#Call center efficiency with AI

[precallai]

Smarter Support: How AI is Enhancing Call Center Operations

Introduction

The call center industry has long been a critical component of customer service, bridging the gap between businesses and consumers. However, with growing customer expectations and an increasing volume of inquiries, traditional call center models have struggled to keep pace. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer, transforming call center operations into more efficient, cost-effective, and customer-centric platforms.

The Role of AI in Call Centers

AI-powered technologies are revolutionizing call centers by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing customer interactions, and improving overall operational efficiency. AI-driven solutions, such as chatbots, virtual assistants, speech analytics, and predictive analytics, have redefined how businesses handle customer support.

AI-Powered Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

One of the most significant AI-driven innovations in call centers is the deployment of chatbots and virtual assistants. These AI systems can handle a vast range of customer queries without human intervention, providing instant responses and reducing wait times. Unlike traditional interactive voice response (IVR) systems, modern AI-powered assistants use natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to customer inquiries in a conversational manner.

Key benefits of AI chatbots include:

24/7 availability, ensuring customers receive support at any time.

Reduced workload for human agents, allowing them to focus on complex queries.

Consistent and accurate responses, minimizing the risk of misinformation.

Speech Analytics and Sentiment Analysis

AI-driven speech analytics enables call centers to analyze customer interactions in real-time. By processing voice data, AI can detect customer sentiment, stress levels, and even emotional cues. This information helps agents tailor their responses appropriately, improving the overall customer experience.

Advantages of speech analytics include:

Identifying dissatisfied customers for proactive engagement.

Improving agent performance through real-time coaching and feedback.

Enhancing compliance monitoring by ensuring adherence to scripts and regulatory guidelines.

Predictive Analytics and AI-Driven Insights

Predictive analytics is another powerful AI application in call centers. By analyzing historical data and customer behavior, AI can anticipate customer needs and suggest appropriate responses. This enables businesses to personalize interactions and proactively address potential issues before they escalate.

Benefits of predictive analytics include:

Reducing call volumes by predicting and resolving issues before they arise.

Enhancing customer satisfaction through proactive outreach.

Optimizing workforce management by forecasting call volume trends and staffing needs.

Intelligent Call Routing

AI enhances call routing by ensuring customers are connected to the most suitable agents based on their queries, language preferences, and past interactions. Intelligent call routing minimizes wait times and improves first-call resolution rates.

Advantages of intelligent call routing include:

Faster issue resolution by directing calls to the right agents.

Improved customer satisfaction through personalized interactions.

Increased efficiency by reducing call transfers and wait times.

Automated Quality Assurance

Traditionally, call center quality assurance (QA) required manual review of call recordings. AI-driven QA systems automate this process by analyzing every interaction for compliance, tone, and resolution effectiveness. AI ensures that quality standards are consistently met without the need for extensive human oversight.

Benefits of automated QA include:

Faster and more accurate evaluation of agent performance.

Identification of training opportunities to enhance service quality.

Increased compliance with industry regulations and best practices.

Challenges of AI Implementation in Call Centers

Despite its numerous benefits, AI adoption in call centers comes with challenges. These include:

Integration with Legacy Systems: Many call centers operate on outdated infrastructure that may not seamlessly integrate with AI solutions.

Data Privacy and Security Concerns: AI systems rely on large amounts of data, raising concerns about data protection and compliance with privacy regulations.

Customer Resistance to AI: Some customers prefer human interactions over automated responses, necessitating a balanced approach to AI deployment.

Initial Implementation Costs: While AI can reduce long-term operational costs, the initial investment in AI technology can be significant.

The Future of AI in Call Centers

The future of AI in call centers is promising, with continuous advancements in machine learning, NLP, and automation technologies. Businesses will increasingly adopt AI-powered solutions to enhance customer experiences while optimizing operational efficiency. Emerging trends include:

Hyper-Personalization: AI will analyze vast amounts of customer data to deliver highly personalized interactions.

Augmented Agents: AI will work alongside human agents, providing real-time suggestions and insights to improve response quality.

AI-Driven Self-Service: More businesses will adopt AI-powered self-service portals, reducing the need for direct agent interactions.

Conclusion

AI is revolutionizing call center operations by improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing customer satisfaction. From chatbots and speech analytics to predictive insights and intelligent call routing, AI-driven solutions are setting new standards in customer support. While challenges remain, businesses that strategically implement AI in their call centers will gain a competitive edge in delivering smarter, faster, and more personalized customer service experiences.

Summary:-

AI is transforming call centers by automating tasks, improving efficiency, and enhancing customer experiences. Chatbots and virtual assistants provide instant support, while speech analytics detects sentiment for better interactions. Predictive analytics personalizes service and reduces call volumes. AI-driven call routing and quality assurance optimize operations. Despite challenges, AI is shaping the future of smarter customer support.

[productiveandfree]

How Can Productivity Tools Enhance the Efficiency of AI Call Centers?

The work of AI centers appears to have gained prominence in today’s context more than it has ever had before. As a result, more interaction volume is expected to be handled by AI in automated support which has the potential to be a prime entry-point. However, with such high volumes and speed, new challenges arise, especially in maintaining response personalization and managing operations. This piece dives deeper into the kinds of productivity tools transforming AI call centers, their benefits, and how they maximize efficiency. Let’s explore how these tools are revolutionizing customer interactions.

I. The Key Deficiencies of AI Call Centers

AI call centers were created to be able to provide the necessary response in the shortest amount of time possible. In practice, however, such a goal is rarely met thanks to numerous operational constraints that these AI call centers experience. Knowing these all the more justifies the need for integration of the most appropriate tailored kind of productivity tool.

Large Call Center traffic

The more calls to be entertained, the higher the number of stressed resources to be entitled to give muted responses with long or no replies. Repeatedly, agents don’t necessarily have to answer more frequently asked questions. Instead, it is the lesser ability and attention left for the more in-depth queries about the client issues.

Personalization Demands

These days, customers are looking for something more than ordinary interactions, however, call centers powered by AI do not always find it easy to provide highly engrossing interaction. Baring the necessary tools, and meeting personalization expectations can sometimes be an exercise in futility or very tedious.

Compliance Requirements

In terms of activities done by such establishments, there are certain regulations that need to be accommodated. All the same, achieving the compliance bars across all interactions is not that easy considering that there is a call volume and its interactivity too.

Optimizing Agent Performance

Motivating and enhancing the efficiency of agents in workplaces characterized by monotony induced by repetitive duties is no mean feat. High turnover rates can also be a distress signal due to depressions which can, in turn, affect the quality and the continuity of services offered.

These operational difficulties call for the need for productivity tools that will assist an AI powered course of action to maintain the customer satisfaction levels required.

II. Key Productivity Tools Revolutionizing AI Call Centers

AI Call centers cannot work without tools that allow them to strategically map their obstacles and tackle so many workflows and agent tasks for instance.

Automation Software

Automation is fundamental in any AI call center. This takes care of repetitive elements in a center like call responses or mapping, which allows agents to get to the thought-provoking problems. Different types of automation tools manage tasks and aid in process and workflow enhancement. Such tools can be incorporated within the customer relationship management (CRM) applications to help automate processes within the system, saving agents from constantly repeating activities and allowing them to concentrate on more personalized parameters of customer engagement.

Workflow Management Solutions

Project management tools help to make the organization of workloads more organized by ensuring certain activities are performed at certain times. Such tools organize and ensure that agents behave in a timely and proper manner. This makes the turnaround time decrease and the level of customer satisfaction increase.

Real-Time Analytics and Reporting Tools

Analytics tools help business entities accomplish their desired goals by throwing light on the performance of agents, the nature of the calls, and the customer's status. With the availability of such reports in real-time, the managers are able to get a tight grip on the lack of an issue and may change their resources as per requirement. This healthy practice of making use of data helps increase service delivery day by day.

AI-Driven Knowledge Bases

Knowing that there are volumes of information available and that a much simpler solution to a customer question breeds confidence and keeps agents at ease, knowledge bases do not result in idling or inconsistencies in responses if the agents can answer questions without hunting down information.

Collaboration Platforms

The fast-paced nature of businesses requires that teams communicate and work together on projects. If any customer holds a complaint, such collaboration tools enable the departments and agents to assist in resolving the issue much quicker. These tools help eliminate response coordination time, thus enhancing the overall experience of the customer.

Comparison Table: Key Productivity Tools and Their Benefits

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Tools Purpose Benefits Automation Software It handles, for example, call routing and data capturing from repetitive functions. Empowers agents to handle intricate processes and shortens handling time. Workflow Management Enhances processes in work, such as determining who performs which processes and tracking how many. Enhances the time it takes for customers to be attended to and enhances customer experience. Real-Time Analytics Helps in obtaining crucial information on how agents and customers interact with each other. Aids in making valid and accurate decisions and increases performance levels. AI-Powered Knowledge Base These tools help agents perform better as they do not need to search for knowledge when required. Diminishes delays and keeps the company in line with its set standards. Collaboration Platforms These tools are used across the organization’s departments to enhance response speed in problem-solving processes. Improves performance by addressing issues faster.

III. In What Ways Labor Saving Tools Enhance Productivity in the AI Call Center

Improvement and better results in the AI Call Center performance a factors that each productivity tool tackles by addressing specific pain points.

Decreased Call Handling Time

Routine activities such as call routing by the IVR, lessen the time used in handing over the phone to the customer. When most of the low-level work is taken off the agents’ shoulders there is a greater ability to increase the number of calls without a decline in the quality of service during the call.

Improvement of the Agent’s Performance

The presence of customer history and analytics in general assists agents splurge on excessive efforts. Availability of data helps the agents make better and faster service.

Enhanced Resource Management.

With automatic workforce management systems, call volume is estimated, and the number of agents available is scheduled based on that. Thus resources can meet customer needs to eliminate wastage and prevent slow operations during busy periods.

Better Compliance and Correctness

With the presence of the implementation tools, agents are notified of the standards to be followed and their infringements. Thanks to these checks contact monitoring is easier and does not impose any additional tasks on the contact center staff and compliance is increased.

Improvement of the Customer’s Experience

Productivity Tools help to provide an accurate resolution to an issue in the shortest time frame possible. Here's proof that customers have the tools to handle themselves.

IV. Evaluating the ROI of Productivity Tools in AI Call Centers

In addition to the available operational enhancements, these efficiency tools produce a robust return on investment. Here’s the type of increase in qualitative and financial terms they create.

Cost Savings

Automation of monotonous activities allows call centers to set upon fewer men as the need arises. This means major savings since fewer agents will be idle and inactive performing simple chores thereby allowing less cost.

Productivity Metrics

Success is measured with the help of certain key performance indicators such as Average Handle Time, First Call Resolution rates, and Net Promoter Score. Better metrics create an opportunity for other aspects to be enhanced so that a clearer conception is developed of how the efficiency tools enhance call center performance.

Long-Term Benefits

Eventually, these tools assist in promoting employee contentment and lower the rate of attrition. Such security in staffing coupled with higher retention of customers’ trust leads to better brand image and higher profits.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do productivity tools integrate with existing AI call center systems? Most of the productivity apps feature APIs besides having practical integration capabilities with several third-party СRM and AI tools. Such aspects keep the contact touches made between customers and companies within sight so they could occur in real-time.

2. Are there productivity tools specifically for compliance management? In fact, there are many tools that exist today that support compliance based on automated tracking, reporting capacities, and regulatory notice alerts. These tools provide a fair amount of support toward meeting the requirements of GDPR and TCPA under passive management rather than an active involvement by the management.

3. What initial costs should I consider when implementing productivity tools? Some of the costs include the licensing, integration, and training for software. Though most call centers view this as a cost worth the operating and cost savings efficiency from having such long-term investments made.

Conclusion

AI call center productivity tools, as guaranteed to provide maximum efficiency and accuracy. They negate main pain points, including activity redundancies and the absence of process orientation together with actionable intelligence, resulting in increasing the overall customer experience. The ROI that accrues from these tools comes at a breakeven point that justifies cost while availing profitability, whether short-term or long-term, for the call centers. These tools are not just an advancement of the customer service trend; they are the most efficient way of preparing customer service for the future.

Share in the comments below: Questions go here

[jcmarchi]

Redirecting Humans with Machines

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/redirecting-humans-with-machines/

Redirecting Humans with Machines

The early 1800s heralded the Industrial Revolution in the US, a transformative era driven by technological progress. The introduction of new machinery and manufacturing techniques reshaped the economic terrain, enhancing production efficiency while diminishing the need for manual labor in certain domains. Consequently, this shift resulted in job loss.

Today we are seeing a similar scenario, with advancements in automation holding the promise of revolutionizing the workforce in ways that enhance productivity. However, alongside these technological strides, the familiar concern over job displacement is resurfacing among workers. While short-term job displacement may occur in the period of transition, ultimately, these advancements will not fully replace humans but redefine their roles in the workforce.

Finding Meaningful Work

 The COVID-19 pandemic caused one of the most severe job crises to unfold, prompting nearly 23 million US-based employees to lose their jobs. The Pew Research Center found that during this time, most seriously considered changing fields or occupations in a desire for more purpose-driven work. Today, that desire for purpose persists within 70% of individuals in the workplace, pressuring employers to address this demand or risk losing talent to organizations that do.

