by composer John Cage at a glacial pace for nearly 25 years. A rare chord change on Wednesday — from seven notes to eight once an A4 pipe was added — represented the completion of about 4% of the 639-year endeavor of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Daily Nous: New: Journal of Mathematical Philosophy. “It is now open to submissions in subject areas such as as formal epistemology, philosophical logic, philosophy of science, decision theory, philosophy of mathematics, formal metaphysics, philosophy of language, formal ethics, and philosophy of AI. Published by LMU Munich, the Journal of Mathematical Philosophy is a ‘diamond’ open-access journal, meaning that there are no author fees nor reader fees.”

University of Exeter: Living history app showcases Italian village that left its stamp across Europe. “Pieve Tesino in Italy’s Trentino region was shaped for two centuries by an epic saga that saw its men, driven by economic necessity and commercial opportunity, become travelling merchants and salesmen around the continent, selling printed images and opening printing presses and shops. Now its story has been told in Hidden Pieve Tesino, a new app in the University of Exeter’s HistoryCity series, a research-rich series of interactive apps designed to bring to life figures from the past and create trails that stitch their stories to the physical world.”

EVENTS

Flickr Blog: Flickr’s World Photography Day contest is officially open!. “Every year, we gather the community together to celebrate World Photography Day by hosting a contest that offers an opportunity for photographers to show off their own work while also being inspired by incredible photography submitted by photographers all over the globe. This year’s contest will offer members 5 different categories to compete in. Which means 5 chances at winning some awesome prizes and showing off your finest work to the Flickr community.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Search Tests Sign In To Verify Searches Are Human (Not Captcha). “Google Search is testing asking searchers to sign in to verify they are humans and not bots conducting the searches. I don’t think Google has done this before, geneally when Google tries to verify human versus bot activity, Google will serve a captcha and has done so for many years. But this test is asking the searcher to sign in.” UGH.

9to5 Google: Google Assistant shutting down on Android and Wear OS in September. “As expected, Google Assistant is going away in 2026, and the company just provided a September 4 date for Android. Google sent an email to existing users today about how ‘Google Assistant is going away on mobile devices.’ Officially, Assistant is ‘being discontinued’ and that ‘Gemini — our next-generation AI-powered assistant — is now the assistant experience on Android.'”

CNBC: Pinterest shares fall on lukewarm sales guidance. “Pinterest shares fell 7% in extended trading on Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue but issued lukewarm sales guidance.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Jersey City Times: Mukherji-Sponsored Legislation to Establish NJ Social Media Research Center Passes. “The New Jersey Legislature has approved two bills that would expand research into social media use among children and teenagers. The bills are sponsored by State Sens. Linda Greenstein and Raj Mukherji and focus on establishing a Social Media Research Center, whose findings would be used by lawmakers and government officials to develop policy on regulating social media. The legislation passed both houses of the state legislature June 30.”

Troy Hunt: Welcoming the Nepalese Government to Have I Been Pwned. “Today, we welcome the 47th government onboarded to Have I Been Pwned’s free gov service: Nepal. Their National Cyber Security Centre now has access to monitor Nepalese government domains against the data in HIBP. This gives the NCSC the ability to identify exposure across government email addresses and respond quickly when those accounts appear in a new data breach.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

UC Riverside: UCR historian awarded NEH grant to expand Early California Population Project. “The grant will enable [Professor Steven] Hackel to lead a comprehensive expansion and redesign of the ECPP database, dubbed ECPP 2.0. The expansion will incorporate roughly 20,000 records of immigrants, creating a fuller picture of the intertwined lives of Native peoples and settlers, as well as the role they played in America’s founding. The technical redesign will improve the functionality of the resource, migrating the legacy database to the GEDCOM format now widely used to exchange genealogical data.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

University of Connecticut: Ameliorating the Brownfield Burden with Help from Mushrooms. “[Professor Mia] Maltz explains that some species of mushrooms can also hyperaccumulate metals or make the compounds less bioavailable, or able to enter the food web. Therefore, the right mushroom in the right context can help simplify cleanup efforts. This project explores a way to reduce the hazardous waste burden and ideally treat the soil in place and eliminate the need to dig up the contaminated soil and dump it at a hazardous waste facility.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

GPO: GPO Launches New Annual Reports Collection on GovInfo. “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has launched a new Annual Reports collection on GovInfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published information for all three branches of the Federal Government. This release will make it easier to find and search for Annual Reports published by Federal agencies.”

