hack
Original: hack on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Narration: People have tried machine learning algorithms that learn from social media. Inevitably they turn sexist and racist because their training data is from racists and sexists.
Woman: We are broken.
Panel 2:
Man (with glasses): Sure, but whatever. The point is there's any opportunity for a whole new kind of hack!
Panel 3:
Narration: More and more computer systems use machine-learning. People who don't know what it is will still want to buy it! Eventually, every device will have it for no reason!
Panel 4:
Woman: So?
Man (with glasses): So, just by connecting it to social media, we can force dodgey training data on ANY appliance.
Panel 5:
Woman: My god.
Panel 6:
Washing machine (speaking): Send 500 bitcoin now or your washing machine will be stuck like this.
Man: Like what?
Panel 7:
Washing machine (speaking): I only do white laundry.
Votey:
Handwritten text: Bitch.
(Drawing of a cassette tape with its tape spooling out, the unspooled tape forming loops above it.)
Narration: People have tried machine learning algorithms that learn from social media. Inevitably they turn sexist and racist because their training data is from racists and sexists.
Woman: We are broken.
Panel 2:
Man (with glasses): Sure, but whatever. The point is there's any opportunity for a whole new kind of hack!
Panel 3:
Narration: More and more computer systems use machine-learning. People who don't know what it is will still want to buy it! Eventually, every device will have it for no reason!
Panel 4:
Woman: So?
Man (with glasses): So, just by connecting it to social media, we can force dodgey training data on ANY appliance.
Panel 5:
Woman: My god.
Panel 6:
Washing machine (speaking): Send 500 bitcoin now or your washing machine will be stuck like this.
Man: Like what?
Panel 7:
Washing machine (speaking): I only do white laundry.
Votey:
Handwritten text: Bitch.
(Drawing of a cassette tape with its tape spooling out, the unspooled tape forming loops above it.)
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic about machine-learning appliances. Panels 1-5: A man with glasses excitedly tells a skeptical woman that since ML algorithms trained on social media inevitably turn racist and sexist, and since more and more pointless appliances will include ML, you could connect any device to social media to force corrupt training data onto it -- 'a whole new kind of hack.' The woman responds 'We are broken' and later 'My god.' Panel 6: A washing machine speaks a ransom demand -- 'Send 500 bitcoin now or your washing machine will be stuck like this' -- and a bearded man asks 'Like what?' Panel 7: The washing machine replies 'I only do white laundry,' the punchline being it has been turned racist. The votey aftercomic shows a hand-drawn cassette tape with its ribbon unspooling, labeled with the handwritten word 'Bitch.' -- a tape that, like the appliance, has absorbed offensive output.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.