 This was highlighted last year when over 34 million Americans voluntarily resigned from their jobs, a movement some refer to as the Great Reshuffle. Companies are now contending with unprecedented challenges in securing a sufficient workforce. Meanwhile, Americans persist in seeking and discovering better opportunities that offer them a sense of purpose and good work-life balance

Service Industries are most likely to face this significant upheaval, as evidenced by the departure of 8.6 million workers from nursing, food service, office support, and production roles. AI can mitigate the impact of this upheaval through its integration or complete takeover of mundane tasks, transforming the previously unfavorable, and seemingly rejected positions into desirable work.

The Intersection of AI

While the evolution of jobs due to advancements in AI is readily apparent in fields such as STEM, creative endeavors, business, and law, this transformation also extends to healthcare, retail, and more, where the willingness to work is on the decline due to the amount of workplace stress or ‘lack of purpose’. By 2030, activities that account for up to 30% of hours currently worked across the US economy could be automated with AI.

Automation can take over mundane tasks, freeing humans from repetitive, stressful, and time-consuming duties. This shift enables workers to redirect their focus and leverage their interpersonal skills in more valued roles, fostering a more efficient business environment that is both human-guided and technology-enhanced.

Healthcare

In healthcare, AI-powered care coordination solutions utilize advanced algorithms to analyze various medical imaging data, including CT scans, EKGs, and echocardiograms. This technology provides medical professionals with real-time insights and automated assessments to expedite diagnoses, extending assistance to a broader population and mitigating the strain on healthcare workers, who are seeing significant staffing shortages (it’s estimated that 1.1 million nurses left the profession in 2023). These shortages necessitate nurses to work harder than ever. AI-powered care promises to alleviate their workload.

Although electronic medical records (EMRs) have become pervasive in healthcare, with 96% of general acute care hospitals and 88% of office-based clinics utilizing this tool, many are now integrating AI capabilities. These tools aid in evaluating patients’ risk for specific health conditions or broader population risks following major events such as disease outbreaks. In a critical field like healthcare, maintaining care standards amidst heavy workloads is paramount. Automation’s ability to assist professionals helps alleviate stress levels ensuring patients receive optimal care, all while enabling businesses to thrive.

Retail

In the traditional sense of customer service, smart shopping carts revolutionize the retail industry by optimizing grocers’ ability to deliver exceptional service. These intelligent shopping experiences on wheels exceed shoppers’ preferences for convenience, ease of use, and frictionless interactions; these user-friendly options enable them to navigate products and services efficiently. As automation and AI are expected to affect 6 million full-time retail employees by 2030, smart carts can transform workers’ roles, particularly cashiers, by redirecting their duties to more intellectually stimulating positions. This change allows them to spend more time with customers or do additional duties such as providing shelf replenishment. This adds incremental value to both the work and the retailer, improving operational efficiency.

Beyond smart carts, intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) can provide personalized recommendations and solutions that match the customer’s needs and preferences, even for complex queries. These AI-driven assistants are available 24/7 to ensure that customers receive support on their schedule, building brand loyalty and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Communications

IVAs are also prevalent in auto-answering systems and call centers, streamlining tasks such as appointment and meeting scheduling for medical practices and other businesses. They also facilitate prescription fulfillment and manage order statuses in pharmacies and retail outlets. This functionality enables customers to efficiently fulfill their basic needs, even outside regular business hours, while alleviating the workload of receptionists or contact center agents. Recent research indicates that consumers express significant interest in various automated assistant use cases, prioritizing attributes like speed, convenience, and multitasking capabilities. Contact centers are notorious for their high-stress levels, so these IVAs allow human agents to focus on handling complex calls without feeling pressured, fostering greater rapport with customers and reducing stress.

Human Touch

For now, contrary to apprehensions about mass unemployment, embracing AI offers significant benefits for both companies and workers. Automation remains in a state of evolving maturity, relying on human expertise to unlock its full capabilities and potential.

There is a need for people to find workplace purpose and minimize stress. By reallocating tasks to automated technologies, humans can be liberated to focus on tasks that capitalize on their unique strengths. This fosters a relationship between human ingenuity and technological advancement. As roles evolve, clarity emerges, highlighting the need to harness human skills in tandem with automation, ultimately cultivating a more efficient and harmonious business landscape.

[govindhtech]

Tech Breakdown: What Is a SuperNIC? Get the Inside Scoop!

The most recent development in the rapidly evolving digital realm is generative AI. A relatively new phrase, SuperNIC, is one of the revolutionary inventions that makes it feasible.

Describe a SuperNIC

On order to accelerate hyperscale AI workloads on Ethernet-based clouds, a new family of network accelerators called SuperNIC was created. With remote direct memory access (RDMA) over converged Ethernet (RoCE) technology, it offers extremely rapid network connectivity for GPU-to-GPU communication, with throughputs of up to 400Gb/s.

SuperNICs incorporate the following special qualities:

Ensuring that data packets are received and processed in the same sequence as they were originally delivered through high-speed packet reordering. This keeps the data flow’s sequential integrity intact.

In order to regulate and prevent congestion in AI networks, advanced congestion management uses network-aware algorithms and real-time telemetry data.

In AI cloud data centers, programmable computation on the input/output (I/O) channel facilitates network architecture adaptation and extension.

Low-profile, power-efficient architecture that effectively handles AI workloads under power-constrained budgets.

Optimization for full-stack AI, encompassing system software, communication libraries, application frameworks, networking, computing, and storage.

Recently, NVIDIA revealed the first SuperNIC in the world designed specifically for AI computing, built on the BlueField-3 networking architecture. It is a component of the NVIDIA Spectrum-X platform, which allows for smooth integration with the Ethernet switch system Spectrum-4.

The NVIDIA Spectrum-4 switch system and BlueField-3 SuperNIC work together to provide an accelerated computing fabric that is optimized for AI applications. Spectrum-X outperforms conventional Ethernet settings by continuously delivering high levels of network efficiency.

Yael Shenhav, vice president of DPU and NIC products at NVIDIA, stated, “In a world where AI is driving the next wave of technological innovation, the BlueField-3 SuperNIC is a vital cog in the machinery.” “SuperNICs are essential components for enabling the future of AI computing because they guarantee that your AI workloads are executed with efficiency and speed.”

The Changing Environment of Networking and AI

Large language models and generative AI are causing a seismic change in the area of artificial intelligence. These potent technologies have opened up new avenues and made it possible for computers to perform new functions.

GPU-accelerated computing plays a critical role in the development of AI by processing massive amounts of data, training huge AI models, and enabling real-time inference. While this increased computing capacity has created opportunities, Ethernet cloud networks have also been put to the test.

The internet’s foundational technology, traditional Ethernet, was designed to link loosely connected applications and provide wide compatibility. The complex computational requirements of contemporary AI workloads, which include quickly transferring large amounts of data, closely linked parallel processing, and unusual communication patterns all of which call for optimal network connectivity were not intended for it.

Basic network interface cards (NICs) were created with interoperability, universal data transfer, and general-purpose computing in mind. They were never intended to handle the special difficulties brought on by the high processing demands of AI applications.

The necessary characteristics and capabilities for effective data transmission, low latency, and the predictable performance required for AI activities are absent from standard NICs. In contrast, SuperNICs are designed specifically for contemporary AI workloads.

Benefits of SuperNICs in AI Computing Environments

Data processing units (DPUs) are capable of high throughput, low latency network connectivity, and many other sophisticated characteristics. DPUs have become more and more common in the field of cloud computing since its launch in 2020, mostly because of their ability to separate, speed up, and offload computation from data center hardware.

SuperNICs and DPUs both have many characteristics and functions in common, however SuperNICs are specially designed to speed up networks for artificial intelligence.

The performance of distributed AI training and inference communication flows is highly dependent on the availability of network capacity. Known for their elegant designs, SuperNICs scale better than DPUs and may provide an astounding 400Gb/s of network bandwidth per GPU.

When GPUs and SuperNICs are matched 1:1 in a system, AI workload efficiency may be greatly increased, resulting in higher productivity and better business outcomes.

SuperNICs are only intended to speed up networking for cloud computing with artificial intelligence. As a result, it uses less processing power than a DPU, which needs a lot of processing power to offload programs from a host CPU.

Less power usage results from the decreased computation needs, which is especially important in systems with up to eight SuperNICs.

One of the SuperNIC’s other unique selling points is its specialized AI networking capabilities. It provides optimal congestion control, adaptive routing, and out-of-order packet handling when tightly connected with an AI-optimized NVIDIA Spectrum-4 switch. Ethernet AI cloud settings are accelerated by these cutting-edge technologies.

Transforming cloud computing with AI

The NVIDIA BlueField-3 SuperNIC is essential for AI-ready infrastructure because of its many advantages.

Maximum efficiency for AI workloads: The BlueField-3 SuperNIC is perfect for AI workloads since it was designed specifically for network-intensive, massively parallel computing. It guarantees bottleneck-free, efficient operation of AI activities.

Performance that is consistent and predictable: The BlueField-3 SuperNIC makes sure that each job and tenant in multi-tenant data centers, where many jobs are executed concurrently, is isolated, predictable, and unaffected by other network operations.

Secure multi-tenant cloud infrastructure: Data centers that handle sensitive data place a high premium on security. High security levels are maintained by the BlueField-3 SuperNIC, allowing different tenants to cohabit with separate data and processing.

Broad network infrastructure: The BlueField-3 SuperNIC is very versatile and can be easily adjusted to meet a wide range of different network infrastructure requirements.

Wide compatibility with server manufacturers: The BlueField-3 SuperNIC integrates easily with the majority of enterprise-class servers without using an excessive amount of power in data centers.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Petard (Part I)

Few things are more wrong than "if you're not paying for the product, you're the product." Companies sell you out when they can, which is why John Deere tractor milks farmers for needless repair callouts and why your iPhone spies on you to provide data to Apple's surveillance advertising service:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

When a vendor abuses you, that's not punishment for you being a cheapskate and wanting to use services for free. Vendors who screw you over do so because they know they can get away with it, because you are locked in and can't shop elsewhere. The ultimate manifestation of this is, of course, prison-tech. A duopoly of private equity-backed prison-tech profiteers have convinced prisons and jails across America to get rid of calls, in-person visits, mail, parcels, libraries, and continuing ed, and replace them all with tablets that charge prisoners vastly more than people in the free world pay to access media and connect with the outside. Those prisoners are absolutely paying for the product – indeed, with the national average prison wage set at $0.53/hour, they're paying far more than anyone outside pays – and they are still the product.

Capitalists, after all, hate capitalism. For all the romantic odes to the "invisible hand" and all the bafflegab about "efficient market hypothesis," the actual goal of businesses is to make you an offer you literally can't refuse. Capitalists want monopolies, they want captive audiences. "Competition," as Peter Thiel famously wrote, "is for losers."

Few lock-in arrangements are harder to escape than the landlord-tenant relationship. Moving home is expensive, time-consuming, and can rip you away from your job, your kid's school, and your community. Landlords know it, which is why they conspire to rig rents through illegal price-fixing apps like Realpage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/27/ai-conspiracies/#epistemological-collapse

And why they fill your home with Internet of Shit appliances that pick your pockets by requiring special, expensive consumables, and why they tack so many junk fees onto your monthly rent:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/01/housing-is-a-human-right/

Tenants aren't quite as locked in as prisoners, but corporations correctly understand that you can really fuck with a tenant over a long timescale without losing their business, and so they do.

Ironically, monopolists love each other. I guess if you loathe competition, a certain kind of cooperation comes naturally. That's why so many landlords have forged unholy alliances with internet service providers, who – famously – offer Americans the slowest speeds at the highest prices in the rich world, trail the world in infrastructure investment, and reap profits that put their global cousins in the shade.

Many's the apartment building that comes with a monopoly ISP that has a deal with your landlord. Landlords and ISPs call this "bulk billing" and swear that it reduces the cost of internet service for everyone. In reality, tenants who live under these arrangements have produced a deep, unassailable record proving that they pay more for worse broadband than the people next door who get to choose their ISPs. What's more, ISPs who offer "bulk billing" openly offer kickbacks to landlords who choose them over their rivals – in other words, even if you're paying for the product (your fucking home), you are still the product, sold to an evil telco.

Under Biden, the FCC banned the practice of ISPs paying kickbacks to landlords, over squeals and howls of protests from industry bodies like the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), National Apartment Association (NAA), and Real Estate Technology and Transformation Center (RETTC). These landlord groups insisted – despite all the evidence to the contrary – that when your landlord gets to choose your ISP, they do so with your best interests at heart, getting you a stellar deal you couldn't get for yourself.

