Daily Tech News 12 August 2025

Top Story

Thomas Dhomke, the GitHub CEO who just told programmers to either adopt AI for development or leave the industry, has left the industry. (GitHub)

He'll be leaving GitHub at the end of the year.

Tech News

Wikipedia lost its challenge against the UK government's requirement that all the site's moderators must be registered with the government. (BBC)

This is required by the Online Safety Act which ostensibly was created to prevent children from seeing porn. It's obviously complete bullshit because there is no porn on Wikipedia, and the moderators aren't children.

Almost as if this was never about the porn.
LLMs aren't world models. (Yosef K)
A friend who plays better chess than me - and knows more math & CS than me - said that he played some moves against a newly released LLM, and it must be at least as good as him. I said, no way, I'm going to cRRRush it, in my best Russian accent. I make a few moves - but unlike him, I don't make good moves, which would be opening book moves it has seen a million times; I make weak moves, which it hasn't. The thing makes decent moves in response, with cheerful commentary about how we're attacking this and developing that - until about move 10, when it tries to move a knight which isn't there, and loses in a few more moves. This was a year or two ago; I've just tried this again, and it lost track of the board state by move 9.
This aligns with recent posts of leading AI tools losing chess matches to an Atari 2600.

The Atari doesn't know much, but it does encode the rules of chess. The LLMs... Don't.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: I forgor.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:30 AM (aURVT)

2 w00t again

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:32 AM (aURVT)

3 Thank you, Pixy!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:34 AM (a1415)

4 Disclaimer: I forgor.

You forgor wut.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:35 AM (aURVT)

5 BOING!

Taking Mrs. BD and 2 grandpups out for lunch to the winery.

Maybe l8r.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 12, 2025 04:39 AM (Y+jbb)

6 Agnetha Was always an attractive woman.

And such a voice!

Weird outfits, though.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:40 AM (a1415)

7 You forgor wut.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:35 AM (aURVT)
-

Forgor and seven years agor.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 12, 2025 04:40 AM (Y+jbb)

8 Mornin'

Got a Dr appt at 3pm, so wandering off to bed soon. I've had this recurring problem with my toe. Well, the part that connects to the foot. The joint, whatever. It flares up, the toe swells, it hurts like hell to walk on, and it's happened about three times in the last year in a half. I've been limping around for a week. It's a bit better now but I need to get it checked out. Nearly all of the adults in my family have some variety of arthritis. Dad has that and gout. Or it's a torn something. Hence the dr visit

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 12, 2025 04:41 AM (sAmhv)

9 "Hence the dr visit"

" It's not a tumah!"

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:42 AM (a1415)

10 7 You forgor wut.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:35 AM (aURVT)
-

Forgor and seven years agor.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 12, 2025 04:40 AM (Y+jbb)

I think I'll forgor the watercress.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:42 AM (aURVT)

11 Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 12, 2025 04:41 AM

I'm sorry. That sounds painful. It sounds like it may be gout which my husband has. Hopefully the doctor can give you something for relief.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 12, 2025 04:44 AM (2GCMq)

12 77.2 degrees out.

With 76.9 degree dew point @ 99%RH.

79.3 degree heat index already.

Ugh.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:44 AM (a1415)

13 Agnetha Was
.................
The blonde in Abba? Yea, she was pretty.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 12, 2025 04:45 AM (sAmhv)

14 For folks who have an interest. I posted the upbeat stories and scripture stuff at the end of the ONT by mistake. You can find it there .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 12, 2025 04:46 AM (2GCMq)

15 @aelfred_D has a little thread up on AI and psychosis. The comments under his comment are good; that's where this link oughta lead:

https://tinyurl.com/329jva98

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 04:46 AM (aURVT)

16 Probably not a tumah 😜

I'm guessing gout or arthritis.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 12, 2025 04:46 AM (sAmhv)

17 Something I learned yesterday : Saying " He talks like a fag and his shit's all retarded." Is not necessarily a reference to somebody being gay. It's just a term of opprobrium . Yet another cultural reference to a movie ( Idiocracy) that I did not see.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 12, 2025 04:51 AM (2GCMq)

18 Speaking of gout or arthritis, here I am. Good morning horde.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 12, 2025 04:52 AM (iGZ9n)

19 So apparently the Volvo P-2 platform vehicles have a rather interesting way in which the trailing arm front bushings are mounted in the subframe.

I either shell out over $450.00 for the special service tool, or noodle out some way to McGiver a way to press them in.

Fortunately, FCP Euro sells the OE bushings in a non-Volvo branded package for $14.00 each.

My local Volvo dealer wants to charge me $140.67 each for them.

But for that price, they do come in a nice blue Volvo package.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:59 AM (a1415)

20 >>>Wikipedia lost its challenge against the UK government's requirement that all the site's moderators must be registered with the government. (BBC)

from the article:

"The Wikimedia Foundation - the non-profit which supports the online encyclopaedia - wanted a judicial review of regulations which could mean Wikipedia has to verify the identities of its users."

