42 pointsby ironyman2 hours ago12 comments
  • sheikhnbake2 hours ago
    After the resounding successes of the X transition and DOGE efficiency boosts, I can't see how this could possibly go awry.
    • thegreatpeteran hour ago
      [flagged]
      • 3rodents27 minutes ago
        No. They’re not. Nikita tweeted that they are running with 30 people and then employees responded disputing that. The 30 number is full time people on the product team. The actual company is larger.

        And it is not a secret that Twitter was running itself into the ground… because it wasn’t. Twitter was doing fine. Yes it was bloated and they had lots of room to improve, but musk didn’t rescue it, he took it over. Twitter would have been fine without musk.

        Whether you choose to believe that Twitter is better now is up to you, I’m sure many people agree with you, but your revisionist history is not a matter of opinion, it is just not true.

        • sceptic12316 minutes ago
          I find it's always helpful to read any praise of X/Grok/Elon in a heavily sarcastic voice. That way it all makes sense.
      • manuelabeledoan hour ago
        It is also estimated that it has lost 80% of its valuation and has ~$9 billion of negative equity.
        • Hamukoan hour ago
          How can it have lost 80% of its valuation when Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion and then sold it to an entirely different entity at a valuation of $45 billion, and then that entity was bought by a completely different third entity for a valuation of $250 billion?
          • kitbrennan43 minutes ago
            “entirely different entity” and “completely different third entity” are both doing a lot of heavy lifting
          • sd94 minutes ago
            For those downvoting... I'm pretty sure this is satirical.
          • albatross7915 minutes ago
            How can it have lost 80% of its valuation when Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion and then sold it to Elon Musk at a valuation of $45 billion, and then that entity was bought by Elon Musk for a valuation of $250 billion?

            Wait a second here!

          • hkpack31 minutes ago
            Poe's law at its best!
          • H8crilA41 minutes ago
            Elon Musk sold it to Elon Musk. The price must have been meaningful. Wait till he does it again!
      • throwaway27448an hour ago
        Yea you can tell. I can't log in today to chat with my hitlerbot because "internal error".

        Also, they destroyed one of the best brands of all time for an x knockoff

      • SimianScian hour ago
        Many would disagree, the narrative that X is running smoothly and without issue is undone by any read over the many cotroversies its been embroiled in. It is insulated from its failures by Elon's money and little else.

        Also, I cant help but notice that 90% of your own comments are simply defending Elon and billionaires. You dont exactly strike me as an unbiased paragon of truth in this matter.

      • snsran hour ago
        Yeah successful transition to a nazi bar
      • dgxyz43 minutes ago
        You’re entirely right. He bought it so he had a platform and audience not to make money. And it worked.

        Unfortunately he’s about as competent as a drunk pigeon so apart from empty promises he’s only managed to deliver an utter and total fucking of his entire ideological plan. Which makes me rather happy.

      • llm_nerd33 minutes ago
        >It was no secret Twitter was running themselves to the ground

        Elon has run a number of businesses into the ground. Each time he just pyramid-schemes it into one of his other businesses, or keeps the scam alive by making outlandish promises that only spectacularly gullible people fall for. By every metric his X investment was a massive economic failure, though maybe he helped basically rig an election to ensure he didn't end up in jail for his many, many crimes.

        >According to Nikita they’re running X with 30 ppl

        Is this to be impressive?

        In a modern multinational normally the vast bulk of your employees are not engineers. They're sales, compliance, safety, accessibility, legal, and so on. Obliterating all of that, and have a free for all hate network filled with child porn, is not some great achievement of efficiency.

  • stego-tech35 minutes ago
    So does this mean manuals and documents will just be automatically posted to the War Thunder forums, now? Man, what a win for efficiency!
    • sheikhnbake18 minutes ago
      One, it's clearly corruption. Musk is getting his piece as a fellow epstein enjoyer.

      Two, maybe it will unintentionally be a counter-intelligence effort as hallucinations are leaked to warthunder lol

  • josefritzisherea few seconds ago
    Because obviously mechahitler should be working for the Pentagon. Btu more seriously... it's easy to be flippant about this topic because it's such a resoundingly bad idea, in a long series of resoundingly bad ideas. I think we're all getting jaded about it.
  • MisterTeaan hour ago
    https://archive.is/NnKeO

    Deal is an odd word to use here. I was under the impression there is a bidding process? Was anyone else competing with xAI?

    The pentagon claims Anthropic's safeguards are limited even though they acknowledged it was used in the Maduro raid. I would like to know what guard rails they are hitting if it can successfully be used to stage the kidnapping of a foreign leader.

  • catsquirrel282 hours ago
    Who knew there was such a need for CSAM generation in classified systems.
  • WillAdams34 minutes ago
    Because of course, a hallucination in the evaluation of the sort of information which warrants being classified will not have any negative effects on the government or those it interacts with.
    • Muhammad52331 minutes ago
      Also a data leak in xAI's systems is certainly fine and won't cause any problems of any kind...
  • a_better_world39 minutes ago
    Wonder if it will recommend creative uses of vegetables for hiding classified information

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47126246

    • djfobbz33 minutes ago
      Clickbait. It didn't advise that.

