What's going on here?

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@catsalad Slop on slop on slop. Literally.

[Gast]

@mttaggart Oh, I wish you'd gotten the comments too. I can only imagine what some familiar handles would have had to say in them.

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@theotherbrook Someone else in these replies did!

[Gast]

@mttaggart wow they pulled the article down

[Gast]

@hackillu @mttaggart You got the comments online anywhere? I am dying to see them.

[Gast]

@jalefkowit @mttaggart Big same. Decades now.

They need to respond fast or I'm out.

[Gast]

@j_s_j @mttaggart Aurich said in the comments that they are investigating, but probably won't have a response until Monday.

It had better be a good one

[Gast]

@theotherbrook @mttaggart I just have a text file.

[Gast]

@theotherbrook @mttaggart the site wouldn't download, so i did copy paste

[Gast]

@hackillu @mttaggart There's now a thread on the open forum.

EDIT: Oh, but it's been locked. I've bumped heads with Aurich about some stuff but I do trust him to be pretty open when they are ready to talk about it.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

[Gast]

@mttaggart so, ars technica is now merely slop as well?

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

Putting this here so all can see it. Ars forum thread where the pull and investigation are mentioned: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

[Gast]

@theotherbrook @mttaggart it still exists in their forum.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name.1511649/

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

Aaand the full comments thread from the original story: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name.1511649/

[Gast]

@mttaggart Locking the comments seems pretty... bad? I mean, one of their authors generated slop, and one of their editors approved slop. Is it more complicated or...? (I'm being a little flippant, but this is a terrible look for Ars already.)

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@theorangetheme I think the lock might be SOP for a pulled story. And mods tend not to like rampant speculation.

[Gast]

@mttaggart

AI isn't intended to be accurate, useful, or productive.

It's just automated information pollution like Steve Bannon's version of Russian "flood the zone with sh*t" disinformation.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/12/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-russia-emails-00648919

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article312917423.html

https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/in-putins-orbit-the-crypto-politics

Look at the investors behind AI.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE
They don't have to fly planes into buildings anymore to destroy democracy & fry the planet.

https://breakingdefense.com/2026/02/future-of-military-ai-in-saudi-arabia-ai-enhanced-or-ai-native/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub

1/

[Gast]

2/

Russia & Putin
Putin deluded himself that AI-enabled warfare will solve his manpower problems & population bottlenecks. 1.3 million dead soldiers so far in Ukraine.
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/putin-links-nuclear-buildout-to-russias-ai-ambitions/

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/putin-wanted-ai-supremacy-now-russia-is-struggling-to-stay-in-the-race-0e0deeb6

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/how-technophobe-putin-led-russia-to-surrender-in-the-ai-arms-race-xk6hrn96l

[Gast]

@SnoopJ @aud it isn’t *quite* a milkshake duck in degree, but maybe in spirit

[Gast]

@bnys @mttaggart Yep, when you add the Transphobic pieces a few year back and Aurich moderation that tends to let the polite fascist slide while banning people calling out fascist, they lost my sub, which Siracusa had earned them.