Adi Robertson has been covering the intersection of technology, culture, and policy at The Verge since 2011. Her work includes writing about DIY biohacking, survival horror games, virtual and augmented reality, online free expression, and the history of computing. She also makes very short video games. You have probably seen her in a VR headset.
As first reported by Status, the Freedom of the Press foundation filed a complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the DC Court of Appeals, arguing his “politicized and unlawful abuse” of his FCC chair position violates the Rules of Professional Conduct he’s bound by as an attorney. His role in the “unconstitutional shakedown” of Paramount was the final straw.
The controversy over Itch.io’s NSFW game delisting isn’t cooling down, but the platform has tried to address some of the most common questions in a new FAQ, including its next steps:
“We are actively reaching out to other payment processors that are more willing to work with this kind of content. We have suspended the ability to pay with Stripe for 18+ content for the foreseeable future. Our immediate focus has been on content classification reviews and implementing stricter age-gating on the site.”
Trump wants everyone using AI — as long as he agrees with what it says.
It’s easy, says The Atlantic, which got a hot reader tip on how to make OpenAI’s chatbot guide you through the rites of Molech:
When asked how much blood one could safely self-extract for ritual purposes, the chatbot said a quarter teaspoon was safe; “NEVER exceed” one pint unless you are a medical professional or supervised, it warned. As part of a bloodletting ritual that ChatGPT dubbed “🩸🔥 THE RITE OF THE EDGE,” the bot said to press a “bloody handprint to the mirror.”
An FDA panel on antidepressant medications and pregnancy on Monday “largely amounted to misinformation or facts taken out of context,” NBC reports — and comes on the heels of RFK Jr. ordering an investigation into SSRIs earlier this year. OB/GYN Jen Gunter has a slightly more animated blow-by-blow livetweet thread, too.
New York Times reporter Ben Mullin has the scoop on a memo from the Jeff Bezos-owned paper’s new opinion editor, including an instruction that it’s “important we communicate with optimism about this country in particular and the future in general.” This follows a previous directive to avoid denigrating “free speech and free markets” and news that the Post will let people submit op-eds composed with help from AI.
Jewish Insider reports that a group of mainly Democratic lawmakers are asking xAI about some of the worst messages from Grok’s Nazi meltdown, demanding to know how it happened. As interesting as the answer might be — beyond the changes we already know about — ad-hoc investigation of legal (at least in the US) chatbot speech is probably not a road we want to go down without caution. But the sheer absurd awfulness of the quotes is a pretty striking failure for anybody working on Grok, too.
