Notices by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org), page 2

I believe I've found the new Gemini-centric "smart features" controls in Gmail, that also seem to include the "other apps" setting as well. If you click the gear, then All Settings, then scroll WAY DOWN in the General tab, there's a "Manage Workspace smart feature settings" bubble. If you click that, you'll see a pair of settings that appear to represent your choices during the forced dialogue modal popup I discussed in the original post on this thread. I can't be 100% sure, but that's how it appears to me currently. My recommendation: Make sure they are both OFF!

@jwcph My concern is with ordinary users who as a practical matter have to use these systems and do not have the technical background for workaround hacks. My goal is finding ways to convince -- or force through legislation -- firms like Google to do the right thing for their billions of users. Because the reality is most users ARE going to keep using these systems, because the time and confusion associated with switching is entirely out of scope for most. Most people can just barely use these systems and devices well enough to get crucial things done, making things harder for them by disrupting what they've finally learned is not a viable solution for the vast majority.

WARNING: #GOOGLE IS TRYING TO TRICK YOU INTO USING GEMINI AI AND FEEDING GEMINI YOUR DATA IN GMAIL AND OTHER APPS!

What Google is now doing should be ILLEGAL. PERIOD. For the first time I can recall in history of using Gmail, it just now popped a modal dialogue box -- DEMANDING that I choose whether or not I wanted "Smart Features" turned on -- which when you read the verbiage mostly means goddamned Gemini AI AND if you enable this you're giving Google permission to use your data to "improve" this horrifically invasive, inept, and misinformation spewing tech that steals data from websites for its own use without permission of those sites. DON'T LET IT SUCK IN YOUR EMAIL AS WELL!

There was no way I could find to exit the modal window without choosing YES or NO, which means my existing selection to NOT use Gmail Smart Features (long my preference) was NOT being honored. After saying NO to this disgusting query by Google, I was pushed to ANOTHER page where I was forced to choose again about "smart features" in "other" Google apps. I chose NO again and finally was permitted to escape this trap.

Note that while you can fairly easily check to make sure "smart features" are turned off in Gmail settings, I offhand don't have a clue as to how to find the similar settings in other Google apps that may have been affected by this absolutely disrespectful forced dialogue, as Google keeps trying to ram Gemini AI down our throats.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Google has become a DISGRACE.

#Google #Gmail #Gemini #AI

One of the increasingly annoying aspects of Google AI Overviews in Search is that Google is so desperate to present an Overview for as many searches as possible, and divert every possible user from clicking on the sites from which Google took the data to feed Gemini, that many of the Overviews are just brainless garbage comments that don't even make sense, because Gemini has absolutely no idea of what your search query actually was about. It's like asking a six-year-old for advice about nuclear physics. They'll say something, but it won't help you at all.

Stumbled into a video where a group of generation-somethings were watching "All in the Family" for the first time. One of them: "Is that Carl Reiner? The director?"
"Yeah, he has hair!"

Well no, actually that's ROB Reiner not his dad Carl Reiner. Close, but no cigar.

It is interesting to watch these younger viewers seeing "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" or Rodney Dangerfield or Don Rickles or ... and suddenly seeming to realize how "self-censored" so much comedy is now. Lots of obscenities, but nobody would dare touch race and religion and male/female relationships as the comics and series did back in the 70s or so.

Abbott and Costello and The Three Stooges are revelations to them.

BREAKING: Trump says he's surprised Biden ever appointed Powell to the Fed. He was appointed by Trump in 2017.

In wake of Texas flooding, Trump orders NOAA to SHUT DOWN emergency warning systems to save money

https://bsky.app/profile/markey.senate.gov/post/3ltzxwu4ohs2y

My guess is that many (most?) businesses getting a call that identified itself as being Google AI would have a strong inclination to hang up immediately, assuming some sort of AI-generated scam.

This is the script of my national radio report yesterday on how #Google is pushing their Gemini #AI onto user devices -- and more -- in invasive ways, without asking permission or sometimes even informing users that this has occurred. As always my report may have had some minor wording variations from this script as it was presented live on air.

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Well, I wish I could really explain what's going on with Google and their Gemini AI, but frankly, the whole situation is so confusing, that all I can really do is kinda give a heads-up warning here and suggest that if you care about this matter you pay very close attention to what's happening with your interactions with Google on the desktop, on Android devices, and ultimately I expect on other devices too including iOS devices like iPhones, and probably Windows also at some point.

