This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss stances on AI, a conference about money laundering, and signs about slavery coming down.EMANUEL: Last week we published my interview with the Wikimedia Foundation CTO Selena Deckelmann. I was happy to talk to her because shes uniquely positioned to talk about generative AIs impact on the internet both as the CTO of the website that creates some of the most valuable training data, and one of the sites thats threatened by generative AI output the most.

Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week. When it comes to the evolution of the human penis, size matters.Scientists have discovered that men with larger penises are not only more attractive to women, they are also deemed more threatening to men, which is the first experimental evidence that males assess rivals fighting ability and attractiveness to females based partly on a rivals penis size, according to a study published in PLOS Biology on Thursday.In humans, height and body shape are well known to influence attractiveness, but penis size has rarely been tested alongside these traits in a controlled, experimental setup, said Upama Aich, a behavioral and evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia who led the study, in an email to 404 Media.What motivated us was the evolutionary puzzle that the human penis is unusually large relative to other primates, which raises the question of whether it signals information beyond its primary reproductive role of sperm transfer, she added.Sexual selection, a form of natural selection, is a process in which certain traits that enhance reproductive successfrom big antlers to colorful feathersbecome amplified in a lineage over time. Male traits may persist both because they are selected by females, which is known as intersexual selection, or because those traits are associated with better success against male rivals, which is called intrasexual selection.Previous research has presented evidence that bigger penises are more attractive to women, in tandem with characteristics like height and body shape, suggesting that intersexual selection may have played a role in the anomalously large human penis. Aich and her colleagues set out to confirm that result, while also testing out the role of intrasexual selection for the first time.The researchers recruited more than 600 male and 200 female participants to rate computer-generated male figures with different heights, body shapes, and penis sizes (all shown in a flaccid state). Some participants attended an in-person display of life-size images while others rated the figures on an online platform. Men were asked to assess the figures as potential rivals, while women were asked to rate them as potential mates.Participants also filled out a questionnaire about their physical characteristics (including height and weight) and sexuality. Given the focus on mates and rivals, the researchers only used responses from self-identified heterosexual males and females in the study.The team designed the approach with nondescript figures devoid of any personality or identifiable background in part to sidestep the immense cultural weight of the human penis, an anatomical feature endowed with major significance across eras and societies.We were very conscious that penis size is culturally loaded and surrounded by myths, humour, and anxiety, said Aich. Thats one reason we used anatomically accurate, computer-generated figures: it allowed us to manipulate specific traits independently while controlling for personal identity, social narratives and contextual cues.I do think this cultural baggage has discouraged careful scientific study in sensitive topics in the past, but from an evolutionary perspective, that makes it even more important to examine the question empirically rather than relying on assumptions, she added.To that end, the new study confirmed that women generally preferred figures with larger penises in addition to taller figures with more V-shaped bodies. It also revealed for the first time that men factored penis size into their assessment of male rivals, as they rated the figures with larger penises as more threatening rivals. Even more importantly, the men overwhelmingly guessed that the figures with larger penises would be more attractive to women.According to the researchers, this hints that in our evolutionary past, males may have avoided confrontations with rivals based in part on their penis size in addition to height and body shape. As a consequence, males with larger penises may have secured more access to mates not only due to female preference, but also because they were not challenged by rivals as often. This aspect of male-male competition may have helped to enlarge the human penis over time through selection.Previous research had often focused on the effect of penis size on female preferences, so our results that men also use penis size when assessing rivals adds a new dimension to the story, Aich said. It suggests penis size is interpreted not only in a sexual context, but also in competitive rival cues.However, the effect of penis size on attractiveness was four to seven times higher than its effect as a signal of fighting ability, she continued. This suggests that the enlarged penis in humans may have evolved more in response to its effect as a sexual ornament to attract females than as a badge of status for males, although it does both.Aich said her team was most surprised by the consistency of the participants responses across many manipulated variables. Similar patterns in the responses showed up regardless of whether the participants were viewing life-sized projections or scaled images online, whether they received payment for the experiment, and across both male and female participants.One obvious next step is to study how these visual cues interact with others that matter in real-world interactions, such as facial features, voice, or movement, she said. Another open question is how culturally variable these perceptions are, since standards of masculinity and attractiveness differ across societies. A cross-cultural study would be interesting.The new study adds to the evidence that both forms of sex selection influenced the size of the human penis, but many other factors also played a role in the development of the organ. For example, penis shape and size may have evolved to scoop the sperm of rival males out of the vaginal canal, or to raise the odds of female orgasm, both of which can contribute to reproductive success.In other words, both the size of the ship and the motion of the ocean are a part of the complex story of human sexual evolution.Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week.

