Hard Pass

motivational skeletor https://mas.to/@skeletor/116642169373760797

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/38069529

EDIIT :

Apparently, there is an issue with the warning request to disable the ad blocker

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to get around the adblocker warning, use this link.

https://unwall.app/techcrunch.com/2026/05/26/duckduckgo-installs-are-up-30-as-users-reject-being-force-fed-googles-ai-search/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47387000

Sam Altman says OpenAI wants to sell intelligence like a utility

During a recent appearance at BlackRock in Washington, D.C., OpenAI's Sam Altman, shared his vision for the future of AI. At one point saying, “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.”

Altman was describing a world where AI becomes a foundational infrastructure, something woven into everyday life so deeply that consumers and businesses simply “plug into” it the same way they rely on electricity, Wi-Fi or running water.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/40322414

Still in progress. Open to suggestions! Current idea is to offer a dark and light mode switch, plus get some fun icons. Want to introduce variations with visual glitches and such, for more of a cyberpunk aesthetic, that can be generated through a pipeline. This is an excuse to learn a lot of little, technical things.

NBC News projects that Paxton, who received a late endorsement from Trump, will advance to the general election to face Democrat James Talarico.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defeated Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination, NBC News projects, the latest challenger backed by Donald Trump to unseat an incumbent.

Paxton will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in a November race that could become key to the fight for the Senate majority.

Trump endorsed Paxton last week, giving him a last-minute boost in his bid to oust Cornyn, who has been in the Senate since 2003. Cornyn and Paxton faced off Tuesday in a head-to-head runoff after no candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the initial multicandidate March primary.

The AI companion startup is hiring 10 "masturbation consultants" to test a feature called Daily Guided Masturbation, which uses mood-matched AI voice sessions to guide users through the experience. Participants would document how regular use affects stress, sleep quality, mood, and confidence. The four-week role is open to adults 18 and older in the U.S. and the U.K...

Joi AI is focused on making AI companionship more immersive, personalized, and emotionally responsive," Levin said. "We’re innovating features like Daily Guided Masturbation to make AI a more intuitive part of people’s everyday wellness routines, not just a novelty experience."

Source [2026-05-24; web-archive]

It saddens me to say this, but I don't believe this path will teach us how to preserve our humanity, or to support a human to learn to become a lovable, empathetic, experienced human.

Yes, I do realize that this has been around for a long time, including the scene from film "The 6th Day" of ~2000 with the apartment "virtual girlfriend" I recall even.
And it feels like I get for where this is coming from, and how lone or ill people (e.g. film Shame) may find it relevant, but... I'm deeply saddened because I don't see it helping us nurture our truest, most human selves... and personally, I see it a degradation of a humanity, since I believe in people should focus on love between actual people, search for a true love...

We can do better...

It does not seem like this kind of technology will support a person to have a healthy and long-term happy life...
I'm holding out heartfelt deep hope that us people can discover a better way... to not invest technologies to distant all of us even further with every such invention... but instead to ease the search for partners... or for our true... infinitely magnificent Soulmates instead... since isn't it the purpose... to finally find a miracle... to be a miracle for them, too... and both create a universe...

Woman on ground: "How long will the ambulance be?"

Man aiding her: "Seventeen feet, six inches."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new "block by block" initiative to tackle the city's affordable housing crisis Tuesday morning.

The plan focuses on 400,000 affordable housing units, enhancing tenant protections and investing in public housing. Some 200,000 of those units will be new, rent-stabilized homes built over the next decade, as well as preserving and stabilizing an additional 200,000 homes.

Freshman Rep. Christian Menefee defeated longtime Rep. Al Green in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas’ 18th Congressional District, NBC News projects, after a rare incumbent-on-incumbent matchup sparked by Republican-led redistricting efforts.

The redraw of the state’s political map pitted one of the newest members of the House Democratic caucus against one of the longer-serving incumbents in the chamber. Menefee got 46% of the primary vote to Green’s 44% in the first round on March 3, pushing the race to a runoff since neither got majority support.

Menefee, 38, was sworn in to Congress earlier in 2026 after winning a special election to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat who died last year.

Green, 78, opted to run in the deep-blue, Houston-based 18th District after his 9th District was redrawn to make it more heavily Republican, a key part of the GOP plan to gain more seats in Texas in 2026.

EDIIT :

Apparently, there is an issue with the warning request to disable the ad blocker

I use Fennec F-Droid and Cromite, and I don't see this issue.

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https://unwall.app/techcrunch.com/2026/05/26/duckduckgo-installs-are-up-30-as-users-reject-being-force-fed-googles-ai-search/

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.

A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees.”

“The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.