"In particular the foundation is concerned [that] it would have to verify the identity of its contributors, undermining their privacy and safety."

I'm not sure if Wikipedia needing to verify the identity of users/contributors is the same thing as Wikipedia's moderators needing to be registered with the UK government.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:00 AM (aURVT)

21 I notice the chess dude didn't name the LLM he tried to play chess against, also LLMs are not optimized nor designed to play chess.

If you want to play chess get a friend.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 05:01 AM (QPUQ6)

22 My best friend in HS was pres of the chess club. He was very smart at math and that kind of thing. He was always trying to get me in the chess club but I wasn't that interested in chess and certainly not interested in getting my poor novice ass beat.

But Dave always wanted to play chess with me even many years later when we got together.

The reason why was the fact that I had not been formally trained. Every move I made was unique and not part of any of the learned patterns. I represented a different kind of challenge. Purely creative without any known pattern.

He still beat me but I drove him crazy.

Posted by: pawn at August 12, 2025 05:03 AM (EITcu)

23 G'Day everyone
Been hete all morning, ready to leave just not motivated

Posted by: Skip at August 12, 2025 05:07 AM (+qU29)

24 22 My best friend in HS was pres of the chess club. He was very smart at math and that kind of thing. He was always trying to get me in the chess club but I wasn't that interested in chess and certainly not interested in getting my poor novice ass beat.

. . .

He still beat me but I drove him crazy.
Posted by: pawn at August 12, 2025 05:03 AM (EITcu)

hahahahaha
I used to go to a cafe where there were speed-chess players--where they ring a bell at the end of their move. It looked like a whole different ballgame.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:07 AM (aURVT)

25 21 I notice the chess dude didn't name the LLM he tried to play chess against, also LLMs are not optimized nor designed to play chess.

Well, the point there is that LLMs cannot take the data they have ingested and generalise it to become good at chess. Which we know because they are really bad at chess.

If you want to play chess get a friend.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

Indeed.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 12, 2025 05:09 AM (BLOW1)

26 Have a great day everyone
No more long days this week

Posted by: Skip at August 12, 2025 05:12 AM (+qU29)

27 The LLM article guy is doing math!!!

prove 2+2=4:
2+2 = 2+(1+1) = (2+1)+1 = 3+1 = 4

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:16 AM (aURVT)

28 @25

>>Which we know because they are really bad at chess.

We already have computers that can whip Grandmasters a**es.

LLMs were not designed to play chess, they were primarily built to optimize and write computer code and analyze data sets.

If one of the ai companies wanted to create a mode optimized to play chess, I'm sure they could do so, but I'm not sure how much monetization could be realized from playing chess.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 05:16 AM (QPUQ6)

29 "Thomas Dhomke, the GitHub CEO who just told programmers to either adopt AI for development or leave the industry, has left the industry."

PLEASE let the door hit your arse on the way out.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 05:17 AM (O7YUW)

30 According to Insty, one may have an opportunity to buy into 'Beyond Meat' at a reduced price.

Apparently, they are entering into the 'Struggling to remain viable' phase of the Plant Based Meat fad.

I haz sads.

No....really.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 05:22 AM (a1415)

31 Oink!

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at August 12, 2025 05:22 AM (9vYpt)

32 30 According to Insty, one may have an opportunity to buy into 'Beyond Meat' at a reduced price.

Apparently, they are entering into the 'Struggling to remain viable' phase of the Plant Based Meat fad.

I haz sads.

No....really.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 05:22 AM (a1415)

You haz sads really?

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:23 AM (aURVT)

33 While Pixy is complaining about LLMs being LLMs, I'm going to use their strengths to do the work of 10,000 men extracting data from unstructured documents to build simulations of financial instruments.

There will be some errors. Guess who also makes errors at astonishing rates: humans.

Posted by: Xioaza at August 12, 2025 05:24 AM (3L3pg)

34
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 12, 2025 05:30 AM (tljrc)

35 from the LLM article; this sounds cool:

this wonderful writeup about LLMs not knowing that rotating a tic-tac-toe board doesn’t change the game

(link in the LLM article)

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:31 AM (aURVT)

36 My favourite chess computer moment (as portrayed in film) is still MacReady versus the "Chess Wizard":

https://youtu.be/Iv_XaPp-XIY

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 05:32 AM (O7YUW)

37 The LLMs will not be doing the simulations mentioned in my previous comment because that's not what they're good at.

I think the real reason Pixy complains about LLMs having errors is that he's overly familiar with conventional bugs and error patterns but not with LLMs, so those feel new and special. It's not like conventional programs are bug free.

Posted by: Xioaza at August 12, 2025 05:35 AM (3L3pg)

38 36 My favourite chess computer moment (as portrayed in film) is still MacReady versus the "Chess Wizard":

https://youtu.be/Iv_XaPp-XIY
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 05:32 AM (O7YUW)

hahahahahahaha!

