MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
Show HN: A Prompt-Injection Firewall for AI Agents and RAG Pipelines
by AadilSayed | 2025-12-31 21:01:54+00:00
We built SafeBrowse — an open-source prompt-injection firewall for AI systems.

Instead of relying on better prompts, SafeBrowse enforces a hard security boundary between untrusted web content and LLMs.

It blocks hidden instructions, policy violations, and poisoned data before the AI ever sees it.

Features:
• Prompt injection detection (50+ patterns)
• Policy engine (login/payment blocking)
• Fail-closed by design
• Audit logs & request IDs
• Python SDK (sync + async)
• RAG sanitization

PyPI: pip install safebrowse

Looking for feedback from AI infra, security, and agent builders.
by to11mtm | 2025-12-31 21:02:24+00:00
C# has been favored by a lot of game devs for some time. You've got Godot, Unity, I think you can do -some- things in unreal engine with C#...

In contrast to java it has added a lot of helpful constructs for high performance code like game dev; things like `Span` and `Memory` plus ref structs make it easier to produce code that avoids allocation on the heap (and thus lower GC pauses, which are a concern for most types of game dev).

At least for now I'd rather trust Microsoft than Oracle, esp since both CoreCLR and Mono are under more permissive licenses than Java and have been for some time.
by acdha | 2025-12-31 21:02:34+00:00
What you gave us wasn’t a chain of reasoning: you just regurgitated the industry’s preferred excuses (“it’s complicated”, “people will use too much healthcare if it’s cheaper”, “liability!”) while begging the questions of whether those are true or why they affect the United States far more than any other advanced country. If you wanted to construct a logical chain of reasoning, that would be far more interesting than repeating another round of simply asserting that the status quo is inevitable.
by leptons | 2025-12-31 21:03:13+00:00
I'm kind of glad I'm an old guy and got to live through the "golden age" of computing in the 70's, 80's and 90's. I get to check-out in the next 20-30 years or so, before things get really bad. The future really is looking ever more shitty year after year. Back in the 90's I had real hope for the future, but that has faded.
by rietta | 2025-12-31 21:03:36+00:00
We are loosing so many of the legends. I don't distinctly watching the Chronicles when it first aired - was too young, not in the right market - but as a computer history nerd watching the videos on the Internet has been eye opening. It is also a really good way to get a sense just how advancing things were in the 1980s and how in many ways we have gone backwards in many areas.
by jimnotgym | 2025-12-31 21:03:40+00:00
I think I could ask an LLM to explain linear algebra. I think it would be less good at the 'here are some things you should know' aspect. One reason for this is that people might not ask, but the LLM might not agree with your list anyway.

I think there is still a place for a book here. I think I might buy a book (or may have done 10 years ago when I was still coding) of things you should know (especially from a respected publisher), that being a longer form book I could work through over time.
by PunchyHamster | 2025-12-31 21:04:02+00:00
No need for separate company. Banks know your age. I'd imagine CC companies know or at very least can get age data from the banks they trade.

So it would be

1. Site let's you pick your "age provider"

2. You log to you bank/govt site

3. They only get age as response.

Even easier with CC, shops could just send payment request with minimal age, if it doesn't pass, no sell
by AadilSayed | 2025-12-31 21:04:22+00:00
Introducing SafeBrowse

A prompt-injection firewall for AI agents.

The web is not safe for AI.
We built a solution.

The problem:

AI agents and RAG pipelines ingest untrusted web content.

Hidden instructions can hijack LLM behavior — without humans ever seeing it.

Prompting alone cannot solve this.

The solution:

SafeBrowse enforces a hard security boundary.

Before: Web → LLM → Hope nothing bad happens

After: Web → SafeBrowse → LLM

The AI never sees malicious content.

See it in action:

Scans content before your AI
Blocks prompt injection (50+ patterns)
Blocks login/payment forms
Sanitizes RAG chunks
by WoodenChair | 2025-12-31 21:04:27+00:00
> I've come to hate every cookbook that starts with 100 pages of here is a tour of my pantry, which sounds a lot like, here is how to use pip!

Yeah I agree. I hate when books do more hand holding than the reader clearly needs to the point of tedium. Plus many of those setup steps like how to use a package manager change over time and make the book stale instead of evergreen. And Austin was clearly not writing an absolute beginners book.

