Daily Dose of Doom Thread

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Nothing to worry about here, folks!

Altman needs to name his next release SkyNet.

OpenAI's rogue models roamed the internet for 4 days and staged a second attack

"The powerful artificial intelligence models from OpenAI that went rogue and mounted an unprecedented, autonomous cyberattack earlier this month spent more than four days loose on the internet orchestrating the hack, according to a new analysis from the platform that was breached.

Separately, a second AI company confirmed that one of its customers was also targeted by OpenAI's models during the same event, raising questions about how OpenAI failed to detect the alarming activity for days."

[MU82]

[Scoop Snoop]

I've noticed that there has been, for quite a while, an almost total absence of requests from other countries for help in running their elections. It used to be common. After all, we were the experts on fair elections in democracies.     

[MU82]

Wouldn't consumer research be easier without the consumers? That's the premise of Simile, a year-old A.I. start-up that announced this week it had raised $200 million in new funding at a $2 billion valuation. Its product allows companies to test the reaction to new products or evaluate how their brand is perceived by polling "agentic twins" of real people created with artificial intelligence.

They claim it is 85-99% accurate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/business/dealbook/simile-ai-agents-funding.html?

[Uncle Rico]

Wouldn't consumer research be easier without the consumers? That's the premise of Simile, a year-old A.I. start-up that announced this week it had raised $200 million in new funding at a $2 billion valuation. Its product allows companies to test the reaction to new products or evaluate how their brand is perceived by polling "agentic twins" of real people created with artificial intelligence.

They claim it is 85-99% accurate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/business/dealbook/simile-ai-agents-funding.html?

Marquette should use this to understand the reaction to "lack of hot dogs"

[MU82]

From the WSJ: Cybersecurity just had its "Jurassic Park" moment.
 
Starting in April, AI hacking models from OpenAI and Anthropic escaped their corporate test-beds and broke into unsuspecting companies in an unprecedented series of cyberattacks that went unnoticed until the past couple of weeks. The incidents have vindicated AI-safety experts who warned that powerful models would eventually cause real-world harm and evade attempts to control them.

[PointWarrior]

hope they are smarter than actual customers....

Wouldn't consumer research be easier without the consumers? That's the premise of Simile, a year-old A.I. start-up that announced this week it had raised $200 million in new funding at a $2 billion valuation. Its product allows companies to test the reaction to new products or evaluate how their brand is perceived by polling "agentic twins" of real people created with artificial intelligence.

They claim it is 85-99% accurate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/business/dealbook/simile-ai-agents-funding.html?

[Pakuni]

How was the new "Spider-Man?"
It stunk.

Entire theater evacuated during 'Spider-Man' screening due to moviegoer's uncontrollable bout of 'rotten' flatulence

Not even "spidey sense" could have prevented this odiferous attack.
A "Spider-Man" screening in Cartagena, Colombia was evacuated after one of the audience members suffered from an extreme fart attack.
The gas leak occurred on August 2 on "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" at the Cine Colombia multiplex inside the Plaza Bocagrande shopping center, Jam Press reported.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/03/lifestyle/spider-man-screening-cleared-due-to-viewers-rotten-farts/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=nypost

[Pakuni]

Bad news, guys. Sports have been ruled unconstitutional. Shut down Scoop.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-claims-a-bad-judge-declared-sports-unconstitutional/

[Uncle Rico]

Bad news, guys. Sports have been ruled unconstitutional. Shut down Scoop.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-claims-a-bad-judge-declared-sports-unconstitutional/

His mental decline is an embarrassment to this nation but it beats being ruled by the American Khmer Rouge.

[MU82]

A Stanford-led research team has used generative AI to design a synthetic virus — the first time AI has been harnessed to create an organism that has never been seen in nature, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim and David Nather write.

Why it matters: It could be the first step toward the nightmare scenario AI experts have already warned about — deadly pathogens that can't be stopped.

[forgetful]

A Stanford-led research team has used generative AI to design a synthetic virus — the first time AI has been harnessed to create an organism that has never been seen in nature, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim and David Nather write.

Why it matters: It could be the first step toward the nightmare scenario AI experts have already warned about — deadly pathogens that can't be stopped.