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:36 AM (aURVT)

39 Whelp, time to get ready for the morning walk.

BBIAB

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 05:37 AM (a1415)

40 28 @25

>>Which we know because they are really bad at chess.

We already have computers that can whip Grandmasters a**es.

Yes. Not LLMs though.

LLMs were not designed to play chess, they were primarily built to optimize and write computer code and analyze data sets.

Two things they are also really bad at.

If one of the ai companies wanted to create a mode optimized to play chess, I'm sure they could do so, but I'm not sure how much monetization could be realized from playing chess.

Sure, they could easily add a function like that. But it wouldn't be an LLM.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 12, 2025 05:39 AM (BLOW1)

41 Pixy,

You may have covered this befor but what is the story behind the shortage of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti cards and is it getting any better?

Posted by: pawn at August 12, 2025 05:39 AM (EITcu)

42 @40

>>Sure, they could easily add a function like that. But it wouldn't be an LLM.

But that's the whole point of the linked article, random internet dude is complaining the LLM can't play chess, something it's not designed to do.

It's like putting your dishes in a washing machine and complaining they didn't come out clean or in one piece.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 05:43 AM (QPUQ6)

43 the LLM article writer makes the comparison of "machine learning" and "LLMs" right off the bat:

- all leading chess engines use machine learning

- nobody uses LLMs as chess engines

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:45 AM (aURVT)

44 VIA ...several threads on Swedspeed forum about this...maybe with pics ... ??

Posted by: Qmark at August 12, 2025 05:48 AM (+t9Oi)

45 It's obviously complete bullshit because there is no porn on Wikipedia, and the moderators aren't children.

They just act like children if you dare challenge their biases.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 05:50 AM (lXoJ5)

46 So it's a decent day here in the GPROMD. The pain from my knee injury has improved, my physical therapist is very happy with my progress and I've been putting a pillow under my leg to reduce the pain to where I'm getting uninterrupted sleep.

Hopefully, I'll be healed up enough for our trip at the end of September to where I can do some hiking.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 05:53 AM (lXoJ5)

47 Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 05:53 AM (lXoJ5

Glad to hear the positive news!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 12, 2025 05:55 AM (2GCMq)

48 @16/Puddleglum: Have your doctor give you a blood test that screens for gout. Alopurinol is the maintenance drug to help prevent gout attacks if the test confirms you're above a certain threshold. Cherries (fresh or frozen) or 100% natural cherry juice can really help stop a gout attack in its tracks (the earlier taken, the better.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 05:57 AM (O7YUW)

49 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 12, 2025 05:57 AM (hoCmQ)

50 But that's the whole point of the linked article, random internet dude is complaining the LLM can't play chess, something it's not designed to do.

LLMs are being sold to the world as AI. Super advanced, flawless intelligence housed in your browser.

Non-technical people already have difficulty understanding the weaknesses of the system. Many technical people are, seemingly, incapable of recognizing inevitable downsides of the system.

You're being trained to accept what AI tells you. And then AI will start telling you that you must eat the bugs, you must get the jab, you must suck the dick...

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 12, 2025 06:01 AM (ExV1e)

51 35 from the LLM article; this sounds cool:

this wonderful writeup about LLMs not knowing that rotating a tic-tac-toe board doesn’t change the game

(link in the LLM article)
Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 05:31 AM (aURVT)

rotating a ti-tac-toe board doesn't change the game (mindmatters)

https://archive.is/qYKRw

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:02 AM (aURVT)

52 47 Glad to hear the positive news!
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

Thanks. I'm glad to have some positive things to report.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 06:05 AM (lXoJ5)

53 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 12, 2025 06:09 AM (AN2gy)

54 mornin yall. What season is this?

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:10 AM (vFG9F)

55 Evenink and mornink, German/Swedish folken speaking English for first time! How is your Tiu's Day so far?

Six and a half hours sleep last night, making up for the Sunday night deficit -- sort of. And little Dagny La Siberienne slept on the bed with me again last night. Amazin'.

I had some sort of dreams where I was going to an army reunion (I was never in the service) and one former military buddy gave me a round-dialed watch, steel with a silver dial. Somehow the bracelet fit me perfectly. This was at an indoor restaurant in a converted warehouse, and you had to order at the counter, but then they brought you the food -- by the teme it came Miss Linda (?) and I were sitting in my car, but inside the warehouse, like an indoor version of a Fifties drive-up diner.

Melatonin. Helluva drug, Doc, helluva drug.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:11 AM (omVj0)

56 mornin yall. What season is this?
Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025

***
Season of the Witch?

That Championship Season?

"To everything there is a season"?

Season to taste!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:12 AM (omVj0)

57 @50

>>You're being trained to accept what AI tells you.

Actually, I train the ai, not the other way around, and my primary use for ai is not to play chess but to get actual work done.

