THE ATLANTIC – Technology | Internet & Technology

Arguably the most remarkable aspect of the aftermath of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination is how irrelevant its actual perpetrator was to the immediate discourse. I saw the finger-pointing online even before I saw the news that Kirk had been shot. At that point, there was hardly any information about the incident—let alone details about the shooter or a motive. Yet there was plenty of blame to go around: Elon Musk posted on X that “the Left is the party of murder,” even before Kirk’s shocking death had been confirmed. Others blamed the shooting on the media, NGOs, and billionaire Democrat fundraisers.This is the algorithmic internet at work. It abhors an information vacuum and, in the absence of facts or credible information, gaps are quickly filled with rage bait, conspiracy theorizing, doomerism, and vitriol.If one thing has united the discourse in the past 48 hours, it has been a… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Editor’s note: This analysis is part of The Atlantic’s investigation into how YouTube videos are taken to train AI tools. You can use the search tool directly here, to see whether videos you’ve created or watched are included in the data sets. This work is part of AI Watchdog, The Atlantic’s ongoing investigation into the generative-AI industry.When Jon Peters uploaded his first video to YouTube in 2010, he had no idea where it would lead. He was a professional woodworker running a small business who decided to film himself making a dining table with some old legs he had found in a barn. It turned out that people liked his candid style, and as he posted more videos, a fan base began to grow. “All of a sudden there’s people who appreciate the work I’m doing,” he told me. “The comments were a motivator.” Fifteen years later, his channel has… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Editor’s note: This search tool is part of The Atlantic’s investigation into how YouTube videos are taken to train AI tools. You can read an analysis about these data sets here. This work is part of AI Watchdog, The Atlantic’s ongoing investigation into the generative-AI industry.(A note for users: Just because a video appears in these data sets does not mean it was used for training by AI companies, which could choose to omit certain videos when developing their products.) ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Looking back, I don’t know what exactly I was expecting when I opened “Request No. 1,” the PDF file containing the contents of Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th-birthday book. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and co-conspirator, created the book in 2003 by soliciting tributes from the financier’s friends and associates. Given the crimes Epstein was convicted of, I steeled myself before scrolling. Somehow, my internet-addled imagination failed me. This book is a nightmare.The book was released yesterday by Congress after Epstein’s estate, which was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, provided a copy. It is the same book that contains the now-infamous letter and “bawdy” sketch from Donald Trump that ends: “May every day be another wonderful secret.” When The Wall Street Journal reported on the letter’s existence in July, the newspaper described it but did not republish the letter itself, so Trump vehemently denied that it was real and sued for… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

The Trumps have never been known for their subtlety: They like to do things fast, big, and loud. This is especially so in the context of cryptocurrency, a noisy and chaotic industry by nature. Remember our president’s collection of NFTs? Among the depictions on these digital trading cards is a portrait of Donald Trump in an Iron Man–inspired suit, accompanied by the caption “SUPERTRUMP.” Or how about the $TRUMP meme coin and accompanying gamified gala dinner for its biggest investors?It has been easy, in part because of the bluster of the Trumps’ approach to promotion, to discount the family’s dalliances in crypto as a cash grab: The meme coin—which has no function except to facilitate gambling—almost immediately made Trump a crypto billionaire. But recently, the family has taken a decidedly different tack—less Trumpian bombast, and more sober promotion of its crypto businesses. On Wednesday, Eric Trump joined CNBC after American… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.