Matt's Homepage

This problem is very serious since AI’s are often trained on Github projects. This means your AI generated code is increasingly more likely to have serious security issues in it.

GitHub is undergoing automated attacks involving the cloning and creation of huge numbers of malicious code repositories, and while the developers have been working to remove the affected repos, a significant amount are said to survive, with more uploaded on a regular basis.

An unknown attacker has managed to create and deploy an automated process that forks and clones existing repositories, adding its own malicious code which is concealed under seven layers of obfuscation.

Given the current scale of the attack, said by the researchers to be in the millions of uploaded or forked repositories, even a 1% miss-rate still means potentially thousands of compromised repos still on the site.

Articles:

• https://www.pcgamer.com/software/security/github-is-under-automated-attack-by-millions-of-cloned-repositories-filled-with-malicious-code/
• https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/02/github-besieged-by-millions-of-malicious-repositories-in-ongoing-attack/

AI companies are desperate for content to train their models. They’re catching increasing flack for hammering websites and scraping every bit of written, video, and still image content on the entire internet. AI company data scrapers have been busted for everything from grabbing copyright data to more practical problems of hammering certain websites millions of times a day and ignoring robots.txt files that are used to tell bots what to stay out of.

Enter, tarpits and Nepenthes.

Building on an anti-spam cybersecurity tactic known as tarpitting, he created Nepenthes, malicious software named after a carnivorous plant that will “eat just about anything that finds its way inside.”

Aaron clearly warns users that Nepenthes is aggressive malware. It’s not to be deployed by site owners uncomfortable with trapping AI crawlers and sending them down an “infinite maze” of static files with no exit links, where they “get stuck” and “thrash around” for months, he tells users. Once trapped, the crawlers can be fed gibberish data, aka Markov babble, which is designed to poison AI models.

It’s just one more counterattack in poisoning and combating AI.

Articles:

• https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/ai-haters-build-tarpits-to-trap-and-trick-ai-scrapers-that-ignore-robots-txt/

A team consisting of Skatterbencher who’s renowned for overclocking prowess; Diabatix, specializing in generative AI for thermal solutions; 3D Systems for additive manufacturing; and finally ElmorLabs for overclocking gear put together a unique cooler.

The team took ElmorLabs’ existing Volcano LN2 container as a reference point, then used Diabatix’s ColdStream Next AI to generate an improved design. 3D Systems then 3D printed a prototype using oxygen-free copper powder. The cutting-edge process commanded a steep $10,000 price tag – a far cry from the $260 cost of the original Volcano.

The design did do better than the stock Volcano. Using 500mL of LN2, it hit -133°C, while the Volcano stopped short at -100°C

Links:

• https://www.techspot.com/news/103601-10000-cooler-designed-ai-keeps-core-i9-14900kf.html

The fast-food giant ended a test run of its AI drive-thru technology partnership with IBM in more than 100 restaurants. The so-called Automated Order Taker will be shut off no later than July 26, 2024.

The global AI partnership began in 2021. The combination of technologies from the two companies aimed to simplify and speed up operations with voice-activated ordering.

Two sources familiar with the technology told CNBC that among its challenges, it had issues interpreting different accents and dialects, which affected order accuracy.

Article:

• https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/06/17/mcdonalds-to-end-ibm-ai-drive-thru-test.html

The idea of 3D printing AI generated shoes is not new. Nike has debuted AI generated and 3D printed shoes, and others like Lightspray are also creating completely automated manufacturing methods.

Now enter Syntilay, the world’s first entirely AI-designed and 3D-printed thermoplastic polyurethane shoe. Syntilay used Midjourney AI to create the image, then the image was run back through Vizcom to generate the 3D model data. Generative AI was used one more time to apply some patterns to the final design to add some character. They’re then shipped to the printer for each order.

You can own your own for $149.99 a pair.

The 89 year old Joe Foster, who co-founded Reebok 60 years ago, is so interested in the idea that he is now helping to launch Syntilay.

Articles:

• https://newatlas.com/lifestyle/syntilay-worlds-first-ai-generated-3d-printed-shoe/