If people want to waste their time trying to get an LLM to produce something it's not designed to do, good luck with that.

Know the tool, know it's uses, know its limitations.

I'm not bringing a Honda Fit to the Rubicon Trail, but apparently some people are.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 06:12 AM (MRG/k)

58 >>> woot

>>> BOING!

Disclaimer: urk

Posted by: fluffy at August 12, 2025 06:12 AM (AN2gy)

59 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at August 12, 2025 06:14 AM (XQo4F)

60 We apparently have a new Trader Joe's, this time in the city proper in the "hospital corridor," the area with the medical complex they built sometime in the last ten years when I wasn't looking. There'll be another one coming, it's said, near where I used to work. Neither these nor the one in the suburbs are convenient for me; the suburban one just requires an Interstate and major boulevard drive, the others will mean clattering my vehicle over bad streets.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:15 AM (omVj0)

61 @38/m: Glad you liked that as much as I do. :-)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 06:15 AM (O7YUW)

62
Every other LinkedIn post:

"Do YOU have an AI strategy? When are you going to integrate AI? Are you going to be left behind? If your business doesn't start using AI right now!!!, you're a loser. Be smart, be a leader, boldly join the stampede to AI. Because you don't want to be one of those C-suite people."

Posted by: P. Buttigieg at August 12, 2025 06:19 AM (kkTda)

63
/sock off

I hate it when I do that.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:20 AM (kkTda)

64 "New ‘junk food’ law to spark huge checkout change – and it’ll cause ‘financial burden’ costing ‘several thousands’

The new requirements do place a significant financial burden on our members, because now they’re going to have to change their point-of-sale systems, and that can be anywhere from $1,000 to several thousand."

This is BS. It's a programming change. The real reason for opposition is convenience stores will lose the revenue from people using SNAP to buy soft drinks and chips while spending their own money on lottery tickets and alcohol.

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:22 AM (vFG9F)

65 "Do YOU have an AI strategy? "

Yes.

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:23 AM (vFG9F)

66 No idea why people sneer at Abba's work. Sprightly pop tunes with English lyrics sung by attractive Swedish people (well, the ladies; I'm not qualified to judge the men); what's to hate?

Their "Fernando" I always thought was a neat job. The lyric "Since many years I have not seen a rifle in your hand" sounds exactly like a Spanish speaker translating his idiom, de muchos anos, into English as "since many years." The line sounds, too, like a Spanish native character in For Whom the Bell Tolls speaking to Robert Jordan.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:23 AM (omVj0)

67 Every other LinkedIn post:

"Do YOU have an AI strategy? When are you going to integrate AI? Are you going to be left behind? If your business doesn't start using AI right now!!!, you're a loser. Be smart, be a leader, boldly join the stampede to AI. Because you don't want to be one of those C-suite people."
Posted by: P. Buttigieg at August 12, 2025

***
I'm glad I'm out of the work world, or I'd be subjected to this as well in admin emails.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:24 AM (omVj0)

68 66 No idea why people sneer at Abba's work.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:23 AM (omVj0)

Who sneers?

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:25 AM (aURVT)

69 "College graduates who had big dreams of landing cushy jobs are struggling to stay afloat in a competitive job market overtaken by AI, with one young woman detailing how the only post-graduate interview she landed was at Chipotle."

So much for "Learn to code". Now it's "Learn to roll an overpriced burrito".

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:27 AM (vFG9F)

70
No idea why people sneer at Abba's work.

Swedish

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:27 AM (kkTda)

71 @50/I used to have a different nic: "You're being trained to accept what AI tells you."

This poor fellow substituted sodium bromide in his diet instead of sodium chloride, because he wanted to reduce his salt intake, and an "AI" suggested to him that this was a viable substitute.
https://tinyurl.com/4fkvj454

(link goes to "Annals of Internal Medicine - Clinical Cases")

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 06:29 AM (O7YUW)

72 There are a thousand different things I could and would do rather than work at Chipotle. These kids are horribly under prepared for life.

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:30 AM (vFG9F)

73 @65/fd: { "Do YOU have an AI strategy? "

Yes. }

This made my morning. Well played.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 06:31 AM (O7YUW)

74 69 "College graduates who had big dreams of landing cushy jobs are struggling to stay afloat in a competitive job market overtaken by AI, with one young woman detailing how the only post-graduate interview she landed was at Chipotle."

So much for "Learn to code". Now it's "Learn to roll an overpriced burrito".
Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:27 AM (vFG9F)

"Highschool graduates" I would've readily believed. "College graduates" ... oh, man.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:32 AM (aURVT)

75 42 But that's the whole point of the linked article, random internet dude is complaining the LLM can't play chess, something it's not designed to do.

