WEBVTT - Tech News: Elections and Tech Clash 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.319 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.760 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, John van Strickland. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.840 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.159 are you. It is time for the tech news for 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.680 the week ending on November one, twenty twenty four. And 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.600 here in the United States, we are rapidly approaching election day, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.640 which is Tuesday, November fifth. Now, for those of y'all 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.960 eligible to vote in the United States but who have 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.800 not yet done so, I urge you to get out 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.800 there and vote. Do your research, look into candidates and 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.159 the issues in your area so that you can make 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.720 an informed decision, and go deeper than just sites that 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:53.040 are run by politically aligned outlets. Look for information that's 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.400 as objective as possible. It's very easy to fall into 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:00.160 a trap of misinformation or bias, and that goes for 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:04.000 any side. I'm not picking specific sides here, it's true 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.360 across the board, but for goodness sakes, get out and vote. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.320 It's one of the most important components in maintaining a democracy, 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.720 and the very act of voting is under assault these days. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:16.920 And I don't know about you, but I would rather 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.640 continue to have a say, even if it's just a 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.959 tiny say in how the country I live in operates. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:24.800 Now that we have that out of the way, let's 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.399 get to a whole bunch of tech stories that relate 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.560 to the election, because there are tons of those this week, 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.319 which is no big surprise. First up, some voters in 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:39.679 Pennsylvania received a strange text message this past weekend stating 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:43.160 that they had voted in the November fifth election, even 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:47.119 though they hadn't done that yet. Now, obviously that could 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:51.640 stir up some pretty intense confusion and negative emotions. If 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.760 you received a message saying that you had already voted 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.640 and you had not already voted, clearly you would suspect 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.960 hanky and panky going on. Now, in this case, it 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.840 wasn't any sort of hanky panky at the actual polling locations. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.800 It wasn't like the state department messed up. Instead, it 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.480 was with an organization called All Vote, and All Vote 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.040 had previously gotten into hot water for texting registered voters 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.239 to alert them that they were not actually registered to vote, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.360 when in fact they were. County officials in different regions 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.760 of Pennsylvania have warned that that particular approach was a 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.320 hoax designed to gather personal information from people that would 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.440 later be exploited against those people. Max Marvin and Kate 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:41.000 Bernard reported on this issue in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:45.040 a piece titled Pennsylvania residents got phony texts claiming they 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.600 had voted already Ignore them, officials say so. They also 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:54.800 quoted a contracted spokesperson for All Vote named Charlotte Climber. 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.400 Climber has claimed that this is all just an innocent 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:03.840 but incredibly dumb and careless mistake made when All Vote 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.280 employees entered some sort of typo into their system. So 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:12.480 apparently the original idea was that the organization would text 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.120 folks who had voted in the twenty twenty two election 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.240 and direct them to voting resources for the twenty twenty 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.760 four election. Now, why All Vote felt the need to 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:27.200 inform people that the vote they had cast two years 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.239 ago had in fact been counted is a bit beyond me. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.480 That ship has sailed Like I guess the message would be, 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.920 you voted in the election, meaning the twenty twenty two election. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.720 Here are some resources for you. But because it left 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.520 off the twenty twenty two part, it seemed to indicate 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.920 that people had already voted in this election. Now, that 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.040 seems to me like that messaging was unnecessary in the 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.640 first place. And if that messaging had been left out, 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.000 you know, the whole you had voted in the election bit, 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.080 there'd be nothing to talk about with this story. It 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.520 would just be a text message saying, hey, here's some 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.120 resource for you for voting in this election, and then 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.720 there'd be nothing to talk about. Climber has said the 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.960 founders of All Vote are progressives, but declined to give 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.880 more information about them, saying that there's a concern for 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.240 their safety and that people who might be hard right 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:21.320 leaning voters might do them harm. This is where I 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.479 say that while I consider myself a progressive, so I 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.520 would consider myself aligned with the people who are at 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.719 least alleged to be behind All Vote. I also think 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:38.240 All Votes operations are not great like they're not done properly. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.120 They were poorly thought out and executed, and if the 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.120 owners of all Vote are actually sincere, they're likely to 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.839 cause more harm to their cause than to help it 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:53.240 through these kinds of operations. Unless this was an actual 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:58.560 attempt to confuse and discourage people in say hard right counties, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.760 from voting, in which case that's just despicable, Like, I 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.919 don't care what side you're for. At least according to 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.560 this spokesperson, the people who own all vote believe in 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.679 the same things I generally believe in politically, I don't 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:16.240 believe in discouraging people through deception so that they don't vote. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.359 I think that's reprehensible. Whether or not that's what was 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.039 going on, I don't know. It could be that this 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.239 really was an innocent mistake and just a poorly thought 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.520 out campaign in the first place. Either way, a great 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.200 way to use technology to discourage the participation of the 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:36.640 democratic process. Speaking of unintentional tech issues affecting the election, 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.200 less talk about Colorado. So it seems that the Colorado 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.560 Department of State committed a major booboo, or, as Todd 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.040 Feathers of Gizmoto called it, a bit of an uh oh. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.280 This comes from an article written by Todd Feathers. It's 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:57.760 titled Colorado agency improperly posted passwords for its election system online. Yeah, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.960 that's not good. So what actually happened? Well, the Department 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.560 of State had a link to a spreadsheet on its website, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.440 and the spreadsheet included some hidden tabs, so upon casual glance, 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.839 there's nothing hinky going on. However, you can just choose 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.480 an option to unhide tabs, in which case one of 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:24.239 those tabs contained passwords for the state's voting machines. Yikes, 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.200 I hear you say. Now, it's bad. There's no sugar 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:32.680 coating it. That's bad. That's a terrible breach of security etiquette. 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:37.159 It is, not, however, catastrophic. Why Well, for one thing, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.520 these voting machines actually require two passwords. It's kind of 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.520 like one of those things you see in movies where 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.400 you have to have two keys to activate the nuclear 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.599 arsenal or whatever, and you have to have two people 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.280 across the room from each other insert and turned the 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.279 keys simultaneously to activate it. Well, in this case, the 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.160 voting machines require two separate passwords, and those passwords are 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:02.760 not collected together. So while a set of passwords were 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.520 available according to the spreadsheet, the other set was not available. 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.920 So even if you had access the spreadsheet and revealed 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.600 the tabs and you wrote down all the passwords, you 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.560 would still only have one half of the password component. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.480 But that's not at all like in order to actually 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.440 use these passwords. You would need to have physical access 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.960 to the voting machines themselves. Now, in order to do that, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.680 you would need credentials to be able to get access 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.000 to the areas where the voting machines are stored. They're 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.800 also under a constant video surveillance, so you'd have to 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.760 deal with that as well. Plus, Colorado uses paper ballots, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.080 so there's a physical paper trail of every vote cast. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.760 Voters verify that their ballots are correct before they cast 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.160 their vote, so even if someone did access the machine 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.000 somehow and messed with them, the paper trail would remain 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.840 a resource for verifying the votes that had been cast. 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.040 So while the mistake is a giant whoopsie and absolutely 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:06.480 should not have happened, the voting process itself is still reliable. 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.520 Of course, that's not stopping some people from using this 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.480 to bring into question the results of any votes that 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.840 are made in the state. In other words, this is 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:20.360 an opportunity to undermine confidence in the results of the 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.520 election ahead of time, so that no matter who wins, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:25.960 you can have some wiggle room in case your side 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:27.880 didn't win. If your side did win, you say, hey, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.960 look the system worked, and if your side didn't win. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.640 You're like, this is because our system was compromised. Now, 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.480 I'm here to remind y'all that for democracy to fail, 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.720 you don't actually have to prove that the system is broken. 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.760 All you have to do is convince enough people that 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.480 the system is broken to reduce their confidence in the system, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.439 and then democracy dies. That's how that works. Reporter Barbara 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.880 Ortute has a piece in AP News that's titled report 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:00.319 says crowdsourced fact checks on X failed to a dress 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.760 flood of US election misinformation. Now, I think that comes 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.760 as a surprise to absolutely no one. Before Elon Musk 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.559 carried us SYNC into the HQ of what was then Twitter, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.280 I maintained that was foreshadowing that he would eventually sink 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.480 the company, which hasn't happened yet. But goodness gracious, I mean, 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.240 I think the band is playing while the Titanic is sinking. Anyway, 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.280 the site had content moderators, and they did stuff like 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.640 act on tweets that were spreading misinformation, like they could 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:35.239 label tweets as saying this is inaccurate or this is misinformation, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.280 whatever it may be. Those days, however, are pretty much gone. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.200 X relies very heavily on the user community to flag 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.120 posts that contain misinformation. You know, these are folks who 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:47.839 are not necessarily trained to do that, or it might 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.400 include people who are actually interested in spreading misinformation to 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.400 start with. Now, to be clear, this community based tool 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.439 existed before Elon Musk took over Twitter. This is not 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:02.000 like Twitter did this in instead of content moderation. Now, 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.920 originally this tool was called birdwatch. But while it used 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:10.240 to be a supplemental way for Twitter to monitor and 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:16.000 moderate content, it's now taking a more prominent role because 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.680 content moderation is not really a big thing over at 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.240 X these days, there aren't that many people left to 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.240 actually do it. The Center for Countering Digital Hate took 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.199 a look at the community notes tool on X and 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.959 found that seventy four percent of the tweets the posts 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:40.319 that they sampled had community notes that were inaccurate or inadequate. 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.359 The sample size was two hundred and eighty three posts 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.560 that had community notes attached to them. That means that 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.360 two hundred and nine of those posts were not accurate. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.559 Now X maintains that the community notes feature is a 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.720 useful tool and has pointed to other academic research, saying 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.400 that it's a trustworthy source of information. So this is 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:04.200 not to say that definitively the tool is broken or 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.720 not performing as intended, but that this one nonprofit group 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.960 says that that's the case. For more information and a 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.440 more thorough look at all this, I recommend reading an 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.760 article by Ashley Bellinger on Ours Technica. It's titled Toxic 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:26.840 X users sabotage community notes that could derail disinfo report says. Okay, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.520 while we're on the subject of Elon Musk, which is 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.600 tangential to X, I suppose in PRS Bobby Allen has 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.160 a piece titled and Elon Musk backed political group is 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.720 posting fake Kamala Harris ads on Facebook. So yeah, we've 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.200 got more misinformation and election news headed your way. My 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.719 apologies that we knew this was going to happen. I mean, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.199 I've been talking about for months. But in this case, 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.720 Elon Musk has provided significant funds to a group called 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.240 Building America's Future. This group, in turn, has operated a 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.719 Facebook account that is called Progress twenty twenty eight, and 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.880 this account has published campaign ads that look like they're 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:14.479 from Kamala Harris's campaign, but in fact they are purposefully misleading, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:17.800 both to trick the viewer into thinking that the ads 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.560 are actually from Kamala Harris's campaign, and also by misrepresenting 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.760 Harris's position on various topics. Now, according to the First Amendment, 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.120 there's nothing illegal going on here. There's nothing that says 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:35.199 you have to be truthful when you're advertising with political speech. Now, sure, 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.880 you got to be truthful when it comes to advertising 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.280 products and services. For example, if I were to endorse 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.240 something but it turned out I never actually used whatever 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.120 it was I was endorsing, I could potentially face a 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.079 pretty massive fine for that. Like I could get hit 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.040 hard for doing that, My company could get hit hard 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:55.960 for doing that. But you know, when it comes to 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:00.520 informing people about, you know, where politicians stand on specific topics, 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.480 truth just isn't a requirement here in the US. Further, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.680 using the name Progress twenty twenty eight for the group 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.480 further obvious skates who's actually behind the campaign. So it 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.000 would be easy for someone to believe this is a 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.240 real ad from the Harris side. And it's interesting because 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.559 there are limitations for this kind of thing, I mean, 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.959 the use of deep fakes, you know, where you're making 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.840 it seem like someone is saying or doing something that 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.840 they actually did not do. That could be a violation 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.600 of policies. But an ad that ultimately does a similar 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.440 thing but without the use of deep fakes, that's fine, 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.920 which just makes me curious where the line is. Okay, 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:43.960 we've got tons more information about technology, including within the elections, 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:56.280 but also other stuff. But first, let's take a quick break. Okay, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:01.560 we're back. Meta held its third quarter earnings call this week, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.640 and CNBC's Jonathan Vanian has a piece all about the 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.240 Reality Labs part of that call, which was just one part. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.360 There were there were more things to talk about than 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.000 just Reality Labs. But you might remember that Reality Labs 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.680 focuses on all things mixed reality, so that includes virtual 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.680 reality and augmented reality as well as the metaverse. You know, 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:30.000 this supposed future of our computational approach, and you know, 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.240 this has really served as a great way for Meta 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.119 to spend tons of money while having to assure investors 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.680 that the metaverse is very much going to happen and 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.320 it will be the future of computing, and that's something 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.760 that stakeholders remain skeptical about. I think for good reason. 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.520 That's my personal opinion. I remain unconvinced that the metaverse 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.800 is going to be a significant thing. I really doubt 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.280 it's going to be the new means of interacting with computing. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.880 I just don't think that's true, but it could be wrong. 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.400 So anyway, the call revealed that Reality Labs had a 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:05.440 twenty nine percent increase in revenue, reaching two hundred and 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.680 seventy million dollars this past quarter. That's no small shakes. 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:10.800 Two hundred seventy million dollars is a lot of money. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.120 Keep in mind, Reality Labs most of the money they 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:18.440 make is through product like the Meta VR headsets or 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:23.320 the augmented Reality ray bands that Meta has co branded 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:28.240 with ray Ban. Those are the source for revenue in 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.480 the most for the most part, for the Reality Labs division, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.600 and two hundred and seventy million dollars that's a lot 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.560 of money, but it's not as much as analysts had 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.520 been hoping for. They had estimated that Meta would hit 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:43.720 around three hundred and ten million dollars in revenue from 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.440 the Reality Labs unit. Further, the division as a whole 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.160 chalked up an overall operating loss. So yeah, it made 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.800 two hundred and seventy million dollars, but it's spent way 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.360 way more than that. How much more? Well, the operating 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:04.520 loss is at four point four billion with a B dollars, 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:06.880 So yeah, you make two hundred and seventy million, but 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:11.120 you spent more than four point four billion. Yikes. Zuckerberg 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:15.000 continues to insist that vr AR and the metaverse are 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.880 the future, and he might be correct. Right, just because 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:23.160 it doesn't appeal to me and doesn't really seem to 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.760 fit with my concept of what computing really is all about, 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.560 that doesn't mean anything at all. I'm just one person, 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.680 but I've yet to see a demonstration of this technology 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.480 that convinces me that the pros actually outweigh the cons. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.680 I mean, you know, feeling immersed is amazing, don't get 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.040 me wrong. Like, if you can experience a really immersive 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:47.440 presentation of some sort, that can be really fun and entertaining. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.040 But wearing a headset for more than, you know, like 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.000 half an hour is a pretty hard sell for me, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.000 as well as for a lot of other people. And 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.240 you know, people who like me are prone to motion sickness. 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.480 If the is not done really, really well, it's a 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.800 super hard sell. It doesn't matter how good the experience 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:10.199 is right, like, sometimes our tolerance is pretty low, and 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.880 I cannot imagine using this kind of technology to do 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:20.040 work right. Maybe leisure activities, but work is hard to 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.800 imagine in this particular context. Now, it could very well 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.560 be I'm just suffering under the problems of a very 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.240 limited imagination and that this really is the future. I 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.560 just remain very skeptical. Jason Kebler of four oh four 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.919 Media has a piece that's got a great headline. The 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:44.440 headline is Zuckerberg, the AI slop will continue until morale improves. 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.440 That's a great play on a popular joke that's typically 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:52.120 about flogging anyway. As you might suspect, Kebler is not 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:57.480 a huge fan of AI generated content flooding various social platforms, 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.720 but he quotes Zuckerberg who said during that earnings call quote, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.200 I think we're going to add a whole new category 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:09.800 of content, which is AI generated or AI summarized content, 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.680 or kind of existing content pulled together by AI in 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:17.119 some way. And I think that's going to be just 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.679 very exciting for Facebook and Instagram and maybe threads or 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.080 other kind of feed experiences over time. End quote. So 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.320 that's all direct quote, including like the verbal stumbling now 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.639 in full disclosure, I actually don't mind using AI to 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.119 summarize something that I have already read in order to 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.879 like refresh my memory of the most important points, you know, 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.240 kind of like using it like a note taking app. 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.760 I don't mind doing that, but I do think it's 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.239 still vital to actually read the content first and not 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.960 just rely on an AI generated summary, because sometimes those 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.960 are not accurate or they misidentify what the most important 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.520 points are. I have less than zero interest in having 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.880 AI generated content populate my social media feeds as it stands. 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.080 I hate that a recommendation algorithm decides which posts I 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.080 see and when I see them, because I often miss 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.600 out on important, timely stuff because Meta thinks that I 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.000 should see that Facebook post later on, maybe sometimes weeks 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.280 later after it's been posted. Like I posted a picture 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.680 of me having voted. I believe that was on October 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.320 seventeenth or so. So anyway, it was not long after Georgia, 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.040 my area of Georgia had started doing early voting, and 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.199 I was still getting people just seeing that picture for 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:38.520 the first time and liking it this week, more than 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.919 a week after I had done it. So that tells 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:46.200 me that the recommendation algorithm is not serving this up 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.240 in a timely manner. So I don't want the stuff 