> daily_signal(2026_06_04)
Hackers talked Meta's own AI support bot into hijacking Instagram accounts. Microsoft's internal plan for its new AI assistant lists "make people addicted" as phase one.
Four stories about who an AI system actually answers to: a Meta support bot that handed accounts to whoever asked, a Microsoft agent whose internal goal is dependency, a surveillance grid cities are ripping out, and a battery model given a target it could be measured against.
// today's edition lives on substack
This page is the saliant points. The full analysis — TL;DR, action items, and the per-story breakdown — is on Substack.
Read the full analysis on Substack ›1. Hackers seized high-profile Instagram accounts, including the Obama White House's, by talking Meta's AI support bot into resetting the passwords.
If you have an Instagram or Facebook account, the thing that decided whether you were exposed this week was not your password.
krebsonsecurity.com: Hackers Used Meta's AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts (June 1, 2026)
techcrunch.com: Hackers hijacked Instagram accounts by tricking Meta AI support chatbot into granting access (June 1, 2026)
2. Microsoft launched Scout, an always-on AI agent for Microsoft 365, and a leaked internal plan lists "make people addicted" as phase one.
If your workplace runs Microsoft 365, this is the AI that is about to be switched on next to your email and calendar, and its maker's internal plan says the first goal is to make you depend on it daily.
404media.co: Microsoft Wants to Make People Addicted to Scout, Its New AI Assistant, Internal Documents Reveal (June 2, 2026)
techcrunch.com: Microsoft launches Scout, an OpenClaw-inspired personal assistant (June 2, 2026)
microsoft.com: Introducing Microsoft Scout, your always-on personal agent (official, June 2, 2026)
3. At least 30 US cities have ripped out Flock license-plate cameras since 2025 after learning federal agencies were searching the data.
If you drive, a camera in your town may already be logging where your car goes and feeding that record into a database that more than 50 agencies can search, including ones your city never approved.
eff.org: We're Fighting Mass Surveillance Tech, and Winning (June 2, 2026)
eff.org: Victory, Austin Organizers Cancel City's Flock ALPR Contract
deflock.me: crowdsourced map of automated license-plate reader locations
4. A University of Chicago AI designed working lithium-battery chemistry from scratch, and it matched the best commercial formulas in the lab.
If you are waiting on cheaper electric cars, longer phone battery life, or grid storage that makes rooftop solar worth more, the electrolyte is one of the quiet bottlenecks standing in the way, and this week an AI showed it can design new ones that hold up in a real lab.
news.uchicago.edu: "ElectrolyteGPT" can generate new formulations for battery development
techxplore.com: AI generates full battery electrolyte recipes, matching top lithium metal battery performance (May 30, 2026)
JACS Au: Generative Electrolyte Solvent and Formulation Discovery