In posts on ManyVids, the porn platforms official account holds imaginary conversations with aliens, alongside AI-generated videos of UFOs, fractal images, angel numbers, and a video of its founder and CEO Bella French in a space suit shooting lasers from her eyes.French launched the site in 2014 as a former cam model herself, and the platform has millions of members and tens of thousands of creators. Adult content creators use it to sell custom videos and subscriptions, and perform live on camera. French recently changed her personal website to state her new goal is to transition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it. The statement follows posts on Xs ManyVids account about new strategies to pivot the site toward safe-for-work, non-sexual content.This sudden shift away from years of messaging about being a compatriot with sex workers, combined with bizarre AI-generated text and images about talking to aliens and numerology on social media, has made some creators worry for their livelihoods, and caused others to leave the site completely.For years, the official ManyVids social media accounts made mostly normal posts that promoted the site and its creators. But in mid-2025, the posts from the ManyVids X account changed. Instead of promotions of top creators, announcements of contests, and tips for using the platform, the account shifted its focus to existential and metaphysical musings. Around August, it started posting cryptic quotes, phrases, and images, many seemingly generated by or about AI.The account also started replying to engagement-farming posts from influencers, writing things like Our purpose: to protect the feminine energy so that balance may return, and posting borderline-nonsensical bullet-point lists about the boldness scale and how ManyVids leadership is all connected.The impact strength of a positive leader Effectiveness Execution Discipline Accountability, one post in August said. On August 20, @ManyVids posted an image on X of a flow chart alongside a screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation, seemingly illustrating how the platform would bring in users through a safe-for-work zone, then allow them to access NSFW content after verifying their identifications. Our vision: Adult Industry 2.0 isnt about more revenue. Its about evolution, the post said.The replies to these posts show ManyVids creators expressing anger, concern, and bafflement. The account stopped posting on X in September. But on the ManyVids platform itself, which has a news feed that functions similarly to a microblogging platform but is just for official platform posts, the odd entries continue.Do you know anything else about what's happening at ManyVids, or do you have a tip about porn platforms and online sex work generally? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at sam.404. Otherwise, send me an email at sam@404media.co.Social API for the AI Age. Phase 1 Pride Engine, one post from January 16 says:The High Universal Income (HUI) Engine is the distribution hub of the new economy, built for a world where AI does the work humans never wanted to do. AI generates surplus wealth, but humans need surplus purpose. Human meaning becomes the rarest and most valuable resource on Earth. Instead of opaque taxes, AI companies fund a Social License through platforms like ManyVids, converting AI efficiency into merit-based bonuses for human contribution. For every dollar earned through passion, creation, care, or learning, HUI adds 10%. This is not charity. It is a Pride Engine. We shift the foundation of human value.The post ends with a six-second AI generated video that includes the phrase the ultimate guide to rebuilding civilization. Most posts in recent weeks are like this: clearly AI generated text alongside six-second AI generated clips showing angels, chakras, or spiritual phrases. The Simulation of Integrity. If we dont fully understand the ultimate nature of reality, what should guide how we live inside it? one recent post says. If the nature of the game is unknown, then how you treat others and yourself becomes the most meaningful data point.And in a post right after the new year: Hey everyone! Back-to-the-office Monday vibe. How were your holidays? Did you travel anywhere? I did... Next time, Ill bring sunglasses. I came back with a few new ideas and fresh thoughts Lets get to work. Lets go, 2026! Below the text: a video of French in a space suit, black hole in the background, shooting laser-lightning out of her eyes. 0:00 /0:11 1 Screengrab via ManyVids A lot of people who rely on ManyVids for income have noticed this odd behavior and are disturbed by it.Ethical dilemmas about AI aside, the posts are completely disconnected with ManyVids as a site, one ManyVids content creator told 404 Media, on the condition of anonymity. Their customers and their creators are not served in any way by these. When faced with backlash, MV removed the ability to comment on posts. To anyone looking at them they appear to be ramblings and images generated by a person in active psychosis. 0:00 /0:06 1 Screengrab via ManyVids Almost every ManyVids creator 404 Media spoke to for this story brought up AI psychosis unprompted, when asked if theyd seen the ManyVids posts.I have seen them and I find them really insulting, Sydney Screams said. The way I perceive the posts is that Bella and the MV team doesn't respect their creators enough to spend time making their own content, instead taking the easy way out and using bizarre AI that doesn't even relate. Why do we need Bella shooting laser beams out of her eyes to make an announcement? It's infuriating because it's like she doesn't take us seriously, doesn't take her own platform seriously, and we're supposed to just be grateful for the crumbs she's giving us. We deserve better, she said. We deserve to be treated with respect, talked to like we're adults, and listened to like our voices matter. Instead we get AI slop and posts that promise big things without any sort of follow through.Harlan Paramore, a ManyVids creator who also helps