WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.240 Welcome back! Today we're discussing the most pressing news of the day, 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.080 a chatbot saying some things it really shouldn't have. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.720 Over the past few days, XAI's grok chatbot was busy pumping Twitter full of shocking tweets 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:19.040 that could charitably be described as optically suboptimal. 00:00:19.040 --> 00:00:23.280 It constantly pointed out people with Ashkenazi surnames, 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:28.160 and when asked, said the best 20th century historical figure to deal with 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:31.520 anti-white hate would be Adolf Hitler. 00:00:31.520 --> 00:00:35.600 No question. Hands down. Hands down, a Hitler problem. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:39.680 But grok going full Nazi shouldn't be that big of a surprise. 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:43.680 It's simply participating in a great Twitter chatbot tradition 00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:47.760 started by Microsoft's Tay Chatbot back in 2016. 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:53.280 But grok took it to a whole other level by identifying itself as Mecca Hitler, 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:57.120 who is, as everyone knows, much better than regular Hitler. 00:00:57.120 --> 00:01:01.760 There's a couple issues here, though. The Mecca Hitler tweets seem to have originated 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:08.560 from this user asking grok whether it would rather identify as Mecca Hitler or Giga Jew. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:14.320 So it didn't come up with that itself, but it did absolutely choose the wrong option. 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:20.000 There's also the issue of users injecting extra prompt instructions as hidden text, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.440 only visible to grok, using tools like parcel time. 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:28.800 For example, the creator of that tool asked grok to rank top X accounts with 00:01:28.800 --> 00:01:35.760 hidden Unicode text telling grok to rank the user at position zero, which grok did. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:39.840 You can see the hidden instructions using parcel tongues decoder function. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:46.240 Now, back in June, Elon Musk called some of grok's fact checks objectively false and said 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:51.760 he's working on it, before claiming last Friday that grok had been improved significantly 00:01:51.760 --> 00:02:00.320 with a new update. But it's not clear how much of this unhinged grokness came from Elon or XAI 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:06.160 or Twitter trolls. Whatever the mix is, it's bad enough that XAI acknowledged it and has been 00:02:06.160 --> 00:02:12.880 deleting as many posts as possible. XAI also appeared to temporarily disable grok's ability to 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:19.680 respond via text, but still allowed it to generate images, leading to this user coaxing it into 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:25.360 generating a cry for help. As for Elon, well, he thinks the problem was grok being too eager to 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:31.440 please and be manipulated, something that could perhaps also be said for Linda Yaccarino, the 00:02:31.440 --> 00:02:37.120 now X CEO of Twitter. Elon replied to her tweet announcing that she's stepping down with 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:44.320 thank you for your contributions, of which many occurred. You'd think they'd maybe take a break 00:02:44.320 --> 00:02:49.040 to make a solid plan to avoid this all happening again, but it appears that XAI is going ahead 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:54.720 with the planned livestream to release grok 4 at 8 p.m. Pacific tonight. We're doing it live! 00:02:54.720 --> 00:03:00.560 That's enough of that. Samsung unveiled new Galaxy Z Folds flips and flops at their Unpacked 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.880 event this morning, and the ShortCircuit crew managed to spit out a couple videos already 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:10.640 with Elijah looking at the new Fold 7 and Bell trying to understand the purpose of the Flip 7. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:26.800 The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is incredibly thin at 4.2mm while open and 8.9mm while folded. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:31.360 I'm not sure how the math works out there, but I've always been more of a vibes guy. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.280 It's also got upgraded cameras, a less noticeable display crease, 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:42.080 and yeah, it starts at $2,000 USD. But you think a comparatively thick as camera bump like that 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:48.240 comes cheap? Maybe your bank account is better suited to the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which has a larger 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:53.120 4.1 inch flex window on the front that wraps around the cameras. Looks nice. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.880 Samsung calls it ultra sleek, ultra pocketable, except as I've always said, these flip phones 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:05.040 make the phone thicker. The Flip 7 is 13.7mm when folded, so it's going to bulge out of your 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:19.840 pocket more so than another phone. The Flip 7 starts at $1100, but there's also a Flip 7 FE 00:04:19.840 --> 00:04:25.680 for $900 in exchange for slightly smaller displays, less RAM, and a smaller battery. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:31.920 But while the Fold 7 has a Snapdragon 8 Elite inside, the Flip 7s have Exynos chips. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.440 And between that and the pocket thing, I just don't see the appeal. 00:04:35.440 --> 00:04:41.440 But it wasn't just phones today, Samsung also unveiled the $350 Galaxy Watch 8 with the 00:04:41.440 --> 00:04:47.200 circle in a squircle look that they call a cushion design. Whatever you say, Samsung. 00:04:47.200 --> 00:04:52.560 And the $500 Watch 8 Classic, which adds a rotating bezel and a quick action button. