Techmeme
June 21, 2025, 8:35 PM

Top News

George Hammond / Financial Times:
An interview with computational linguist Emily Bender, who coined the term “stochastic parrot”, on her AI skepticism, co-writing the book The AI Con, and more  —  The computational linguist on her motivations for taking on Big Tech, the dangers of chatbots — and why AI is just a ‘glorified Magic 8 Ball’
John Liu / CNN:
Experts say China's new national internet ID, currently voluntary, to sign in across social media apps and sites could further erode already limited freedoms  —  Hong Kong CNN —  China has mastered the craft of policing the internet, operating one of the world's most extensive online censorship and surveillance regimes.
More: The Minnesota DailyForums: r/privacy
Meaghan Tobin / New York Times:
A look at Temu, Shein, Meituan, and other Chinese companies' expansion plans in Brazil, as they face slowing domestic demand and hurdles in the US and Europe  —  Confronted with tariffs and scrutiny in the United States and Europe, Chinese consumer brands are betting that they can become household names …
New York Times:
Microsoft suspending an ICC judge's email account raised alarms across EU about how dependent its governments, businesses, and citizens are on US tech companies  —  To comply with a Trump executive order, Microsoft recently suspended the email account of an International Criminal Court prosecutor …
Megha Rajagopalan / New York Times:
Experts say China-linked groups have repeatedly hacked Russian companies and government agencies in search of military secrets since the war in Ukraine began  —  Since the war in Ukraine began, analysts have monitored a series of intrusions aimed at stealing information about weaponry and warfighting.
More: TechdirtBluesky: @samspade1941 and @metacurity.comMastodon: @davidho@mastodon.worldLinkedIn: Isaac Stone Fish
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
A profile of Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang, whose ties to influential people in the AI industry and the GOP could give Meta leverage over its competitors  —  Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang is such an enthusiastic networker that his former roommate — OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman …
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
Insurance giant Aflac says a cybercrime group breached its systems and may have stolen data; source: the attack bears the hallmarks of Scattered Spider  —  Insurance company Aflac said a “sophisticated cybercrime group” breached its systems and may have stolen data.

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Earlier Picks

Ina Fried / Axios:
Alex Heath / The Verge: