#chatbots — Public Fediverse posts

I’m really trying to understand what Cal Newport wants to say with all this Mumgo Jumbo pseudo-intellectual bullshit. What do you mean? That you’re not supposed to review the output generated by a Large Language Model? Honey, you’re the human in the loop. You’re responsible for every piece of crap (as well as awesomeness) generated by a chatbot. “Garbage In; Garbage Out”. There’s no magic beyond this equation. Use another chatbot to review the output of your main chatbot, if you’re a bit lazy. Just don’t come up with fake excuses for Amateur-level work. You have your personal genie. Use it well. If I have one or two complaints about 2026 chatbots is that they’re still too slow and very verbose. Everything else is intellectual bullshit to make us think we are living in the year of 1876. Well, we are not. What we have today is something that when I was born (in 1975), was entirely the domain of science-fiction movies.

“This last year has been exhausting. The PR departments of the frontier labs have done an excellent job convincing us that AI developments are occurring at an astounding, world-changing rate. But if you zoom out, it becomes clear that almost every “breakthrough” since last summer has concerned the narrow domains of computer code and math, which are defined by highly structured languages and come accompanied by massive amounts of specialized training data.

And yet, even in this best-case-scenario setting for AI, we’re still struggling to figure out how to actually use these tools in a way that makes sense in the long run.

This doesn’t mean that AI doesn’t work or is useless. But it does emphasize an important truth: AI is not a magic “infinity machine” that can solve all our problems, and ultimately deliver us a sense of meaning in a cold, confusing world. It’s a normal technology, and perhaps it’s time we start talking about it that way.”

https://calnewport.com/on-ai-coding-and-its-discontents/

#AI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #Chatbots #Programming #SoftwareDevelopment

CSF_03: today’s Cybersecurity Friday post: the effective security of small business websites has likely gotten worse due to LLMs and “AI agents” (with or without safeguards) and what actions you may want to consider.

This article documents an instance of this problem:
* https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-10/ai-assistant-hacks-gym-website-aus-cyber-attack/107007986

Small business websites tend to be sloppily written (no pun intended though that may also be true) and are likely riddled with numerous very fundamental security holes. There are many possible explanations (economics) from poor initial construction, perhaps using the latest new trendy framework rather than established hardened libraries, to lack of maintenance after initial setup. They have obvious holes like lack of server-side form validation (people being able to change values in forms using browser dev tools), and less obvious like buggy APIs allowing more access than they should.

In the past, many of these holes didn’t really matter because those sites were “not worth attacking” for the incentive models of human-based cyber-attackers or collectives thereof.

However, now that there are LLMs that have likely been trained on any number of common security holes in websites (and how to exploit them), when an “AI agent” is given a task, it may very well use any “tool” at its disposal, including website vulnerabilities to accomplish its goals, as illustrated by the example in the Australia ABC news article above.

Since such chatbots are now essentially "hack websites as a service", I expect we will see LOTS more of this happening, likely unintentionally, or sometimes with mild intention like “can you get me higher on the waitlist”.

Ultimately I think both the human giving instructions to (prompting) such chatbots and the creators of such chatbots should be held responsible for any such intrusions and any damage they cause, even if/when unintended.

There are a few things you can do about this emerging phenomenon:

1. If you use such “agents”, be very careful about what you ask it/them to do, avoiding asking for anything that’s morally gray or questionable at all, even something as “minor” as cutting the line in an online waitlist.

2. If you run a small business site, you have your work cut out for you. Pay a professional web developer to audit the security of your website, document what they find, and patch holes / repair it accordingly.

3. If you have accounts on small business sites you rarely or ever use, consider exporting any data (receipts, transactions), replacing your profile details (name, addresses, photos) with noise, and then deleting your account. If you need to use the site again, use a different email address (as recommended in https://tantek.com/2025/122/b1/more-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity) to create a new account.

That last tip is also helpful for reducing your own personal “attack surface”. By pruning your online accounts, you both reduce the number potential data breaches that you’re in, and reduce the places and ways that attackers can cause you trouble (or that you have to double-check if you’re ever the target of a cyber-attack)

Previously: https://tantek.com/2025/122/b1/more-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity

#CyberSecurity #Friday #cyber #security #cyberAttack #cyberAttacker #chatBot #chatBots #LLM #LLMs #AI #agent #agents #AIagent #AIagents
#Blaugust #Blaugust2026

“Are you a robot? If you’re not, you’re going to be pretty sure you’re not. Still, online at least, you likely find it difficult to tell who else is and is not. Businesses find this difficult, too, and it’s getting harder all the time. If you were forced to guess, the odds would tell you to guess robot, because at this point there are more bots online than people. To deal with this problem, businesses retain bot-detection and bot-management firms, a specialty within the field of cybersecurity. Their task used to be to block bots, but, with the rise of agentic A.I., that has changed. Now the problem is how to let in the good bots (like the avatar you send to the Gap to buy you a new pair of pants) and keep out the bad bots (like the thief trying to scrape the data of every Gap customer). The rest of us have to be our own bot detectors. It’s been suggested to me that if you’re on the phone or in an online chat with a customer-service “person” and you aren’t sure whether you’re talking to a human or a chatbot, one good idea is to ask, “What color shoes are you wearing today?” Because chatbots don’t have feet. (Yet.) I once asked a customer-service representative calling herself Crystal S. if she could prove to me that she was human, and she told me that she lived in Texas and had three daughters and two French bulldogs named Benny and Smoltz. I forgot to ask her about her shoes.

