Sci-fi lullabies
Embattled British PM Keir Starmer announces he’ll step down, likely to be succeeded by Andy Burnham, who will become the UK’s seventh PM in 10 years. / Reuters
Polymarket has been paying creators to film themselves winning trades on a dummy version of its platform, then posting the final videos without disclosing the relationship. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
See also: Without laws in place requiring brands to disclose use of AI-generated performers, synthetic influencers have, unsurprisingly, flooded social media. / The Guardian
A searchable database of 12 million songs that have been used to train AI models. / The Atlantic [$]
Advertising giant David Droga doesn’t think AI poses a threat to originality, but mourns what’s lost when marketing experiences are relegated to chat interfaces. / Semafor
Rather than pointing to failures in government attempts at cushioning technology-related job losses, US policymakers could use those examples to guide legislation—so why aren’t they? / Foreign Affairs
See also: “Your brain was never designed for this much bad news.” / Science Daily
Commodore’s new Callback 8020 smart flip phone blocks social media and doesn’t have browsers, email, or Slack. / WIRED
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How “protein-maxxing” is changing the cottage cheese industry: After decades of disinterest, some producers are looking to expand operations. / The New York Times [$]
“That’s a .780 batting average, which, while great for baseball, might not be high enough for initiating nuclear conflict.” Militaries are hoping AI can preempt nuclear attacks. / The New Republic
Chinese export controls on tungsten are about to grind Japan’s AI chipmaking to a halt following comments on Taiwan. / South China Morning Post
On the pope’s Butlerian Jihad: “As Herbert once pointed out in an interview, Dune is not supposed to be science fiction. It is religious commentary.” / Syndekit
“People who read my hypotheticals still tell me I scared them. Worse: they ask me for advice.” Maybe don’t take that viral AI-pilled speculative fiction as fact? / Gizmodo
Unrelated: A proposed tax on California billionaires’ assets has enough signatures to make it to November ballots. / Politico
The latest in buildings’ “immune systems,” designed to remove the airborne particles that might trigger anything from an allergic reaction to the next pandemic. / The New York Times [$]
To halt the spread of malaria, eradicating all mosquitos isn’t the answer, and could upend ecosystems. That said, certain species are probably worth killing off. / Vox [$]