Live Webinar, Meta's Manifesto, and Support for Age Verification

This Thursday, August 13th, Jill and I are beta-testing a LIVE webinar of Module 1 here on our website at 7pm (CDT). We’ll cover Module 1 in 60 minutes with video, a quiz, discussion questions, thought experiments, and action ideas.

• 🎙️ If you’re already registered on our main website, log in and RSVP today. If you haven’t, register for free by clicking here and navigate to “Behind the Curtains Online Community” in your library.

Yesterday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, posted a 6,500+ word article on AI titled “The Future is for Everyone.” Highlights include open source model advocacy, increased American infrastructure, and giving people “the ability to use superintelligence to improve their lives and shape the world.”

• 🎙️ In typical Meta fashion, the post was timed with Meta’s release of Muse Glimmer, an agentic AI model that can run on a Mac or PC, and follows May’s layoffs, July’s 10% stock drop, August’s AI hack revelation, and mounting legal challenges.

Last week Meta joined OpenAI and Anthropic in disclosing recent AI security breaches. In response, OpenAI announced they were “pausing internal activities involving Astra that do not yet meet these strengthened security control requirements.”

• 🎙️ While generative AI has gotten the most attention online, agentic AI is arguably more consequential and useful. As AI models like Muse Glimmer autonomously tackle tasks for us humans, our Principle Lens of Autonomy ensures tech serves us, not the other way around.

A judge in New Mexico who penalized Meta $375 million back in March recently ordered the company to allocate $567 million toward protecting minors from online harm on their platforms. Meta plans to appeal.

• 🎙️ Part of Meta’s defense in previous trials and the upcoming Northern California District federal trial is that it already has safety features in place and “social media addiction” isn’t an actual medically diagnosed disorder.

Reuters released the results of a poll last week that showed a majority of U.S. respondents across the political spectrum are in favor of age verification for social media accounts.

• 🎙️ Considering our experiment last week to see how easy it is to open a Snapchat (or X account) with instant access to content inappropriate for minors, it’s no wonder most Americans are in favor of age verification.