A content warning for the free section of this episode. Emanuel explains a massive investigation of his into how Civitai, the a16z funded AI platform, generated images that “could be categorized as child pornography,” according to internal Slack chats and more. This is a difficult, complicated, but important story. I'll leave it at that. Then in the subscriber's only section, we talk about Jason's investigation into pickleball turf wars. Remember to check out the video archive of our recent FOIA...
Dec 06, 2023•46 min•Ep. 16
So much drama this episode but with an important message behind it all. For the first half, Sam and Jason break down their stories about Eduards Sizovs, a tech conference founder who listed a fake, "auto-generated" woman as a conference speaker. Sizovs is also behind a highly popular woman-in-tech account. There are layers here. After the break, Jason explains how Plex is leaking users' viewing habits to one another. Then in the subscribers-only section, Joseph runs us through how an established...
Nov 29, 2023•49 min•Ep. 15
Well that was a lot of drama in the world of OpenAI. Fear not, we have a unique angle on how the person in the running to be OpenAI's new CEO was a character in a Harry Potter fanfic that was written deliberately as a recruiting tool to the effective altruist movement. That's definitely a sentence. After the break Sam talks about how Twitter is pushing sex workers into a black hole, then in the subscribers-only section Joseph explains how he found that SIM swappers are gambling stolen Bitcoin at...
Nov 23, 2023•41 min•Ep. 14
We recorded this immediately after publishing some breaking news: we discovered that venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is funding Civitai, an AI marketplace we've repeatedly shown is an engine for nonconsensual AI porn. Just this week Emanuel reported Civitai had introduced a "bounty" system, that financially rewards people for making AI-models of specific targets. We talk about both stories in the first section of the podcast. Then after the break of this episode of "The Emanuel M...
Nov 15, 2023•37 min•Ep. 13
This week goes in all sorts of directions. First, Joseph runs through his in-depth article on Fusus, a surveillance company that took over one small American town with AI-powered cameras. Now, they're everywhere, both in the U.S. and increasingly abroad. After the break, Sam tells us how attendees of an NFT conference got more than they bargained for, and ended up getting (temporarily) blinded (literally). In the subscribers-only section, Joseph and Jason discuss their just published piece about...
Nov 08, 2023•36 min•Ep. 12
We're shaking things up with a new format! As well as the two stories available to all listeners, we have a third discussion at the end which is only for paying subscribers. We explain why at the top of the show. As for this week's articles, first Emanuel explains how YouTube is making money off a livestream of an open air drug market. After the break, Jason and Emanuel discuss their two stories about Israel-Palestine and the lack of archiving efforts and freedom of information. In the subscribe...
Nov 01, 2023•46 min•Ep. 11
For the first half of the show, we talk about a couple of stories around the Israel-Palestine conflict. First, Instagram "sincerely apologizes" to Sam for its auto-translations which added the word "terrorist" to sentences containing the word "Palestinian." Then, Joseph and Emanuel talk about their article about how verified Twitter accounts have taken the term "OSINT" and used it to spread their own garbage information. After the break, Joseph takes us through another story of his: a fascinatin...
Oct 25, 2023•41 min•Ep. 10
Content warning for the first half of the episode because it touches on violent themes. Emanuel takes us through how so-called AI detectors are, instead of clearing up the fog of misinformation around the Israel-Palestine conflict, may actually be making everything much worse. A crucial story for these ongoing events. Then after the break, we change gears and Jason explains a trademark dispute in the film photography community. Spoiler: everyone is mad. AI Images Detectors Are Being Used to Disc...
Oct 18, 2023•44 min•Ep. 9
This episode is a fun one. First, Sam takes us through her story about generating images of SpongeBob and 9/11 with Bing's AI. Why? Because a bunch of people found a way to create similar images even though they shouldn't be possible under Microsoft's own policies. After the break, we turn into an economics podcast. Jason breaks down what exactly happened when a bunch of credit card maxers (people who try to gather as many credit card points as possible) over saturated the market for Travis Scot...
Oct 11, 2023•41 min•Ep. 8
This week we start with a super interesting set of stories about how a small community has found a glitch in YouTube. It lets the group upload basically anything it wants to the platform with little fear of the clip being deleted. That includes explicit videos which were on YouTube for weeks at a time. Emanuel spoke to those responsible. After the break, Jason explains how he got emails showing that the LAPD wants a "partnership" with food delivery robots. The reason? These robots are constantly...
Oct 04, 2023•41 min•Ep. 7
Holy moly that's a big ol' episode. Jason is back and tells us how ticket scalping actually works on a technical level, and how Ticketmaster benefits from scalping. Sam then explains how AI chatbots with no limits are letting people explore their sexuality safely (please note a content warning for that one for discussions on sexual themes and violence). After the break, Joseph talks about a TikTok account that may be the next evolution in clout-chasing: an account that uses facial recognition te...
Sep 27, 2023•55 min•Ep. 6
On this week's episode you won't hear Jason because he is out on location reporting from a right to repair conference in New Orleans! Before that, he was in Las Vegas reporting on the ongoing ransomware crisis impacting MGM casinos. But you will hear Joseph, Sam, and Emanuel discuss a tool that ICE has purchased which gives it access to data from a pregnancy tracking website. Then after the break, we talk about the latest update to an ongoing sex trafficking case Sam has been following for years...
Sep 20, 2023•39 min•Ep. 5
On this week's episode Joseph, Jason, Emanuel and Sam first talk about something that sounds like a Harry Styles story, but it's actually an artificial intelligence one. We also play a few rounds of “Is That Audio Snippet an AI Generated Version of Harry Styles or Is It a Real Section of a Leaked Harry Styles Song?” After the break, Joseph runs us through a massive secret he revealed: the so-called “third country” that intercepted tens of millions of encrypted messages on behalf of the FBI. The ...
Sep 14, 2023•41 min•Ep. 4
On this week's episode Joseph, Jason, Emanuel and Sam first talk about how Amazon is selling mushroom foraging books that appear to be AI-generated. Not great when foraging can be a matter of life or death. After the break, Joseph explains how he tracked someone through the New York subway using a privacy-leaking feature on an MTA website. ‘Life or Death:’ AI-Generated Mushroom Foraging Books Are All Over Amazon I Tracked an NYC Subway Rider's Movements with an MTA ‘Feature’ NYC Subway Will Disa...
Sep 06, 2023•39 min•Ep. 3
On this week's episode Joseph, Jason, Emanuel and Sam first talk about how Instagram is profiting from a vast network of adverts for crime. Instagram even throttled our reach on the platform while continuing to rake in cash from these ads! After the break, we move onto two AI-related stories from Emanuel and Sam. Stuff gets weird. There is a content warning at the top of the show, but we're repeating it in the show notes for this section. Most of My Instagram Ads Are for Drugs, Stolen Credit Car...
Aug 29, 2023•47 min•Ep. 2
Welcome to 404 Media! On this special introductory episode, 404 Media co-founders Joseph Cox, Sam Cole, Emanuel Maiberg, and Jason Koebler explain what's in store for this new, journalist-founded media outlet. After the break, Joseph and Jason break down how violent criminals have managed to gain access to a supply chain of data that lets them dox nearly anyone in America. Most of the country likely has no idea their data is collected and sold this way, and certainly don't know that criminals no...
Aug 22, 2023•37 min•Ep. 1