This week, Trump's FCC chair Brendan Carr – who voted for the ban on kickbacks – rescinded the rule, claiming that he was doing so to protect tenants. This is obvious bullshit, as is evidenced by the confetti-throwing announcements froom the NMHC, NAA and RETTC:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

Reading Jon Brodkin's Ars Technica coverage of Carr's betrayal of millions of Americans, I was reminded of a short story I published in 2014: "Petard: A Tale of Just Desserts," which I wrote for Bruce Sterling's "12 Tomorrows" anthology from MIT Tech Review. It's a fun little sf story about this same bullshit, dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

Realizing that there were people who were sounding the alarm about this more than a decade ago was a forceful reminder that Trumpism isn't exactly new. The idea that government should serve up the American people as an all-you-can-eat buffet for corporations that use tech to supercharge their predatory conduct has been with us for a hell of a long time. I've written a hell of a lot of science fiction about this, and sometimes this leads people to credit me with predictive powers. But if I predicted anything with my story "Radicalized," in which furious, grieving men murder the health industry execs who denied their loved ones coverage, I predicted the present, not the future:

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-12-09-radicalized-cory-doctorow-story-health-care/

Likewise in my story "Unauthorized Bread," which "predicted" that landlords would use "smart" appliances to steal from their poorest, most vulnerable tenants:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

It's not much of a "prediction" to simply write a story in which "Internet of Things" companies' sales literature is treated as a straightforward idea and writing about how it will all work.

The same goes for "Petard." The most "predictive" part of that story is the part where I take the human rights implications of internet connections seriously. Back then (and even today), there were and are plenty of Very Serious People who want you to know that internet service is a frivolity, a luxury, a distraction:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

They deride the idea that broadband is a human right, even after the pandemic's lesson that you depend on your internet connection for social connections, civic life, political engagement, education, health and employment:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/30/medtronic-stole-your-ventilator/#fiber-now

Writing sf about this stuff isn't predictive, but I like to think that it constitutes an effective rebuttal to the people who say that taking digital rights seriously is itself unserious. Given that, I got to thinking about "Petard," and how much I liked that little story from 2014.

So I've decided to serialize it, in four parts, starting today. If you're impatient to get the whole story, you can listen to my podcast of it, which I started in 2014, then stopped podcasting for four years (!) before finishing in 2018:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

#

It's not that I wanted to make the elf cry. I'm not proud of the fact. But he was an elf for chrissakes. What was he doing manning — elfing — the customer service desk at the Termite Mound? The Termite Mound was a tough assignment — given MIT's legendary residency snafus, it was a sure thing that someone like me would be along every day to ruin his day.

"Come on," I said, "cut it out. Look, it's nothing personal."

He continued to weep, face buried dramatically in his long-fingered hands, pointed ears protruding from his fine, downy hair as it flopped over his ivory-pale forehead. Elves.

I could have backed down, gone back to my dorm and just forgiven the unforgivably stupid censorwall there, used my personal node for research or stuck to working in the lab. But I had paid for the full feed. I needed the full feed. I deserved the full feed. I was 18. I was a grownup, and the infantalizing, lurking censorwall offended my intellect and my emotions. I mean, seriously, fuck that noise.

"Would you stop?" I said. "Goddamnit, do your job."

The elf looked up from his wet hands and wiped his nose on his mottled raw suede sleeve. "I don't have to take this," he said. He pointed to a sign: "MIT RESIDENCY LLC OPERATES A ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY TOWARD EMPLOYEE ABUSE. YOU CAN BE FINED UP TO $2000 AND/OR IMPRISONED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR ASSAULTING A CAMPUS RESIDENCE WORKER."

"I'm not abusing you," I said. "I'm just making my point. Forcefully."

He glared at me from behind a curtain of dandelion-fluff hair. "Abuse includes verbal abuse, raised voices, aggressive language and tone –"

I tuned him out. This was the part where I was supposed to say, "I know this isn't your fault, but –" and launch into a monologue explaining how his employer had totally hosed me by not delivering what they'd promised, and had further hosed him by putting him in a situation where he was the only one I could talk to about it, and he couldn't do anything about it. This little pantomime was a fixture of life in the world, the shrugs-all-round nostrum that we were supposed to substitute for anything getting better ever.

Like I said, though, fuck that noise. What is the point of being smart, 18 years old and unemployed if you aren't willing to do something about this kind of thing. Hell, the only reason I'd been let into MIT in the first place was that I was constitutionally incapable of playing out that little scene.

The elf had run down and was expecting me to do my bit. Instead, I said, "I bet you're in the Termite Mound, too, right?"

He got a kind of confused look. "That's PII," he said. "This office doesn't give out personally identifying information. It's in the privacy policy –" He tapped another sign posted by his service counter, one with much smaller type. I ignored it.

"I don't want someone else's PII. I want yours. Do you live in the residence? You must, right? Get a staff discount on your housing for working here, I bet." Elves were always cash-strapped. Surgery's not cheap, even if you're prepared to go to Cuba for it. I mean, you could get your elf-pals to try to do your ears for you, but only if you didn't care about getting a superbug or ending up with gnarly stumps sticking out of the side of your head. And forget getting a Nordic treatment without adult supervision, I mean, toot, toot, all aboard the cancer express. You had to be pretty insanely desperate to go elf without the help of a pro.

He looked stubborn. I mean, elf-stubborn, which is a kind of chibi version of stubborn that's hard to take seriously. I mean, seriously. "Look, of course you live in the Termite Mound. Whatever. The point is, we're all screwed by this stuff. You, me, them –" I gestured at the room full of people. They all been allocated a queue-position on entry to the waiting room and were killing time until they got their chance to come up to the Window of Eternal Disappointment in order to play out I Know This Isn't Your Fault But… before returning to their regularly scheduled duties as a meaningless grain of sand being ground down by the unimaginably gigantic machinery of MIT Residency LLC.

"Let's do something about it, all right? Right here, right now."

He gave me a look of elven haughtiness that he'd almost certainly practiced in the mirror. I waited for him to say something. He waited for me to wilt. Neither of us budged.

"I'm not kidding. The censorwall has a precisely calibrated dose of fail. It works just enough that it's worth using most of the time, and the amount of hassle and suck and fail you have to put up with when it gets in the way is still less than the pain you'd have to endure if you devoted your life to making it suck less. The economically rational course of action is to suck it up.

"What I propose is that we change the economics of this bullshit. If you're the Termite Mound's corporate masters, you get this much benefit out of the shitty censorwall; but we, the residents of the Termite Mound, pay a thousand times that in aggregate." I mimed the concentrated interests of the craven fools who'd installed the censorwall, making my hands into a fist-wrapped-in-a-fist, then exploding them like a hoberman-sphere to show our diffuse mutual interests, expanding to dwarf the censorware like Jupiter next to Io. "So here's what I propose: let's mound up all this diffuse interest, mobilize it, and aim it straight at the goons who put you in a job. You sit there all day and suffer through our abuse because all you're allowed to do is point at your stupid sign."

"How?" he said. I knew I had him.

#

Kickstarter? Hacker, please. Getting strangers to combine their finances so you can chase some entrepreneurial fantasy of changing the world by selling people stuff is an idea that was dead on arrival. If your little kickstarted business is successful enough to compete with the big, dumb titans, you'll end up being bought out or forced out or sold out, turning you into something indistinguishable from the incumbent businesses you set out to destroy. The problem isn't that the world has the wrong kind of sellers — it's that it has the wrong kind of buyers. Powerless, diffused, atomized, puny and insubstantial.

Turn buyers into sellers and they just end up getting sucked into the logic of fail: it's unreasonable to squander honest profits on making people happier than they need to be in order to get them to open their wallets. But once you get all the buyers together in a mass with a unified position, the sellers don't have any choice. Businesses will never spend a penny more than it takes to make a sale, so you have to change how many pennies it takes to complete the sale.

Back when I was fourteen, it took me ten days to hack together my first Fight the Power site. On the last day of the fall term, Ashcroft High announced that catering was being turned over to Atos Catering. Atos had won the contract to run the caf at my middle school in my last year there, every one of us lost five kilos by graduation. The French are supposed to be good at cooking, but the slop Atos served wasn't even food. I'm pretty sure that after the first week they just switched to filling the steamer trays with latex replicas of grey, inedible glorp. Seeing as how no one was eating it, there was no reason to cook up a fresh batch every day.

The announcement came at the end of the last Friday before Christmas break, chiming across all our personal drops with a combined bong that arrived an instant before the bell rang. The collective groan was loud enough to drown out the closing bell. It didn't stop, either, but grew in volume as we filtered into the hall and out of the building into the icy teeth of Chicago's first big freeze of the season.

Junior high students aren't allowed off campus at lunchtime, but high school students — even freshmen — can go where they please so long as they're back by the third period bell. That's where Fight the Power came in.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED PLEDGE

TO BOYCOTT THE ASHCROFT HIGH CAFETERIA WHILE ATOS HAS THE CONTRACT TO SUPPLY IT

TO BUY AT LEAST FOUR LUNCHES EVERY WEEK FROM THE FOLLOWING FOOD TRUCKS [CHECK AT LEAST ONE]:

This was tricky. It's not like there were a lot of food trucks driving out of the loop to hit Joliet for the lunch rush. But I wrote a crawler that went through the review sites, found businesses with more than one food truck, munged the menus and set out the intersection as an eye-pleasing infographic showing the appetizing potential of getting your chow outside of the world of the corrupt no-bid edu-corporate complex.

By New Year's Day, 98 percent of the student body had signed up. By January third, I had all four of the food-trucks I'd listed lined up to show up on Monday morning.

Turns out, Ashcroft High and Atos had a funny kind of deal. Ashcroft High guaranteed a minimum level of revenue to Atos, and Atos guaranteed a maximum level to Ashcroft High. So, in theory, if a hundred percent of the student body bought a cafeteria lunch, about twenty percent of that money would be kicked back to Ashcroft High. They later claimed that this was all earmarked to subsidize the lunches of poor kids, but no one could ever point to anything in writing where they'd committed to this, as our Freedom of Information Act requests eventually proved.

In return for the kickback, the school had promised to ensure that Atos could always turn a profit. If not enough of us ate in the caf, the school would have to give Atos the money it would have made if we had. In other words: our choice to eat a good lunch wasn't just costing the school its expected share of Atos's profits — it was having to dig money out of its budget to make up for our commitment to culinary excellence.

They tried everything. Got the street in front of the school designated a no-food-trucks zone (we petitioned the City of Joliet to permit parking on the next street over). Shortened the lunch-break (we set up a Web-based pre-order service that let us pick and pre-pay for our food). Banned freshmen from leaving school property (we were saved by the PTA). Suspended me for violating the school's social media policy (the ACLU wrote them a blood-curdling nastygram, and raised nearly $30,000 in donations of $3 or less from students around the world once word got out).

Atos wouldn't let them re-negotiate the contract, either. If Ashcroft High wanted out, it would have to buy it's way out. That's when I convinced the vice-principal to let me work with the AP Computer Science class to build out a flexible, open version of Fight the Power that anyone could install and run for their own student bodies, providing documentation and support. That was just before Spring Break. By May 1, there were 87 schools whose students used Ftp to organize Atos alternative food-trucks for their own cafeterias.

Suddenly, this was news. Not just local news, either. Global. Atos had to post an earnings warning in their quarterly report. Suddenly, we had Bloomberg and Al Jazeera Business camera crews buttonholing Ashcroft High kids on their way to the lunch-trucks. Whenever they grabbed me, I would give them this little canned speech about how Atos couldn't supply decent food and were taking money out of our educational budgets rather than facing the fact that the children they were supposed to be feeding hated their slop so much that they staged a mass walkout. It played well with kids in other schools, and very badly with Atos's shareholders. But I'll give this to Atos: I couldn't have asked for a better Evil Empire to play Jedi against. They threatened to sue me — for defamation! — which made the whole thing news again. Stupidly, they sued me in Illinois, which has a great anti-SLAPP law, and was a massive technical blunder. The company's US headquarters were in Clearwater, Florida, and Florida is a trainwreck in every possible sense, including its SLAPP laws. If they'd sued me in their home turf, I'd have gone bankrupt before I could win.

They lost. The ACLU collected $102,000 in fees from them. The story of the victory was above the fold on Le Monde's site for a week. Turns out that French people loathe Atos even more than the rest of us, because they've had longer to sharpen their hate.

Long story slightly short: we won. Atos "voluntarily" released our school from its contract. And Fight the Power went mental. I spent that summer vacation reviewing Github commits on Ftp, as more and more people discovered that they could make use of a platform that made fighting back stupid simple. The big stupid companies were whales and we were their krill, and all it took was some glue to glom us all together into boulders of indigestible matter that could choke them to death.

I dropped out of Ashcroft High in the middle of the 11th grade and did the rest of my time with homeschooling shovelware that taught me exactly what I needed to pass the GED and not one tiny thing more. I didn't give a shit. I was working full time on Ftp, craiglisting rides to to hacker unconferences where I couchsurfed and spoke, giving my poor parental units eight kinds of horror. It would've been simpler if I'd taken donations for Ftp, because Mom and Dad quickly came to understand that their role as banker in our little family ARG gave them the power to yank me home any time I moved out of their comfort zone. But there was the balance of terror there, because they totally knew that if I had accepted donations for the project, I'd have been financially independent in a heartbeat.