We've talked in the past about how Big Tech is ramming AI down our throats whether we want it or not, and how upsetting this is to so many people, and now Google has really jumped the shark as the saying goes. They seem to have given up any pretense of asking for permission before turning users into data delivery systems to feed the voracious appetite of their Gemini AI.

Basically, Google is in the process of pushing Gemini into pretty much everything that Google can control. Some classes of Gmail already have it in place to do "summarizations" of Gmail messages, however inaccurate we can expect those to often be given Gemini's record of spewing misinformation. Apparently the only way to turn that off may be to turn off all Gmail Smart Features through the Gmail settings and even then I don't know if that just hides the interface or actually stops Gemini from reading your email. Obviously in order to flag spam and malware, for example, Gmail has long needed to scan email, but Gemini is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish, and understanding whether or not any given generative AI connected application is or is not training on your data isn't necessarily simple to figure out or control.

Google has already replaced the traditional Google Assistant with Gemini on many devices, and that means you lose traditional Assistant's telling you where it got its answers from, and in fact Gemini apparently has been breaking many users' routines because it currently can't accomplish every action that traditional Assistant can. For now you can switch back if you can find the Assistant setting deep within the Google settings on your device, but this seems to often vary from device to device, so trying to do that can be a new hobby.

Google has now decided they want to pull data from various of the apps on your phone into Gemini and while some users received a very confusing email about this, actually it seems to have begun without any affirmative permission being asked of users. You can dig around in app settings and try to disable this, and you sometimes can remove the Gemini app from your phone if Google or you installed it from the Google app store -- the Play Store -- but sometimes it can't be easily removed and even after being removed the related settings may persist. And we can be sure that traditional Assistant will be terminated fairly soon, and in fact I believe later this year Google is terminating that Assistant on all Google Home devices as well.

And that's about all I have on this right now, because the entire situation is a confused train wreck and with so many variations between devices it's just impossible to get very specific regarding solutions.

If you're happy with the Gemini AI integrations then you don't really need to do anything except enjoy them, But if that's not your feeling -- and it certainly isn't mine -- we can be excused I think for wondering if Google is making this so confusing on purpose or if it's just a terrible consequence of their panicky push to get AI into everything, and not be left behind the other Big Tech firms who are trying to do much the same thing.

Google used to generally be pretty good about asking permission from users before making changes that might be considered controversial. But that was the old Google, not today's Google where it's all about AI and if you don't want their AI in many aspects of your life, you're just a user who they consider to be a loser -- and that's very sad.

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L

There needs to be -- and as far as I know it doesn't currently exist -- some mechanism to get important warnings in front of all #Mastodon users (with the permission of their site admins) as quickly as possible. I'm thinking specifically about the current "verify your identity" scam and similar problems that are likely coming down the pipe soon. Some way to push out a butter bar or similar warning to as many users as possible. Details of implementation to be determined.

Am I incorrect in assuming that a similar mechanism does not exist at this time?

When asked why in his science-fiction stories he said the robots had "positronic" brains, Isaac Asimov said that when he started writing, the positron had been discovered only a few years before, and he thought it was a cool sounding technical term to use. So he did.

So Trump is saying God saved him from assassination. So the idea is that God is about saving sociopath felons like him but not about saving young girls and the adults caring for them from horrific floods? George Carlin was right.

Every time someone at the White House or otherwise in the GOP says that it's "time to move on" regarding Epstein, they further fuel the suspicions of a massive coverup.

Keep up the good work!

Seen on Social Media today:

"What would Jesus do?

He'd release the Epstein files."

Noticing many "young" people calling all computer generated effects (stretching back to the 80s), by the term "AI", just like so many people consider the start of the Internet to be when the Web was introduced (only off by more than 20 years).

Google's new Gemini AI "summarize your Gmail" feature permits hiding
malicious instructions

https://0din.ai/blog/phishing-for-gemini

#Google #AI

No matter how you slice and dice it, the most likely reason for the refusal of the Trump admin to release the (non-porn) files it has on Epstein and the people who palled around with him, flew with him, visited his island, and perhaps more, is that some aspect of this data is deeply embarrassing to Trump, or worse. There are no obvious other explanations, now that Trump himself has confirmed that such files exist (though of course he's claiming they were created by his enemies).

Reality bites.

The lesson from so many horror movies that Trump failed to learn: It's far easier to create a monster than to destroy it when it turns against you.

Bluesky enters "SHOW US YOUR PAPERS!" mode in the UK.

Google Trends: Epstein