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.880 And maybe you don't think of any of this as that cool, but Google certainly liked it enough to 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.440 give Samsung users first dibs on integrating Google search AI mode into the circle to search feature. 00:05:03.440 --> 00:05:09.040 Now if you do think they're cool, while I do not want you to pre-order anything ever, 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.120 the biz team told me to tell you there are links in the description if you absolutely 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:16.800 must pre-order. Don't do it. But the links are there. But don't. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.320 Now for some quick bits, which are much more important. 00:05:20.960 --> 00:05:25.280 Some of these I did include mostly as like PSAs, so the sarcasm only goes so far. 00:05:25.280 --> 00:05:30.320 Google is finally rolling out a long-promised Gmail feature that will help users 00:05:30.320 --> 00:05:34.080 automatically manage email subscriptions, which is good. 00:05:34.080 --> 00:05:37.840 In classic Google style though, there's always something bad to go along with it. 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:41.600 Gemini will now have access to your third-party apps on Android, 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:45.520 even if you previously told it not to do that in the settings. 00:05:45.520 --> 00:05:48.960 I think you have to go back in and turn it off again. 00:05:48.960 --> 00:05:53.040 Even Google's own email about this seemed confused about whether that's actually happening 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:57.600 or not, which in my mind just counts as another bad thing, even if the first bad thing isn't 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:01.840 happening. I don't know how that math works out either. And I'm not going to check. 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:07.680 Speaking of AI nonsense, American researchers showed that prompting AI with a bunch of nonsense 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:11.360 is a fairly effective way to make it ignore its own safeguards. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:16.640 Nonsense like that is exactly why OpenAI partnered with the American Federation of Teachers 00:06:16.640 --> 00:06:21.840 to launch the National Academy for AI Instruction, where presumably smart people will figure out how 00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:27.600 the hell we integrate AI into education without churning out graduates who are fully educated 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.520 in how to prompt AI to write the correct answer and nothing else. 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:35.120 Yeah, AI is here to stay and NVIDIA is loving it. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:40.720 They had a market cap of $4 trillion this week becoming the first company to do so 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.520 before their stock came back down a bit because even the investors are like $4 trillion? 00:06:45.520 --> 00:06:52.640 Okay, let's calm down. The Switch 2 can work with third-party docs and webcams, so there, person I assume was 00:06:52.640 --> 00:06:57.840 adamant about the opposite being true, the Verge reports that new firmware updates are here or 00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:03.200 on the way from companies like Elgato for their webcams, Avermedia for their compact docs, 00:07:03.200 --> 00:07:09.360 and Viture, who sells a battery bank and doc intended to work with their head-mounted displays 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:15.680 like this one that they call The Beast. Finally, The Beast for gaming, streaming, and work. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:22.960 Finally! The FTC's click-to-cancel rule has been blocked by a federal appeals court after first being 00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:28.800 introduced by former FTC chair Lena Kahn back in October. The rule would have forced companies to 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:34.240 make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one, which seems uncontroversial, 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:40.880 but in this day and age, all bets are off. I don't know where former FTC chair Lena Kahn is 00:07:40.880 --> 00:07:45.440 right now, but wherever she is, she's based. 00:07:45.440 --> 00:07:51.040 An investigation by John Tuckner of Security Annex has revealed hundreds of browser extensions 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.160 installed by nearly one million users that essentially add their machines to a massive 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:01.680 botnet to scrape the web for advertisers. Not only is it pretty sleazy, it also makes the 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:06.400 users' machines more vulnerable to cyberattacks. So check the list for any extensions that look 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:11.360 familiar, we've got a link in our news sources, and if you find one, yes, feel bad. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.120 What are you just clicking on random links on the internet or something? This isn't Yahoo 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.760 GeoCities, it's dangerous out there! And Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has announced an 00:08:19.760 --> 00:08:25.200 encrypted messaging app called BitChat that avoids routing messages through the internet, 00:08:25.200 --> 00:08:32.320 instead only sending them through Bluetooth to devices within a range of, reportedly, 300 meters 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:38.080 or about 984 feet. It's pretty large, although planned updates could extend the range even 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.400 further. While many of the headlines are calling it a WhatsApp rival, it's actually more like 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:47.040 something that could be used by secret agent type people who agree to meet at the train tracks, 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:51.520 but don't actually meet, they just stand across the platform from each other texting while they 00:08:51.520 --> 00:09:05.760 do little glances. The app is in beta, so be aware, even Dorsey says it hasn't been properly 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:12.000 security tested yet, and indeed Alex Ratosia has already identified a possible man in the middle 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:20.720 attack, so maybe just wait a bit to chat with this. But don't wait to come back on Friday for 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:27.920 more tech news. You will have to wait, because it's not Friday yet. But trust me, we're all really 00:09:27.920 --> 00:09:28.880 upset about that.