Plus, you know, they were proud of me. Ftp makes a difference. It's not a household name or anything, but more than a million people have signed up for Ftp campaigns since I started it, and our success rate is hovering around 25 percent. That means that I'd changed a quarter-million lives for the better (at least) before I turned 18. Mom and Dad, they loved that (which is not to say that they didn't need the occasional reminder of it). And shit, it got me a scholarship at MIT. So there's that.

#

Network filters are universally loathed. Duh. No one's ever written a regular expression that can distinguish art from porn and no one ever will. No one's ever assembled an army of prudes large enough to hand-sort the Internet into "good" and "bad" buckets. No one ever will. The Web's got 100-odd billion pages on it; if you have a failure rate of one tenth of one percent, you'll overblock (or underblock) (or both) 100,000,000 pages. That's several Library of Congress's worth of pointless censorship — or all the porn ever made, times ten, missed though underfiltering. You'd be an idiot to even try.

Idiot like a fox! If you don't care about filtering out "the bad stuff" (whatever that is), censorware is a great business to be in. The point of most network filters is the "security syllogism":

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

I HAVE DONE SOMETHING.

SOMETHING HAS BEEN DONE.

VICTORY!

Hand-wringing parents don't want their precious offspring looking at weiners and hoo-hahs when they're supposed to be amassing student debt, so they demand that the Termite Mound fix the problem by Doing Something. The Termite Mound dispenses cash to some censorware creeps in a carefully titrated dose that is exactly sufficient to demonstrate Something Has Been Doneness to a notional weiner-enraged parent. Since all the other dorms, schools, offices, libraries, airports, bus depots, train stations, cafes, hotels, bars, and theme parks in the world are doing exactly the same thing, each one can declare itself to be in possession of Best Practices when there is an unwanted hoo-hah eruption, and culpability diffuses to a level that is safe for corporate governance and profitability. #MissionAccomplished.

And so the whole world suffers under this pestilence. Millions of times every day — right at this moment — people are swearing at their computers: What. The. Fuck. Censorware's indifference to those minute moments of suffering is only possible because they've never been balled up into a vast screaming meteor of rage.

#

"Hey there, hi! Look, I'm here because I need unfiltered Internet access to get through my degree. So do you all, right? But the Termite Mound isn't going to turn it off because that would be like saying 'Here kids, have a look at this porn,' which they can't afford to say, even though, seriously, who gives a shit, right?"

I had them at 'porn," but now I had to keep them.

"Look at your tenancy agreement: you're paying twenty seven bucks a month for your network access at the Termite Mound. Twenty seven bucks — each! I'll find us an ISP that can give all of us hot and cold running genitals and all the unsavory religious extremism, online gaming, and suicide instructions we can eat. Either I'm going to make the Termite Mound give us the Internet we deserve, or we'll cost it one of its biggest cash-cows and humiliate it on the world stage.

"I don't want your money. All I want is for you to promise me that if I can get us Internet from someone who isn't a censoring sack of shit, that you'll come with me. I'm going to sign up every poor bastard in the Termite Mound, take that promise to someone who isn't afraid to work hard to earn a dollar, and punish the Termite Mound for treating us like this. And then, I'm going to make a loud noise about what we've done, and spread the word to every other residence in Cambridge, then Boston, then across America. I'm going to spread out to airports, hotels, train stations, buses, taxis — any place where they make it their business to decide what data we're allowed to see."

I whirled around to face the elf, who leapt back, long fingers flying to his face in an elaborate mime of startlement. "Are you with me, pal?"

He nodded slightly.

"Come on," I said. "Let 'em hear you."

He raised one arm over his head, bits of rabbit fur and uncured hides dangling from his skinny wrist. I felt for him. I think we all did. Elves.

He was a convincer, though. By the time I left the room, I already had 29 signups.

#

All evil in the world is the result of an imbalance between the people who benefit from shenanigans and the people who get screwed by shenanigans. De-shenaniganifying the world is the answer to pollution and poverty and bad schools and the war on some drugs and a million other horribles. To solve all the world's problems, I need kick-ass raw feeds and a steady supply of doofus thugs from central casting to make idiots of. I know where I can find plenty of the latter, and I'm damn sure going to get the former. Watch me.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#captive-market

[mariacallous]

The Trump administration’s Federal Trade Commission has removed four years’ worth of business guidance blogs as of Tuesday morning, including important consumer protection information related to artificial intelligence and the agency’s landmark privacy lawsuits under former chair Lina Khan against companies like Amazon and Microsoft. More than 300 blogs were removed.

On the FTC’s website, the page hosting all of the agency’s business-related blogs and guidance no longer includes any information published during former president Joe Biden’s administration, current and former FTC employees, who spoke under anonymity for fear of retaliation, tell WIRED. These blogs contained advice from the FTC on how big tech companies could avoid violating consumer protection laws.

One now deleted blog, titled “Hey, Alexa! What are you doing with my data?” explains how, according to two FTC complaints, Amazon and its Ring security camera products allegedly leveraged sensitive consumer data to train the ecommerce giant’s algorithms. (Amazon disagreed with the FTC’s claims.) It also provided guidance for companies operating similar products and services. Another post titled “$20 million FTC settlement addresses Microsoft Xbox illegal collection of kids’ data: A game changer for COPPA compliance” instructs tech companies on how to abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by using the 2023 Microsoft settlement as an example. The settlement followed allegations by the FTC that Microsoft obtained data from children using Xbox systems without the consent of their parents or guardians.

“In terms of the message to industry on what our compliance expectations were, which is in some ways the most important part of enforcement action, they are trying to just erase those from history,” a source familiar tells WIRED.

Another removed FTC blog titled “The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust” outlines how businesses could avoid creating chatbots that violate the FTC Act’s rules against unfair or deceptive products. This blog won an award in 2023 for “excellent descriptions of artificial intelligence.”

The Trump administration has received broad support from the tech industry. Big tech companies like Amazon and Meta, as well as tech entrepreneurs like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, all donated to Trump’s inauguration fund. Other Silicon Valley leaders, like Elon Musk and David Sacks, are officially advising the administration. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employs technologists sourced from Musk’s tech companies. And already, federal agencies like the General Services Administration have started to roll out AI products like GSAi, a general-purpose government chatbot.

The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED.

Removing blogs raises serious compliance concerns under the Federal Records Act and the Open Government Data Act, one former FTC official tells WIRED. During the Biden administration, FTC leadership would place “warning” labels above previous administrations’ public decisions it no longer agreed with, the source said, fearing that removal would violate the law.

Since President Donald Trump designated Andrew Ferguson to replace Khan as FTC chair in January, the Republican regulator has vowed to leverage his authority to go after big tech companies. Unlike Khan, however, Ferguson’s criticisms center around the Republican party’s long-standing allegations that social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, censor conservative speech online. Before being selected as chair, Ferguson told Trump that his vision for the agency also included rolling back Biden-era regulations on artificial intelligence and tougher merger standards, The New York Times reported in December.

In an interview with CNBC last week, Ferguson argued that content moderation could equate to an antitrust violation. “If companies are degrading their product quality by kicking people off because they hold particular views, that could be an indication that there's a competition problem,” he said.

Sources speaking with WIRED on Tuesday claimed that tech companies are the only groups who benefit from the removal of these blogs.

“They are talking a big game on censorship. But at the end of the day, the thing that really hits these companies’ bottom line is what data they can collect, how they can use that data, whether they can train their AI models on that data, and if this administration is planning to take the foot off the gas there while stepping up its work on censorship,” the source familiar alleges. “I think that's a change big tech would be very happy with.”

[tmntxthings]

heyy so I literally got this kind of idea like not really long ago, how about a donnie x reader fic/scenario/prompt where donnie makes a new AI hologram assistant (the reader) but ends up falling in love with them ?? (kind of blade runner 2049 inspired)

thanks ! luv your work (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

一∑ Dizzy・゜・。

author’s notes: so this may not be exactly what you asked for, this donnie is a bit… cagey? protective? overbearing! but hopefully the ending is a good indication that he did indeed fall?? :D

warnings: fluff, platonic to romantic, cursing, very unedited, & super short >.<

word association: sentience, slight yandere!donnie, light projection, holograms, creation, possessive, obsessive, fluff, change, feelings

song: “ Round & Round by Selena Gomez ”

—————————————————————————

“Y/n”

Donnie waited for you to appear in his vision as he was glued to a new construct. Both hands busy with small tools that required the utmost care and attention. And patience.

He waited a couple of more seconds before a crease appeared between his draw on brows.

Seriously?

“Y/n!”

Donnie shouted louder. There was no way you couldn’t hear him. He was this close to pushing up his goggles but like magic you apparated in his vision. A tiny version of yourself in the corner of his eyesight, “Yyyessss?”

You drawled, dipping forward dramatically but not obscuring his view of his hands so he could continue his work.

“Where are you?”

Habitually it seemed he had to ask you this. He was like this with Shelldon too. But ever since you started getting curious and venturing out of his lab, he just had to at least check in…

He would have just checked your holo-tracker but his hands were busy at the moment. So calling out your name was more efficient. His wrist tech was voice automated and connected to your system easily enough.

“And why did you ignore my first call?”

He questioned further, eyebrows still drawn. His tongue peeked out between his lips as he carefully pieced together two small bits in the right formation.

“I thought we agreed Donnie. If you didn’t need me, I could explore the perimeters!”

You glitched momentarily, moving from the corner to right in the center of his vision before going back to your original place with a raised brow.

“Yes yes. That was the agreement but addendum six was—“

You groaned.

“Y/n it’s been… how long has it been..?”

He just knew it had to be four or so hours since you last checked in. Which meant he could call! As per agreement! If you didn’t check in then he would worry and a time frame was even added into fine print for this very purpose! Donatello prided himself on thinking of every-little-thing!

“It’s been 30 minutes.”

His eyes widened. Looking at you now and squinting.

No way.

You sighed dramatically as you brought up the time. Sure enough. It was only 2:30 in the morning. Not 5.

“Ah, well my mistake.”

Donnie placed down the tools and pushed up his goggles. The zoomed in version of his project gone, as well as the time and your miniature self.

He could still hear you though with his headphones on.

“You didn’t answer my first question…”

He still wanted to know.

“I think that should be void considering you can just check now!”

Your voice was exasperated but it had a teasing quality.

“I’d rather you tell me,”

“With your brothers!”

“What?!”

No response. “Y/n?” No response still. He grumbled bringing his goggles back down and yep, you were gone. He shoved them back up and shot out of his chair.

Two years ago. Donatello went a step further from robots. A step further from Shelldon, definitely still a very proud achievement of his! You were a hologram program. One that connected just like Shelldon to all of Donatello’s devices and gadgets. But you didn’t have a physical body. You were a pure light so to speak. And while Donnie had agreed for you to explore…he hadn’t really disclosed another sentient being in the lab to his brothers.

Selfishly… Donnie had created you solely for him. While Shelldon had been sort of a prank but definitely for his brothers… you weren’t.

“Y/n.” Shelldon whispered harshly as he peeked out of the doorway from his lab. You were nowhere in the vicinity. He scowled. “If this is supposed to be funny, let me be very clear! It is not!” Then Donnie started to rush with his words while he crept further out into the lair.

“Those dumdums have no idea of your existence Y/n! For all we know they could— I don’t know! Attack?!”

You were radio silent. And it annoyed to Donnie to know end. You were ignoring him on purpose. Dragging him away from work to chase you down. And he would do the dragging this time, right back to his side if he must!

The further he went, the more apprehensive he felt. He could hear music. He could hear hollering. It was not the right cues that said ‘Y/n is just pranking me! They wouldn’t reveal themselves without my go-ahead! Surely!’ Yeah none of that was feeling close to happening right now. Donatello’s teeth ground together as he gave up being stealthy in favor of finally seeing what the fuck was happening.

And boy was he in for a shock.

As he cleared a corner that gave him a full view of the arcade that stretched down a distance away. The DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) was on, bass pumping throughout the room. A beautiful voice beckoning him closer like a siren’s song. Where Raph was dancing on one side. And you on the other.

Donnie stopped short. His breath catching as he watched your hologram dance, when your shoes met the correct arrows your whole body took on a glow of purple, blue, red, and yellow. It reflected throughout your entire being. You hit perfect after perfect, head tipped back in laughter as Raph started to trip up, losing his footing and sweating profusely. You on the other hand would never tire.

You were completely energized. You were having fun! It shined in your eyes. It reminded him of how you were when he first created you. When everything he introduced to you excited you.

Donnie felt like such an ass. Keeping you tucked away from the rest of the lair. From his brothers. From the world! As he watched you now he knew he was going to have to change. Because he surely wasn’t letting you go completely. But maybe he needed to loosen up, him and his contract.

Because he wanted you to be like this more. To smile more. To be exuberant and full of life! And he couldn’t stop smiling as you tilted your head towards him. You didn’t falter, you just smiled brighter and winked as the song came to a close and the points were tallied up.

Of course anything created by Donnie would be extraordinary at dancing. Therefore it didn’t surprise him one bit that you received a maximum score of 10,000,000. What did throw him off guard was the rapid pace of his heart. And maybe a bit dizzy? He hadn’t even been the one dancing!

Yeah this wasn’t good!