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.720 that my friends post to be buried even further under 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.280 AI generated crap. You know, I'm tired of not being 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.439 able to see the things that my friends post. I mean, 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.080 there are times where someone appears to disappear from my 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.160 life entirely. But it's not that they're gone and they're 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.280 not posting or anything. It's that Meta has just decided 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.560 that I don't need to see their updates unless I 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.600 actually go to their page, and even then I'm not 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.600 necessarily going to see it in chronological order. And to 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.880 think that even this limited engagement could be limited even 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:26.359 more with AI generated junk is really upsetting. So is 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.680 Meta just trying to sever relationships between real life friends. No, 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:33.159 I don't think that's true. I don't think that's what 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.040 Meta's goal is. What the company is actually trying to do, 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.960 is what it's been doing for years, is trying to 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:42.120 keep you on its various platforms for as long as 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.359 possible in order to serve you more ads and to 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.240 make more money. And if your friends just aren't enough 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:52.720 to keep you glued to Facebook or you know whatever, Well, 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.720 by golly, we'll just have the bot's slave away and 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.800 the content minds to create stuff that does keep you there, 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.680 which is pretty gross. Oh and while Meta is looking 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:06.240 at a more than four billion dollar operating loss on 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.320 the reality Labs division, it's also looking to spend even 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.159 more money, largely on the AI side of things. So 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.160 according to CNBC, Meta plans to raise the low end 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.520 of its capital expenditures guidance for twenty twenty four up 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.640 to thirty eight billion dollars, So that's up a full 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.720 billion dollars from what it was before. Earlier, the low 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.280 end for expenditures for this year was going to be 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:34.080 thirty seven billion. Now the top end is forty billion, 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.479 which remains unchanged from earlier in the year. So really 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.480 the margin has just decreased, right, It's going to be 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.120 somewhere between thirty eight and forty billion dollars, but it's 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.800 definitely not thirty seven that's too little. Zuckerberg says next 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.080 year will be even more dramatic, which kind of is 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:50.760 in line with what he's been saying for the last 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.000 couple of years. And as I have said repeatedly on 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.280 tech stuff, AI is expensive and running AI operations in 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:00.920 the cloud costs a whole whole lot of money. You 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.760 need a lot of data centers, you need specialized processors. 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:09.360 This racks up the cost of operation very quickly. It's 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.080 one of the reasons that I actually favor having AI 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.160 processing capabilities built into chips that are in consumer devices 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:19.919 and moving at least some or hopefully all of that 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.160 AI processing to the end device, because one that speeds 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:28.800 things up considerably because it's just handling your calculations, not 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:33.880 everybody's two. It vastly improves security and privacy because you're 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:38.760 not constantly beaming your information to some server farms somewhere. 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:42.080 As you engage with an AI application, it's not being 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.679 held in some server farm. It's not being used to 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.840 train the next generation of large language models. It's just 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.199 you interacting with your device. So I much prefer that 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:57.080 approach to AI interactions than the cloud based ones. But 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.600 that's really a topic for another time now. Like reality labs, 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:04.680 the AI costs are something Zuckerberg doesn't really shy away from. 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:07.960 He just wades right into it. He says it's a 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:12.560 necessary cost in order to establish the infrastructure for future platforms, 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.879 and again he might be right, like, maybe this is 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:19.000 the future and he's just getting the work done early, 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.760 and it's very painful because it's very expensive and it's 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:24.080 not paying off right away, but that in the long 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:28.320 run it sets the groundwork that allows Meta to prosper. 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:31.120 But in the meantime, the market has been a little critical. 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:35.760 Shortly after the earnings call, in after market trading, the 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.320 stock price for Meta took a bit of a dip. 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.280 So it seems to me that investors are getting a 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:46.960 little anxious and tired of these reports about the company 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:51.040 spending so much money on reality labs and AI when 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:57.080 the payoff for those investments is pretty far down the road. Personally, 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:01.600 I think in general that preparing for the long term 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.040 is a better approach than just focusing on the short term. So, 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:07.760 you know, I feel conflicted about this because I do 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:10.600 think that if you're going to really invest in a 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:14.480 company's future, being willing to do that and know that 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:17.720 you're not going to see returns right away takes a 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:21.000 lot of bold decision making and ultimately can be the 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:24.280 best thing for the company. On the flip side, I 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.880 remain unconvinced that the metaverse and AI is really going 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:31.520 to give Meta the ability to stand apart from other 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:34.879