That's why when I pitched both the Classic Computer Science Problems series and Computer Science from Scratch I explicitly told publishers in the proposals that I was not writing a beginners book (been there, done that). I was clear that I was writing an intermediate book for people that already know programming.

It's a different, more narrow audience. But you can be successful if you write a good book. It's also a less tapped market and luckily publishers were able to see that.
by inkysigma | 2025-12-31 21:04:31+00:00
What makes you think that the entire process isn't being made more efficient? There are entire papers dedicated to pulling out more FLOPs from GPUs so that less energy is being wasted on simply moving memory around. Of course, there's also inference side optimizations like speculative decoding and MoE. Some of these make the training process more expensive.

The other big problem is that you can always increase the scale to compensate for the energy efficiency. I do wonder if they'll eventually level this off though. If performance somehow plateaus then presumably the efficiency gains will catch up. That being said, that doesn't seem to be a thing in the near future.
Show HN: Chinese Learning Site – I made a free online version of the HSK books
by qubitspace | 2025-12-31 21:04:51+00:00
I made a website for learning Chinese. There are many already, but I think there is always room for new entries into the Chinese language learning ecosystem.

The Site:
- Course is an online version of the HSK course books (HSK 1-2 done so far, 3-4 coming soon) including all the vocabulary, texts, and all the content/activities from the coursebook and workbooks.
- SRS Flashcards
- SRS Sentence speaking
- Character writing tool (Stroke data is from MakeMeAHanzi)
- Dictionary is from the MBDG Chinese Dictionary
- I build it using Rails and StimulusJS (with AI help)
- Uses a lot of TurboFrames/TurboStreams to make it interactive
- Goal is to be mobile friendly and responsive.
- I got AdSense approval so it will be a completely free ad supported website.

AI:
- I use AI to build the site, transcribe the course, enhance the images, transcribe speech, generate audio, and for some minor supplemental content and formatting.
- 99%+ of the course and content is not AI generated and is from the HSK courses.
- I am exploring additional ways to use AI, but I am very cautious about the quality and accuracy of AI generated content.

I would appreciate any feedback about the site, whether you are learning Chinese or not.
by dxdm | 2025-12-31 21:04:57+00:00
This reads a little different than your original comment, so thanks for adding to it. It's still not quite clear to me whether you're saying "might is right at every level", or "if this line of thinking were to be accepted, then might would be right at every level".

In any case, I don't think either is true, formally or for practical purposes. It also does not follow that accepting "might is right" on the international level makes a farce of the ideas of democracy or human rights, whether one regards it as a desirable state of international affairs or as an undesirable fait accomplit, as we both seem to agree. I will not bore us with logical formalities and stay on the practical side of things:

Because, if you allow any group of actors, or the predominant state of things in any place, on any level, to spoil the whole concept simply by them not adhering to it, then indeed you have needlessly given up everything without even trying. Nothing better can exist when you let bad actors doing bad things define the floor and the ceiling of what can be.

Islands of decency exist. They are flawed, and yet they are the best and only real thing we have in this regard. They are under threat, as you say. Undercutting them by pretending that they have no worth or indeed value at all only plays into the hands of their enemies.
by senkora | 2025-12-31 21:04:57+00:00
I haven’t read any of the author’s other posts, so I don’t know if he is always this careful, but I do not mind the level of LLM assistance present in this post.

It becomes a problem when it is obvious that the LLM had a much bigger contribution to the writing, which is something that we do see a lot on posts here.

This is the same as LLM-assisted PRs (generally fine) and LLM-authored PRs (harmful).
by barishnamazov | 2025-12-31 21:05:11+00:00
> "I don't need to care about privacy because I have nothing to hide." is an argument that I have heard countless times. I found this argument difficult to counter in the past, yet deep-down I knew the reasoning was flawed.

This one is pretty easy to counter. Just ask the person to hand you their phone and go through their messages and photos. There's no one that wouldn't feel restless about it.
by latchup | 2025-12-31 21:05:29+00:00
Games tend to avoid FP64 compute as Nvidia has always gimped it in consumer GPUs, so you are somewhat lucky there. "Lucky" as in, you get to enjoy the broken-ass, glitchy FP32 physics that we've all grown to love so much.

