âThe inevitable is coming.â
â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â March 23, 2024 When A.I. and Free Speech Collide âArtificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.â  ~Vladimir Putin [Special Reminder: In case you missed [our recent announcement]( The Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investment Fraternity. If youâre interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If youâve been a member of The Essential Investor, please keep an eye out for your new benefits.] Dear [Reader], March 23, 2024 â Not to alarm you on a Saturday, but weâd like to bring some developments weâve been tracking to your attention. Yesterday, independent journalist and free-speech warrior Matt Taibbi posted the below content to his website Racket News. In it, Taibbi details how âthe plot to seize the truth,â A.I., and direct corporate censorship all collided in an alarming incident at one of our fellow financial websites, [Naked Capitalism]( âGoogle provides an early, scary test case for mechanized suppression by threatening a popular economics site with demonetization,â Taibbi writes. The piece hits a bit close to home for us. Unnerving, at best. Please read. ~ Addison CONTINUED BELOW... >>ADVERTISEMENT<< 2024 â The Real Election Year Surprise In 2016, the October Election Surprise was Hillary Clintonâs email scandal⦠In 2020, the October Election Surprise was the suppression of all the dirty material on Hunter Bidenâs âforgottenâ laptop⦠Now, in 2024, weâre forecasting an October Election Surprise that almost no one sees coming â and this time itâll be way more devastating than anything youâve seen before. [Click here to learn about 2024âs real October Election Surprise »]( Itâs not at all what you think. CONTINUED... Meet the AI-Censored? Naked Capitalism [Matt Taibbi, Racket News]( The future of AI-powered censorship is here, and the early returns are as error-filled and clumsily destructive as Googleâs infamous Gemini rollout. On March 4th, Yves Smith â nom de plume for the editor of Naked Capitalism, a popular site containing economics commentary and journalism â received an ominous letter from its ad service company: Hope you are doing well! We noticed that Google has flagged your site for Policy violation and ad serving is restricted on most of the pages with the below strikes⦠The letter went on to list four data fields: VIOLENT_EXTREMISM, HATEFUL_CONTENT, HARMFUL_HEALTH_CLAIMS, and ANTI_VACCINATION. From there the firm explained: âIf Google identifies the flags consistently and if the content is not fixed, then the ads will be disabled completely to serve on the site.â âSo this is a threat of complete demonetization,â says Smith. She discovered a spreadsheet listing her offenses. Excerpts are reprinted below. The third image is the enhanced view of Googleâs explanation for the last two entries: Spreadsheet sent to Naked Capitalism by Google. Naked Capitalism is run by Smith, a Harvard Business School graduate and longtime financial services sector expert. The site often tackles issues the financial press avoids and gained renown in the wake of the 2008 crash. (I appeared with Yves on a Moyers and Company show about banking years ago.) Naked Capitalism helped force the resignation of the SECâs Director of the Office of Compliance and Inspections, Andrew Bowden when it described Bowden telling a Stanford audience containing many private equity executives how his son would like to work in private equity. Later, California Pension Fund chief Ben Meng resigned in the wake of the siteâs reporting. Naked Capitalism is a home for smart, independent commentary about a financial services industry that is otherwise almost exclusively covered by writers and broadcasters whoâd jump at a job offer from the companies they cover. Itâs unique, useful and full of links and primary source material. What 16 items did Google find objectionable in its archive of 33,000 posts? - A Barnard College professor, Rajiv Sethi, evaluated Robert F. Kennedyâs candidacy and wrote, âThe claim⦠is not that the vaccine is ineffective in preventing death from COVID-19, but that these reduced risks are outweighed by an increased risk of death from other factors. I believe that the claim is false (for reasons discussed below), but it is not outrageous.â This earned the judgment, â[AntiVaccination].â Sethi wrote his own explanation, but this is a common feature of moderation machines; they canât distinguish between advocacy and criticism. - A link to âEvaluation of Waning of SARS-CoV-2 VaccineâInduced Immunityâ a peer-reviewed article by the Journal of the American Medical Association, was deemed â[AntiVaccination].â - An entry critical of vaccine mandates, which linked to the American Journal of Public Health article SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death in Vaccinated and Infected Individuals by Age Groups in Indiana, 2021â2022, earned [HARMFUL_HEALTH_CLAIMS, ANTI_VACCINATION, HATEFUL_CONTENT] tag. The strangest flag of all involved a review by Tom Engelhardt of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire by the late CIA consultant Chalmers Johnson. Engelhardt is no fan of Donald Trump, calling him âa billionaire grifter and TV impresario who thought not just unbearably well of, but only of, himself,â and assessing Trumpâs presidency so harshly that he put the word âgovernedâ in quotes. But Engelhardt was describing the Johnson book, vaguely in the same intellectual ballpark as Martin Gurriâs Revolt of the Public, which warned back in 2000 of political consequences for breeding a âmilitary establishment that is today close to being beyond civilian control.