📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms). It’s also concerning. 1/

PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.

LOL all morning picturing some finance quant slouched at his desk prompting Dalle, like, "make me a picture of pikachu having sex with the Apple logo" or whatever tf those guys use these things for, then throwing up his hands like "WHY WON'T THIS FIND ALPHA?!"

Bloomberg.com

Ken Griffin Says GenAI Fails to Help Hedge Funds Produce Alpha

Generative artificial intelligence isn’t helping hedge funds produce market-beating returns and isn’t meaningfully impacting the industry so fa...

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

New Sunday Times profile in which I succeed, like a fencer in a 2hr marathon match, in fending off Qs abt my personal life & consistently turning focus back to my work & ideas. (Contra the interviewer's claim, many ppl do know me! They're called friends, & you know who you are ❤️) https://archive.is/BtZD0

Yes, I did sound the alarm on agentic AI's privacy threat, and rightly so.

Observer

Signal Chief Meredith Whittaker Sounds Alarm On Agentic A.I.’s Privacy Threat

Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker warns that agentic A.I. could breach app-level security, threatening privacy for millions of users.

So happy to be joining Burda Media's board of directors! I love a steep learning curve, and this one--schooling up on media business models & opportunities to (re)shape media's relationship to tech--couldn't be more exciting & consequential. Thrilled to contribute ❤️

www.burda.com

Corporate News: Signal President Meredith Whittaker Joins Burda's Board of Directors | Burda News

The Burda Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Signal president Meredith Whittaker to its Board of Directors, the company

'Meredith,' some guys ask, 'why won't you shove AI into Signal?' Because we love privacy, and we love you, and this shit is predictable and unacceptable. Use Signal ❤️

Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3

Happy pride month! Especially to my trans friends <3

Complete knowledge of the full majesty of universal creation in all its divine facets is when I own an island.

📢NEW: 'Open' AI systems aren't open. The vague term, combined w AI hype is (mis)shaping policy & practice, assuming 'open source' AI democratizes access & addresses power concentration. It doesn't. @sarahbmyers, @davidthewid & I correct the record👇 https://nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08141-1

Anyone spending the brief liminal window between Christmas and Georgian new year in Hamburg, with the hackers, at CCC? I am! And I'll be presenting new research and a new talk ☺️ halfnarp.events.ccc.de

Now that "scale is all we need" has predictably faltered... 1. Small AI models often perform better in context. 2. Obsession w bigness has bad consequences, from climate, to power concentration, to research capture. Me + @npub14m5n...fhnd @sashaluccioni arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160

Case in point: there's no way to build a backdoor that only the "good guys" can use. When the entire technical community says that the EU's ChatControl legislation + similar pose serious cybersecurity threats, we're not exaggerating for effect. https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/u-s-wiretap-systems-targeted-in-china-linked-hack-327fc63b?st=byoB7m

I loved talking to @madhumita29 for Lunch with the FT! We spoke on my personal journey through the enchanted forest of 2000s era-tech, why we must connect AI + surveillance, and the nascent rumblings of a better tech future that I see on the horizon. Come for that, stay for the portrait perfectly capturing "just off a redeye and powering through it" ♥️👇

Client Challenge

📣NEW paper! Don’t believe the hype: bigger AI ≠ better AI. @SashaMTL, @GaelVaroquaux and me on how the race to bigger, and bigger AI has bad consequences and isn't necessary. 1. Smaller AI models often perform better than big models in context And 2. obsession with bigness has severe collateral consequences, from climate costs, to concentrated power, to more surveillance, to the capture of AI research. All of this, and what we can do instead 👇 arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160

This is so cool/kind (AND they're using machine learning to actually do the thing 'for humanity' that companies selling ML to the pharma industry claim it will , but that of course their version will not actually do, given the incentives♥️)

404 Media

‘Right to Repair for Your Body’: The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine

Four Thieves Vinegar Collective has made DIY medicine cheaper and more accessible to the masses.

Such a delight to sit down with the great @npub1fx7y...jv34 for a long engaged convo on surveillance, AI, my wild path through tech, and how by rejecting the toxic norm Signal provides a shining model for better, healthier tech futures♥️

WIRED

Under Meredith Whittaker, Signal Is Out to Prove Surveillance Capitalism Wrong

On its 10th anniversary, Signal’s president wants to remind you that the world’s most secure communications platform is a nonprofit. It’s fre...

"'I actually don’t know of a single provider of abortion services like these who has not encountered this problem [of payment platforms cancelling their accounts or holding their money].'”

The Persistent

How Online Abortion Providers Hit an Unexpected Hurdle

Frozen out of their accounts by online payment providers, some telemedicine providers are struggling to keep going.