Zac Audette
@zacaudette.com
proud union programmer @bethesda.net (views are my own and do not reflect my employer)
photographer at https://zacaudette.com/
for new classical music performed by women checkout https://newdownbeat.com
photographer at https://zacaudette.com/
for new classical music performed by women checkout https://newdownbeat.com
Reposted by Zac Audette
Coding is only filled with drudgery if you don’t treat it with respect and as a craft. People don’t learn it that way in bootcamps, and startup culture and short sighted leadership don’t create an environment that encourages good work. The answer isn’t to turbocharge slop.
February 15, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Coding is only filled with drudgery if you don’t treat it with respect and as a craft. People don’t learn it that way in bootcamps, and startup culture and short sighted leadership don’t create an environment that encourages good work. The answer isn’t to turbocharge slop.
Reposted by Zac Audette
Reposted by Zac Audette
For my money, the way thousands of regular people are self-organizing to resist data centers is one of the most cautiously hopeful stories going right now.
www.themountaineer.com/news/no-cryp...
www.themountaineer.com/news/no-cryp...
No crypto in Canton: Town blocks data centers and crypto mining operations
Canton’s makeshift town hall in a tiny trailer was bursting at the seams Wednesday night with citizens united against data centers and cryptocurrency mining.
www.themountaineer.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:27 AM
For my money, the way thousands of regular people are self-organizing to resist data centers is one of the most cautiously hopeful stories going right now.
www.themountaineer.com/news/no-cryp...
www.themountaineer.com/news/no-cryp...
Reposted by Zac Audette
The AI hype train is on the fast track towards technofeudalism. This is why I keep asking people to look out the window and show me something different.
Unfortunately enough people are along for the ride and don't care where we end up.
Unfortunately enough people are along for the ride and don't care where we end up.
February 12, 2026 at 11:40 PM
The AI hype train is on the fast track towards technofeudalism. This is why I keep asking people to look out the window and show me something different.
Unfortunately enough people are along for the ride and don't care where we end up.
Unfortunately enough people are along for the ride and don't care where we end up.
Reposted by Zac Audette
Reposted by Zac Audette
They are dismissed as hysterical or non-expert or irrationally cautious.
Then you wake up one day and Peter Theil and Elon Musk own your water and your attention and your political process.
Then the men emerge to tell us what women told us a decade before.
Then you wake up one day and Peter Theil and Elon Musk own your water and your attention and your political process.
Then the men emerge to tell us what women told us a decade before.
February 11, 2026 at 5:55 PM
They are dismissed as hysterical or non-expert or irrationally cautious.
Then you wake up one day and Peter Theil and Elon Musk own your water and your attention and your political process.
Then the men emerge to tell us what women told us a decade before.
Then you wake up one day and Peter Theil and Elon Musk own your water and your attention and your political process.
Then the men emerge to tell us what women told us a decade before.
Reposted by Zac Audette
No one has seriously said LLMs aren’t important or that AI is categorically junk.
Some of us have said that there is something bigger than tech. It’s called power — governance, civic norms, etc — & refusal is absolutely part of how we think soberly about that power. Who has it & how they use it.
Some of us have said that there is something bigger than tech. It’s called power — governance, civic norms, etc — & refusal is absolutely part of how we think soberly about that power. Who has it & how they use it.
February 11, 2026 at 5:53 PM
No one has seriously said LLMs aren’t important or that AI is categorically junk.
Some of us have said that there is something bigger than tech. It’s called power — governance, civic norms, etc — & refusal is absolutely part of how we think soberly about that power. Who has it & how they use it.
Some of us have said that there is something bigger than tech. It’s called power — governance, civic norms, etc — & refusal is absolutely part of how we think soberly about that power. Who has it & how they use it.
Reposted by Zac Audette
I don’t really pay attention to charges of doomerism. I don’t know what it means offline.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 11, 2026 at 5:51 PM
I don’t really pay attention to charges of doomerism. I don’t know what it means offline.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
I do know that refusing a version of how the future will unfold forecloses on the power that actually shapes that future. That’s not disavowing that tech changes are happening but they are in now a given.
Reposted by Zac Audette
Gonna spam some of my own writing here again because AI industry people are bringing out that “black box” canard again www.techpolicy.press/the-black-bo...
February 11, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Gonna spam some of my own writing here again because AI industry people are bringing out that “black box” canard again www.techpolicy.press/the-black-bo...
Reposted by Zac Audette
“I think that people assume, because the pictures aren't real, that it's not as damaging,” Brewer told me. “But if anything, this was worse because it just fills you with such a sense of lack of control and fear that they could do this to anyone." www.404media.co/grok-nudify-...
'The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:' Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans
Kylie Brewer isn't unaccustomed to harassment online. But when people started using Grok-generated nudes of her on an OnlyFans account, it reached another level.
www.404media.co
February 11, 2026 at 3:22 PM
“I think that people assume, because the pictures aren't real, that it's not as damaging,” Brewer told me. “But if anything, this was worse because it just fills you with such a sense of lack of control and fear that they could do this to anyone." www.404media.co/grok-nudify-...