No, the point is that LLMs cannot do things they weren't specifically designed to do, and yet they are sold for exactly that use.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 12, 2025 06:33 AM (BLOW1)

76 My AI strategy is to provide best-of-class game-changing synergies while fighting climate change and systemic racism.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the AI Consultant at August 12, 2025 06:34 AM (PiwSw)

77
Am I cynical when I think that the purpose of adopting AI isn't doing things better or faster, it's to get rid of employees?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:37 AM (kkTda)

78 Ford says they are going to make a $30k electric pickup truck. They never learn, do they?

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:37 AM (vFG9F)

79 You can be a carpenter who has a half a dozen different hammers and has framed countless houses that are still standing, and still look on with disdain at the yutz who bought a hammer and uses it to open his mail and yells at the internet that Hammer is amazing and will revolutionize every facet of existence even after humanity is gone from this earth.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:38 AM (EctuH)

80 @75

>>and yet they are sold for exactly that use.

AI are being sold as being good at chess? By whom?

As much as people claim AI hallucinate, I think these people are living in an hallucination.

In fact, reality itself may be one grand hallucination.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 06:38 AM (MRG/k)

81
"AI" suggested to him that this was a viable substitute.

Sounds like the next generation of people who drive off cliffs because that's the way the GPS tells them to go.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:39 AM (kkTda)

82 My new wall clock may be here today, if I can spot the mailman and take the box off his hands in time. It's way too big to go into my mailbox. If it ends up at the post office nearby, God knows what will happen to it.

My Restoration Hardware clock, about fifteen years old now, is currently running half an hour slow even with a new alkaline battery. I haven't taken it down because this state of affairs will make me appreciate the new one even more. It's like renting a cheap compact car while your big comfortable sedan is in the shop, so you will love your old car again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 12, 2025 06:40 AM (omVj0)

83 @78

>>Ford says they are going to make a $30k electric pickup truck. They never learn, do they?

I think they are going to follow the Ford Maverick model, introduce a sub20k pickup and then jack up the price, the sub20k pickup is now 28k.

So I figure the 30k electric pickup will be 55k in short order.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 06:41 AM (MRG/k)

84 I've got a great opening for a dystopian sci-fi novel:

"In 2025, a Ugandan Marxist Muslim was elected Mayor of New York City..."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the AI Consultant at August 12, 2025 06:43 AM (PiwSw)

85 "While the company hasn't revealed a name for the truck, rumors are flying that Ford is bringing back the Ranchero nameplate for the new car. "

Is it a truck or car? We report, you decide.

Posted by: The Daily Mail at August 12, 2025 06:43 AM (vFG9F)

86 Corollary: You can't be the person who tries to open their mail with a hammer and then say that hammers suck and everyone who owns or uses a hammer is an idiot who's being fleeced by The Man into sliding comfortably into some hammer-based dystopia.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:44 AM (EctuH)

87 80 AI are being sold as being good at chess? By whom?

No, they're being sold as being good at making coffee-flavoured pizza out of old banana peel.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 12, 2025 06:44 AM (BLOW1)

88 86 Corollary: You can't be the person who tries to open their mail with a hammer and then say that hammers suck and everyone who owns or uses a hammer is an idiot who's being fleeced by The Man into sliding comfortably into some hammer-based dystopia.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:44 AM (EctuH)

Well, you *can* ...

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:45 AM (aURVT)

89 Well, you *can* ...
Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:45 AM (aURVT)

ha!

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:46 AM (EctuH)

90 Odds of one of the boroughs splitting off from NYC and re-incorporating?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:47 AM (EctuH)

91 A solid electric pickup truck would be the tits for small to medium scale agriculture.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:49 AM (EctuH)

92 75 42 But that's the whole point of the linked article, random internet dude is complaining the LLM can't play chess, something it's not designed to do.

No, the point is that LLMs cannot do things they weren't specifically designed to do, and yet they are sold for exactly that use.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 12, 2025 06:33 AM (BLOW1)

= LLMs are being sold for exactly that use, i.e., to do things they weren't specifically designed to do.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 06:49 AM (aURVT)

93 Is it just me or does anyone else have the impression that Pixy is female?

Has this ever been determined to be fact? I can tell by several factors, but one is her music selections.

Anyway horde, just a hunch.

Posted by: David J. at August 12, 2025 06:49 AM (7Nqsl)

94 @87

>>No, they're being sold as being good at making coffee-flavoured pizza out of old banana peel.

But sold by whom?

What I see is people complaining that the AI can't do what they want it to do rather than companies advertising to then that they can do all the things.

And as for the sodium chloride vs sodium bromide issue mentioned above, ai produces a very detailed list of the use cases and specifically states sodium bromide is not a safe alternative to sodium chloride as a dietary additive or seasoning.

Maybe there should be a general iq test before letting people have access to AI.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 06:53 AM (MRG/k)

95
You'd Think...

you'd think crime being at "a 30 year low" in D.C. would've been news BEFORE yesterday, right?

you'd think a 25% decrease in crime in the last year would be news BEFORE yesterday, yes?

The Fake News gaslighting continues...