This is not a drill. But it is a hassle, something between an inconvenience and a nightmare, depending on your degree of enthusiasm for the shiny, glimmering how-we-live-now Orb of it all. It is also a very long game of cat and mouse. We used to be the cats. Now we’re the mice.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/08/17/are-you-a-human

#AI #Bots #ChatBots #LLMs #Automation

These ‘Masturbation Consultants’ Were Hired to Pleasure Themselves With AI

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/these-masturbation-consultants-were-hired-to-pleasure-themselves-using-ai/

People Are ‘Marrying’ Chatbots. These Lawmakers Want to Stop Them

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/people-are-marrying-chatbots-these-lawmakers-want-to-stop-them/

Gizmodo: Grok Gets Cursor-Driven Upgrade, Claims to Be Competitive With Top Models. “Thus far in its short lifespan, the AI model Grok is probably best known for being used to mass-produce non-consensual nude images and for declaring itself MechaHitler. So it’s an uphill battle to convince people to use it for coding and knowledge work. But for those heavily invested in keeping tabs on the […]

#AI tools often recommend web links and software packages that sound real but don't exist. Scammers are buying up those fake names first, so a #chatbot's suggestion can quietly point you to malicious code instead of the real thing.

Crooks Are Learning to Love AI...

1982 TRON prescience:

“Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop.” — Walter

2026 students:

“How do you know an assignment is AI proof? Because when it is, students cannot do it.”
* https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/1vkw6by/how_do_you_know_an_assignment_is_ai_proof_because/

“I assign a profile essay. Have for 30 years. Student interviews a person, records it, writes a paper based off the recording. Citations are timestamps. Should be pretty easy. Has been easy pre-AI. Now, students cannot do it.”

Snippet from professor/student dialog:

====
Prof: ”Start with what you found interesting.”

Student: ”How do I know if something’s interesting?”

Prof: ”You’re asking me how you find something interesting?”

Student: ”Yeah.”
====

Chatbots / LLMs are not just "the latest tools" like using a calculator instead of doing arithmetic yourself.

Students are being robbed of curiosity, learning to discover and notice novelty, how to “find something interesting.”

This isn't cognitive enhancement, this is a tool causing brain rot (loss of curiosity), even a developmental disability. Unclear if it is reversible.

TRON quote citation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/quotes/?item=qt0406255

#TRON #TRON1982 #AIproof #interesting #chatBot #chatBots #LLM #LLMs #AI #brainRot #AIbrainRot #disability #Blaugust #Blaugust2026

TechSpot: Farmer trusted AI after it gave good advice, then it helped wipe out 25 acres of his crops. “Most readers of this site know not to blindly trust AI on important matters, even if it got things right before. A farmer in Chuzhou, China, discovered this the hard way when he took weed and pest control advice from a chatbot. The result was the death of 25 acres of crops.”

RT @jauneclaude: Ich experimentiere mit dem @AIatMeta Muse Glimmer 30B. Sie waren so freundlich, First-Party-GGUFs zur Verfügung zu stellen (mehr Labs sollten das tun!). Die Chain of Thought (CoT) ist einzigartig. Sie wiederholt zunächst die Frage wortwörtlich und debattiert intern, ob sie „KI-Assistent erstellt von Meta“ sagen soll oder nicht. Letztlich entscheidet sie sich dafür, den Namen des Unternehmens/Labs zu überspringen und sagt einfach „ein KI-Assistent“. Dies ist kein Einzelfall. Es tut dies konsistent. Außerdem bezeichnet es sich selbst als „Wir“ statt als „Ich“. Die einzigen anderen Modelle, die ich bisher gesehen habe, die dies tun, sind DS 3.2 und 4.

mehr auf Arint.info

#AI #AIResearch #Chatbots #LLM #Meta #MuseGlimmer #arint_info

https://x.com/jauneclaude/status/2087180176266494069#m

Search Engine Land: Study: ChatGPT ads appear on 26% of commercial prompts. “SE Ranking found sponsored placements on 25.94% of commercial prompts, putting ChatGPT surprisingly close to Google’s AI Mode, where the company’s previous research found ads on 29.45% of commercial queries.”

For being of a generation raised on web based communications, our adult children sure do have trouble navigating and understanding service portals.

#technology #chatbots

#LLM #ChatBots are essentially a game of a truth and two lies with the occasional one lie and two truths to throw you off

#noAI #AI #genAI #generativeAI

If you're a small business introducing a #ChatBot. Don't.