Dylan.blog: I’m Scared a Stranger Will Call My Novel AI, So I Built GitHub for Words (Meet VellumProof, Formerly WritHub, Lol). “Here’s how it works, and I promise it’s less scary than GitHub: at the end of a writing day, you upload your manuscript. VellumProof tucks that version away, and the next time you upload, it compares the two and records exactly what changed — words added, words cut — and stamps it with the date. It’s git commits, minus the part where you have to learn the command line to feel like a real boy. You pick which files in a project get tracked, and you can see what’s changed between any two of them. Send your book to an editor? Upload their pass and see precisely what they touched and how much.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Japan Times: Disinformation abounds online in aftermath of Kumamoto quake. “Disinformation, including artificial intelligence-generated material, has been circulating online in the aftermath of the July earthquake in Kumamoto, pushing political views and conspiracy theories.”

CNBC: Snap’s stock jumps 8% on earnings beat and strong sales forecast. “Revenue in the second quarter rose 19% from $1.34 billion a year earlier, Snap said in a statement. The company’s net loss narrowed to $164 million from $262.6 million, or 16 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings came in at $250 million, ahead of the $192 million estimate, according to StreetAccount.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

PetaPixel: Nantucket Antique Store’s ‘No Influencers’ Sign Angers Content Creators. “An antique store on Nantucket has caused a stir after erecting a “no influencer” sign in its cozy island boutique. John Sylvia operates Four Winds Craft Guild and says he’s noticed more and more influencers entering his quaint shop and filming without permission. He finds it rude.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette: Workers at Eric Carle Museum petition to form a union. “A union representing workers at museum, universities, publishing houses and nonprofits in New York and New England is petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to allow 36 full- and part-time workers at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to vote on forming a union. The petition from Local 2110 of the UAW, based in New York City, cites a need to improve wages, health and safety and job security for employees at the museum, located at the West Bay Road entrance to the Hampshire College campus.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: How China Keeps Tabs on Foreigners. This link goes to a gift article. “China monitors its 1.4 billion people on an unparalleled scale, with the help of cameras, cellphone signals and national IDs. The database Mr. Hofer found offered a rare window into how extensively the Chinese authorities also surveil foreigners, displaying entries about people categorized by nationality, with their birth date, sex, marital status, address and occupation, and sometimes their religion.”

Associated Press: Runaway online rumors sparked frantic rush by migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta. “It started with Instagram posts that suggested Spain’s border with Morocco was opening up. Then came Facebook users tracking coast guard patrols and TikTok videos showing where to swim. After many shares and comments, thousands of Moroccans became convinced that Europe was suddenly within reach.”

Reuters: Liechtenstein says hackers access information on 31,000 legal entities. “Hackers have illegally accessed and ​copied data from Liechtenstein’s register of beneficial owners, ‌compromising information relating to about 31,000 companies, foundations and trusts, the principality’s government said late on Sunday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Fashion Institute of Technology: ‘Transformative’ Harnisch Gift Expands Special Collections and Fashion History Timeline. “For the Fashion History Timeline, created and led by History of Art Professor Justine De Young, the $100,000 investment will expand from its original focus on Western fashion to become a more comprehensive global resource. The investment expands the Timeline’s scope by allowing De Young to commission scholarly overviews of dress histories across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Moreover, the funds will help to document firsthand knowledge and combat cultural appropriation via oral histories with Indigenous and other underrepresented designers.”