—————————————————————————

[precallai]

AI Call Centers: Boosting Efficiency, Reducing Costs, and Improving Customer Experience (CX)

In an era where customer expectations are higher than ever, businesses are under mounting pressure to deliver seamless, responsive, and personalized customer service. The call center, long considered the front line of customer interaction, is undergoing a significant transformation. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), modern call centers are becoming more efficient, cost-effective, and customer-focused. AI is not only redefining the traditional call center model but also laying the groundwork for a future where customer experiences are proactive, intelligent, and effortlessly human-like.

The Rise of AI in Call Centers

AI technologies have made significant inroads into many aspects of business, and customer service is no exception. In the context of call centers, AI refers to the use of machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition, sentiment analysis, and robotic process automation (RPA) to automate and enhance customer interactions.

From AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to intelligent routing and real-time analytics, these tools help streamline operations, improve agent performance, and deliver faster and more personalized customer support. As a result, businesses can handle a greater volume of interactions with increased precision and reduced operational costs.

Enhancing Efficiency Through Automation

One of the most immediate benefits of AI in call centers is the dramatic boost in operational efficiency. Traditional call centers rely heavily on human agents to manage inquiries, which can lead to bottlenecks during peak hours. AI mitigates this issue through automation:

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: These tools can handle a wide range of routine queries—such as checking account balances, tracking orders, or resetting passwords—without human intervention. This allows human agents to focus on more complex or sensitive issues.

Intelligent Call Routing: AI systems can analyze caller data and intent in real-time and route them to the most appropriate department or agent. This reduces wait times and first-call resolution rates.

Speech Analytics and Voice Recognition: These tools monitor live calls to identify keywords, emotional tone, and customer sentiment, offering real-time guidance to agents and ensuring adherence to compliance and service standards.

Together, these innovations drastically reduce handling times, improve issue resolution rates, and enable 24/7 service availability.

Cost Reduction Without Compromising Quality

Staffing is typically the most significant cost center for call centers. Hiring, training, and retaining agents is both expensive and time-consuming. AI reduces the reliance on large agent pools by automating many repetitive tasks and supporting agents with smart tools that make their work more effective.

Lower Training Costs: AI-powered platforms can guide new agents with real-time coaching and support, shortening the learning curve and reducing the need for extensive training programs.

Reduced Turnover: With AI handling mundane tasks, agents are more likely to remain engaged and satisfied with their roles, leading to lower attrition rates.

Scalable Solutions: AI systems can be scaled up or down quickly depending on demand, making them ideal for handling seasonal spikes in call volumes without hiring additional staff.

Importantly, these cost-saving measures don’t compromise the quality of service. In fact, they often enhance it by ensuring customers receive faster, more accurate, and more consistent responses.

Improving Customer Experience (CX)

Customer experience has emerged as a key differentiator in today’s competitive marketplace. AI helps companies exceed customer expectations in the following ways:

Personalization: AI analyzes past interactions, purchase history, and customer behavior to deliver tailored experiences. Whether it’s recommending products or preemptively addressing concerns, AI creates a more personalized and satisfying interaction.

Proactive Engagement: AI can predict when a customer may need assistance based on behavioral cues and reach out before the customer even initiates contact.

Multichannel Support: Modern customers interact with brands across a variety of platforms—email, social media, chat, and phone. AI ensures consistent and integrated support across all these channels, creating a unified and seamless experience.

Moreover, with AI’s ability to understand natural language and context, conversations with virtual agents feel more human and less robotic, further enhancing customer satisfaction.

Empowering Human Agents

Rather than replacing human agents, AI empowers them by acting as a supportive co-pilot. Real-time analytics and recommendations help agents resolve issues faster and with greater confidence. Some of the key ways AI assists human agents include:

Real-time Suggestions: Based on the ongoing conversation, AI can suggest responses, highlight relevant information, or flag potential compliance risks.

Knowledge Management: AI-powered knowledge bases can surface the right answers instantly, reducing the time agents spend searching for information.

Performance Analytics: AI can provide feedback on agent performance, pinpoint areas for improvement, and identify training opportunities.

By relieving agents from routine tasks and equipping them with powerful tools, AI enables them to deliver higher-quality interactions that build customer loyalty.

Overcoming Challenges and Concerns

Despite its many advantages, the integration of AI in call centers is not without challenges. Key concerns include:

Data Privacy: AI systems rely heavily on data, raising concerns about how customer information is collected, stored, and used. Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations is critical.

Customer Trust: Some customers may prefer speaking with a human and may feel frustrated by automated systems. It’s essential to provide easy access to human agents when needed.

Implementation Costs: While AI reduces costs over time, the initial investment in technology and infrastructure can be significant, particularly for small and mid-sized businesses.

However, with thoughtful implementation, clear communication, and a balanced approach that combines automation with human empathy, these challenges can be effectively managed.

The Future of AI-Powered Call Centers

As AI technologies continue to evolve, the future of call centers looks increasingly intelligent and adaptive. Innovations on the horizon include:

Emotion AI: Systems that detect and respond to emotional cues in real-time will make interactions even more empathetic and human-like.

Hyper-Personalization: AI will offer increasingly nuanced and predictive customer experiences based on deep behavioral insights.

Voice Cloning and Avatars: AI-generated voices and digital avatars may soon be able to mimic human tones and expressions, further blurring the line between human and machine.

The integration of AI will continue to redefine the role of the call center—from a reactive service hub to a proactive, strategic asset that drives customer loyalty and business growth.

Conclusion

AI call centers represent a transformative leap in how businesses engage with their customers. By boosting efficiency, cutting costs, and elevating the quality of service, AI is reshaping customer support into a smarter, faster, and more personalized experience. While challenges remain, the benefits are clear: empowered agents, satisfied customers, and a more agile, cost-effective support operation. As AI technology matures, businesses that embrace this evolution will be better positioned to thrive in the age of customer-centric innovation.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In some of the work you’ve done on data centers, you talk about how AI is presented as a climate solution, even as it requires resource-intensive data centers and computing to power it. What do you think is the risk of presenting resource-intensive AI as a solution to climate change? This is something that’s already happening, which is basically the imposition of ecological visions of a few, especially in the Global North with private interests, onto the rest of the world. We can see this operating not only when it comes to data centers, but also lithium extraction. Lithium is used for rechargeable batteries, which is a key component of so-called transition technologies, such as electric vehicles. If we want to design a transition towards new forms of energy or less carbon-intensive energies, we need to cooperate with these communities and a very important actor are the ones that are participating in the AI value chain. Companies have a big interest in hiding this value chain, in making sure that these communities don’t have a voice in the media, in regulatory discussions, and so on, because this is crucial for their business model and for the technical capacities that they need. There is a big interest in silencing them. This is why they don’t provide information about what they do. It’s also very important that as we discuss AI governance or regulation, we ask how we can incorporate these communities. If you look at what’s happening in Europe, there is upcoming regulation that is going to request that companies provide some transparency when it comes to energy use. But what about something more radical? What about incorporating these communities in the very governance of data centers? Or if we really want more just technologies for environmental transition, why not have a collective discussion, incorporating actors from different contexts and regions of the world to discuss what will be the most efficient — if you want to use that word — way of allocating data centers. In the case of indigenous communities in the Atacama Desert, water is sacred. They have a special relationship with water. One of the few words that they still have is uma, which stands for water. So how do we make sure that these companies respect the way these communities relate to the environment? It’s impossible to think of any kind of transition without considering and respecting the ecological visions of these groups. I don’t really believe in any technologically intensive form of transition that’s made by technocrats in the Global North and that ignores the effects that these infrastructures are having in the rest of the world and the visions of these communities.

[theculturedmarxist]

As I’ve said before, I believe we’re at peak AI, and now that generative AI has been commoditized, the only thing that OpenAI and Anthropic have left is their ability to innovate, which I’m not sure they’re capable of doing.  And because we sit in the ruins of Silicon Valley, with our biggest “startups” all doing the same thing in the least-efficient way, living at the beck and call of public companies with multi-trillion-dollar market caps, everyone is trying to do the same thing in the same way based on the fantastical marketing nonsense of a succession of directionless rich guys that all want to create America’s Next Top Monopoly. It’s time to wake up and accept that there was never an “AI arms race,” and that the only reason that hyperscalers built so many data centers and bought so many GPUs because they’re run by people that don’t experience real problems and thus don’t know what problems real people face. Generative AI doesn’t solve any trillion-dollar problems, nor does it create outcomes that are profitable for any particular business.  DeepSeek’s models are cheaper to run, but the real magic trick they pulled is that they showed how utterly replaceable a company like OpenAI (and by extension any Large Language Model company) really is. There really isn’t anything special about any of these companies anymore — they have no moat, their infrastructural advantage is moot, and their hordes of talent irrelevant.  What DeepSeek has proven isn’t just technological, but philosophical. It shows that the scrappy spirit of Silicon Valley builders is dead, replaced by a series of different management consultants that lead teams of engineers to do things based on vibes. 

[writing-in-lesbian]

A Heiress in Love Pt. 7

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff / Female Reader

Tags: angst, fluff,

Translations: Hainofi = princess // Strik sis [Strisis] = little sister // Ai hod yu in = I love you // Ste yuj = Stay strong //

Chapter synopsis: War is coming and some things need to be sped up for the alliances to work. Right in the middle of everything, someone will warn or new appointed commander about her betrothed.

A/N: This story keeps sending me into new research topics! I hope I’m doing them justice. Also since there aren’t a lot of trigedeslang transistors, everything in italics and underlined would be trigedeslang. Again, I’m partying ways from some canon events in the 100 in order for this to work. Work is not beta’d so all mistakes are mine.

Chapter 7 - A Heda on the Rise

The darkness seems to be more welcoming this time yet, the red fog that you saw before remains there, like a guardian.

Fainted noises try to make their way into your mind, but the dizziness you feel is more than enough to shut anything that tries to reach you. Your hand feels warm and is the kind that makes you feel sleepy and cozy. Feeling a squeeze into your hand, the darkness starts to dissipate slowly. 

You get back into reality when you hear far away your name being called, turning to the right, where you think the voice is coming. Opening your eyes, you see your mom looking at you with worried eyes. Her lips mouth something to you but your brain is a little bit foggy.

“Are you okay?” Her echoed words reach your ears. “You seem a little uneasy”

“I’m fine” yet her mother instincts kick in and she gets next to you. Wanda just observing through her peripheral vision, not letting your hand go. Clarke is observing your face, she touches your forehead but feels only your cold skin. 

The voices around you are a mix of angriness and confusion, Octavia and Natasha are having their staring contest.

“Octavia, there’s no need to duel Duchess Natasha” You hear your mother talk but your mind is trying to catch up, everything seems a little out of sync. Perhaps the lack of sleep, food, and water is taking finally a toll on you. 

“Heda” whatever simple hand gesture Lexa does is enough to keep Octavia in silence. 

“Mother, a flame keeper has been in grounders line for all time” you hear Madi say but can’t seem to fully understand it. 

“Commander if I may,” Tony says, and to your surprise your mother acknowledges him with a simple nod. 

“I know all I’m allowed to know about Flame keepers and I think with our nanotechnology we can improve the efficiency and security of it. That’s why, Duchess Romanoff would be dear Y/N guardian and you my dear…sorry don’t know your name”

He pauses, you guess, waiting for Octavia’s response, which never came.

“Well, you my angry brunette will be as well,” he says and you can guess the gasp you hear is Madi’s. You feel a squeeze in your hand and Wanda’s tense right next to you.

“It will be fine, you don’t have to be afraid,” you think as loud and clear as you can to calm Wanda, it worked before so, she should be able to hear you right away. The tension in your hand lessened and let you know it did. 

“I’m not following,” Pietro says out of nowhere, you didn’t even pay attention when he arrived.  

Your mother guides King Tony and your mom to the center of the table, pausing a little at seeing your ceremonial things still in place. She searches your gaze but you avoid it before meeting her eyes. You see her guards follow her and stand a few paces behind her. 

“Mother if I may, I thought only the commander was worthy of carrying the flame, no offense to our guests here”

Madi approaches your mother, asking silently to clear everything, but is stopped by your mom. Clarke grabs her hand, making her stay there, out of your reach.

“Y/N, Wanda” Lexa’s voice is neutral but you detect a hint of warmth in her tone, her raised hand indicates for both of you to approach her. 

You feel Wanda’s tug and in that moment you realize how stiff you were, if the crack of your knee indicates it. You walk slowly, never letting Wanda’s hand go, an action that is noticed by everyone. Clarke has a small smile adorning her face, while Natasha smirks. Octavia’s face goes neutral, even thou you know deep down she’s content with how things are seeming to go with Lady Maximoff and Pietro gives you his usual thumbs up. You search for Madi’s eyes, looking for the comfort a big sister could provide but you see only confusion. 

“As we unite our people through my daughter and Lady Maximoff, we should never forget our origins and focus more on our similitudes rather than our differences” Lexa speaks softly but firmly, a tone you have heard many times when she was tucking you into bed explaining to her best effort, the hundred questions you bombarded her with at night.

That is enough to make you form a hard-to-see but small smile.

