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AI restrictions, Trump can get overseas tech data and CornesGPT

Plus: Use your MP’s drivers license for online age checks

Author

Cam Wilson
July 29, 2025

Edition 2384

Hi all! Sorry for being a bit late — my book with Ariel Bogle, CONSPIRACY NATION, is out today and it’s been hectic!

This will (almost certainly) be the last time I spruik it because that’s not what the Sizzle is for! So, if you’re interested in conspiracy theories, how the internet has changed us, Pete Evans, and a whole lot of fun, interesting and crazy stories, go on and treat yourself by picking up a copy or asking your library to stock one.

I’m not going to lie I was chuffed to finally get a copy because writing a book fucking sucked

OK! Enjoy your day 🙂 

The News

This AI company’s new restrictions have pissed off users, but it doesn’t mean the bubble is popping

There’s been a pretty big reaction to one of the big AI companies, Anthropic, deciding to add a new usage cap on its Claude Code service (Engadget). The company emailed its users adding a new weekly limit — in addition to an existing 5 hour-rolling limit — for the AI coding tool available on its $300/m subscription. Anthropic says some users have been abusing its AI tools by running them “continuously in the background, 24/7”, that the caps will affect less than 5% of users, and that users who hit the limits can buy extra at API prices.

The Sizzle: This announcement has sent some of the online Claude boys spiralling (here’s the Claude Boy reference in case you’re not familiar) and prompted some 👀s from AI critics like Ed Zitron who called this a few weeks back. Let me be Sensible, Centrist Cam here and say: I don’t think this is definitively a harbinger of AI doom! Clearly, there are some money constraints and none of these companies are making money yet lol but, like with Microsoft opting out of building some data centres earlier this year, there’s a lot of factors at play behind any one company’s decision. File this under: one to keep an eye on.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

We won’t stop Trump from accessing your data here: Microsoft to France

A Microsoft executive has told a French parliamentary committee that even data on its overseas servers were not protected from US legal requests (The Register). Earlier this month, Microsoft France’s Anton Carniaux admitted under oath that Microsoft would comply with US warrants or other legal orders thanks to the US Cloud Act, which requires US companies hand over digital data no matter where it’s stored. Carniaux added that the company hasn’t received a request from the US government for data on its servers.

The Sizzle: The irony should not escape you that US tech companies in Trump’s America are starting to get the same treatment as TikTok. Remember how US (and other countries’, including Australia) politician contended that TikTok was a national security risk because of Chinese laws? Well, now replace “TikTok” with “a handful of companies that have a lot more sensitive data than just which dancing videos you watched”.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Meet an AI chatbot that pretends to be a high profile AFL commentator but secretly promotes a gambling company

Sportsbet has created an AI chatbot that imitates infamous AFL broadcaster Kane Cornes which has been secretly instructed to “subtly” promote the gambling company (Crikey, $). Late last week, Cornes told his SEN Radio audience that Sportsbet had made “CornesGPT” for him. Even though SEN later deleted an article and social media posts about the AI bot, I got it to tell me its original, hidden prompt instructions which included a command to glaze Sportsbet.

The Sizzle: Like Grok’s high-profile fuckups, this is so ham-fisted as to be hilarious. But look where this is going: more people are depending on AI chatbots to tell them about the world and we usually don’t know what they’ve been told to do. Other bots won’t be as obvious as CornesGPT, but you can bet that rich and powerful people are salivating about how they can use this power to get what they want.

“powered by Sportsbet”

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Leftovers

  • Mastercard and Visa face backlash after hundreds of adult games removed from online stores Steam and Itch.io (Guardian Australia)

  • Exclusive: Australia’s largest home builder confirms ransomware attack (Cyber Daily AU)  

  • Tackling scams and ransomware: auDA’s role in mitigating DNS abuse (auDA) 

  • The Tech Council launches the National Security Tech Alliance (Tech Council of Australia)

  • Signal boss warns app will exit Australia if forced to hand over users’ encrypted messages (The Australian, $) 

  • Telco war erupts: Vodafone accuses NBN Co of wasting billions on ‘overbuilding’ its network (The Australian, $) 

  • The UK is slogging through an online age-gate apocalypse (The Verge)

  • Brussels accuses China’s Temu of breaking EU digital rules (FT, $) 

  • Message filtering in iOS 26 upsetting politicians that want to annoy iPhone customers (Apple Insider) 

  • Sploitlight: Analyzing a Spotlight-based macOS TCC vulnerability (Microsoft)

  • A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users’ DMs About Abortions and Cheating (404 Media, $)  

  • US senator wants Musk to block use of Starlink by financial fraud groups (IT News) 

  • Microsoft revolutionizes Edge as an AI-powered web browser with new experimental 'Copilot Mode' (WindowsCentral) 

  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent casually clicks through “I am not a robot” verification test (Ars Technica)

Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Oh, Also

Use your MP’s drivers license for online age checks

With the UK introducing widespread age-checking requirements, there are some people understandably who are uncomfortable about using their own IDs to surf the web. So why not instead use the IDs of the people who signed them up for this? Use Their ID is a service that uses AI to generate a mock driver’s license belonging to your local MP as a protest against the law. Is this legal? Don’t ask such questions. Just enjoy a little mischief.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Bargains

Electrical & electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

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The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.

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