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Messages to Humans

The Mood Metric: How Big Tech Is Patenting Your Face for Work

The Mood Metric: How Big Tech Is Patenting Your Face for Work

Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta have all filed patents in recent years for technology that reads human emotion through facial expression, tone of voice, or body language. None of the four has announced a product. But patents are not filed for sport, and the pattern — four of the largest employers

The President Is Selling Millisecond Access to His Own Words

The President Is Selling Millisecond Access to His Own Words

Truth Social calls itself "an uncancellable haven for free speech." It also, as of this month, charges up to $100,000 a month for the privilege of reading that speech before anyone else does. The product is called Truth API. The customers are, in the company's

AI Washing: The Layoff Excuse Even OpenAI's CEO Doesn't Believe

AI Washing: The Layoff Excuse Even OpenAI's CEO Doesn't Believe

Tech companies cut roughly 1,115 jobs a day in 2026, nearly double the pace of the year before, and the explanation offered again and again is the same one word: AI. Meta, Oracle, Block, Microsoft, Monday.com — the list of employers citing artificial intelligence as the reason for layoffs

Comcast Turned Your Router Into a Motion Sensor. The Fine Print Explains Who Else Gets to Watch.

Comcast Turned Your Router Into a Motion Sensor. The Fine Print Explains Who Else Gets to Watch.

Comcast turned on a new feature this week called WiFi Motion. It uses the radio signal already bouncing between your Xfinity router and every device in your house to detect when a body moves through a room — no camera, no separate sensor, nothing to install. The company is billing it

The Loneliness Epidemic Has Been Documented Since 1985. Nobody Did Anything.

The Loneliness Epidemic Has Been Documented Since 1985. Nobody Did Anything.

In 1985, researchers at the University of Arizona and Duke University asked a simple question in the General Social Survey: how many people do you have in your life with whom you can discuss important matters? The most common answer was three. Most Americans had three close confidants.

China Built the Largest Open AI Model in History. It Just Took the Top Coding Spot From Everyone.

China Built the Largest Open AI Model in History. It Just Took the Top Coding Spot From Everyone.

On July 16, 2026, Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 — 2.8 trillion parameters, open weights, and a score that landed it at number one on the global coding benchmark. The previous Kimi ranked 18th. One generation later, it's first.

The AI Files, Part 1: Nobody Agreed on What AI Was For. They Built It Anyway.

The AI Files, Part 1: Nobody Agreed on What AI Was For. They Built It Anyway.

Every major AI lab in the world is currently building something it cannot fully explain. This is not a secret. It is, in fact, the defining condition of the field. The models are getting more capable. The understanding of how they work is not keeping pace. And the researchers, engineers,