Cloudflare exposes Perplexity AI’s stealth crawling tactics

• Perplexity’s crawlers bypass common no-crawl directives (robots.txt) by switching from declared bot user agents to generic browser strings, primarily mimicking Chrome on macOS.
  



• When blocked, Perplexity rotates IP addresses and ASNs outside their official ranges to evade detection, violating ethical web crawling norms.
  



• Cloudflare’s tests with private domains blocking all crawlers still showed Perplexity returning detailed data, indicating covert scraping.
  



• Cloudflare responded by delisting Perplexity as a verified bot and deploying managed rules—available even on free plans—to detect and block these evasive crawlers.
  



• The case highlights tensions between AI companies’ aggressive data harvesting for training and the web ecosystem’s control measures, underscoring the need for transparent bot behavior standards.

“Objects should shut the fuck up” — critique of excessive device noise

• Modern consumer products like cars, washing machines, and baby monitors produce intrusive, often unnecessary audible alerts with minimal user control or configurability.
  



• Examples include persistent, startling LPG warnings in cars and non-disableable beeps on every washing machine control interaction, increasing user annoyance and potentially reducing safety.
  



• The author’s frustrated tone underscores widespread alert fatigue caused by default sounds that prioritize notifications over user context or wellbeing.
  



• Exceptions praised are devices with subtle, considerate alerts, such as dishwashers opening their doors silently after cycles or silent e-readers.
  



• This calls for design philosophies that prioritize user control and reduce noise pollution in everyday technology.

Could interstellar object 3I/ATLAS be alien technology?

• Researchers analyzed the recently discovered 3I/ATLAS’s unusual orbital dynamics and non-gravitational acceleration, hypothesizing it might be a technological artifact with possible intelligence and intent.
  



• The object’s orbital tilt and trajectories near inner planets are statistically improbable for random interstellar visitors and could enable stealthy Solar System access.
  



• The paper entertains the idea of a “Dark Forest” scenario where advanced civilizations might behave hostilely, suggesting 3I/ATLAS could be benign or malign.
  



• The authors treat the hypothesis primarily as a pedagogical exercise, emphasizing the importance of scientific openness to such testable but speculative ideas.
  



• The study provokes debate on interpreting limited data about interstellar visitors and the implications for SETI and planetary defense.

ChatGPT in university writing classes: a year-long experiment

• UVA professor Piers Gelly integrated ChatGPT use into his writing curriculum, tasking 72 students to critically engage AI tools rather than banning them.
  



• Students viewed AI skeptically yet pragmatically, using it for brainstorming and editing while recognizing its tendency toward bland and hallucinated content.
  



• Classroom discussions highlighted differences between AI-generated “romanticized” prose and more mundane human writing, sparking reflection on storytelling and creativity.
  



• Faculty found AI useful for grading speed and assignment design, though students largely preferred human feedback; most agreed human instructors remain essential.
  



• The experiment illustrates a nuanced “messy middle” where human creativity and AI support coexist, suggesting collaborative rather than adversarial futures in education.