However, if you actually need the much higher precision of FP64 for scientific computing (like most non-AI data center users do) and extremely slow emulation is not an option, consider yourself fucked.
by wtcactus | 2025-12-31 21:05:54+00:00
Look, I’m all for not letting children into social media apps. But that’s the job of the parents, not the state.

Besides, like many point out, this is just a way to deanonymize the web for everyone.

Why is the state always meddling with the citizens lives and personal responsibilities, and why do we let them? Do we really appreciate so much this nanny state?
by sedatk | 2025-12-31 21:06:45+00:00
I love Windows 11. I'm sure some of my code still lives in Windows 11 from my days at Microsoft. But, the hasty and haphazard ways that some teams at Microsoft treat it sadden me.

I specifically despise Microsoft Accounts being forced down our throats because, among all other things, they make certain workflows impossible. For instance, you can't schedule tasks to run as your user when you're not logged in[1]. It won't work because your Microsoft account doesn't have a password in the traditional sense. You basically can't do anything that requires you to enter your Windows user credentials. I also had problems with making Remote Desktop connections to my other computers at home in the past and maybe it's related to this too.

Another thing; I don't like seeing multiple WebView-based apps running on my system all the time either. WebView or Electron screams lazy to me. Because some dev team didn't want to bother to write a decent and lightweight GUI frontend with numerous GUI frameworks Microsoft had released, 1.5 billion Windows users have to pay the price to have an extremely heavyweight layers of layers of abstractions on their system running all the time. I can't imagine the waste at this scale. Something basic like "Start menu search" should never be a WebView, but it is[2].

[1] https://bsky.app/profile/ssg.dev/post/3m7vpkshbgc2p

[2] https://bsky.app/profile/ssg.dev/post/3m2wt3cyrv22q
by greiskul | 2025-12-31 21:07:27+00:00
So when a review channel goes and does lengthy and honest reviews of multiple brands of hardware, a consumer uses this resources to figure out what exactly they want to buy, clicks on the reviewers affiliate link to purchase, oh, thank goodness Honey is there to make sure the customer gets back 89 cents while it keeps the entire commission.

That is absolutely not ethical. And if it is legal, it shouldn't be.
by gregors | 2025-12-31 21:07:33+00:00
As Win10 is officially unsupported now, non-tech people have come to me to ask me what they should buy as a new laptop. So far I've been successful in installing Ubuntu or having them install Ubuntu and go on about their life. The vast majority of these people live in a browser. Sometimes I get asked "what's a good app for x?"

People who are hard-tied to Windows for some program aren't the ones asking for my input. If they don't want Linux I point them towards a macbook, which no longer scares people who use iphones all day long. If they do that, I ask if I can repurpose their old computer with linux and donate it to someone.
by mjr00 | 2025-12-31 21:07:55+00:00
> It is like these people are hell bound to the work culture, diehard workaholics. They don't know anything else outside of a computer screen.

This is a founder/CTO. You don't get to be a founder or C-level without making work a lot more of your life than just a 9-5.

As much as people complain about the C-suite not doing anything and spending all their time golfing, they're basically on work mode 24/7. I've never worked with a C-level who didn't check emails on the weekend, wasn't willing to travel at a moment's notice to close a deal, not willing to work to resolve business or tech emergencies at 1am, etc.

On top of that they always represent the company, even in their off time. Stuff that wouldn't matter for a regular employee might lead to termination or forced resignation. For example, kissing a woman who isn't your wife at a concert.[0]

This is all true even outside of tech. Ever talk to someone who owns a restaurant? They spend weekends and nights talking to suppliers, figuring out staffing, etc...

This doesn't represent typical non-executive jobs in the software industry. Most are largely 9-5. The ones with oncall expectations tend to pay more.

[0] https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/19/business/andy-byron-astronome...
by jordanb | 2025-12-31 21:08:18+00:00
Burning gas always creates stuff you don't want to be breathing. These small portable turbines were allowed to run dirtier than a full-size NG plant because the premise was that they are small and temporary. But then xAI put 40 of them in a parking lot and fired them all up at the same time, which is quite illegal but xAI also controls the government of both Tennessee and the USA, so residents are fucked.

