Meta’s AI spending is spiraling—and layoffs are the answer they’re going with Facial recognition errors are putting innocent people in jail while algorithms run amok The social media addiction trial against Meta and YouTube heats up as platforms struggle with their own creations Fake war footage spreads on X while 800M accounts get suspended in the spam chaos Utilities are blocking solar innovation while we’re handing robots jobs—what could go wrong?
It’s fine. Maybe add AI bullet points of 5-6 topics discussed on the show – with emojis before each one. OTOH, you’ve told us you’re allergic to AIs. That’s a dilemma!
Also add: “If you listen, tell me what you think.” Leobot seems to think that’s important to have in every summary.
I’ve recently switched back to using cash transactions as much as possible. I started to grow uncomfortable with the behavior of both card issuers and merchants regarding data privacy and protection, and since I started using cash I’ve found other good reasons to keep the card holstered:
As mentioned in the podcast, its cheaper for the merchant. That’s more relevant for small merchants and restaurants than large organizations. The cost of processing cards is continuing to increase, so I expect small businesses to continue to incentivize cash payments
Cash evades data collection and resale. Most retailers build profiles of their shoppers based partly on repeat transactions, and banks sell transaction data to marketers. Using cash denies both parties that information.
Paying with cash lets you evade drive-by charity prompts and inappropriate tip prompts at POS terminals. I’m still not clear on why every major retailer is trying to ram charity donations down their customer’s throats, but I’m definitely uncomfortable with it.
Paying with cash is often faster, partly because you’re not stuck answering a bunch of stupid prompts at the square/clover/whatever terminal, and partly because you don’t need to fill out a receipt with a tip line. Just drop the right amount of cash down for the bill + tip, and you’re out the door.
Cash denies revenue to Mastercard and Visa, who have started to flex their duopoly muscle in some bothersome ways. Recently they pressured Valve to remove a few games from their store based on their legal (albeit salacious) content. This isn’t new for them, but they’re starting to get more active in content control
I’ve found spending control easier with cash. There’s much less book keeping to do (A single ATM transaction vs lots of debit transactions), and I’m better in tune with what I’m actually spending. I think Leo has highlighted this in the past - Apple Pay/Android Pay both make it easier to spend money. You don’t feel it as much as you do with cash.
I’ve had a couple trips to Tokyo recently, and I’ve come to appreciate the IC card system. If you’re not familiar with it, its basically an RFID cash card, primarily used for the rail system in Japan. You can get a card at a kiosk, load it with cash, and use it to pay metro fares. Its also accepted at convenience stores, restaurants, etc. The card is not attached to your bank account, your name isn’t on the card. Its basically an RFID form of cash.
Here, in Germany, the banks now charge for banking cash.
The card companies and merchants aren’t allowed to sell the data here and have very strict rules on what they can do with the data internally - they can’t use sales data to advertise to you, for example.
Banks in the UK have always charged a cash-handling fee, I think. So once you factor that in, the time taken to cash up every day, time to deposit cash in a bank I reckon there’s not much difference to a business’s costs.
Meta’s AI spending is spiraling—and layoffs are the answer they’re going with
Facial recognition errors are putting innocent people in jail while algorithms run amok
The social media addiction trial against Meta and YouTube heats up as platforms struggle with their own creations
Fake war footage spreads on X while 800M accounts get suspended in the spam chaos
Utilities are blocking solar innovation while we’re handing robots jobs—what could go wrong?