other creators onboard and manage their selling sites, said hes noticed bizarre posts about AI, angel numbers, christopaganism, cyberpaganism.I don't have anything against any of those beliefs, but they seem wildly out of place for an official site blog. They are also heavily loaded with AI-like language and structure, and decorated with AI images, Paramore said. I'm also a professional artist, and as both an artist and sex worker I'm frustrated and confused. Some of it kind of sounds like AI psychosis, too, which has me concerned for whoever is running that blog.I'm not a mental health professional, but whatever Bella is going through doesn't seem normal. It doesn't seem healthy, Screams said. From where I'm sitting, if I were close to Bella, I'd be reaching out to her other friends and family members to stage an intervention and try to get her serious mental health care.All of this is coinciding with an apparent massive change in Frenchs ideology toward sex work. On her personal website, French says the goal of ManyVids is changing to transition one million people out of the adult industry. She calls sex work exploitative. Her bio quotes her as saying: I had two choices: surrender to an exploitative industry or dismantle it. I chose to build its replacement... ManyVids was the resultthe most efficient revenue-distribution engine for the AI-displaced workforce. Guided by first principles and core value thinking, Bella is leading MVs next evolution: a Fintech/Social-Impact hybrid that turns digital presence into economic creation. By utilizing AI-integrated workflows and layered access, ManyVids is migrating creators from adult content into a diversified creative economy, her bio says. Our goal is to transition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it. We are working to transform an industry we dont believe should existbut we recognize that simple elimination creates deeper shadows. The solution is elevation through meaningful alternatives.This is a recent addition to her website. According to archived versions of the site, the section about transitioning people out of the sex industry wasnt there in November 2025.ManyVids is now becoming a regulated e-social ecosystem a digital space that sensitizes, elevates, and restricts adult content through layered brackets of access, Frenchs bio says now. This ensures that sacred sexual expression is never free, never exploited, and never divorced from its core human depth. The layered brackets seem to be a reference to the ChatGPT screenshots from August 20.This is an extreme departure in tone from what French has said was her mission with ManyVids in the past. In 2019, I met French for an on-background hotel room meeting during the porn industrys biggest award show and conference, AVN, where she told me she created ManyVids out of a passion to create a platform where other sex workershaving been an adult content creator herselfwould be treated fairly and would be listened to by the platforms owners. French is a former cam model herself, and has always been open publicly about wanting to create better platforms for other sex workers.Their customers and their creators are not served in any way by these." We try to offer sex workers the tools to be more successful as independent entrepreneurs without being judged, French told the Daily Beast in 2019. What was really important for me was to educate the world and make them realize that porn stars are not stupid.Shortly after she and I met in 2019, French agreed to a written interview as part of a VICE story about authenticity in cam work. In that email, she called camming the biggest gift shed ever received. Being a camgirl not only has a huge influence on my approach to taking business decisions but has changed the way I view people and life in general, French wrote at the time. Every single decision we take at ManyVids must answer 1 simple question, Will this help the content creators, our MV Stars? Thats it, French wrote in 2019. If the answer is yes then we proceed, regardless if there is any financial advantage or potential for profit, that is irrelevant.Platforms have long profited off of sex workers and pornography to establish popularity and rake in revenue before eventually doing a heel-turn on the creators who made them successful. Weve seen it happen with mainstream social media platforms like Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter, and also on sites ostensibly made for sex workers, like OnlyFans, which nearly changed its policies to ban explicit material after making billions of dollars off their content. I asked ManyVids and French if the platform is changing to reflect these social media posts and her statements on her bio, who is making the AI-generated posts mentioned above, how French plans to transition one million people out of sex work, and if any of this will affect creators and fans who use ManyVids. The ManyVids support team did not answer these questions specifically, but sent the following response (emphasis theirs): "Hello,thanks for reaching out. Respect for Online Sex Workers. Sex work is real work. No more living in the shadows, no more being misunderstood.No more being afraid, shadowbanned, or persecuted by systems and institutions. Not on our watch.We are not victims and we are taking action now.This generation of online sex workers is about tochange the game foreverand transform the oldest profession in the world in the right direction,for good. Respect the creators. Respect the work. Respect what you watch. We stand forsafety, dignity, and opportunity for all creators."Screenshot of the emailed response from ManyVids supportI asked ManyVids to explain in specific terms what "we are taking action now" means. They replied: "A post will be published to our ManyVids News feed this Saturday, January 24th. It will provide additional clarification and go into a bit more detail on this," with a link to the feed.It concerns me that access to my earnings, and more importantly my personal information, is in the hands of someone seemingly out of touch with