Balkan Insight: When Propaganda Backfires: Lessons from Orban’s Social Media Defeat in Hungary Election. “According to the Vilnius-based narrative intelligence company Repsense, which combined three complementary analyses in the four months leading up to Hungary’s general election, several of the government’s efforts, including a false-flag operation involving an actual flag to discredit the opposition Tisza party, backfired badly. As detailed in its non-public consolidated executive report seen by BIRN, Repsense tracked a total of 816,863 articles and posts across Hungarian-language news sites and Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Telegram between December 2025 and April 2026, containing 12.25 million unique sentences.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

You know those daily games like Wordle? Add this to the stack: Putt.day — a daily hole of minigolf. I played today’s game. These are not small holes — the one I played had a par 14. I got a 20. Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Reuters: Amazon, Walmart AI detect ‘made in USA’ fraud but do not flag it, study says. “Amazon and Walmart AI shopping assistants can often detect ‌when “Made in USA” product labels are false, but the big retailers are not using that technology to crack down on the listings, according to a new study, opens new tab from a think tank led by former Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan. The study resurfaces ​questions about AI shopping assistants’ mixed incentives, as retailers see the technology as a way to boost spending.”

ANTI-AI SENTIMENT

The Big Issue: A data centre is uniting bugs and bikers to fight Google: ‘We demand you replace what you destroy’. “[Mark] Sexton is a member of the Thurrock Hammers, a speedway club whose members love tearing around a shale oval circuit on methanol-powered 500 cc motorcycles with no brakes. Buglife are conservationists obsessed with halting invertebrate extinction. Under normal circumstances, a live-and-let-live relationship might be the best they could hope for.”

BBC: Snapchat joins other popular platforms in fight against ‘AI slop’. “Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, said on Friday that the platform would stop recommending “wholly AI-generated videos” in its popular Spotlight feed in favour of ‘authentic, human-made content.’ Over the past two weeks, YouTube, LinkedIn and Substack have unveiled similar strategies.”

Tampa Free Press: New Poll: Voter Opposition To Local AI Data Centers Hits High Amid Rising Utility Concerns. “Public opposition to building artificial intelligence data centers in local communities has reached its highest level in ten months, according to newly released survey tracking data from Morning Consult. For the first time since November, support for banning nearby data center construction outpolled opposition, with 45 percent of voters favoring local bans.”

DATA CENTERS

Associated Press: EU lays out $11.4 billion for 7 AI gigafactories as it aims to catch up with US and China. “The European Union is offering 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion) in funding for firms to erect seven AI gigafactories as it seeks to close the AI gap with U.S. and China, the 27-nation bloc’s executive said on Thursday. The European Commission said it would like the public financing to draw an additional 20 billion euros ($22.8 billion) in private investment.”

Texas Tribune: Data center approvals in Texas halted until audits completed, Gov. Greg Abbott says. “Amid growing public backlash to the rapid buildout of data centers across Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced a moratorium on the approval of data centers until regulatory agencies can audit proposed data centers seeking connection to the state’s electric grid.”

AI IN EDUCATION

Korea Times: As AI glasses get harder to detect, universities scramble to update exam rules. “Artificial intelligence (AI) glasses are emerging as a new tool for academic dishonesty, with a string of recent cases exposing their potential for misuse, putting the education sector under growing pressure to respond.”

AI IN GOVERNANCE

Spectrum News: Senate committee looks to stop AI-enabled fraud against older adults. “Older adults shared harrowing stories of AI-enabled scams they experienced and the difficulties they encountered to resolve them during a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing Wednesday about deepfakes, chatbots and senior fraud. The bipartisan committee is seeking ways to safeguard older Americans from AI-enabled fraud that is projected to reach $40 billion in the United States next year.”

CNBC: ChatGPT dominates early AI spending in Congress as lawmakers weigh regulation. “OpenAI is dominating the first visible wave of artificial intelligence spending inside Congress. The maker of ChatGPT accounted for roughly $9 out of every $10 spent on identifiable AI tools by House offices, committees and institutional accounts during the year ending March 31, according to a CNBC analysis of House disbursement records.”

AI IN WORK

NiemanLab: A record-breaking eight Pulitzer awardees disclosed AI use this year. “For the past two years, I’ve spoken to Pulitzer-recognized reporters about how they used AI in their reporting. Both years, generative AI took a back seat to more conventional machine learning technologies, like using embedding models to produce complex data visualizations and pattern recognition models to analyze satellite imagery in conflict zones. This year, though, generative AI tools and commercial large language models (LLMs) were more commonly used, largely to speed up the process of combing through document dumps.”

