936 tacks
Teacher v chatbot: my journey into the classroom in the age of AI – podcast
I was a newcomer, negotiating all of the usual classroom difficulties for the first time. Throwing AI into the mix felt like downing a coffee in the middle of a panic attack
Desperate for social media ban to work, but parents say it’s 'impossible'
Australian parents are frustrated with the effectiveness of the social media ban for under-16s, as their children continue to access platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. The eSafety Commission is investigating potential noncompliance by social media companies and will move from monitoring to enforcement. While some parents report success with the ban, others find it difficult to enforce without adequate support.
Your brain explained: Why it’s getting harder to pay attention
Attention is a complex brain function involving three networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. Constant distractions, particularly from digital devices, impair our ability to focus and multitask, leaving us vulnerable to misinformation. The monetisation of attention by tech companies, coupled with the rise of AI-generated content, further complicates our ability to discern truth from fiction.
Inside The Rage Machine
Whistleblowers from the social media giants reveal how their companies deliberately built a business model powered by outrage and division, paving the way for radicalisation, real-world violence and fractured societies.
‘Enshittification’: how we got the internet no one asked for – podcast
Do you ever get the feeling that the internet isn’t what it used to be? Well, tech critic Cory Doctorow thinks you’re right – and he has a term to describe it too: ‘enshittification’. He lays out his three-step theory to Nosheen Iqbal, explaining why sites from Amazon to Google to Instagram seem to offer a worsening experience … and what can be done to stop it.
Is AI the greatest art heist in history?
Generative AI, trained on billions of images scraped from the internet without consent, is seen as a threat to artists and creative industries. The author, an artist, recounts how AI-generated images, resembling their work, began appearing online, leading to job losses and the devaluation of human creativity. The author argues that this is not inevitable progress but a power grab by the tech elite, who view human interaction and creativity as obstacles.
The Downfall of Skibidi Toilet
Taylor Lorenz examines the growing backlash surrounding Skibidi Toilet after its shift from an internet-native phenomenon into a studio-managed franchise. She explains how DaFuqBoom’s surreal viral series became a massive cultural hit, then lost fan confidence once Invisible Narratives took control and launched Emergence. The video explores the leaked call that deepened the controversy, the #BringBackBoom movement, and the broader tension between online creator culture and Hollywood ownership.
Fifteen-year-old Noah hasn’t been kicked off any social media platforms – he’s still fighting Australia’s under-16 ban in court
Fifteen-year-old Noah Jones, challenging Australia’s under-16 social media ban in court, claims the ban is ineffective as he and many others have circumvented it. The Digital Freedom Project argues the ban infringes on the constitutional right to freedom of political communication, as it prevents teens from engaging in political discussions on social media. The government defends the ban, stating it aims to reduce harm to users on platforms with potentially harmful features.
AI influencers are here. Can you spot them?
On this week’s “Galaxy Brain” episode, Charlie Warzel is joined by New York Times technology reporter Tiffany Hsu to discuss the rise of AI influencers—synthetic avatars, often indistinguishable from real people, that are flooding social-media feeds to sell supplements and promote brands. Hsu unpacks her reporting on the combination of forces converging around it, including the wellness industry, a historically fertile ground for scammers. The pair discuss how the volume of synthetic content online is producing a new kind of epistemic exhaustion: a fatigue so deep that many people have simply stopped caring whether what they're seeing is real. So is authenticity already beside the point? And is an audience’s emotional response—rather than the truth behind the image—the only currency that matters?
The enshittification of the internet, explained
Cory Doctorow says the internet is getting worse and he has a theory why. In conversation with The National’s Ian Hanomansing, the Canadian author explains his term ‘enshittification’ and the questions it raises about the power of big tech.
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