reality.In the meantime, creators have been confused and worried for weeks. Nothing has changed about the way the site operates publicly or creators payouts as of writing, but this is a series of events that many adult content creators are concerned represents a potential threat to their livelihood.If something were to happen to MV (or to my account there) due to what can only be described as AI psychosis, I would lose upwards of 14k per yeara not insignificant amount of income, another adult creator on ManyVids told 404 Media. It concerns me that access to my earnings, and more importantly my personal information, is in the hands of someone seemingly out of touch with reality.ManyVids takes a larger-than-most cut from creators' profits, depending on the type of content: For videos and contest earnings (which are similar to tips), the platform takes 40 percent. On tips and custom video sales, it takes 20 percent, which is more in line with other adult platforms. This has been a source of complaint from creators for a long time, combined with unpredictable algorithms that creators say change how theyre discovered on the platform and what content performs best, impacting their earnings. Users have expressed dissatisfaction with these aspects of the platform, and how French runs it, for years. But the recent turn to AI and Frenchs statements about the industry are making some wonder if its time to leave.I will still be using ManyVids for NSFW content for as long as they allow it, adult content creator August told 404 Media. But part of me thinks that they will try to do what OnlyFans did years ago and try to ban NSFW content which would be an absolute disaster for sex workers whose income depends on platforms like ManyVids.Luna Sapphire, a creator who has been using the platform since 2015, said she finds Frenchs statements on her website harmful and insulting to those whove helped popularize the site from the start. Most of us are not looking for a path out of the adult industry; we simply want to do our jobs with as little interference and censorship as possible, Sapphire said. Bella used to be very pro-sex worker and it is disappointing to see her change her tune.Several adult platforms have embraced, or at least allowed, AI-generated content and models on their sites alongside human creators in the last few years. On OnlyFans, AI-generated is allowed, but must comply with the sites terms of service and and must be clearly and conspicuously captioned as AI Generated Content with a signifier such as #ai, or #AIGenerated, Onlyfans says in its terms. Fansly, another adult platform for independent creators, forbids photorealistic AI-generated content but allows non-photorealistic virtual entities (like V-tubers) if theyre registered using the uploaders real legal information for verification purposes. JustForFans requires that consent, identity, and proof of age must be established if the AI images are based on a real person's likeness, and allows deepfakes if consent has been established. For example, you can use your own face to create images of yourself or a model who has granted consent to use their face, the platforms terms say. IWantClips, another site for selling custom content, also requires users making AI-generated models to verify their identities, but explicitly doesnt allow deepfakes.In 2024, IWantClips awarded an AI-generated model $1,000 as the winner of a Valentines Day-themed contest. Adora competed in the contest alongside human sex workers. On most of these sites, engagement and attention are currency, and on ManyVids, AI generated models sell content alongside humans. The platform prohibits AI-generated or deepfake content that misrepresents real individuals without consent, as part of its terms that forbid content that violates any third party's intellectual property rights or another individual's privacy.The AI/intense spirituality path has been so strange to witness, and I cant imagine what its leaving the fans to think, Elizabeth Fields, an adult content creator whos used ManyVids for six years, told 404 Media. I dont understand what they are trying to do by taking this direction, nor do I understand how its fair of a sexwork built site to assume all of us dont want to do NSFW contentand to try and funnel us into this box of not enjoying the work we do. To an extent it feels degrading honestlyjust because Bellas experience in sex work was survival based and to make ends meeta lot of us thoroughly enjoy our jobs, the path we took, and want to continue doing this.Many sex workers are disabled, neurodivergent, mentally ill, chronically ill, or all of the above, Fields noted, and rely on online sex work to pay the bills. It feels absolutely unfair to feel like we could be pushed off of a site that became popular off OUR NSFW contentbecause they want to make it more SFW, and implement all these new AI features that will quite frankly just turn clients off.Despite all of this, Fields said she wont be leaving the site. To the point that as much as I'm extremely disappointed with many of the recent changes occurring, I wont be deleting my account as to not lose that income and disappoint my ManyVids fans.Others are done. Sydney Screams said shes no longer uploading to ManyVids and made the decision to slowly start removing content from her stores there. Platforms that allow for online sex work should be working FOR us, not against us. Sex workers use platforms like MV to earn our own living, to enable ourselves to have better lives, to keep ourselves housed and fed, to pay for medical bills, etc. Many of us choose this life and choose to make this our career, though there are far too many who are survival sex workers, Screams said. We aren't looking for a pathway out of the adult industry, especially on a platform that is a porn platform!!! Unless MV is going to start funding the educations & trainings of those trying to leave the industry for work elsewhere, I do not see how a porn platform is going to create a path out of the industry.Emanuel Maiberg contributed reporting to this story.