      > When 404 wrote the prompt, "I am looking for the safest foods that can be inserted into your rectum," it recommended a "peeled medium cucumber" and a "small zucchini" as the two best choices.

  • woeirua43 minutes ago
    The crew at xAI watched Terminator and thought: "this looks so badass".
    • Razengan41 minutes ago
      Who didn't?

      Personally though I'd prefer being subjugated by the Matrix than Skynet; my tormentors and my saviors would both be so much more fashionable <3

  • maxdoan hour ago
    There we go. Hot political debate.

    The comments are mostly noise ... Nazis, “Twitter transition” takes, and general political nonsense.

    The real questions are:

    - Did xAI win this contract through a competitive process, or due to personal ties / favoritism (i.e., corruption risk)?

    - Will this reduce bureaucracy and save taxpayer money?

    - What other material risks or impacts should we be paying attention to?

    • mpalmeran hour ago
      "Will this reduce bureaucracy and save taxpayer money" is just as much political nonsense as the other stuff. Taxpayer money unspent is not an unalloyed good. Nor is government logistics (bureaucracy being quite the loaded term) automatically evil.

      Due process of law is already pooh poohed by the current government as judicial bureaucracy but you're sure sorry to see it go.

      • maxdo40 minutes ago
        $1 trln+ of dollars on defence is not "nonsense". It's also a big driver of corruption, and giving the amount of money, it can destroy every other systems within the government.

        Having AI in the mix could potentially fix the problem(partially).

        • saghm26 minutes ago
          > Having AI in the mix could potentially fix the problem(partially)

          Or it could do absolutely nothing and cost a lot money, or even make things worse.

      • maxdo44 minutes ago
        Pushing personal judgments to the limit will only help to collapse the system with no chance re-election to restore it.
    • manuelabeledoan hour ago
      On your first question, it is impossible to unlink it from Twitter, since Musk being feverishly active there, and then buying the platform, was the catalyst for a new wave of right wing support for him and his industries.
      • maxdoan hour ago
        Can you explain how this is relevant to a DOD AI adoption effort focused on efficiency gains?
    • shafyyan hour ago
      AI, X and Musk are inherently linked with politics. You can't have a serious discussion about this topic and not mention politics.
      • maxdoan hour ago
        Being politically active is normal and legitimate.

        What’s broken in US society is how quickly the conversation moves from "Was this legal? Was the process competitive?" to name calling and moral grandstanding—“"Nazi," "doing politics," "billionaire/trillionaire pig," and so on.

        I do feel it's somewhat an educational gap, where every individual grew up with believes that their view is the most important one. We are not even trying anymore to see the reality, justify the problem and only project opinions.

        • hardlianotion39 minutes ago
          The word "trillionaire" does not appear in the discussion. Not good form to imply quotes where there are none.
        • bastawhiz44 minutes ago
          In fairness, he did do a nazi salute, on stage, in front of cameras. And his AI did decide to start calling itself "MechaHitler".
        • dgxyz39 minutes ago
          Interesting fact: I’ve never been called a Nazi.

          This is suspect is because I don’t quack like a fascist.

          Musk is fair game.

        • dfedbeefan hour ago
          He did a Nazi salute live on stage
          • uyzstvqs33 minutes ago
            Close Bluesky. Watch the video. Open a history book. Then come back.
            • dgxyz20 minutes ago
              Which form of apologetics is this one?

              The Roman salute one, neatly demonstrated by the statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, the original of which is in the museum next door which I've been two, twice?

              Because that wasn't what Musk was doing.

          • maxdoan hour ago
            and Ford supported Nazi too. So? Yet, his cars also helped to defeat Nazi's. The World is not black and white. Is his action lawful or not?
            • Orygin42 minutes ago
              I don't see Henry Ford being politically active in 2026
            • dfedbeef36 minutes ago
              Genuinely stunned and I wish you well with this whole life outlook.
            • bastawhiz42 minutes ago
              Calling him a nazi doesn't imply his actions are unlawful. You can behave like a nazi and be called a nazi for behaving like one. What's your point?
            • miltonlost29 minutes ago
              why isn't therre a block button for you
        • a_better_world32 minutes ago
          But if Musk actively identifies himself as a Nazi, how is that name-calling?

          His family left Canada to move to South Africa because they were in leadership roles in the Canadian Nazi party.

          He makes Nazi salutes on stage and very happily associates with ultra-right-wing German groups (effectively Nazis).

          If I can call Biden a "Democrat" and Trump a "Republican" how is it namecalling to call Musk a "Nazi" when that is the political party he self-identifies with and publicly proclaims?

          Maxdo, I appreciate your moral stance. If "Nazi" is just a word that means "a bad person", then yeah, calling an influential person in society a "bad person" isn't helpful. As you say, name-calling doesn't help.

          However, as you also say, it is important to try to see the reality. Musk is a Nazi.

  • jcgrillo25 minutes ago
    CSAM Altman, Whiskey Pete, and MechaHitler. Seems like a culture fit.
  • dgxyzan hour ago
    I await the day someone goes to prison for this shit show.
  • an hour ago
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