â In this context, Engelhardt wrote that âitâs hard not to imagine The Donaldâs success as another version of blowback.â He added, âgiven his insistence that the 2020 election was âfakeâ or âriggedâ⦠it seems to me that we could redub him Blowback Donald.â This entry earned the absurd DEMONSTRABLY_ FALSE_ DEMOCRATIC PROCESS judgment. Obviously, its machine was unable to distinguish commentary, even overtly negative commentary, from endorsement. âAn AI could have read it as Engelhardt saying that the election was stolen, as opposed to Englehardt saying Trump said the election was stolen,â is how Smith put it. There was some slightly more hardcore content on Googleâs list â I can see how a machine might trip over a Gaza-themed spoof of the Hall and Oates song âYou Make My Dreams Come Trueâ â but algorithms appeared mostly to be going ballistic over throwaway lines, or misreading criticism as its opposite. Also, the company only offered explanations for 8 of 16 flags (really 14, as the company sent the same entry twice in one place, then listed the siteâs âTechnology and Innovationâ category page as objectionable in another). For a site like Naked Capitalism that includes many links in each post, and posts a lot, even one non-specific complaint raises all sorts of issues. âEvery day on weekdays we have six posts, and on weekends we have three,â Smith says. âSo we post religiously in fairly large numbers⦠Anything I could do could conceivably trigger demonetization. I mean, they say âconsistently,â but what does âconsistentlyâ even mean?â In the last years Racket readers have become acquainted with a variety of âMeet the Censoredâ subjects, whose usual problem was removal or deamplification after a questionable judgment by an algorithmic reviewer. Naked Capitalism is dealing with the futuristic next step. Technologists are in love with new AI tools, but they donât always know how they work. Machines may be given a review task and access to data, but how the task is achieved is sometimes mysterious. In the case of Naked Capitalism, a site where even comments are monitored in an effort to pre-empt exactly these sorts of accusations, itâs only occasionally clear how or why Google came to tie certain content to categories like âViolent Extremism.â Worse, the company may be tasking its review bots with politically charged instructions even in the absence of complaints from advertisers. Companies (and governments) have learned that the best way to control content is by attacking revenue sources, either through NewsGuard- or GDI-style ânutritionâ or âdynamic exclusionâ lists, or advertiser boycotts. Previously, a human being was sometimes involved in reviewing the final placement of sites in certain buckets, or problems might at least have been prompted by human complaints. Now, from flagging all the way through to the inevitable âHi! Youâve been selected for income termination!â form letter, the new review process can be conducted without any human involvement at all. âNo human is flagging these posts,â Smith quoted an ad sales expert as saying. âIâm pretty sure advertisers have no idea that the Google bot is blocking their carefully crafted communications from reaching [her] readers.â Whether itâs AI or just an algorithm, itâs not clear whether Google is knocking Smithâs site on its own initiative, or to stay in compliance with a law like Europeâs Digital Services Act, since the company hasnât responded to questions. The timing is odd; the site has never faced any kind of review before, and the breakdown of its supposed strikes suggests that even Googleâs internal review process isnât finding many recent issues. (Just four in the last two years.) Either way, the decision to even once tell a media outlet that it must remove content to remain ad-eligible sends a message someone like Smith will think of every time she publishes going forward. And I think she will, because like most sites of this size, Naked Capitalism canât afford to forgo even a small amount of revenue. âWe are so lean,â Smith says. âWe have nowhere to cut.â [You can find Matt Taibbi and Racket News on Substack.]( ~~~ What are we dealing with here? At the very least, you have to ask: Do we want Google AI to determine content rules for commercial transactions? The humans who make up those rules are already borderline [fill in your favorite woke derogative]. The DOJ is going after Apple for antitrust violations for its Apple Watch. What about taking a look at the scary AI programmers at Google? Forget it. The DOJ would likely relish the idea of being in the room to help to write code. Oy. So it goes, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com. The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to The Wiggn Sessions delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions, feel free to [click here.]( Please read our [Privacy Statement.]( For any further comments or concerns please email us at feedback@wigginsessions.com. If you are having trouble receiving your The Wiggin Sessions subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by [whitelisting The Wiggin Sessions.]( © 2024 The Wiggin Sessions 1001 Cathedral Street, Baltimore MD 21201. 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