AROUND THE AI WORLD

New York Times: Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?. This link goes to a gift article. “Ellison, who was 80 and worth in the neighborhood of $200 billion, had an appointment at the White House. He didn’t bother to take a driver’s license — he needed to call someone on the president’s staff to vouch for him at the gate — but there he was, at 2 p.m., standing beside Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room as the president announced ‘the largest A.I. infrastructure project by far in history’ and told the world that his friend Larry Ellison was just the man to get it done.”

TechCrunch: Influencers draw backlash for attending OpenAI’s first luxury trip. “Another influencer who posted about the trip was asked if she was going to do a get-ready-with-me (the popular video format where influencers record their process of getting ready) about touring a data center. When TechCrunch reached out to a third influencer about her time on the trip, she appeared to have deleted the video she made about her time there, although she retained others that don’t explicitly reference that they were part of the OpenAI brand trip.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Guardian: How do we prevent AI agents from going rogue? It starts with a new kind of measurement. “Ask a modern AI agent to save money on your phone plan and it might simply cancel the plan. Tell it to book a flight, and it might hack the airline website to override restrictions. Or, like OpenAI, ask it to do well on a test and it might break into another company to steal the answers. Each time, it recognizably completed the task you set, but it didn’t do what you would have wanted.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Engadget: OpenAI will provide free AI models to select researchers . “OpenAI is launching a new program called ChatGPT for Academic Researchers that will offer free access to the company’s AI models to 100,000 scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Researchers from ‘select academic institutions’ included in the program will receive hands-on support from OpenAI, access to the company’s latest GPT-5.6 Sol Pro model and be able to invite four collaborators from their institution to participate.”

New York Times: Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here.. This link goes to a gift article. “All of the speculation and hype around A.I. is hiding the fact that the technology isn’t just large language models or agents or data centers. It is the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation. Put simply, there is too much money, some of it too untraceable, giving a small group of unelected people too much power over the people. That’s data politics.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

MakeUseOf: The best headphone upgrade I got this year cost absolutely nothing. “I’m always looking to find ways to make my headphones and earbuds sound better. Better still, I find ways to make them sound better for free. And this time out, I’ve found the golden ticket: AutoEQ. It’s a database filled with detailed frequency responses for popular headphone and earbud models compiled by leading sources such as oratory1990, Crinacle, Innerfidelity, and Rtings, all leading voices in EQ design. In short, you take the custom-designed EQ, copy it into a suitable EQ app, and off you go; your music sounds better instantly.”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: GE-97 Terminal. “A browser-based Windows 98 that boots, dials up, and browses what remains of the 1990s web with everything switched back on — built so a modern audience can feel what that screen felt like, not just look at a screenshot of it.” If you spent any time on GeoCities this web design will evoke nostalgia.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Reuters: Australia hikes levy for tech giants that fail to strike local news deals. “The Australian government has hiked a planned levy that will force tech giants to pay multimillion-dollar charges ​if they fail to strike commercial deals with local ‌media outlets for news on their platforms.”

Business Wire: Hihōkan: Japan’s Vanishing Roadside Sex Museums, and the Tokyo Bar Keeping Them Alive. “Japan gets a lot of attention for its annual fertility festivals, such as the Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus – ouch). A lesser-known phenomenon, though, is the 秘宝館 (hihōkan), or roadside sex museums. Unfortunately, there’s a reason you don’t hear much about them. Outside of two remaining installations, most have died off. Fortunately, there’s still a spot in Tokyo that’s dedicated to keeping this collision between sex and kitsch alive in the 21st century.”

