Over the past four years, I've significantly reduced my social media footprint. There are countless reasons for this, all of which are beyond the scope of this article, but the point I want to make is this: despite my growing apathy and downright hostility towards social platforms, I've found YouTube to be an oasis of sorts.

I am not going to pretend that YouTube hasn't played its part in the global disinformation epidemic or that it has somehow escaped the claws of enshittification. What I will say is that unlike other social platforms, its feed (unlike those of its competitors) are maleable using browser-based plugins (tools such as subscription managers). It is one of my primary learning platforms; without its vast array of tutorials, there is no way that I, a non-programmer, would have learnt Linux as fast or become as comfortable in a FOSS-based computing environment, as I have since the pandemic.

But enshittification is, like death and taxes, a certainty now. Which brings us to the subject of this column: AI moderation on YouTube.

YouTube’s AI is Breaking the Creator Ecosystem

A moderation system that leans on automation just knocked legitimate tech tutorials and even entire channels offline. The appeals felt automated, too.

^{Theena Kumaragurunathan (It's FOSS)}

After decades of research and development, humanity finally has a data storage medium that will outlast us.

The 5D Memory Crystal stores data by using tiny voxels – 3D pixels – in fused silica glass, etched by femtosecond laser pulses. These voxels possess "birefringence," meaning that their light refraction characteristics vary depending upon the polarization and direction of incoming light.

That difference in light orientation and strength can be read in conjunction with the voxel's location (x, y, z coordinates), allowing data to be encoded in five dimensional space.

And because the medium is silica crystal, similar to optical cable, it's highly durable. It's also capacious: The technology can store up to 360 TB of data on a 5-inch glass platter.

The future of long-term data storage is clear and will last 14 billion years

: SPhotoix moves its 5D Memory Crystalcold storage tech closer to deployment in data centers

^{Thomas Claburn (The Register)}

In a small room in San Diego last week, a man in a black leather jacket explained to me how to save the world from destruction by AI. Max Tegmark, a notable figure in the AI-safety movement, believes that “artificial general intelligence,” or AGI, could precipitate the end of human life. I was in town for NeurIPS, one of the largest AI-research conferences, and Tegmark had invited me, along with five other journalists, to a briefing on an AI-safety index that he would release the next day. No company scored better than a C+.

The threat of technological superintelligence is the stuff of science fiction, yet it has become a topic of serious discussion in the past few years. Despite the lack of clear definition—even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called AGI a “weakly defined term”—the idea that powerful AI contains an inherent threat to humanity has gained acceptance among respected cultural critics.

Granted, generative AI is a powerful technology that has already had a massive impact on our work and culture. But superintelligence has become one of several questionable narratives promoted by the AI industry, along with the ideas that AI learns like a human, that it has “emergent” capabilities, that “reasoning models” are actually reasoning, and that the technology will eventually improve itself.

I traveled to NeurIPS, held at the waterfront fortress that is the San Diego Convention Center, partly to understand how seriously these narratives are taken within the AI industry. Do AGI aspirations guide research and product development? When I asked Tegmark about this, he told me that the major AI companies were sincerely trying to build AGI, but his reasoning was unconvincing. “I know their founders,” he said. “And they’ve said so publicly.”

The View From Inside the AI Bubble

Secret parties, lavish buffets, and talks of annihilation at one of the largest AI-research conferences

^{Alex Reisner (The Atlantic)}

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/microsoft-nukes-popular-halo-3-mod-for-counter-strike-2-from-orbit-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted/

https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/confused-about-amds-fsr-redstone-update-youre-not-alone-heres-what-it-all-means-for-pc-gamers

cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/56854587

archive article: archive.is/ZIB3n

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/14/trump-tariff-exemptions-us-imports-data-00685168

Local media says one of the suspects is an imam at a mosque, and police allege he "called for a vehicle attack".

Archived version: archive.is/20251214100252/bbc.…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Five arrested over plot to attack German Christmas market

^{Alex Boyd (BBC News)}

Thailand's government reports a rocket attack from Cambodia on Sunday killed a 63-year-old villager.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/apnews.com/a…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

A United Airlines Boeing 777 had an engine failure while departing Washington Dulles Airport, which ultimately caused a brush fire.

United Boeing 777 Has Engine Failure, Causing Dulles Airport Brush Fire

^{Ben Schlappig (One Mile at a Time)}

The latest overnight attacks come as US envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to hold more talks with Ukraine's president.