Posted by: Soothsayer at August 12, 2025 06:53 AM (QhCdW)

96 The smart kids are learning how to read a tape measure.
The really smart are learning how to use a framing square or the NEC.

Posted by: Accomack at August 12, 2025 06:54 AM (RBD82)

97 It will be a truck that will be way too easy to overload.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 12, 2025 06:55 AM (ZmEVT)

98
You can't be the person who tries to open their mail with a hammer and then say that hammers suck and everyone who owns or uses a hammer is an idiot who's being fleeced by The Man into sliding comfortably into some hammer-based dystopia.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:44 AM (EctuH)

The problem I have with AI - or the danger I see - is that people won't use it to speed or organize what they know and make it subordinate to their own expertise, they'll use it, willy-nilly, to drive off cliffs because that's what AI told them to do, the evidence of their eyes be damned.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:55 AM (kkTda)

99 Imagine: A range of small-ish electric pickup trucks in several sizes, with some decent available options (light racks, small towing hitches, maybe even some limited 3-pt mounts, that sort of thing). Buy as much or as little as you like. Design them as modular as possible. Make them road legal. Market them to small scale farmers, grounds crews, arborists, things like that. You know you're only going to need it for the day. It doesn't need to be able to tow seventy billion tons to Alaska and back on one tank, it's just a daily work horse. More or less a gator, but more versatile.

You could make a killing.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:55 AM (EctuH)

100 Doesn't Toyota have such trucks?

Can't sell them in California.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 12, 2025 06:57 AM (ZmEVT)

101 Oh. electric. Nope.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 12, 2025 06:57 AM (ZmEVT)

102 "Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 06:55 AM"

That sounds great. Can I get one minus the batteries with the optional 2.0 ICE engine?

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:57 AM (vFG9F)

103 Yes, I know I just said internal combustion engine engine.

Posted by: fd at August 12, 2025 06:58 AM (vFG9F)

104 Ford says they are going to make a $30k electric pickup truck. They never learn, do they?

There is a difference between making and selling.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 06:59 AM (a4flb)

105 Yes, I know I just said internal combustion engine engine.

Just like PIN Number and ATM Machine.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:00 AM (a4flb)

106 The problem I have with AI - or the danger I see - is that people won't use it to speed or organize what they know and make it subordinate to their own expertise, they'll use it, willy-nilly, to drive off cliffs because that's what AI told them to do, the evidence of their eyes be damned.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 06:55 AM (kkTda)

Yup. The problem is with meat based intelligence, and a general... i don't know... "zeitgeist"?.... that wants its answers spat out for them by someone or something else, and isn't aware that you're allowed to do a sanity check on things you're told. Or even that you're allowed to do that on answers you came up with yourself.

"Check your work" isn't even a concept in the universe of discourse anymore.

To keep banging on about the tool analogy, you can have an absolute bomb-diggity welding setup, but if your bead starts going wonky and your response is "well that's what the welder is doing so it must be good", then you're a shit welder and shouldn't even be trusted to be in the same room as an automated welding robot that "runs itself", because you don't even know what wrong looks like.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 07:01 AM (EctuH)

107 @104

>>There is a difference between making and selling.

Well, they can't sell the lightning and I imagine they have a crap ton of batteries laying around they have to get rid of.

Electric pickups, like Fetch, are never going to be a thing.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 07:01 AM (MRG/k)

108 @94/Thomas Bender: "And as for the sodium chloride vs sodium bromide issue mentioned above, ai produces a very detailed list of the use cases and specifically states sodium bromide is not a safe alternative to sodium chloride as a dietary additive or seasoning. "

The clinical case stated that they did not have access to the specific ChatGPT log that the patient relied on. Further, upon engaging ChatGPT 3.5 with the same sort of question to see what kind of answer it would give, ChatGPT did not provide a specific health warning.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 07:02 AM (O7YUW)

109 from the LLM article:

“Thinking” by guessing what words to say next based on words we’ve previously heard might actually help find a good idea — and it’s also how know-nothings get through work meetings, and how people come to think they know stuff they really don’t, and how they internalize the stupidest notions.

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 07:03 AM (aURVT)

110 "College graduates who had big dreams of landing cushy jobs are struggling to stay afloat in a competitive job market overtaken by AI, with one young woman detailing how the only post-graduate interview she landed was at Chipotle."

Well, that, and DOGE, cheap money long gone and DEI withering.

So what was this burrito technician majoring in college?

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:05 AM (a4flb)

111

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at August 12, 2025 07:05 AM (EFZgU)

112 @110/Unknown Drip Under Pressure: "So what was this burrito technician majoring in college?