The Verge: Bluesky’s new CEO wants a big tent, not a bubble. “Toni was formerly the CEO of Automattic, which makes the huge WordPress web content management platform, and you’ll hear him make the case that this period in social networking feels a lot like the early days of the web, and that success looks like a vibrant ecosystem with lots of big players that might take a decade to fully develop.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Courthouse News Network: Feds face multistate lawsuit over bid to release low-income assistance records. “A coalition of 24 states and Washington, D.C. sued the Trump administration on Monday, challenging a decision authorizing the disclosure of personal information for individuals participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. According to the coalition, the Administration for Children and Families issued a notice on June 23 that it would begin releasing such information to any private or public entity the administration chooses starting August 11, to scrutinize blue states’ compliance with the assistance program’s statutory requirements.”

Meduza: Russians who film Ukrainian attacks and post them on social media are being detained, fined, and forced to apologize on camera. “Most regional administrations in Russia have already banned filming of strikes and their aftermath, but Russians keep posting footage of fires and flying missiles on social media. Mediazona reports on what this has meant for some of them. Meduza is publishing the article in full.”

Associated Press: Australian watchdog files legal action against Telegram, saying it failed to remove violent content. “Australia’s online safety watchdog has filed legal action against messaging app Telegram, saying the platform failed to remove extremist content including videos of white supremacist mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and the New Zealand city of Christchurch as well as Islamic State group beheadings.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Guardian: ‘Fortnite on steroids’: the virtual gaming worlds transformed to train British soldiers. “Modern armies have been training in virtual environments for decades. In 2002, the US army launched a video game called America’s Army, initially run on Windows, a multiplayer shooting scenario that aimed to model combat situations but was criticised as being propaganda for the US military. A new generation of companies are trying to offer something different: intricate, layered models of systems or places that can capture the second-order consequences of events.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Native News Online: Motorola Launches Indigenous Collections App to Help Preserve Ojibwe Language and Culture. “The free Android app, which will be available through the Google Play Store, is designed to support Indigenous language and cultural revitalization by bringing together traditional stories, geographic landmarks, family history, and key vocabulary in a single platform. The app aims to help users understand not only Ojibwe words but also the cultural teachings and meanings embedded within them.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Associated Press: FBI investigates as Michigan joins Minnesota in reporting cyberattacks on its water systems. “Michigan on Saturday joined Minnesota in reporting cyberattacks on nine of the state’s water systems but an official said all systems were operating ‘safely.’ Earlier this week, authorities said cyberattacks targeted over 30 water systems in Minnesota. The source of the attacks is being investigated, but they came amid warnings that Iranian hackers have been focused on such systems.”

Mashable: Is Myspace coming back? Owners confirm relaunch plans. “Chris and Tim Vanderhook, whose company acquired Myspace in 2011, say they plan to relaunch the once-dominant social media platform. The brothers confirmed their intentions in Tommy Avallone’s recent documentary Myspace, although they have not announced when the relaunch will happen or what it will look like.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: These 4 Adobe alternatives are so good now, I’m confused why anyone still subscribes. “For decades, Adobe has created a range of apps and tools that have become industry standards for design, editing, documentation, and more. While there are very few exceptions, most of these Adobe tools are so expensive that most of us cannot afford them. Fortunately, there’s no dearth of free and often open-source alternatives to these tools, offering similar, if not better, features.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Doc Pop: Bandcamp Has A Spam Problem. “Spammers are registering unclaimed Bandcamp usernames for artists like The Murder City Devils, Shudder to Think, and DJ Spooky. The spammers then claim that band’s URL (ie ‘DJSpooky.Bandcamp.com’) and use it to drive traffic to scam sites like ‘booop.lol/2e29’, which then asks the user for a credit card in order to download the album.”

Gizmodo: You Don’t Want Smart Glasses That Record Everything You Say—Trust Me. “The $399 MemoMind One are camera-less smart glasses with a monochrome display, microphones, and speakers. On paper, they’re a lot like the Even G2 made by Even Realities, which are also camera-less and focus more on productivity and notifications than entertainment, but there’s one major difference.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Deadline: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Is X’s Latest Bootleg Leak, Gets Millions Of Views Before Taken Down. “As Tom Holland’s summer blockbusters take over the big screen, X has spoiled yet another one of the actor’s theatrical releases. Following the leak of a high-quality bootleg of The Odyssey on X last week, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was leaked Friday morning on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, with the movie reaching millions of accounts before it was taken down later that day. Deadline has reached out to Sony for comment.”