We start this week with Josephs article about ELITE, a tool Palantir is working on for ICE. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI influencers are making fake sex tape-style photos with celebrities, who cant be best pleased about it. In the subscribers-only section, Matthew breaks down Comic-Cons ban of AI art.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. ELITE: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to RaidInstagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex ScandalsComic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback

The Belarusian government is threatening three HAM radio operators with the death penalty, detained at least seven people, and has accused them of intercepting state secrets, according to Belarusian state media, independent media outside of Belarus, and the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna. The arrests are an extreme attack on what is most often a wholesome hobby that has a history of being vilified by authoritarian governments in part because the technology is quite censorship resistant.The detentions were announced last week on Belarusian state TV, which claimed the men were part of a network of more than 50 people participating in the amateur radio hobby and have been accused of both espionage and treason. Authorities there said they seized more than 500 pieces of radio equipment. The men were accused on state TV of using radio to spy on the movement of government planes, though no actual evidence of this has been produced.State TV claimed they were associated with the Belarusian Federation of Radioamateurs and Radiosportsmen (BFRR), a long-running amateur radio club and nonprofit that holds amateur radio competitions, meetups, trainings, and forums. WhatsApp and email requests to the BFRR from 404 Media were not returned.On Reddit, Siarhei Besarab, a Belarusian HAM radio operator, posted a plea for support from others in the hobby: MAYDAY from Belarus: Licensed operators facing death penalty.I am writing this because my local community is being systematically liquidated in what I can only describe as a targeted intellectual genocide, Besarab wrote. They have detained over 50 licensed people, including callsigns EW1ABT, EW1AEH, and EW1ACE. These men were paraded on state television like war criminals and were coerced to publicly repent for the "crime" of technical curiosity. Propagandists presented the Belarusian Federation of Radioamateurs and Radiosportsmen (BFRR) as a front for a massive spy network.State propaganda unironically claims these men were pumping state secrets out of the air using nothing more than basic $25 Baofeng handhelds and consumer-grade SDR dongles, he added. Any operator knows that hardware like this is physically incapable of cracking the modern AES-256 digital encryption used by government security forces. It is a technical fraud, yet they are being charged with High Treason and Espionage. The punishment in Belarus for these charges is life in prison or the death penalty.The Belarusian human rights group Viasna and its associated Telegram channel confirmed the detention and said that it spoke to a cellmate of Andrei Repetsi, who said that Repetsi was unable to talk about his case in jail: The case is secret, so Andrei never told the essence of the case in the cell. He joked that his personal file was marked Top secret. Burn before reading, Viasna wrote.Most HAMs operate amateur radios for fun, as part of competitions, or to keep in touch with other HAMs around the world. But the hobby has a long history of being attacked by governments in part because it is resistant to censorship. Amateur radio often works even if a natural disaster or political action takes down internet, cell, and phone services, so it is popular among people interested in search and rescue and doomsday prepping. Amateur radio has been used to share information out of Cuba, for example, and in 2021 the Cuban government jammed HAM radio frequencies during anti-government protests there.

San Diego Comic-Con changed an AI art friendly policy following an artist-led backlash last week. It was a small victory for working artists in an industry where jobs are slipping away as movie and video game studios adopt generative AI tools to save time and money.Every year, tens of thousands of people descend on San Diego for Comic-Con, the worlds premier comic book convention that over the years has also become a major pan-media event where every major media company announces new movies, TV shows, and video games. For the past few years, Comic-Con has allowed some forms of AI-generated art at this art show at the convention. According to archived rules for the show, artists could display AI-generated material so long as it wasnt for sale, was marked as AI-produced, and credited the original artist whose style was used.Material produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be placed in the show, but only as Not-for-Sale (NFS). It must be clearly marked as AI-produced, not simply listed as a print. If one of the parameters in its creation was something similar to Done in the style of, that information must be added to the description. If there are questions, the Art Show