“We need to understand us and help us. The flame, Madi, is one of the things that make us grounders unique but is, as we know, dangerous for the receiver. To protect us, King Tony will improve the flame that Y/N will be getting, allowing me to continue to keep it as well until I transcend and pass it fully to her”

“If I may,” Tony asks “When Ultron got out of our alliance and started doing all crazy things, it reminded me that, what we all here seek, is the chance to live in peace, and when that is threatened and our loved ones are in danger, we protect them”

“Attack them and you attack me” you hear yourself saying.

“Precisely!” An over-excited Tony says, “It took me two hits close home to understand that I, couldn’t do it alone” he says while walking towards you. 

Before he can reach you, Wanda takes a tiny step in front of you that causes Tony to stop before getting too close to you. His face is intrigued but doesn’t change his excitement. However, he changes slightly his course of action and goes to the table instead.

“I have been fascinated with grounders' culture since I met your mothers' ages ago Princess Y/N, so when the time called for it, I reached out to them and well, here we are”

That’s the most simplest way of explaining years of traditions in less than 10 seconds but he says this while getting something from under his coat. It’s a small red box with lines in yellow. He then proceeds to uncover his arm and punches some letters or that’s what you think he’s doing, in what looks like a bracelet, that is more than that as a hologram appears in thin air.

“That still doesn’t explain why Duchess Romanoff has to be the flame keeper,” Madi says, still not trusting any of this. 

“I didn’t ask for it either nor do I understand it all but I trust Stark on it” Duchess Romanoff’s voice is so near you that you have to take all control to not shiver, instead squeezing Wanda’s hand, noticing the small smirk she has. For your own sake, you decide not to question it further. “Plus, I care for Wanda and if she becomes part of the grounder's culture, I want to understand it as well”

“Madi, daughter. Patience in one thing”

“Patience in all things” you hear your sister finish the sentence with a sour mode. A sentence that Lexa tried so hard to teach you when you were little and got impatient. You also remember the many lessons you had with her on the proper way of breathing and how to use it to control your anxiety or fears. 

“We know the importance of the flame keeper, that’s why part of the agreement included sharing the information about it with them as well we allowed for someone to be part of it. A decision Clarke agreed on it”

At one point you suspected your mom was a big part of the decision on your marriage, the fact that she agreed on the Flame makes you wonder if it had anything to do with their past. You knew your mom carried it for a brief time and how it affected her. Perhaps all of this comes in the best interest.

“Out of all the pool presented, your mom and I decided Duchess Romanoff was the best candidate,” So your mothers chose who was going to bear it? “Not only is she an expert in hand-to-hand combat, but also has a high set of skills that will help keep Y/N and Lady Wanda safe if the case arises”.

Your mom lets Madi's hand and stands next to Lexa and, you figure this has a deeper commitment than you thought of.

“Along with Octavia” Clarke says “She more than anyone would know the importance of protecting their Heda” Just knowing that Octavia will take the role as well, gives you some type of comfort you didn’t know you needed. 

Your mother explains while motioning for Octavia and Natasha to come. King Tony proceeds then to touch the hologram and you see the chip projected there and the image is more vivid and clear of what you have seen on your mother’s books and Becca’s library.  There are a lot of small letters and numbers scribbled all over it, your best guess it’s that it contains the improvements your mother told you about. Still, how does it work, would it hurt now? You know before, the Flame would allow you to keep your thoughts separated, and now? What is all of this doesn’t work and the Flame chooses another person? Many questions are rounding your mind and it’s getting harder to keep track of all of them. Wanda’s thumb starts doing small circles in your hand, making you get out of your mind. 

“I might not be able to read your mind but boy your thoughts are loud” and hearing her whisper so close to you, makes your skin and body tremble. A small chuckle leaves your mouth, getting just the attention of Madi, who looks at you with a curious expression. 

“The adaptations I made, would allow Queen Lexa and Princes Y/N to be able to carry the flame, without having any dangers to their health, minimal pain for our princess here, and preserving all the qualities the first commander did”.

Lexa opens the box containing the Flame you’ll be getting soon, the small piece capable of uniting or separating nations, containing power and a lot of responsibilities, making you well aware that, if the old laws were still in place, a lot of people would die to get their hands on. Yet, the infinite symbol inscribed on it faintly glows.

“Y/N… Y/N…the moment has come. Welcome daughter”

“Our nanotechnology has been a resource that many are after, and I’m more than happy to lend it to the aid of our new conjoint kingdoms and the well of their and our heiresses”

“Y/N… Y/N…the moment has come. Welcome Heinoffi”

You barely hear him, being more interested in the data and images showing virtually, the blue hem making it look fascinating to you, so much so that you barely register the small step you take towards it until you’re stopped by Wanda’s hand still in yours. Your mother notes this and takes a look at you, her curiosity getting the best out of her.

“Y/N… Y/N…the moment has come. Welcome Heiress Woods-Griffin”

“Y/N… Y/N…the moment has come. Welcome daughter”

“Y/N… Y/N…the moment has come. Welcome Heinoffi”

King Tony keeps talking but is just white noise compared to what you are hearing. You have heard the stories, the legends, you know that the voices of past commanders, some kind of memory of them will talk with you… but it should be until you get the flame right? So, whose voices are these and why are you hearing them?

Natasha opens then the box, containing a similar but smaller piece of your flame, much to Octavia’s displeasure, noticeable on her face but is replaced soon by curiosity as she sees Wanda taking a step towards Natasha.

“The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here. The moment has come. The heiresses are here.”

You feel a sudden need to reach for the box your mother has, taking Wanda with you, who shows nothing but a willingness to walk, eager to get the box in Natasha’s hand. You hear nothing but the voices until…. 

CLANK, CLANK.

A metal noise is heard, making you stop in your tracks, your hand close to the box your mother had, which has been closed. Wanda’s hand is on the box Natasha has, with Clarke’s hand on top of it. You didn’t notice your mom moved, less see the other box being opened. 

“Curios indeed” you heard King Tony say. 

Wait, weren’t those the same words Aiden told you?

“Fascinating, isn’t daughter? My predecessors are eager for you to join us” and you look at your mother, her eyes are unguarded just for you and you see the love and pride in them, but you also see something else, you can’t pinpoint what it is yet. 

“Lady Maximoff” she takes her sight towards Wanda and notices how, despite taking different steps, your hands remained linked. The small smile there is just perceptible for you and Madi.

“What is in front of you, is a replica of the Flame Y/N would be getting that you would be having in custody, hence why we decided to have two flame keepers, one, to guard Y/N and the other, to come in place if the occasion arises, you need to evacuate with the flame”

Wanda returns to your side, dropping your hand to play with her ring fingers, a piece of hair falls from her hairstyle, and you observe her while trying to comprehend everything that has been said, your mind racing a mile per second, tying things here and there. So if Tony requested the marriage to protect his lands and people, your mothers agreeing to it AND sharing the flame knowledge, plus including another flame keeper and a replica? What’s the real meaning of all of this?

“Would I always be hearing the voices?” Comes the quiet question of Wanda.

“You heard them?” Pietro, who up until this point was watching the whole thing unfold, approaches his sister. You can’t help but step a little in front of him.

“I…think?” Her eternal frown comes into place and you can’t help but notice that’s different from the one prior, this one is less pronounced, making her eyes smaller, although the tilted head remains the same. 

“If you heard them Lady Maximoff, as precedent as this is, I believe it has to do more with your abilities, still, it doesn’t minimize the fact of it, especially for someone who’s not natblida” your mother says, not even a hint of surprise on her voice. Turning, you see your mom looking at Wanda with confidence, a spark of something you haven’t seen reflect it on someone outside your clan for a long time.

The fact that both of them knew about Wanda’s abilities makes you wonder how much they know, you recently learned them, but well, maybe King Tony shared that information. If your mothers agreed to 

Madi opts now to turn and walk away, your instinct is going after her but your feet refuse to cooperate. By this time, the first signs of sunrise are showing, and the little place you have been all night starts to appear clearer. You can see more now the features of the ceremonial table and the articles left there, the thin smoke of the incense long gone, but the ashes remaining there, scattered on the table. Your mom has noticed the sun rising as well, whispering something to Lexa, and then proceeds to leave, taking Pietro with her with promises of breakfast and coffee. The last item offered, you think, shouldn’t be something Pietro should get his hands on, an over-caffeinated hyperactive child is the less you need now, yet, the thought brings a smile to your face. 

”Now, there’s a journey ahead of us that we should prepare for. We leave in 15 minutes, horses are ready and I believe, King Tony wants to speak to you Y/N” Your mother takes the bowl containing your blood and needles and signals for the rest of the party to leave all, except for Octavia who maintains her position not far from you, but giving you enough privacy.

Wanda is hesitant to let your hand go. And after a few seconds of thinking she turns to leave, Natasha at her side in an instant.

“I’ll be out soon,” you say after her, taking her nodding as a sign that she heard you, saying it to try and reaffirm whatever worries or curiosity she might have or maybe it was to calm your worries. You haven’t met King Tony personally nor this close before, but here you are. 

“Curios is a killer thing, don’t you think my darling?” He says while playing with the matches left on the place where the rest of your ceremonial things are.

“Not your darling, please don’t refer to me like that again” There’s an element you don’t like about someone calling you darling, other than really close people.

“Feisty, I see. No wonder why our dear witchy feels attracted to you”

“With all due respect King Tony, what is it that you wanted to talk? We need to leave soon and we have a few hours ahead of traveling. I would like to get ready”

But the fact of his words is making something inside you, clearly is nice to hear a confirmation that Wanda feels attracted but his tone and the way he said it, doesn’t suit you well.

“Yes about that… I just wanted to make sure you’re prepared for what might come?”

King Tony might be a lot of things, but discrete has never been his best strong suit. You need to inquire more about what has been said and agreed on this marriage thing. 

“I am” and your voice carries so much strength and pride, just like your mother used to do and still does when her reasons are questioned. You have spent a lot of time studying, training and preparing for your ascension as Heda, the fact that a war might break soon makes you nervous, but you trust your preparation and your heritage.

“And if chaos breaks?”

The sun is almost up, mother nature indicating that your party must leave soon for the agenda to continue and not interrupt another thing. Although your ascension ceremony will be tomorrow night, you’re certain more things are preparing behind the curtains, didn’t Octavia mention something about Raven sending a package for your ceremony? To be honest, if Raven knew about it, then… when or how did she get the news about it? And how did she get them that fast?

A flock of birds past over your head, but your eyes remain on the King, gauging his reaction to your lack of response, trying to read him. He’s quite the character, making it a little bit difficult to find a truthful interpretation.

He takes your silence as something based on the chuckle he makes and proceeds to explain. 

“Our dear witchy over there and future Mrs. Woods-Griffin can be something” his bracelet on the hand signaling where Wanda just left shines under the sun, making you realize you need to end this soon.

“You know about Wanda’s magic then” It’s not a question. 

“If I know? Girl, I will be afraid if her chaos gets out of control-”

“So your better option was to ship her to a foreign kingdom so it gets out of your hand”

“Princess” and the tone is so petty you almost hate it. “I rather have her as an ally than be on the receiving end of her anger”

“I shouldn’t be entertaining you with these questions, but If chaos, as you and Aiden like to name her magic, decides to come out to play, I’ll be ready”

Your mother never taught you to look down first on a staring match, combine that with the stubbornness you inherited from your mom and you have a killer stare. Which makes King Tony smile like a madman. 

“Good! That’s exactly why I choose you over Vision to be her wife, now chop chop Princess we have a journey ahead of us”

He leaves your side faster than you can comprehend what he just said. Of course, you have heard of Count Vision and his last attempt to have Wanda as a wife, the thought never sitting well with you, for all purposes, word has it that Count Vision is just as cold and heartless as a machine, but his assets and technology would have been something to pique the interest of Tony, yet he chose you over him, why? You have so many questions to ask your mother but are afraid she won’t answer them if she feels is not the time. Deciding not to dwell more on the issue you kneel to retrieve the bag where you carried your ceremonial things. 

A chirp is heard somewhere in the trees, hurrying your steps, knowing Echo is just a moment away to come and retrieve whatever things you leave, you finally, step out of the ceremonial place and take a few seconds to enjoy the cold breeze. 

This exact time, just a few minutes after sunrise, is the time you have come to love the most. The temperature is perfect, not warm yet not too cold, the wind is chill enough to be able to enjoy it without a heavy jacket. Your mother used to find you out of bed at this time many times, standing by your side, always extending her hand without saying a word, and every time you took it. Both enjoyed the silence and the company. She would later carry you back to your chambers, tickling your sides until you asked her to stop between waves of laughter. She did it until you were 6 years old, claiming you were too big for her to continue carrying you and wasn’t proper for a princess. 

“Heinofi” Octavia's voice surprises you, having completely forgotten she was just mere steps away. Did she hear your talk with King Tony?

“Don’t you dare question what you have to offer, we all know anyone would be honored to be your wife”

“I’m not-“

“I know you Y/N, whatever King Tony said about Vision, ain’t worthy worrying your mind” 

For many people, Octavia is just a distant, uninterested, savage brunette, but you know that’s just a facade, deep down she’s more intelligent and observant than a lot of people think, yet her nickname of Bloodreina holds up to her reputation. 