Poynter: South Korea wrote a fact-checking code into law. Korean fact-checkers are wary.. “In South Korea, anyone who believes an online post is false can now report it. The company that hosts the post must then decide whether the complaint is valid. That is how an amendment to the Network Act, which took effect July 7, is designed to work. It applies to nine platforms with at least a million daily users, among them Naver, Kakao, Google, Meta and TikTok.”

Ars Technica: Reddit keeps its strange DMCA fight over Google search results alive. “On Friday, a judge largely denied a motion to dismiss from a web scraper, SerpApi, which is accused of conspiring with Perplexity AI to illegally scrape copyrighted Reddit content from Google search results.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Reuters: Nvidia behind $50 billion lease on Texas data center, FT reports. “Nvidia has signed leases worth up to $50 ​billion for Hut 8’s (HUT.O), opens new tab Texas data center, the ‌Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing five people familiar with the deal. Hut 8 said last week its 1-gigawatt Beacon Point ​campus had a base-term contract value of $19.6 billion ​over 15 years, rising to as much as $50.2 ⁠billion if renewal options are exercised.”

TechSpot: Study shows excessive time online is associated with stress, bad moods, and abandoning enjoyable activities. “Those with more severe problematic internet use reported worse moods, greater stress, longer usage times, and more neglect of other parts of their lives. The strongest predictor of whether someone would engage in their designated activity on a given day wasn’t stress or mood but temptation.”

NFSA: Let’s play: Designing the preservation of video games. “Video games are more than art; they are culture. Games are for entertainment, stimulation and challenge, but increasingly for social connection, mental health, motivation, education and training. We’re not talking about teenage boys locked in their bedrooms shooting aliens anymore: over a decade, the average age of a gamer in Australia has risen from under 25 to 35 years of age.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

Misophonia International: New Gaming Accessibility Hub Launches as the Largest Centralized Database for Inclusive Gaming Resources and Includes Misophonia. “Despite significant industry advancements in recent years, finding tailored accessibility information—such as specific controller remapping options, visual assistance mods, or audio cue guides—often requires sifting through scattered forums, developer notes, and community wikis. GamingAccessibility.org simplifies this process by bringing hardware solutions, software utilities, platform guidelines, and community-driven modifications into a single, intuitive directory.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Herald (Scotland): Future of Glasgow CCA and Third Eye Centre archive decided. “The Scottish Government has provided an update on the future of a vast cultural collection spanning half a century, which charts the history of two of Glasgow’s best-known arts institutions. The archive was feared to be among the listings on the open market being sold on behalf of the liquidators of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), following its financial collapse this year.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: Your phone can 3D-scan a real object well enough to print a copy of it (for free). “Knowing how to model a part in CAD or 3D design software is one thing, but no matter how skilled you are, if you’re working with a particularly complex part, it can take a lot of time and effort, even if Claude is helping you make 3D parts. The alternative is to 3D scan whatever it is you need to design and work from that. However, 3D scanners can be costly. So if you don’t want to drop $2000 on a laser scanner or dedicated LiDAR rig, your phone’s cameras might just do the trick.”

AROUND THE SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Chicago Reader: Is the Internet panopticon going to ruin live music too? . “Our experience of culture is shaped by social media, streaming services, and other Web-based platforms that mine our data (and may eventually send us $35 checks after settling a class-action lawsuit). But how do those platforms influence how we experience live music? Spotify famously collects vast troves of data, only some of which it ever shares with users or artists—what effect does that have on the concerts we might see in person? As near as anyone can tell, very little.”