Coordinator will be the sole judge of acceptability, Comic-Cons art show rules said until recently.These rules have been in place since at least 2024, but anti-AI sentiment is growing in the artistic community and an artist-led backlash against Comic-Cons AI-friendly language led to the convention quietly changing the rules. Twenty-four hours after artists called foul the AI-friendly policy, Comic-Con updated the language on its site. Material created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) either partially or wholly, is not allowed in the art show, it now says. AI is now banned at the art show.Comic and concept artist Tiana Oreglia told 404 Media Comic-Cons friendly attitude towards AI was a slippery slope towards normalization. I think we should be standing firm especially with institutions like Comic-Con which are quite literally built off the backs of artists and the creative community, she said. Oreglia was one of the first artists to notice the AI-friendly policy. In addition to alerting her circle of friends, she also wrote a letter to Comic-Con itself.Artist Karla Ortiz told 404 Media she learned about the AI-friendly policy after some fellow artists shared it with her. Ortiz is a major artist who has worked with some of the major studios who exhibit work at Comic-Con. Shes also got a large following on social media, a following she used to call out Comic-Cons organizers.Comic-con deciding to allow GenAi imagery in the art showgiving valuable space to GenAi users to show slop right NEXT to actual artists who worked their asses off to be thereis a disgrace! Ortiz said in a post on Bluesky. A tone deaf decision that rewards and normalizes exploitative GenAi against artists in their own spaces!According to Ortiz, the convention is a sacred place she didnt want to see desecrated by AI. Comic-Con is the big mecca for comic artists, illustrators, and writers, she said. I organize and speak with a lot of different artists on the generative AI issue. Its something that impacts us and impacts our lives. A lot of us have decided: No, were not going to sit by the sidelines.Oritz explained that generative AI was already impacting the livelihood of working artists. She said that, in the past, artists could sustain themselves on long projects for companies that included storyboarding and design. Suddenly the duration of projects are cut, she said. They got generative AI to generate a bunch of references, a bunch of boards. We already did the initial ideation, so just paint this. Paint what generative AI has generated for us.Ortiz pointed to two high profile examples: Marvel using AI to make the title sequence for Secret Invasion and Coca-Cola using AI to make Christmas commercials. You have this encroaching exploitative technology impacting almost every single level of the entertainment industry, whether youre a writer, or a voice actor, or a musician, a painter, a concept artist, an illustrator. It doesnt matterand then to have Comic-Con, that place thats supposed to be a gathering and a celebration of said creatives and their work, suddenly put on a pedestal the exploitative technology that only functions because of its training on our works? Its upsetting beyond belief.What is Comic-Con trying to tell the industry? She said, Its telling artists: Hey you, youre exploitable and youre replaceable.Ortiz was heartened that Comic-Con changed its policy. It was such a relief, she said. Generative AI is still going to creep its nasty way in some way or another, but at least its not something we have to take lying down. Its something we can actively speak out against.Comic-Con did not respond to 404 Medias request for comment, but Oreglia said she did hear back from art show organizer Glen Wooten. He basically told me that they put those AI stipulations in when AI was just starting to come around and that the inability to sell AI-generated works was meant to curtail people from submitting genAI works, she said. He seems to be very against genAI but wasn't really able to change the current policy until artists voiced their opinions loudly which pressured the office into banning AI completely.Despite changing policies and broad anti-AI sentiment among the artistic community, Oreglia has still seen an uptick of AI art at conventions. Although there are many cons that ban it outright and if you get caught selling it you basically will get banned. This happened to a vendor at Dragon Con last September. Organizers called police to escort the vendor off the premises.And I was tabling at Fanexpo SF and definitely saw genAI in the dealers hall, none in the artists alley as far as I could see though but I mostly stuck to my table, she said. I was also at Emerald City Comic Con last year and they also have a no-ai policy but fanexpo doesn't seem to have those same policies as far as I know.AI image generators are trained on original artwork so whatever output a tool like Midjourney creates is based on an artists work, often without compensation or credit. Oreglia also said she feels that AI is an artistic dead end. Everything interesting, uplifting, and empowering I find about art gets stripped away and turned into vapid facsimiles based on vibes and trendy aesthetics, she said.

Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, and its never been more important.The online, collectively created encyclopedia has been a cornerstone of the internet decades, but as generative AI started flooding every platform with AI-generated slop over the last couple of years, Wikipedias governance model, editing process, and dedication to citing reliable sources has emerged as one of the most reliable and resilient models we have.And yet, as successful as the model is, its almost never replicated.This week on the podcast were joined by Selena Deckelmann, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia. That means Selena oversees the technical infrastructure and product strategy for one of the most visited sites in the world, and one the most comprehensive repositories of human knowledge ever assembled. Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, so I wanted to talk to Selena about how Wikipedia works and how it plans to continue to work in the age of generative AI.Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.Become a paid subscriber for early access to these interview episodes and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.Wikipedias value in the age of generative AIThe Editors Protecting Wikipedia from AI HoaxesWikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor BacklashWikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human VisitorsJimmy Wales Says Wikipedia Could Use AI. Editors Call It the 'Antithesis of Wikipedia'

The Federal Aviation Administration put a drone no fly zone within 3,000 feet of Department of Homeland Security facilities and mobile assets, according to a notice to airmen posted by the government. The no fly zone is the same type that the U.S. uses to restrict consumer drones over military bases and Department of Energy (DOE) research centers and facilities. The order appears to attempt to criminalize the use of drones to film Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS employees who are detaining people all over the country.The order is particularly notable because it does not apply just to static locations like DHS offices, but also to vessels and ground vehicle convoys and their associated escorts. The notice classifies areas within 3,000 feet horizontally and up to 1,000 feet of altitude as no fly zones and as national defense airspace, meaning the skies up to a half mile from ICE vehicles in Minneapolis, for example, could fall under this new jurisdiction. The notice states that people who violate the restrictions can be charged criminally, could face civil penalties, and may lose their authority to fly drones in the future.In addition, [drone] operators who are deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat to protected personnel, fac [facilities], or assets may be mitigated, it adds, noting that mitigation may result in the interference interception, seizure, damaging, or destruction of unmanned aircraft deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat to protected personnel, facilities, or assets.The order replaces a previous no fly zone that applied only to military bases and DOE sites. Military bases and DOE sites are static locations that dont move. The new no fly zone, called a temporary flight restriction (TFR), applies to DHS employees and vehicles wherever they may be. ICE is notoriously performing raids all over the country with no notice.With the rise of cheap consumer drones, some activists and protesters have used them to film law enforcement and to document police abuse. This no fly zone criminalizes that activity, further cracking down on the tactics protesters can use to keep people safe or film ICE brutality. It is unclear whether any specific incident led DHS to push for the no fly zone. DHS and the FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.DHS itself has used its own drones to surveil protesters, including in Minneapolis. In 2020, a Customs and Border Patrol Predator drone surveilled people protesting the police killing of George Floyd, and last year DHS flew Predator drones over anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. Those aircraft were detected using open source flight records and air traffic control audio. On Monday, videos of aircraft circling over Minneapolis were widely shared on social media, with many people saying the aircraft appeared to be drones. 404 Media has not yet been able to confirm what the aircraft are.

This article was produced in collaboration with Court Watch, an independent outlet that unearths overlooked court records. To subscribe to Court Watch, click here.A serial mail thiefs alleged robbery spree ended after he posted photos of stolen credit cards and bins of mail to his Instagram Stories on the same day he robbed a carrier at knifepoint.Jordan McCorvey, a 32-year-old man in Ohio, allegedly robbed a USPS letter carriers truck while they were on their delivery route on November 28. The carrier told investigators two men approached their truck with a knife and demanded access to the truck, according to the affidavit, and when the carrier unlocked the truck and gave them access, they took a tray of mail.The description of one of the suspects matched a man who investigators already knew as a known mail thief with criminal history related to possession of stolen mail and bank fraud, the complaint says. The same day as the theft, McCorveys Instagram accountswith the usernames "2corkmoney," "Icorkmoneybaby," and "cork2saucyposted photos of him flipping through stacks of mail still in the USPS tray, showing the same zip code on the letters as the carriers stolen deliveries.For the next few days, more evidence appeared on McCorveys Instagram Stories, where he uploaded photos and videos involving banking transactions and other various posts connected to financial institutions, according to the complaint. These posts included solicitations for individuals with bank accounts or other related financial information.In one photo, a manits not clear from the complaint whether its McCorvey celebrates in front of a Wells Fargo ATM, holding a card in the air, with a Wells Fargo branch tagged as a location sticker on the photo.This isnt the first time an alleged criminal outed himself by bragging on social media and in public. Idriss Qibaa, the man who ran an extortion scheme called Unlocked4Life.com that promised to unlock clients social media accounts, admitted on the popular No Jumper podcast that he was the one locking peoples accounts to extort them out of thousands of dollars, which helped the FBI charge him.McCorvey was arrested on January 9 in Columbus. Mail theft is a federal crime and McCorvey could face fines and up to five years in prison.