Surely an in-demand and marketable skill such as underwater basket weaving.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 12, 2025 07:08 AM (O7YUW)

113 AI is to actual intelligence as an artificial flower is to a real flower. Yeah it sort of looks the same at first glance, but nah. Were not God, we aren't going to create an intelligence greater than our own. The human brain is about as good as you are going to do with the materials available in the universe. To simulate the function of a single neuron takes everything an original IBM PC programmed in assembly language can do. There are about 10^11 neurons in a human brain - it runs on about 40 watts of power. It would take about one million of the most powerful processors available to equal a brain's neural net, and would consume about 500 megawatts to do so. That won't give you Isaac Newton - that will give you a neural net equal to an average brain in pattern recognizing ability, nor would it be faster, as inter processor communications would consume additional time and delays. In fact the delays are essential for certain types of pattern recognizing.

Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President at August 12, 2025 07:09 AM (Da7Vv)

114 "Please please come learn a trade. You'll make tons of money. We'll pay you to go to school for it. We're absolutely desperate for workers. "

"Nah, dass fer dumb people. I gotta degree and seven credit cards to max out. "

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 07:10 AM (EctuH)

115 >>Almost as if this was never about the porn.

Do you think a government that allows Islamic grooming gangs and the police to prey on little children really cares about porn getting into the hands of children? No, it was never about the porn.

It was about keeping you from typing "Do you think a government that allows Islamic grooming gangs and the police to prey on little children really cares about porn getting into the hands of children?"

Posted by: Taq, Rickrolled by Jesus at August 12, 2025 07:10 AM (GYGpZ)

116 @108

What was the specific question asked?

When I ask the question, can you substitute sodium bromide for sodium chloride, it gives a breakdown of the two chemicals and their substitution use cases.

Dietary - no
Water softening - sometimes
Chemical Sythesis - often
Disenfectant - with caution
Medical use - rarely
Industrial Brines - Sometimes.

Again, perhaps we should administer iq tests before we allow access to technological sharp knives.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 07:10 AM (MRG/k)

117 magine: A range of small-ish electric pickup trucks in several sizes, with some decent available options (light racks, small towing hitches, maybe even some limited 3-pt mounts, that sort of thing). Buy as much or as little as you like. Design them as modular as possible. Make them road legal.

There is your problem. CAFE killed the station wagon and small utility truck.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:11 AM (a4flb)

118
I'd like, for example, to find patent classifications for certain concepts instead of slogging through the whole massive CPC hierarchy. So if I look for processes for making polyurethanes and a number of classifications in C08G show up, I can check those to see whether they describe the invention.

But if a bunch of ones in G01N are there, I hope I'm smart enough to know not to use them because those are for batteries. My fear is the equivalent of people saying, "But that's what AI told me!"

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 12, 2025 07:12 AM (kkTda)

119 with one young woman detailing how the only post-graduate interview she landed was at Chipotle.

I read about her. American student at Purdue with a degree in Computer Science. Not the stereotypical college grad with a TikTok account complaining about things.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 07:12 AM (lXoJ5)

120 We'll pay you to go to school for it. We're absolutely desperate for workers.

I wish that option had been presented as a good alternative back when I was a young pup in the heart of Silicon Valley. Trades were pretty much glossed over during Career Day.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 07:14 AM (lXoJ5)

121 Were not God, we aren't going to create an intelligence greater than our own. The human brain is about as good as you are going to do with the materials available in the universe.

Go ask ChapGPT the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling.

Yeah, few people have the knowledge and skill to make a pencil from tree to its final form, but get enough people together and you have a box of them made cheap.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:15 AM (a4flb)

122 Weird outfits, though.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 12, 2025 04:40 AM (a1415)

That was done for tax purposes. Since ABBA came from Sweden they got taxed out the wazoo. Even taxed on their clothes they performed in unless the outfit was so outrageous it could not be considered suitable for wear on the street.

Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at August 12, 2025 07:15 AM (NY+zX)

123 Even taxed on their clothes they performed in unless the outfit was so outrageous it could not be considered suitable for wear on the street.
Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at August 12, 2025 07:15 AM (NY+zX)

"You know that sequined jumpsuit with the 90 centimeter flares you wore in that video?"

"Yeah...."

"Kids are wearing that to school now."

"Awwww, dammit."

"Yup. Pay up."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 07:18 AM (EctuH)

124 “ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. “

John 15:9-10

Posted by: Marcus T at August 12, 2025 07:18 AM (Fznpu)

125 I should check out ChatGPT again.

I wanted to create a simple word search puzzle and wanted 40 words related to some random topic. Alphabetical order. Words or phrases between 3 and 15 characters.

What a failed nightmare. It kept giving me phrases way too long. I'd point it out. It would continue. I think I asked for romantic movies. It gave me 'Brokeback Mountain.' I told it I didn't want gay movies and got a lecture.

Grok on the other hand was so much better. At generating word lists. At generating word lists....

Posted by: Stateless - VERY GRATEFUL, LOVED, APPRECIATED AND HAPPY! -- - New Life Creation - 18.1% at August 12, 2025 07:20 AM (jvJvP)

126 @121

>>Go ask ChapGPT the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling.