Archived version: archive.is/20251213055652/bbc.…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

One million households without electricity in Ukraine after Russian strikes

^{Alex Boyd (BBC News)}

The global aviation industry is expected to achieve $1.008 trillion this year marking a 4% growth from 2024 & forecasts a further 4.5% growth in 2026.

Airline Industry On The Verge Of Historic $1 Trillion Revenue This Year

The global aviation industry is expected to achieve $1.008 trillion this year marking a 4% growth from 2024 & forecasts a further 4.5% growth in 2026.

^{Abid Habib (Simple Flying)}

At least 10 people, including a gunman, were killed on Sunday after a shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. An additional 11 people were injured and another gunman was arrested, according to the national media.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/france24.com…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

At least 10 dead including gunman at Sydney's Bondi beach shooting, police say

At least 10 people, including a gunman, were killed on Sunday after a shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. An additional 11 people were injured and another gunman was arrested, according to the national media. 

^{FRANCE 24}

Hamas' chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said on Sunday that a targeted assassination by Israel on Saturday of one of the group's senior ‍commanders ​threatens the "viability of the truce" in the enclave.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Hamas chief negotiator says Israel's killing of senior commander threatens ceasefire

CAIRO, Dec 14 - Hamas' chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said on Sunday that a targeted assassination by Israel on Saturday of one of the group's senior ‍commanders ​threatens the \"viability of the truce\" in the enclave. Read more at straitstimes.

^ST

• Cambridge Online Trust and Safety Index;
• Research.

A new analysis using twelve months of COTSI data, published in the journal Science, shows that verifying fake accounts for use in the US and UK is almost as cheap as in Russia, while Japan and Australia have high prices due to SIM costs and photo ID rules.

The average price of SMS verification for an online platform during the year-long study period running to July 2025 was $4.93 in Japan and $3.24 in Australia, yet just a fraction of that in the US ($0.26), UK ($0.10) and Russia ($0.08).

The research also reveals that prices for fake accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp appear to spike in countries about to have national elections, suggesting a surge in demand due to “influence operations”.

Price of a 'bot army' revealed across hundreds of online platforms worldwide

The first global index tracking real-time prices for buying fake account verifications on 500+ online platforms in every country has been launched by a team at the University of Cambridge.

^{University of Cambridge}

Cambridge Online Trust and Safety Index

A new analysis using twelve months of COTSI data, published in the journal Science, shows that verifying fake accounts for use in the US and UK is almost as cheap as in Russia, while Japan and Australia have high prices due to SIM costs and photo ID rules.

The average price of SMS verification for an online platform during the year-long study period running to July 2025 was $4.93 in Japan and $3.24 in Australia, yet just a fraction of that in the US ($0.26), UK ($0.10) and Russia ($0.08).

The research also reveals that prices for fake accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp appear to spike in countries about to have national elections, suggesting a surge in demand due to “influence operations”.

Price of a 'bot army' revealed across hundreds of online platforms worldwide

The first global index tracking real-time prices for buying fake account verifications on 500+ online platforms in every country has been launched by a team at the University of Cambridge.

^{University of Cambridge}

From media mergers to foreign policy, Trump's son-in-law is consolidating power — and making millions

The speed and scale of Jared Kushner’s re-emergence can’t be overstated. In the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his son-in-law is casually consolidating economic and political power with staggering speed.

Kushner has positioned himself at the center of the biggest media merger in years and at the fulcrum of White House foreign policy, all while taking in multi-billion-dollar investments from autocratic governments.

Jared Kushner is at the center of Trump's corruption

^{Sophia Tesfaye (Salon.com)}

After 5 months of chipping away at it, PieFed is now an installable 'app' in the Yunohost store! It's been there for a couple of weeks actually but until this weekend it had a scary red exclamation mark because some automated tests hadn't ran yet. But that's gone now so I feel confident about recommending it to others.

Yunohost is a linux distro for servers that has a web gui for installing and managing services, that takes all the hassle out of self-hosting. How to get started with Yunohost.

@squirrel@piefed.kobel.fyi and @michael@piefed.chrisco.me have had good success setting up their instances already: piefed.social/c/piefed_meta/p/…

A newbie's guide to self-hosting with YunoHost. Part 1: reasons + requirements

The first post in a four part miniseries about self-hosting for newbies via YunoHost

^{Elena Rossini}

https://www.wired.com/story/fulu-repair-bounties-nest-molekule/?=0