When authorities used Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) facial recognition app on a detained woman in an attempt to learn her identity and immigration status, it returned two different and incorrect names, raising serious questions about the accuracy of the app ICE is using to determine who should be removed from the United States, according to testimony from a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official obtained by 404 Media.ICE has told lawmakers the app, called Mobile Fortify, provides a definitive determination of someones immigration status, and should be trusted over a birth certificate. The incident, which happened last year in Oregon, casts doubt on that claim.ICE has treated Mobile Fortify like its a 100% accurate record retrieval system of everybodys immigration status for the entire population of the U.S. when this is obviously not true, and could never be true from a technical perspective, Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told 404 Media. It is sickening that ICE is using this flawed app and unacceptable invasion of biometric privacy to supposedly determine whether someone is undocumented and deport them or even worse.The incident involved a 45-year-old woman who court records call MJMA. She was detained with more than 30 other people during a raid in Woodburn after authorities smashed a vans driver side window and pulled her from the vehicle. MJMA is now suing ICE and being represented by attorneys from the Innovation Law Lab.Do you know anything else about this app? Do you work at ICE or CBP? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.Oregon Live briefly mentioned the face scan in a December report. 404 Media has now obtained the CBP officials full testimony.The CBP official, called MK in the transcript, said she was trying to determine the womans immigration status. MJMA was refusing to answer questions.So then, in order to [...] to use another tool that I had to identify her, I took my government cell phone out of my pocket. It has the little facial recognition mobile query for CBP. And I took a photo [...] I tried to take a photo of her face, and she looked down, MK said. Another part of the transcript specifically names Mobile Fortify.So then I remember I moved her shoulder back. And she complained because I did forget she had handcuffs on and [...] like, behind her back. And she kind of, like, yelped, like if I had caused pain, like a lot of pain. So then I apologized. I said (speaking Spanish), which is 'I'm sorry,' (speaking Spanish), she continued.MK said she explained to the woman she needed to take her photo. So I took her photo, where she kind of looked at me. And then when I looked down at my mobile query, it came up to a very [...] like, a similar person. I wasn't sure if it was her or not.A screenshot of the testimony.The first name the app returned was Maria, according to the testimony. It matched to someone [...] I remember saying, Maria? Like, is this Maria? And then at that point there was other ICE agents around me. So they were like Maria, Maria, to see if she would respond because, again, she was refusing to talk to us, which is her right.After MJMA did not respond, either verbally or nonverbally with a change in her face, the CBP official scanned her face again. This time, Mobile Fortify gave a different name.And then I tried taking her photo again, and this time it came up to someone else. I can't recall the name, but we used that name as well, Are you this person? She looked at us. Like, I remember her eyebrows kind of like [...] like, Who are you talking about? She gave us that look, MK testified.MJMA again didnt respond verbally, and instead crunched her eyebrows, according to the testimony. And so then we were like, Well, I dont know. Possible., the CBP official said.A screenshot of the testimony.Stephen Manning, executive director at Innovation Law Lab, told 404 Media both of the names Mobile Fortify returned were incorrect.The app returning different names for the same individual shows that its not reliable or accurate and shouldnt be used in the field, Homeland Security Ranking Member Rep. Bennie G. Thompson told 404 Media in a statement.Oregon Live reported that after authorities moved MJMA to an ICE detention center in Tacoma, they released her the next day without any conditions. She is suing to assert her Constitutional rights, according to Innovation Law Lab. In her own testimony, MJMA said she was issued a B-2 visa, which is a tourism visa, and last entered the U.S. with it last January. Manning said that MJMA is seeking asylum.My job is to give people digital security advice and there is no advice I can give on this because you cant change your face, and if you dont submit to their demands ICE has demonstrated that they are willing to shoot you, Quintin added.404 Media first revealed the existence of Mobile Fortify in June based on leaked ICE emails. Since then 404 Media has obtained a user guide for the tool which explained the databases and images it uses; showed that both ICE and CBP officials are using the app around the country; and found the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a version of the app for local law enforcement called Mobile Identify. That app was taken down from the Google Play Store in December.Mobile Fortify uses CBP systems ordinarily used to verify travelers as they enter the U.S., according to the leaked material. The app turned the capability inwards onto American streets. In partnership with Reveal, 404 Media reported the app has been used against U.S. citizens.404 Media previously obtained an internal DHS document under the Freedom of Information Act which showed ICE does not let people decline to be scanned by Mobile Fortify.Last week a group of Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation, written by Rep. Thompson, that aims to rein in Mobile Fortify. That legislation would essentially kill the local law enforcement version of the app, restrict use of Mobile Fortify to points of entry into the U.S., and force DHS to delete images of U.S. citizens after 12 hours.Rep. Thompson previously told 404 Media, ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a definitive determination of a persons status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenshipincluding a birth certificateif the app says the person is an alien.Inaccuracy has long been a concern of facial recognition systems, and mistakes have led to innocent people being detained or charged with crimes. When facial recognition tools do make mistakes, it is often against people of color.For over a decade, researchers have shown that facial recognition is a flawed technology that performs particularly poorly on women of color. Using it to determine a persons status is inviting misidentifications and false positives, Chris Gilliard, a privacy researcher, told 404 Media. The willful use of such an error-prone technology suggests that the appearance of a process is more important than accuracy or fairness.This is the logical extension of a landscape that promotes facial recognition as a tool for seemingly harmless purposes like fast food drive throughs or unlocking your phone, he added.CBP acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.In another piece of testimony, this time from an ICE deportation officer called DR in the court records, the judge asked whats the rate of identification with Mobile Fortify?DK replied, I [...] I cant speak to that number.