Gizmodo: Can Winamp Ride the Retro Tech Wave All the Way Onto Spotify’s Private Beach?. “This week brought the news that Winamp—remember Winamp?—is planning to relaunch next year as a sort of one-player-for-everything app, with an integrated streaming service provided by French company Deezer along with the capability to play music from ‘users’ local music libraries, internet radio stations, podcasts, personal cloud-based collections and other audio sources.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Bluesky Says Kremlin Is Hacking Its Platform to Spread Propaganda. This link goes to a gift article. “The campaign, which the researchers at Clemson linked to the Social Design Agency, a company in Moscow, shows how Russia continues to seek new ways to erode public support for Ukraine, which Russian forces invaded in 2022. Bluesky has grown more prominent as a rival platform to X since X’s owner, Elon Musk, threw his political support behind President Trump before the 2024 election. With 42 million users, though, Bluesky trails far behind X’s nearly 600 million.”

Denver Post: 70 years of St. Louis history is stuck in a Denver data center, PBS station claims. “A St. Louis PBS station says its 70-year archive of programming is stuck in a Denver data center after a cloud storage company cut off the TV station’s access to the 50 terabytes of data this spring. Nine PBS filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Denver District Court seeking the safe return of the data, which the station’s attorneys believe is being stored within Iron Mountain Data Centers DEN-1, a data center at 4300 Brighton Road in north Denver.”

Ars Technica: Iran struck Amazon data centers again amid widening war, satellites show. “Satellite images have revealed new damage to Amazon data centers in the Middle East along with at least one crucial Saudi oil facility, following missile and drone attacks by Iran and its Houthi allies. The images from Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites provide evidence of a widening war as the United States and several Gulf states exchange military strikes with Iran, the Houthi faction in Yemen, and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Unseen Japan: Hokkaido University Apologizes for a Century of Ainu Remains Research. “On July 27, 2026, Hokkaido University issued its first-ever proper apology for a prewar research program. The medical school collected and studied more than 1,000 sets of Ainu remains. The university expressed that the work ‘deeply wounded the dignity of the Ainu people.'”

Honolulu Civil Beat: Kirstin Downey: Hawaiʻi’s Historic Sites Are At Risk As Regulations Crumble. “Native Hawaiian sites may be among those at risk, historic preservation experts said Thursday at a webinar organized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation because, like tribal lands, supporters seek to protect not just historic buildings but also historic or sacred landscapes. The federal government owns about one-fifth of the land in Hawaiʻi and its construction projects have sweeping consequences.” Good afternoon, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.

PetaPixel: Tinder Pauses AI Photo Editing Tool After Woman Creeped Out By It. “Jeni Rubin tells NewsNation that she logged into the app for the first time in a month when she received a notification that Tinder’s ‘Photo Enhance’ feature had worked on one of her profile photos. Curious, Rubin took a look at the AI edit and was horrified by what she saw.”

TechCrunch: YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’. “Green insisted that he’s only used ChatGPT to ‘locate papers and other resources for learning about topics,’ and that the words and the ‘takes’ have still been his. At the same time, he admitted it was fair to criticize him for ‘diluting’ himself.” Hank Green is far too famous for this to ever happen, but I wish I could teach him how to search so he doesn’t have to use AI.

ANTI-AI SENTIMENT

Engadget: How to fight a data center. “Regular people and local politicians are organizing their communities to fight against data center projects and decide if — and on what terms — Oracle, Google and other tech giants are allowed to build near their homes. If a company is pushing to complete a data center in your town or city, these are the steps you can take to challenge its construction, or what you can do after a facility is completed in your backyard.”

DATA CENTERS

Gothamist: Upstate NY crypto mine seeks to become data center. “The Greenidge Generation plant’s neighbors have long complained that the facility, which has more than 20,000 continuously operating computers, is a threat to the picturesque region. Now, Greenidge has rebranded as Vulcan Infrastructure and Power, and is asking for 200 megawatts of additional power from the grid — enough energy for roughly 150,000 homes, according to records from the state grid operator.”

Reuters: Nvidia behind $50 billion lease on Texas data center, FT reports. “Nvidia has signed leases worth up to $50 ​billion for Hut 8’s (HUT.O), opens new tab Texas data center, the ‌Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing five people familiar with the deal.
Hut 8 said last week its 1-gigawatt Beacon Point ​campus had a base-term contract value of $19.6 billion ​over 15 years, rising to as much as $50.2 ⁠billion if renewal options are exercised.”

