chapotraphouse

And what is this all about? The timing of this seems, uhh, "interesting"

The techbro asswipes that run Duolingo have been making a lot of noise about AI lately, boasting about how much they're going to use it while firing all of the actual human beings who used to make their lessons

Their newest AI feature is a new lesson type called Video Calls where you chat with an AI bot in your target language. The bot asks you questions about basic topics and then does follow-up questions based on your answers while reacting and commenting on the stuff you say. It manages to kind of emulate the awkwardness of conversation practice in an actual language class with some rando you don't know too well

I've only done a few of these because it feels really weird and creepy talking to a cartoon character on your phone that's actually just a mask for an electricity-wasting corpo machine. Anyway, the AI just randomly brought up my pet that I mentioned a few weeks ago the last time I did one of these lessons. So yes, the Duolingo chatbot retains any information you disclose to it. Cool

The kicker is that this shit is gated behind the Duolingo Max paywall which costs 170 bucks a year, or 13 bucks a month (I run a modded apk with unlocked paid features, I'm not paying a cent for a fucking app)

Edit: I actually wouldn't be opposed to paying for an app, it's the subscription model I'm vehemently opposed to. I will never rent an app or program

(the “violent crime” was resisting arrest)

Cruz: "Look my father was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba, I hate communist- it was actually Batista that tortured my dad..."

Fucking incredible lmao.

The Telegraph apologises after publishing an unverified article of a family no longer being able to go on five annual holidays due to Labours VAT rate on private school fees. : ukpolitics

A reply

In the last month they've:

• lied about private school fees,
• lied about foreigners taking all our social housing,
• lied about trans kids having life changing surgery,
• lied about the cost of Net Zero to end users.

These aren't just honest mistakes, they're deliberate. Telegraph is now on-par with The Express and News of The World.

'History repeats itself' wasn't supposed to be advice; plus there's supposed to be more than just 20 years in-between.

I thought libs were making the claim that we all learned from the Iraq war? Heck, Iraq and Iran are nearly the same word but with one letter difference!

The names you see on old gravestones are a hoot

"Eufrosyne"

https://archive.is/tpP1m

Finally we can tackle the menace of the wokest organ, the liver.

The first paragraph

Just months into the tenure of a new party leader, Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee’s financial situation has grown so bleak that top officials have discussed whether they might need to borrow money this year to keep paying the bills.

The final sentences

[An] early Martin project is a new streaming show on YouTube, “The Daily Blueprint,” which is filmed in a studio with high-end production. The show has drawn a minuscule audience so far, with some episodes scoring fewer than 1,000 views.