She grabs your chin and lifts it so you can see her in the eyes, and what you see makes you question not for the first time, what have you done to have such a cool aunt care that deeply for you. Madi once joked about you being the daughter she wished she had.

“Thanks Aunt”

“Now, Echo had your horse packed and your mother awaits. I saw Wanda pass with Natasha so we should get going”

She proceeds to lead the way but your hand stops her before she can take more than two steps ahead of you.

“Aunt Tavia” 

Octavia turns to look at you questioningly.

“Do you know the reasons my mothers agreed on all of this and if they were aware of Wanda’s abilities?”

You hesitate for a moment, your question taking her out of guard. 

“You better than anyone should know that not all the important decisions your mothers take are shared with their counsels. That being said I know they were aware of what Wanda can make, and no Y/N I don’t know it. As for the reasons for the marriage to take place, I guess they balanced both options of suitors and decided on the best one, political and personal”

Wait, both?

“Both?” You ask but her gentle push for you to walk makes you trip, regaining your composure you keep walking but still waiting for her answer. 

“I shouldn’t have said that. Forget I said it” She well knows you won’t let it go that easy, but for your benefit, since you had your wish granted, you keep quiet. Making a sign of erasing your mind with your hand, you smile and walk ahead of her.

It doesn’t take you too long to reach the parting point, you see ten to twelve horses at the ready, your mother guards already in place. Counting them and making mental notes of which horse is for whom, you notice five are still waiting for their rider but yours is not there. 

“Daughter, are you ready?” Your mother’s voice welcomes you, just as she is mounting her black Percheron, her elegance is something you have always admired. You take it as a good sign that Philly is there, since you know that’s not her battle horse, since it has been a while since Raven implemented some upgrades and experiments on that department, no longer using life animals for it, but rather something mechanic, nor exactly a robot but similar. 

“I am mother” Echo approaches you, with your own Lipizzan horse, his grey coat shining under the weather and his mane braided elegantly.

Approaching them you thank Echo and take Dasher’s reins. Your other hand caresses his forehead carefully avoiding his muzzle. You approach your forehead to his.

“Hey there Dash, ready for a journey?” His only response is his short snort. You have had it since you were eight, a present from Queen Regina, arguing if you were to be a good goddaughter, you need it to learn to ride properly. The relationship you had with Dasher has only been growing ever since, with both of you bonding almost immediately. 

Those are the things that make you question how many of your relationships were just mere political movements rather than affection. Deciding to leave that thought for another time, you caress Dash one more time before a guard helps you mount him. 

Once you are on him, you whisper small affective, and reassuring words into his ear, caressing his beautiful mane. You know Dasher can feel nervous sometimes when new people surround him, so you do your best to stay calm and transmit that to him.  

“Lexa” you hear your mom calling her, she’s still on the ground. “Safe travels. I’ll see you soon” She takes Lexa’s hand for a few seconds and leaves with her guards towards the carriages zone, part of King Tony’s party is waiting over there, as far as you can see he’s not among them. You guess she might be doing something else for the wedding preparation with your guests. 

“My dear Lexa, what beautiful creatures you have here” Well, that responded to your question about why he was not over there. 

You’re guessing that if he was the one working on the new flame, he would be the one indicating how to handle it. 

“We’re proud of our horses. Intelligent and magnificent creatures they are” 

King Tony walks closer to the other horses, you supposed he would wait for someone to helpl him but to your surprise, he mounts it quite quickly.

“I’m a bit rusty, it’s been a while since I did it”

“You used to ride?” Your question is more of curiosity than anything else.

“Growing up, yes”

“Impressive horse Commander, and more impressive he hasn’t dropped Stark”

You turn to see Duchess Romanoff and Wanda slowly approaching, you haven’t thought why they weren’t there nor near the carriages when you joined. 

“Very funny, let’s see how yours handles your presence” Is he indulging in the comment?

Without more thinking you descend Dasher and walk towards Wanda, offering a small smile which she reciprocates albeit reluctantly, which makes you frown a little. 

“Those are beautiful horses Princess Woods-Griffin” so you’re back to formalities. 

“Not as beautiful as you” You can hear and feel Octavia and your mother cringing from where they stand, already in her horses, but the small blush on Wanda’s cheeks makes it worthy. 

“Echo and Finley will help you mountain yours, we need to be leaving soon” and the commanding voice your mother has is enough for King Tony to regain his composure.

“I have never ridden a horse before” It’s Wanda’s timid voice and now you understand her behavior and posture.

She’s afraid. 

Her hands are playing with her rings, trying hard not to bite her nails, and her sight is fixed on Dasher, you can’t help but feel pride. He’s mesmerizing and gorgeous to look at.

“Then you must ride with me” and not soon after your words leave your mouth you know a reprimand will come your way. 

For safety reasons, in every political travel, there must be only one rider per horse, in case there’s an ambush, your guards can help you escape in different routes and not compromise any of you. You know that this journey is way more than just a political thing.

“Daughter, I’m afraid that would have to be for another occasion” There’s not a drop of hardness or angriness in your mother tone, but a small warning. 

And for the first time in forever, you do something you never thought you’d do. 

You guide her to Dasher. 

The horse sensing what are you going to ask, just moves with his head, signifying he’ll allow Wanda to ride him.

“Dasher would be yours for the journey then”   Lexa, Octavia, and even Echo are well aware of what that means. 

Dasher is to be ridden only by you, the horse not allowing anyone else to mount him, not even her first owner Queen Regina has been able to do it. Dasher never allows the saddle to be put on him if it’s not going to be for you, you guess that he can sense it and has a better instinct than most humans. 

Not even Princess Danvers, your previous girlfriend did it. Dasher liked her but never allowed it to be ridden by her. When you two went out riding, you had to take Quinn, your other Lipizzan horse for it, she allowed other people with you. 

Once, Queen Emma said that the connection you had with your horses was similar and way freaky than the one Regina had with Rosinante, her horse. You answered that she didn’t understand the connection between horses and humans since her horse wasn’t too happy with her. Queen Regina snorted, making you feel good. Until this time, is hard for you to call them godmothers.

“Is it yours? He’s magnificent” Wanda says and you can swear Dash neighs in response to that. Cheeky little bastard but you feel happy he’s allowing Wanda so far. 

“Yes, his name is Dasher, he’s my main one”

Like reading your mind Dasher nudges his muzzle on Wanda’s shoulder and you encourage her to pet him.

Your mother observes this and smiles, happy to see you content despite the threat of war over your heads.

“Here, let me”

In an instant, Finley, the stable young man is at Dasher's side, putting his two hands together, so Wanda can step into them, this action needs it to push the rider up. You take Wanda’s waist and she jumps a little, surprised by the action. 

“I’ll help you get onto him. Dasher is a gentleman but if you have never ridden, it can be tricky to get onto him”

Wanda looks at you, her ever-inquisitive look in place. She puts her hands on your shoulders, nodding her head, indicating she’s ready. You laugh and turn her, her back now towards you.

“Put your right foot on Finley’s hands and impulse your weight. Once you feel the push, your left leg should do a small arch over Dasher’s back. Ready? On three. One. Two. Three”

Wanda graciously mounts Dasher, giving you a memory to cherish for ages. Once she’s on Dasher you can see her nervousness be replaced with excitement, her smile getting bigger by the second. 

Echo, who had taken over Dasher’s reins, gives them to you with a small nod. 

“Here, this will help you guide him and to hold on to him. You won’t need to do much, since Quinn and I will go right next to you and Dash is excellent following us”

You had been involved a lot in their training, making sure both knew how to follow each other without a rider or an injured one. Sometimes your paranoia pays off.

“Okay” and is the smile and the brightness in her eyes that does it for you. 

You go to Quinn, feeling Wanda’s eyes on your back, observing your interaction with Quinn, you salute her the same way you did it with Dasher.  You mount her without help, years with them have made you agile. Echo passes your bags and sword. Thanking her you take a moment to whisper something into Quinn's ears, getting a snort in response. 

“It seems we’re all ready. Indra” your mother motions for her most loyal warrior and leader. Indra gives this vibe of hating everyone but is nothing compared to Anya. 

“Send a messenger to the clans. Let them know my daughter's Ascension ceremony will take place tomorrow. They should know we’re ready and we must stay united in our coalition”

Indra nods and takes off on her horse, you thought she would be going with you, but then again, a lot of things have been changing by the second. The guards open the gigantic gates, and you see the roads that lead to Polis, the royal guards leading the way, followed by your mother, King Tony, Duchess Romanoff, then you and Wanda, Octavia, and the rest of the royal guards behind

You hear some guards whisper safe travels. You’re somehow excited for what lies ahead. After all, you have traveled this road many times, knowing the safety of its course. Turning you see Wanda calmingly admiring the landscape, one hand in Dasher’s rein, the other, caressing him slowly. She’s a natural.

The sun is now fully up, giving the forest a whimsical view, everything seems calm, so you relax and let yourself enjoy the ride, a few moments of peace before the madness begins.

Tag List: @spongebobtentacles @wandamaximoff727 @cristin-rjd @aawake-atnight @msromanoffswife @juno-verse @wandastan-2 @wannabe-fic-reader @cd-4848

[sageofsunbloom]

Is AI fr gonna steal our jobs?

Disclaimer: This post is mostly speculative and meant to encourage discussion and different perspectives on the topic.

Some time ago, I along with many others thought that AI was mostly going to aid in all the task centered, administrative, repetitive jobs. Cashiers, factory workers, call center workers, all the jobs that would benefit from automation were being taken over by AI.

When the ghibli trend came around, it was a guttural shock to many artists.

What used to generate questionable and bad looking art has now developed and is transitioning to generating high quality pieces, videos, music, animation and what not. In a matter of mere months. [AI tools example: midjourney, DALL-E, ChatGPT]

Art is not simply something pretty to look at. It is the accumulation of experiences, emotions and essense of humans. Art is their unique expression and the lens with which they see the world.

This blog is not an argument against the use of AI for art, but a call to understand what it really means.

Did most people see it coming when AI mimicked it with precision?

How long before it starts mimicking creativity, intuition, emotion and depth, all of what we thought was deeply and uniquely human?

"AI works by learning from lots of information, recognizing patterns, and using that knowledge to make decisions or do tasks like a human would." - Chatgpt.

Some time ago, the dominant argument was that AI might be able copy the strokes of a painting, the words of a novel. But it cannot hold the hands of another human and tell them all was well, it cannot feel and experience the real world like us, it cannot connect with humans and it cant innovate and envision new solutions.

If you still believe this, I urge you to go to chatgpt right now and open up to it like it was your friend. It will provide consolidation and advice tailored so well to your individual behaviours that it might feel better than talking to your bestfriend.

What is a deep neurological, experience based and emotional reaction to us is simply just analysis and application of data and patterns to AI. And the difference? Not easily distinguishable to the average human.

As long as the end result is not compromised, it doesnt matter to client and employers whether the process was human or not. Efficiency is often prioritized above substance. And now even substance is being mimicked.

Currently, the prominent discussion online is that in order to improve your job security, we need to master AI tools. Instead of fighting for stability(which is nothing but an illusion now) we need to ride the waves of the new age flooding towards us, and work with Ai instead of fighting against the change.

But the paradox is, the more we use AI the quicker it will learn from us, the quicker it will reduce the need for human guidance and supervision, and the quicker it will replace us.

Times are moving fast. We need everyone to be aware of the rate at which the world is changing and the things that are going on beneath the surface. If we simply take information at face value and avoid research, give it a few years or even months of time, and noone will know what hit us.

"Use of generative AI increased from 33% in 2023 to 71% in 2024. Use of AI by business function for the latest data varied from 36% in IT to 12% in manufacturing. Use of gen AI by business function for the latest data varied from 42% in marketing and sales to 5% in manufacturing."-Mckinsey, Mar 12, 2025.

By 2030, 14% of employees will have been forced to change their career because of- AI-McKinsey.

Since 2000, automation has resulted in 1.7 million manufacturing jobs being lost -BuiltIn

There is a radical change taking momentum right now. It's gonna be humans vs AI starting from the job aspect of the world.

Its not a matter of which jobs and skills are AI proof but which ones is AI likely to take over last.

What I predict personally, is that soon the world leaders are going to have to make a transformative choice.

This can either lead to a world where humans can be provided with money and resources instead of working to earn, as AI generates profit, and we can lay back and enjoy the things we love doing.

Or the other option is that we are going to have to live by scraps as small elite groups take over all the resources and tech.

Dystopia or utopia? The line is blurred.

Thankfully, for now, the choice is in human hands.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Morgan Stephens at Daily Kos:

To no one’s surprise, Donald Trump’s immigration policies are off to a chaotic start before he even takes office. The uncertainty is palpable, especially for international students who have been told by faculty to stay on campus during holiday break and summer breaks due to Trump’s travel ban that will be enacted once he’s inaugurated. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese officials are also telling Chinese students in the United States not to leave the country for the holidays or during the following school year. This follows calls from numerous U.S. universities advising international students to return to campus before Trump’s second term begins on Jan. 20, 2025. “A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” Cornell University Office of Global Learning advised students. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India.”