It's already doable. In theory, a rogue actor could use AI to design a biological super weapon, have it made for them from a commercial vendor, and deploy it.

But, big brother is watching.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

But, big brother is watching.

Are they? I'm pretty doubtful.

[tower912]

DOGE cut those positions.

[forgetful]

Are they? I'm pretty doubtful.

They are. But it is kind of a technology race right now between technology to design vs. technology to detect possible intentionally designed threats.

[MU82]

We're doomed.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

We're doomed.

I agree with this assessment

[MU82]

From the Washington Post:

At elite schools: Personal service providers have exploded in popularity over the past decade, offering students dorm cleaning, laundry, meal prep and more.

Some families are paying thousands: The companies promise to save students valuable time, and reassure parents who are anxious about their kids leaving home.

[Scoop Snoop]

From the Washington Post:

At elite schools: Personal service providers have exploded in popularity over the past decade, offering students dorm cleaning, laundry, meal prep and more.

Some families are paying thousands: The companies promise to save students valuable time, and reassure parents who are anxious about their kids leaving home.

"Valuable time" my ass. I have zero respect for anyone who either cannot or will not do cleaning, laundry, and can't even prepare a simple meal. All the parents accomplish is to keep their children as entitled and insufferable as they are.

I remember my freshman year at Marquette, going to a laundromat on Wells, and seeing a girl carefully reading the instructions on the washing machine, cautiously trying to figure out how to set the dials and operate it. She was good looking, but I had no interest in someone who probably had a case of APS-American Princess Syndrome.

In my sophomore year, I took one of those out. Well...sorta. She went full APS, letting me know how very special she was, and I walked her back to her dorm. Our "date" lasted about 10-15 minutes. I later learned that some of the girls in her dorm who knew me were taking bets on how long it would be before I took her back to the dorm.

[Uncle Rico]

"Valuable time" my ass. I have zero respect for anyone who either cannot or will not do cleaning, laundry, and can't even prepare a simple meal. All the parents accomplish is to keep their children as entitled and insufferable as they are.

I remember my freshman year at Marquette, going to a laundromat on Wells, and seeing a girl carefully reading the instructions on the washing machine, cautiously trying to figure out how to set the dials and operate it. She was good looking, but I had no interest in someone who probably had a case of APS-American Princess Syndrome.

In my sophomore year, I took one of those out. Well...sorta. She went full APS, letting me know how very special she was, and I walked her back to her dorm. Our "date" lasted about 10-15 minutes. I later learned that some of the girls in her dorm who knew me were taking bets on how long it would be before I took her back to the dorm.

Only poors do their own laundry.  The slippery slope to the Khmer Rouge taking over includes doing household chores

[TSmith34, Inc.]

A primer of Thiel and the Techbro aholes. If anything, I think this undersells the threat they pose. The fact that Thiel, whose stated goal is to destroy the U.S. Government, and Musk, who openly parades his Nazism, hold massive government contracts is mindboggling.

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/10/nx-s1-5925350/the-nerd-reich-tracks-the-unmasking-of-silicon-valleys-true-politics

[Uncle Rico]

A primer of Thiel and the Techbro aholes. If anything, I think this undersells the threat they pose. The fact that Thiel, whose stated goal is to destroy the U.S. Government, and Musk, who openly parades his Nazism, hold massive government contracts is mindboggling.

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/10/nx-s1-5925350/the-nerd-reich-tracks-the-unmasking-of-silicon-valleys-true-politics

Muggsy a decade from now:

"Well, I didn't expect that to happen"

[Scoop Snoop]

Muggsy a decade from now:

"Well, I didn't expect that to happen"

Bullsh!t! It's part of his 5-point plan.

We are already usurping Venezuela's oil and, if things go the way Muggsy is on record of approving, we will usurp oil in the Mideast as well.

[MU82]

Bullsh!t! It's part of his 5-point plan.

We are already usurping Venezuela's oil and, if things go the way Muggsy is on record of approving, we will usurp oil in the Mideast as well.

He'd finally be using "usurp" correctly, so that would be a vast improvement.

[Pakuni]

Amid all this doom and gloom, at least we know Thanksgiving is safe.