Makes an Epstein joke and then goes with the classic sign of any great joke, “is this thing on”?
20.02.2026 20:05
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Makes an Epstein joke and then goes with the classic sign of any great joke, “is this thing on”?
A dozen or so journalists sat around a white oak table. Most of them were stiff and quiet. A few others were more active, clacking away on their keyboards in a bid to note every word tumbling out of the executives’ mouths. Perplexity powers curiosity glowed on a projector screen in a pleasant serif style. The press wasn’t useful to Perplexity, one of the executives explained. The company doesn’t want to waste time on podcasts. They’re too focused on shipping features to engage in insular, navel-gazing AI drama. We don’t have fancy houses with wonderful dinners to impress you, he added. The chairs creaked in response. Sometime during this executive’s spiel—maybe after his Epstein joke failed to get a reaction and he anxiously asked if it was recorded—I wrote that Perplexity seemed to have forgotten what it was trying to be.
i wrote about a really strange press briefing i attended for perplexity www.corememory.com/p/perplexity...
We're officially fundraising for laid-off Vox workers. Please share and donate if you can!
www.gofundme.com/f/support-la...
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Jerry Tworek, former VP of Research at OpenAI and 7-year veteran of the company explains why he left.
After pioneering reasoning models and techniques like RLHF, he found OpenAI is now more focused on monetizing LLMs than researching new techniques to make AI smarter.
it's good i promise ;P
In this week's Core Memory podcast, we chat with Jerry Tworek, the former VP of RL at OpenAI who left this month after 7 years with the startup. Available now for subscribers, coming soon to streaming services for all. www.corememory.com/p/he-left-op...
In a memo to staff announcing the news, OpenAI's CEO of Applications Fidji Simo said she doesn't share any of Murati's concerns over Zoph's ethics. Zoph will report to Simo.
Initial scoop about Zoph's firing from @kylierobison.com.
Read more in WIRED: www.wired.com/story/thinki...
@mzeff.bsky.social reports: “Zoph told Thinking Machines CEO Mira Murati on Monday he was considering leaving, then was fired today, according to the memo from Simo. She goes on to write that OpenAI doesn’t share the same concerns about Zoph as Murati.” www.wired.com/story/thinki...
Excited to welcome Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz back to OpenAI! This has been in the works for several weeks, and we’re thrilled to have them join the team. Barret will report to me; Luke and Sam will report into Barret. More to come on what they’ll focus on soon!
Aaaand Barret + two others from TML poached back to OAI according to Fidji Simo:
We have parted ways with Barret Zoph. Soumith Chintala will be the new CTO of Thinking Machines. He is a brilliant and seasoned leader who has made important contributions to the AI field for over a decade, and he’s been a major contributor to our team. We could not be more excited to have him take on this new responsibility.
Here's Mira Murati confirming my scoop: x.com/miramurati/s...
SCOOP: Thinking Machines has terminated its CTO, Barret Zoph, due to unethical conduct according to two sources familiar with the matter. CEO Mira Murati announced the news at an all-hands with employees today. Soumith Chintala will be taking over as CTO.
For my debut as co-host of Core Memory's podcast, we sat down with Jasmine Sun to chat about all things peptides. We get into all the important bits: What are peptides, why are they Chinese, and how is RFK Jr. involved? www.corememory.com/p/welcome-to...
Kylie Robison @kyliebytes Scoop: xAI staff had been using Anthropic’s models internally through Cursor—until Anthropic cut off the startup’s access this week. Here’s what xAI cofounder Tony Wu sent to staff on Wednesday according to a copy of the internal Slack message I viewed: “Hi team, I believe many of you have already discovered that anthropic models are not responding on cursor. According to cursor this is a new policy anthropic is enforcing for all its major competitors. This is a both bad and good news. We will get a hit on productivity, but it rly pushes us to develop our own coding product / models. We're at a time in which Al is now a critical technology for our own productivity. This coming year is rly going to be wildly exciting for all of us. The team is rapidly developing our own models / product. We will have something to share with everyone soon. In the meantime, you may still try all different kinds of models in grok build.” Anthropic declined to comment. A Cursor spokesperson directed me to Anthropic for comment. xAI did not respond to request for comment.
funny that the people who work on grok are very sad at the prospect of being forced to use it to work on grok
xcancel.com/kyliebytes/s...
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
it's true! featuring my big face!
there’s no one I'd rather work with than Ashlee -- we share the unique and troubling ability to find the craziest stories possible. Subscribe to the gang @ corememory.com
@kylierobison.com is joining @ashleevance.bsky.social's Core Media: talkingbiznews.com/media-news/r...
Omg
Scoop: Business Insider informed its staff this week that they are allowed to use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their stories, while also indicating the newsroom will not disclose such A.I. use to readers.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...
A screenshot of part of a statement from the Trans Journalists Association regarding reporting on Charlie Kirk shooting investigation: It should also be noted that “transgender ideology” is a term coined for and used in anti-trans political messaging to falsely equate identity with politics, which is a way to frame transgender identity as a political choice rather than an innate identity. As it is often unclear what actions or political positions the phrase actually refers to — not unlike how “the homosexual agenda” is an amorphous term that has no real definition — reporters should be careful about using this term; it is used exclusively to attack a minority group for political gain.
Part of the statement from the @transjournalists.org on reporting details of the the Charlie Kirk shooting investigation.
Full statement here:
www.transjournalists.org/tja-urges-ca...
Threads has no way to disable autoplay.
Bit of a warning from someone who has seen a lot of people turn into corpses: avoid it if you can. It doesn't make you "hard" or "wise" it just leaves you with more hollow places than you had before. Violent deaths, in particular, weigh heavier.
Yes, they always cost you, no matter the victim.
Bluesky has said it’s suspending accounts that encourage violence, and taking down close-up videos of the event.
“This is all psychologically damaging to our society in ways we don’t understand yet,” Mahadevan said. “We’re seeing posts on X of people saying, ‘Congratulations, you’ve radicalized me.’ And part of that is because they’re seeing the video of Kirk being killed. They’re not just reading about it. They’re actually seeing it.”
Not only are the Kirk shooting videos spreading rapidly, but some are in clear violation of the platforms’ social media policies. For example, TikTok’s terms of use state that the company does not allow “gory, gruesome, disturbing, or extremely violent content.”
As of Thursday morning, on Instagram, a search for “Charlie Kirk shot” surfaced a close-up video of the incident as the first result. The video autoplays as a thumbnail, without warning. At the time of writing, the video had 15.3 million views.
For hours yesterday, starting minutes after Charlie Kirk was shot, @laurengoode.bsky.social and I combed through social media finding countless graphic videos of the incident. They autoplayed, without warning.
This is the post-content moderation world.
www.wired.com/story/charli...
ok time to reset the timeline
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Turning Point USA cofounder Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The suspect is in custody. www.wired.com/story/charli...
At the Man vs. Machine hackathon, co-hosted by AI nonprofit METR to test if AI helps people code faster and better, the top prize went to an "AI-supported" team (Kylie Robison/Wired)
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maybe just do not wear active microphones around your neck
www.wired.com/story/i-hate...