Reposted by Zac Audette
A heartwarming tale of how even if you aren't subscribed to Google Nest their cameras still upload and save "about three hours" of video which can be recovered in the form of "residual data" from "backend servers," surprising even the FBI who claims to have previously believed it was impossible
How Google played a key role in recovering the video from Nancy Guthrie’s cameras | CNN Business
A major breakthrough in the Nancy Guthrie case largely came down to Google’s technical expertise, a person familiar with the investigation told CNN.
www.cnn.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:42 PM
A heartwarming tale of how even if you aren't subscribed to Google Nest their cameras still upload and save "about three hours" of video which can be recovered in the form of "residual data" from "backend servers," surprising even the FBI who claims to have previously believed it was impossible
Reposted by Zac Audette
Police are using Flock cameras from Texas school districts to assist ICE.
Local police aid ICE by tapping school cameras amid Trump’s immigration crackdown
Local police assisted federal immigration agents by repeatedly searching school cameras that record license plate numbers, data show
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:23 AM
Police are using Flock cameras from Texas school districts to assist ICE.
Reposted by Zac Audette
Reposted by Zac Audette
The strategy for elections cannot be landslides to prevent them from being stolen. That makes no sense at all.
February 10, 2026 at 2:57 AM
The strategy for elections cannot be landslides to prevent them from being stolen. That makes no sense at all.
Reposted by Zac Audette
one chatbot told a participant in this study to go lay down in the dark when he was presenting with a brain hemorrhage... what are we even doing
www.404media.co/chatbots-hea...
www.404media.co/chatbots-hea...
Chatbots Make Terrible Doctors, New Study Finds
Chatbots provided incorrect, conflicting medical advice, researchers found: “Despite all the hype, AI just isn't ready to take on the role of the physician.”
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 4:06 PM
one chatbot told a participant in this study to go lay down in the dark when he was presenting with a brain hemorrhage... what are we even doing
www.404media.co/chatbots-hea...
www.404media.co/chatbots-hea...
Reposted by Zac Audette
Reposted by Zac Audette
7. Unlike other federal courts, immigration courts are run by the DOJ. That means Bondi/DOJ can reassign cases. And, right now, Somali migrants are being reassigned in bulk to Ashworth.
How Trump is rigging immigration courts against Somali migrants
During a December 2 cabinet meeting, President Trump unleashed a torrent of bigoted invective against Somali migrants.
popular.info
February 9, 2026 at 2:17 PM
7. Unlike other federal courts, immigration courts are run by the DOJ. That means Bondi/DOJ can reassign cases. And, right now, Somali migrants are being reassigned in bulk to Ashworth.
Reposted by Zac Audette
At this point, we should treat almost all the media coverage about AI consciousness, ethical consequence, personhood etc as downstream from AI corporate marketing and comms efforts. It’s all they have since the gloss wore off the initial excessive claims.
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
At this point, we should treat almost all the media coverage about AI consciousness, ethical consequence, personhood etc as downstream from AI corporate marketing and comms efforts. It’s all they have since the gloss wore off the initial excessive claims.
Reposted by Zac Audette
Reposted by Zac Audette
8/ For more on what kids are experiencing inside the Dilley detention center, read the full story by reporter @micarosenberg.bsky.social:
The Kids Trump Sent to ICE’s Dilley Detention Center
ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of...
www.propublica.org
February 9, 2026 at 12:43 PM
8/ For more on what kids are experiencing inside the Dilley detention center, read the full story by reporter @micarosenberg.bsky.social:
Reposted by Zac Audette
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Reposted by Zac Audette
“Having a job is horrible. Not having a job is horrible. … And that sort of thing used to bog me down, where now I’m like, this is actually kind of fucking hilarious. We’re just these horrible little meat puppets that drive to work and pay taxes to pay for terrible wars all over the world.”
Unemployee rages against the daily grind on ‘Cassette Tape’ – Matter News
Longtime Columbus musicians Bo Davis, B.J. Holesapple, and Mat Bisaro make a marvelous racket on their debut release, which will be available for preorder beginning on Saturday, Feb. 14.
matternews.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:24 PM
“Having a job is horrible. Not having a job is horrible. … And that sort of thing used to bog me down, where now I’m like, this is actually kind of fucking hilarious. We’re just these horrible little meat puppets that drive to work and pay taxes to pay for terrible wars all over the world.”
Reposted by Zac Audette
404 Media just had an ad during the #SuperBowl! We Googled "smallest TV markets in the United States" and bought an ad for $2,550 that only ran in Ottumwa, Iowa, population 25,000. That still counts
www.404media.co/watch-404-me...
www.404media.co/watch-404-me...
Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
WE BOUGHT A SUPER BOWL AD.
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 2:48 AM
404 Media just had an ad during the #SuperBowl! We Googled "smallest TV markets in the United States" and bought an ad for $2,550 that only ran in Ottumwa, Iowa, population 25,000. That still counts
www.404media.co/watch-404-me...
www.404media.co/watch-404-me...
Reposted by Zac Audette
Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
WE BOUGHT A SUPER BOWL AD.
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 2:34 AM