With Trump repeatedly promising a full-scale immigration overhaul and mass deportations on “day one,” the fear is that students—regardless of their country of origin—could be swept up in the crackdown. 

Adding to the anxiety among students and faculty, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan reiterated that he has no problem reinstating Trump’s first administration’s “zero tolerance” child separation policy. This cruel and chaotic immigration policy separated families from their children while keeping them locked in prison-like detention centers.  Meanwhile, Trump ally and Department of Government Efficiency co-chair appointee Elon Musk is publicly feuding with the MAGA coalition over immigration, revealing tensions among rightwing leadership.  The dispute started when conservative activist Laura Loomer criticized Trump’s decision to appoint Sriram Krishnan as AI adviser, citing his support for removing green card per-country caps for skilled immigrants. Loomer, known for promoting racist views, argued that foreign workers—particularly in STEM—were taking jobs from Americans. Musk responded by saying that the United States lacks talented engineers, so he supports providing more visas to skilled workers.

International students are urged to return to the college campuses on US soil before Donald Trump returns to office due to the very real fears of a travel ban being issued for certain countries, such as Nigeria, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and possibly China and/or India.

[mariacallous]

A young man with no government experience who has yet to even complete his undergraduate degree is working for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and has been tasked with using artificial intelligence to rewrite the agency’s rules and regulations.

Christopher Sweet was introduced to HUD employees as being originally from San Francisco and most recently a third-year at the University of Chicago, where he was studying economics and data science, in an email sent to staffers earlier this month.

“I'd like to share with you that Chris Sweet has joined the HUD DOGE team with the title of special assistant, although a better title might be ‘Al computer programming quant analyst,’” Scott Langmack, a DOGE staffer and chief operating officer of an AI real estate company, wrote in an email widely shared within the agency and reviewed by WIRED. “With family roots from Brazil, Chris speaks Portuguese fluently. Please join me in welcoming Chris to HUD!”

Sweet’s primary role appears to be leading an effort to leverage artificial intelligence to review HUD’s regulations, compare them to the laws on which they are based, and identify areas where rules can be relaxed or removed altogether. (He has also been given read access to HUD's data repository on public housing, known as the Public and Indian Housing Information Center, and its enterprise income verification systems, according to sources within the agency.)

Plans for the industrial-scale deregulation of the US government were laid out in detail in the Project 2025 policy document that the Trump administration has effectively used as a playbook during its first 100 days in power. The document, written by a who’s who of far-right figures, many of whom now hold positions of power within the administration, pushes for deregulation in areas like the environment, food and drug enforcement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

One area Sweet is focusing on is regulation related to the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), according to sources who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Sweet—who two sources have been told is the lead on the AI deregulation project for the entire administration—has produced an Excel spreadsheet with around a thousand rows containing areas of policy where the AI tool has flagged that HUD may have “overreached” and suggesting replacement language.

Staffers from PIH are, specifically, asked to review the AI’s recommendations and justify their objections to those they don’t agree with. “It all sounds crazy—having AI recommend revisions to regulations,” one HUD source says. “But I appreciated how much they’re using real people to confirm and make changes.”

Once the PIH team completes the review, their recommendations will be submitted to the Office of the General Counsel for approval.

One HUD source says they were told that the AI model being used for this project is “being refined by our work to be used across the government.” To do this, the source says they were told in a meeting attended by Sweet and Jacob Altik, another known DOGE member who has worked as an attorney at Weil, Gotshal & Mangesthat, the model will crawl through the Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR),

Another source told WIRED that Sweet has also been using the tool at other parts of HUD. WIRED reviewed a copy of the output of the AI’s review of one HUD department, which features columns displaying text that the AI model found to be needing an adjustment while also including suggestions from the AI for alterations to be made, essentially proposing rewrites. The spreadsheet details how many words can be eliminated from individual regulations and gives a percentage figure indicating how noncompliant the regulations are. It isn’t clear how these percentages are calculated.

Sweet did not respond to requests for comment regarding his work. In response to a request to clarify Sweet’s role at HUD, a spokesperson for the agency said they do not comment on individual personnel. The University of Chicago confirmed to WIRED that Sweet is “on leave from the undergraduate college.”

It’s unclear how Sweet was recruited to DOGE, but a public GitHub account indicates that he was working on this issue even before he joined Musk’s demolition crew.

The “CLSweet” GitHub account, which WIRED has linked to Sweet, created an application that tracks and analyzes federal government regulations “showing how regulatory burden is distributed across government agencies.” The application was last updated in March 2025, weeks before Sweet joined HUD.

One HUD source who heard about Sweet’s possible role in revising the agency’s regulations said the effort was redundant, since the agency was already “put through a multi-year multi-stakeholder meatgrinder before any rule was ever created” under the Administrative Procedure Act. (This law dictates how agencies are allowed to establish regulations and allows for judicial oversight over everything an agency does.)

Another HUD source said Sweet’s title seemed to make little sense. “A programmer and a quantitative data analyst are two very different things,” they noted.

Sweet has virtually no online footprint. One of the only references to him online is a short biography on the website of East Edge Securities, an investment firm Sweet founded in 2023 with two other students from the University of Chicago.

The biography is short on details but claims that Sweet has worked in the past with several private equity firms, including Pertento Partners, which is based in London, and Tenzing Global Investors, based in San Francisco. He is also listed as a board member of Paragon Global Investments, which is a student-run hedge fund.

The biography also mentions that Sweet “will be joining Nexus Point Capital as a private equity summer analyst.” The company has headquarters in Hong Kong and Shanghai and describes itself as “an Asian private equity fund with a strategic focus on control opportunities in the Greater China market.”

East Edge Securities, Pertento Partners, Tenzing Global Investors, Paragon Global Investments, and Nexus Point Capital did not respond to requests for comment.

The only other online account associated with Sweet appears to be a Substack account using the same username as the GitHub account. That account has not posted any content and follows mostly finance and market-related newsletters. It also follows Bari Weiss’ The Free Press and the newsletter of Marc Andreessen, the Silicon Valley billionaire investor and group chat enthusiast who said he spent a lot of time advising Trump and his team after the election.

DOGE representatives have been at HUD since February, when WIRED reported that two of those staffers were given application-level access to some of the most critical and sensitive systems inside the agency.

Earlier this month, US representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said DOGE had “infiltrated our nation’s housing agencies, stealing funding Congress provided to communities, illegally terminating staff, including in your districts, and accessing confidential data about people living in assisted housing, including sexual assault survivors.”

[rjzimmerman]

The Carbon Footprint of Amazon, Google, and Facebook Is Growing. (Sierra Club)

Excerpt from this story from Sierra Club:

IN MARCH The Information reported that Microsoft was in talks with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, about spending an eye-popping $100 billion on a gargantuan data center in Wisconsin dedicated to running artificial intelligence software. Code-named “Stargate,” the data center would, at full operation, consume five gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 3.7 million homes. For comparison purposes, that’s roughly the same amount of power produced by Plant Vogtle, the big nuclear power station in Georgia that cost $30 billion to build.

Stargate is in the earliest of planning stages, but the sheer scale of the proposal reflects a truth about artificial intelligence: AI is an energy hog. That’s an embarrassing about-face for the technology industry. For at least 20 years, American electricity consumption has hardly grown at all—owing in part, say computer scientists, to steady advances in energy efficiency that have percolated out of the tech industry into the larger economy. In 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration, total electricity consumption fell slightly from 2022 levels.

But according to a report published last December by Grid Strategies, a consultancy that advises on energy policy, multiple electric utilities now predict that US energy demand will rise by up to 5 percent over the next five years. One of the chief culprits responsible for the surge, say the utilities, are new data centers designed to run AI. To meet the growing demand for power, those utilities want to build new fossil fuel power plants and to dismantle climate legislation that stands in their way.

For environmentalists, this represents a giant step backward. Artificial intelligence was supposed to help us solve problems. What good are ChatGPT and its ilk if using them worsens global warming?

This is a relatively new story—the AI gold rush is still in its infancy, ChatGPT only having debuted in fall 2022. But computing’s energy demands have been growing for decades, ever since the internet became an indispensable part of daily life. Every Zoom call, Netflix binge, Google search, YouTube video, and TikTok dance is processed in a windowless, warehouse-like building filled with thousands of pieces of computer hardware. These data centers are where the internet happens, the physical manifestation of the so-called cloud—perhaps as far away from ethereality as you can get.

In the popular mind, the cloud is often thought of in the simple sense of storage. This is where we back up our photos, our videos, our Google Docs. But that’s just a small slice of it: For the past 20 years, computation itself has increasingly been outsourced to data centers. Corporations, governments, research institutions, and others have discovered that it is cheaper and more efficient to rent computing services from Big Tech.

The crucial point, writes anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate in his case study The Cloud Is Material: On the Environmental Impacts of Computation and Data Storage, is that “heat is the waste product of computation.” Data centers consume so much energy because computer chips produce large amounts of heat. Roughly 40 percent of a data center’s electricity bill is the result of just keeping things cool. And the new generation of AI software is far more processor intensive and power hungry than just about anything—with the notable exception of cryptocurrency—that has come before.

The energy cost of AI and its perverse, climate-unfriendly incentives for electric utilities are a gut check for a tech industry that likes to think of itself as changing the world for the better. Michelle Solomon, an analyst at the nonprofit think tank Energy Innovation, calls the AI power crunch “a litmus test” for a society threatened by climate change.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Business / Tech

Apple launches the iPhone 16e, a cheaper new version of the iPhone 16

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

4 minute read

Updated 11:55 AM EST, Wed February 19, 2025

People walk by an Apple store at the Westfield UTC shopping center on January 31, 2025 in San Diego, California.Kevin Carter/Getty Images North America/Getty Images CNN  — 

Apple on Wednesday announced a cheaper new version of the iPhone 16 called the iPhone 16e, signaling a renewed push into the budget smartphone market for the tech giant. It’s also the first iPhone with a cellular modem designed by Apple, and the cheapest iPhone Apple currently sells that supports Apple Intelligence.

The iPhone 16e costs $599 and launches on February 28.

Adding Apple Intelligence on a cheaper iPhone could be crucial for putting the company’s AI tools in the hands of more consumers. Apple has faced increased competition from Google and Samsung in recent years, both in the budget smartphone market and in the AI space. Google’s cheaper Pixel A-series of phones have been well received, for example, and both Google and Samsung have prioritized updating Android devices with new AI features over the last year.

The launch also marks a shift away from the iPhone SE, the budget iPhone line Apple debuted in 2016 and last updated in 2022. The iPhone SE made up only a sliver of Apple’s iPhone market share, according to research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which reports it accounted for just 5% of US iPhone sales as of December 2024.

The iPhone 16e, despite being more expensive than the SE, could be more appealing to those who want a device that feels more like Apple’s more recent phones. The iPhone SE was the last iPhone with a traditional home button and fingerprint sensor on the front, a longtime staple that Apple began shifting away from with the iPhone X in 2017.

Apple announced the iPhone 16e on February 19.Apple

What the iPhone 16e can do

Apple claims the new 5G modem in the iPhone 16e is the “most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone.” The new modem is arriving more than five years after Apple acquired the majority of troubled chipmaker Intel’s smartphone modem business in 2019. Using its own modems makes Apple less reliant on partners and suppliers, giving it more control over product development and launch timing.

The iPhone 16e marks a long-awaited overhaul to Apple’s cheaper iPhone. The $429 iPhone SE, while less expensive, looked like the seven-year-old iPhone 8 and lacked features found on most new phones, such as face unlock and a nearly borderless screen. After Wednesday’s announcement, the iPhone SE is no longer available on Apple’s online store.

Unlike the iPhone SE, the iPhone 16e has a lot in common with the iPhone 16, bringing it up to speed with Apple’s current lineup. Both phones have a 6.1-inch screen, Face ID, a 48-megapixel camera and the Action button for programming shortcuts. However, the iPhone 16e is cheaper and it lacks a dedicated second camera for capturing wider shots and the Camera Control button for quickly accessing the camera.

It’s powered by the same processor as the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup, enabling it to run Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence, which until now has only been available on the iPhone 16 family, 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and certain iPads and Macs, is a blanket term that refers to a handful of AI-powered tools – such as the ability to generate emojis and images with a prompt, summarize notifications, and remove objects from photos as well as ChatGPT integration with Siri.

The popularity of ChatGPT following its late 2022 release sent a shockwave through the tech industry, prompting companies such as Microsoft, Google and Samsung to incorporate generative AI into their products.

But Apple was largely considered to be a latecomer to consumer-facing artificial intelligence. Like many tech companies, Apple has long used AI to power backend features, like camera modes, but didn’t begin rolling out Apple Intelligence until last fall. Apple Intelligence’s arrival on a cheaper device like the iPhone 16e signals the company sees AI as being a core part of its products moving forward.

Tech giants have positioned generative AI and chatbots as the next major evolution in how consumers use and interact with technology. Yet it’s unclear whether AI tools like Apple Intelligence will be compelling enough to drive smartphone upgrades, with Apple’s iPhone revenue falling short of Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal first quarter of 2025.