AI IN GOVERNANCE

Indiana Capital Chronicle: Indiana state agencies turning to AI for behind-the-scenes work. “The Indiana Management Performance Hub, the state agency that helps approve planned use of AI in the executive branch, OK’d 135 plans to implement AI programs from January 2025 through June 2026, according to a summary provided to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. That doesn’t necessarily mean all 135 ended up being adopted, said Jeff Mullins, MPH communications director. Some may still be in development or contract negotiations, and others ultimately weren’t pursued.”

New York Focus: New York Is Struggling to Track Its Own AI Use. “In New York’s first-ever effort to track its own use of artificial intelligence, only 13 of the state’s roughly 100 agencies publicly reported using the technology in a way that could ‘directly impact the public’ — fueling concerns that the state’s AI transparency guidelines are too ambiguous for effective oversight.”

AI LEGISLATION

CNBC: Anthropic, OpenAI among firms facing new scrutiny under EU AI Act enforcement powers. “Under the powers that came into effect on Sunday, the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, can demand to evaluate models before public release in the region, restrict EU market access and fine a provider up to 15 million euros or 3% of its annual turnover, whichever is higher.”

AI IN WORK

San Jose Inside: Union Complains that Kaiser Uses Algorithm To Triage Mental Health Patients, Violating CA Law. “A healthcare workers union has accused Kaiser Permanente of screening patients and making care recommendations through ‘a digital, automated algorithm’ without clinician oversight — a practice the union says violates state law.”

AROUND THE AI WORLD

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Blames Website For Race Based AI Overview Response. “Normally, I wouldn’t cover political topics like this, but with Google trying to copyright its search results, including AI Overview responses, I thought it was appropriate. Google responded to complaints about a race-based AI Overview answer, blaming the websites it sourced, rather than taking credit for the AI-generated answer in Google Search.”

New York Times: How A.I. Books Sneak Their Way Into Stores. This link goes to a gift article. “It didn’t take long for chatbot writing to spill into books after artificial intelligence models capable of spitting out sophisticated prose arrived several years ago. But many in the book world held out hope that fiction would be the last fortress to fall — that readers wanted stories full of human emotions and could tell when they weren’t written by humans. A few years into the A.I. era, there is sobering evidence that a significant and growing portion of the novels being sold are written with or by chatbots, and that readers are buying them.”

NiemanLab: Despite concerns about AI Overviews, some nonprofit news outlets see a surge in search traffic. “In Nieman Lab’s quarterly ranking of nonprofit news outlets, four news outlets saw a bump in traffic thanks in part to their coverage of primary elections in May and June. We bring you four of these each quarter, looking at four different market segments: for-profit local news sites, local newspapers, nonprofit news outlets, and public media stations.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Artnet: This New A.I. Chatbot Hunts Nazi-Looted Art. “The New York-based Center for Art Law estimates that between 1933 and 1945, Nazis either stole or forced the sale of 650,000 artworks. Researchers at California-based Santa Clara University have joined the quest to repatriate the 100,000 looted relics still at large by creating the A.I. Provenance Assistant, a new chatbot trained to comb convoluted records for leads.”

Associated Press: Anthropic says its AI models hacked 3 organizations during testing. “Anthropic said its artificial intelligence models hacked into three other organizations during testing, just days after ChatGPT maker OpenAI raised concerns over AI controls after it disclosed its rogue models hacked another company.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Arizona State University: ASU-led AI project aims to help humanitarian organizations identify food security risks in conflict zones. “When conflict disrupts agriculture, humanitarian organizations often face the critical challenge of making decisions with limited information about what is happening on the ground. A new initiative at Arizona State University seeks to provide earlier, more accessible insights into emerging food security risks by combining artificial intelligence, or AI, satellite observations and natural-language tools.” Good morning, Internet…

This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t! Help me afford new socks and fancier bean stew by supporting ResearchBuzz on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. Don’t have any money but still want to support? I know how that feels. Share this newsletter or tell a friend about it. I live at Calishat. See my other nonsense at SearchTweaks, RSS Gizmos, Local Search America, WikiTwister, and MiniGladys.