The intersection of AI and music production is just… fucking boring honestly.

#ElectionDay in #CoconinoCounty #Arizona

Horses carry ballots to the #Havasupai Community Center at #Supai Village

Supai is the capital of the Havasupai Indian Reservation and is on the valley floor deep inside the #GrandCanyon. They've lived there for at least 800 years

#NativeAmerican #Indigenous #Voting #Vote #midterms #election #elections #midtermElections

:RedHearts:

anyway, i swore i wouldn't engage in ANY conversation about ai music until i had given the talk, and so began the fuck off ai music movement. i was its only member

https://fuckoffaimusic.com

and so began my quest to give this talk so that i could leave the movement!

If anyone wants a copy of “Bovine Veterinarian,” we received three today. Dawn from 2000kms away informs me she wants none.

Forcing workers back to the office was never about the "social benefits" or the "collaboration" – it was to protect the management layers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/02/remote-work-in-office-mandate-new-york-fed.html

You don't actually want LLMs; you want public libraries & librarians.

You only think you want LLMs because you haven't been to the library recently enough or talked to a librarian.

@Binder @pteryx @witix
Also we Need more tech nerds to get library degrees. Seriously. There is a need, and an imbalance

@parismarx

Well, you could say that would be a silver lining. How about the workers just taking over the company?

They can automate away the boring parts

#chatCEO

Text of the email:

Proton colleagues, unionize now!
The ongoing 404 Media coverage highlights the sad descent into chaos we are seeing at Proton. What was once an empowering and productive workplace is now a toxic environment, tightly controlled by our AI-obsessed CEO, Andy Yen.

He has created a culture of fear and mistrust throughout the company, distracting employees from the company mission and stopping us from delivering what actually matters to our users.

When jobs are at risk, there is one thing you can do: JOIN A TRADE UNION.

All Proton employees should join their local tech trade union. This maximizes your employment protections, connects you with likeminded members, and helps you access advice and support if something unexpected happens.

Being a member doesn’t mean you have to take part in industrial action or activism, and you don’t have to tell anyone at work.

Find your union here
What’s happening right now affects us all. Nobody is 100% safe. But you are not alone, and we are stronger together. Close this message to see other emails with details of local unions.

Why we are organizing
Prior to the leaks, there was no official, company-wide, communication about re-interviews. Through rumors and whispers, we learned that our jobs may soon be at risk if we’re found not to be using AI enough.

Proton’s AI approach reeks of hypocrisy. Claude, ChatGPT, and Codex are prioritized over our own AI, Lumo. Our ‘privacy’ company is heavily reliant on the exact same Big Tech products it denounces publicly. Token use; downloads; output, it can all be monitored. Proton won’t track its users, but it will track its own employees.

There has been no consultation, no indication of how much AI is enough, and no proper training to help employees learn this new technology. Re-interviews are being spoken about as pass-fail assessments, with dismissal being a real fear.

Andy is charging ahead under the narrow-minded impression that more AI is always better, and anyone who doesn't agree must go. He refuses to take accountability for poor decision making, won’t engage fairly with anyone who shares valid grievances, and berates and mocks employees of all levels in public channels.

The future
Fighting for a free, open, and private internet has never been more important. Every employee passionately believes in our mission.

But if Andy is allowed to continue on this path, he will be responsible for the collapse of our organization.

We demand:

1. An immediate cancellation of the re-interview process
2. A commitment to appraise employees based on outcomes, not arbitrary AI targets
3. Open communication from Andy and senior leadership, and a space for employees to share feedback on the current process and future of Proton
4. Increased investment into employee training and hiring, instead of outsourcing to AI

Our group is committed to holding Andy Yen and Proton to account. We aren’t going anywhere.

In solidarity,

A group of concerned Proton employees

After the reporting on Proton CEO Andy Yen pushing AI on workers and broader issues at the company last week, Proton employees are pushing for their colleagues to unionize and make sure Yen is held to account.

More info here: https://molecule.build

Today I got to work as an election observer…

…in a fourth grade classroom.

Let me assure you, fourth graders are not able to run a free and fair election.

I witnessed pressure tactics at the polls, fraudulent voting, manipulation of the vote counts, and other crimes against democracy.

It was like a microcosm of election administrator nightmares.

Why Every AI Model Will Ship as a Torrent
L: https://pirateface.co/articles/one-model-one-swarm
C: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50359225
posted on 2026.11.03 at 17:36:22 (c=0, p=6)

Wow, Google, wow. You're determined to burn off what goodwill you have left in the world, aren't you?

https://futurism.com/future-society/google-search-engine-access-schools-ban-ai

@garymarcus meets the Pope

Pope Leo XIV:
«First, the future of artificial intelligence is not pre-determined. As a technology developed by human beings, its future depends on the choices we make.

Second, machines are tools, not persons.

Third, certain decisions must never be delegated.»

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/report-from-the-vatican

#AI #Pope #LeoXIV #politics

AI is destroying my CS degree
L: https://lordtoots.bearblog.dev/ai-is-destroying-my-cs-degree/
C: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50353300
posted on 2026.11.03 at 10:35:06 (c=2, p=13)

#Vote! Like the perv you are. 🗳️

#USPol #Elections #Midterms

Firm with $1B NYC traffic-camera contract appears to be trying to cover up ties to Flock

Verra Mobility, a major Big Apple vendor for automated road-safety-enforcement systems, had been listed on Flock’s website as one of its partners up until earlier this year — and been joining forces on bidding for contracts as recently as 2025.

#verramobility #NewYork #flocksafety #alpr #surveillance #privacy

https://nypost.com/2026/10/30/us-news/firm-with-1b-nyc-traffic-camera-contract-appears-to-be-trying-to-cover-up-ties-to-flock/

I’ll update Tech Influence Watch as races are called, and send a quick results roundup via Citation Needed Wednesday. A longer postmortem will come next week.

These are one-person, reader-funded projects. If they’re useful to you, consider subscribing: https://www.citationneeded.news/signup/

He's upgrading your RAM to spite Sam Altman ...