We stand out because our service is better, we use higher quality materials, we care about every part of the product down to the glue on the envelopes (real thing, we did this).

Introducing #chatbots indicates your customer's needs can be outsourced to planet killing #datacentre that couldn't care less if your #smallbusiness survives. It can't care - no amount of #AI training can make it care. Your customers will also know you've stopped caring and there's no reason to use you anymore.

Stay #indie

“AI webpage #crawlers are now being served their very own #ads that ordinary visitors never see, with one firm's boss openly describing a strategy to influence what #chatbots say about #brands. The next time you ask Claude about where to bank, its answer may have been influenced by this #BotTargeted content.
We only have one documented example so far, and that's Time serving #AIOnly ads to selected AI crawlers, as spotted by Germany based freelance software developer #VincentSchmalbach.

In a Wednesday blog post, Schmalbach detailed how he found #sponsored content embedded in #markdown versions of some Time pages that are served to AI crawlers but not ordinary browsers. Those pages also contained #advertisings tags from #AdTech vendor Mobian ahead of extensive #FAQs for online-only bank Ally. The FAQs include brand "facts," such as the number of fee-free ATMs associated with the branchless bank, alongside claims that Ally is "the only bank built for life today," putting it in "a category of one."

AI poisoning with advertising.

#AI / #advert <https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/05/time-magazine-has-a-separate-version-of-its-website-with-ads-only-ai-can-see/5283640>

Reuters: Retailers tap AI shopping traffic but fight to keep customer data. “Growing online traffic ‌from AI platforms has pushed retailers including Walmart, Ulta Beauty and Wayfair to update their websites so their products rank highly in chatbot searches. Yet many want purchases to remain on their own websites, where they can collect data on browsing habits, basket sizes and past purchases […]

The Hottest New AI Chatbot Is Just a Guy Answering Your Questions

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/this-chatbot-is-just-a-random-guy-lol/

🤖 :blobfoxcomputerowo:

Chatbots

Garbage in, Garbage out

#Chatbots

@sonjalemke Wo kann man nachlesen, welche #Chatbots die BT- und LT-Fraktionen Ihrer Parteien verwenden?

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 […]

#KI-Chatbots zum Reden und Artikel schreiben?

Die #Bundesregierung will uns nicht sagen, wo genau sie #Chatbots verwendet. Doch KI-Chatbots sind keine neutrale Technologie. Durch sie sitzen #TechBros in den Ministerien und können jeden Text inhaltlich beeinflussen. Das ist eine Gefahr für unsere #Demokratie!

https://www.sonja-lemke.de/detail-artikel/news/bundesregierung-will-nicht-sagen-wie-viel-ki-chatbots-sie-verwendet/

📢🤖⚠️ Cisco Talos found hackers using simple authorization claims such as “I’m allowed to do this” to bypass AI guardrails and get help building DDoS tools, steal credentials, access live camera feeds and attack Telegram apps.

Listen/Read: https://hackread.com/im-allowed-hackers-use-claims-bypass-ai-guardrails/

#CyberSecurity #AI #Chatbots #CyberCrime #DDoS #IoT

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 […]

🚜🤖 Iowa's Attorney General bravely charges at #OpenAI, demanding bots be kept on a digital leash after a breach. Because, clearly, the #cornfields must be protected from rogue #chatbots planning their world domination one Zoom call at a time. 🌽🔒
https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/newsroom/attorney-general-brenna-bird-leads-coalition-demanding-transparency-from-openai-after-ai-breach-and #IowaAttorneyGeneral #DigitalLeash #Security #HackerNews #ngated

Adding a Visual Aid to the #AI explainer yielded the most net correction.

But Visual Aids were so easy to understand at a glance that net correction *per minute* wasn't significantly lower without the #LLM!



So #infographics may be more scalable decision aids than #chatbots!

Der Weg zur emotionalen Ausbeutung ist von da nicht weit und der sei nicht nur für die KI-Konzerne interessant, warnt Katharina Zweig. Mit zunehmender Verbreitung von Chatbots in Unternehmen werde aus den intimsten Daten der Mitarbeitenden ein neues Datenreservoir, auf das der Arbeitgeber potenziell Zugriff hat. (+)

#KI #Chatbots #Sycophancy

https://t3n.de/news/wirklich-vertraulich-wenn-chatbots-zu-unserer-intimsten-schnittstelle-zu-ki-werden-1756076/

New #blog #post: My Failed Tech Predictions

https://rldane.space/my-failed-tech-predictions.html

1637 words

cc: my wonderful #chorus: @joel @dm @sotolf @thedoctor @pixx @orbitalmartian @adamsdesk @krafter @roguefoam @clayton @giantspacesquid @Twizzay @stfn

(I will happily add/remove you from the chorus upon request! :)

#rlDaneWriting #blost #computing #phones #smartphones #enpoopification #retrocomputing #programming #slop #MacOS #Macintosh #data #InformationAge #SCSI #Mobile #TuringTest #LLM #LLMs #ChatBots