We can test this right now, what answer do you think it should provide?

Because, I just asked it the question and the results are as you would expect.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 12, 2025 07:21 AM (MRG/k)

127 I read about her. American student at Purdue with a degree in Computer Science. Not the stereotypical college grad with a TikTok account complaining about things.

Dang near everything is computer driven, and with the demand for industrial engineers ramping up, she should cross pollinate with hardware skills and learn service technician gigs, start as an intern in HVAC, automobile repair, industrial control systems, elevator maintenance...

Then she will be worth more than an H1B if she shows up to work.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:21 AM (a4flb)

128 Kids are wearing that to school now."

"Awwww, dammit."

"Yup. Pay up."
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 07:18 AM (EctuH)

That's too funny. And probably true.

Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at August 12, 2025 07:21 AM (NY+zX)

129 I can't remember what it was, but I was searching something and the "AI" section at the top of the search page basically said "I have no idea what the hell you're even talking about. Here's some links to some crap that I know isn't what you want, because I have to at least do something. Good luck."

I think I was trying to track down a part for a 40 year old garden tractor.

But the honesty and candor was refreshing.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 12, 2025 07:23 AM (EctuH)

130 Tom Dhomke has left the building…

Posted by: Zombie Fat Elvis at August 12, 2025 07:25 AM (ruw8Q)

131 I can't remember what it was, but I was searching something and the "AI" section at the top of the search page basically said "I have no idea what the hell you're even talking about. Here's some links to some crap that I know isn't what you want, because I have to at least do something. Good luck."

I regularly get "I can't process your request, try again later" .

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 12, 2025 07:26 AM (a4flb)

132 Purdue grad / computer science degree / Chipotle interview (NYPost)

https://archive.is/wip/kHoBW

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 07:26 AM (aURVT)

133 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 12, 2025 07:28 AM (u82oZ)

134 I feel like a number.

Posted by: Bob Seger at August 12, 2025 07:28 AM (Y1sOo)

135 On the other hand, I have used Grok to help me with some tech issues instead of going to client support.

Grok helped guide me towards the solution.

So that was good.

Posted by: Stateless - VERY GRATEFUL, LOVED, APPRECIATED AND HAPPY! -- - New Life Creation - 18.1% at August 12, 2025 07:29 AM (jvJvP)

136 Hillary Clinton

Do you know what AI says about you?
An uncommonly evil source of corruption and failure in good governance.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 12, 2025 07:29 AM (u82oZ)

137 {{{I am the Shadout Mapes}}}

His platform was "The Spice must flow."

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 12, 2025 07:31 AM (u82oZ)

138 UKgov requiring that Wikipedia identify and verify their moderators, may not be actual “registration” with the authorities, but if you post something they don’t like it surely will make it easier to go find them and explain to them how Big Brother and The Party disapprove of their thoughtcrimes and a fine or jail sentence are soon to follow.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 12, 2025 07:34 AM (6ydKt)

139 119 with one young woman detailing how the only post-graduate interview she landed was at Chipotle.

I read about her. American student at Purdue with a degree in Computer Science. Not the stereotypical college grad with a TikTok account complaining about things.
Posted by: NR Pax at August 12, 2025 07:12 AM (lXoJ5)

Thanks for the i.d. that pointed to article on this. (She is, though, a TikTokker...).

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 07:34 AM (aURVT)

140 J.J. and the News is here on Runway 030.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 12, 2025 07:37 AM (u82oZ)

141 That was done for tax purposes. Since ABBA came from Sweden they got taxed out the wazoo. Even taxed on their clothes they performed in unless the outfit was so outrageous it could not be considered suitable for wear on the street.
Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus belli) at August 12, 2025 07:15 AM (NY+zX)

Interesting.
You’d think the clothes you use to perform in your occupation would be tax-deductible.

I’m surprised they didn’t write a song complaining about taxes the way The Beatles did.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 12, 2025 07:40 AM (6ydKt)

142
Good morning, good people, from the Adirondacks.

Once more, may all your effort result in maximal benefit to you, with congruent heartburn for the leftwit fungi that crawls about.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at August 12, 2025 07:52 AM (hKoQL)

143 142 Good morning, good people, from the Adirondacks.

Once more, may all your effort result in maximal benefit to you, with congruent heartburn for the leftwit fungi that crawls about.
Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at August 12, 2025 07:52 AM (hKoQL)

; )

Posted by: m at August 12, 2025 08:07 AM (aURVT)

144 Does the requirement fall to me, over here in the USA, to comply with UK law? To ensure I have verified the age and identity of my web site editors and viewers? Or am I required to encode a block of UK IP addresses? Let's invite every banana republic dictator with a funny hat to impose ridiculous internet laws on us.

Posted by: These fish sticks are hard as tits at August 12, 2025 08:36 AM (8YAxX)

145 Sock off

Posted by: stu-mick-o-sucks at August 12, 2025 09:15 AM (w9Wax)

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