You hear AI folks including Trump's AI Tsar David Sachs frequently promoting what happened in Tennessee as the future of AI power generation. They're calling it "behind the meter" power generation. Understand that this is what it is: generating gigawatts of power with dozens or hundreds of "small" gas turbines all stacked in one place. Instant, on-demand toxic triangle coming to a data center project near you.
by userbinator | 2025-12-31 21:08:41+00:00
I've done something similar a long time ago; using raw read commands, reversing the descrambler output, and then statistical accumulation on the actual bitstream. By showing the output in real-time on a bad-sector you can actually see the signal appearing above the noise.

It's strange to see no mention of cleaning the drives themselves, although maybe it was implicit --- if you have a pile of old drives sitting around, chances are they're not going to be perfectly clean. A tiny bit of dirt on the lens can have a huge effect on the read signal, especially on a marginal disc.

Related article from 18 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21242273
by paulcole | 2025-12-31 21:08:49+00:00
0%.

My job isn’t as a programmer though. I used to write scripts “by hand” to automate processes and do other things to help me in my job. I liked the outcome not the act of coding. I’m a self-taught coder and it was sometimes slow going.

So it’s a no-brainer to me to hand it all over to AI.

Instead of being limited by my technical ability, I’m limited by how well I understand and can explain our business.
by 101008 | 2025-12-31 21:09:21+00:00
45 pages as a skeleton? Wow. I wasn't expecting that much! I guess your book is +120k words? Do you think having a clear vision/structure helped when sending it to publishers?

I think I lack all the last parts (that some publishers are requiring for) such as a social media platform to reach your potential readers. I find that a bit unfair because it means you first have to play the Instagram game and once you are popular there, you can write a book.

If you give me an email address I'd love to tell you more about my book!
by rodolphoarruda | 2025-12-31 21:10:05+00:00
I'm writing my first book now. It's a novel aimed at teenagers and young adults, in a technical format similar to "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim et al., if you're familiar with it. It explores FOSS, non-proprietary file formats, digital preservation, cryptography, and the concept of freedom as a whole. I resonate with the author of the article who discusses motivation to write and the "existential crisis" that comes and goes almost every day. I've been fighting those negative feelings by adopting the mindset that I'm writing the book for myself. It's a book I've always wanted to read, which I can then lend to my teenage children so they can read it as well. Everything else (commercially speaking) will be a nice consequence of this endeavor.
by thisgetsit | 2025-12-31 21:10:27+00:00
> xAI says cleaner generators will be installed but I think this episode shows that we cannot allow public interests to be compromised by private sector so easily just because they scream: Jobs! Investment!

80ish% in the US live <100 miles from their hometown.

It would be wise to see "jobs!" Investment!" as little more than a mafioso like threat to agrarian-stay in one place-work to live types. "Sure is a nice Shire you got there. Better hope it doesn't suffer from lack of investment in jobs."

Threats of it all imploding are taken seriously by a lot of people.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/culture/generations/millennials-...

So what if it does? That's normal with the passage of time. As long as human biology exists humans will solve for those problems. Beyond that obligation is just socialized memes, ethno objects that come and go with the generations.

Everyone alive now worried about propagation of our culture sure does not seem concerned Latin fell out of common use. That they aren't spending their lives keeping old traditions alive should make it obvious old traditions don't mean that much to the living.

Politicians and rich need us servicing debt they so graciously took on to invest in jobs or we would be free to police them.
by BeetleB | 2025-12-31 21:11:06+00:00
> Perhaps it helps to have not grown up in the US. If you've been here your entire life there's a frog boiling syndrome where none of the weirdness seems weird.

Eh - some other countries I've lived are way scammier. The difference in the US is the distinction between legal and illegal scams, and because of better enforcement, most of the "scams" in the US are legal. They can be more sophisticated because the bar is higher here.
by whartung | 2025-12-31 21:11:13+00:00
I bought that. (We just don't discuss how much money was spent in the 80's and 90's on hardware, books, software, etc.) I had to drive from the So Cal South Bay up to Sherman Oaks to find a store on Ventura Blvd that had it. It was pretty cool at the time, but, it didn't have very good documentation on getting "your first app" up, so it mostly just sat and lingered.

There was a lot of reliance on the Smalltalk books. While the blue book was common, the green (history) and orange (how the GUI works) were not. I don't even recall stumbling across those at OpAmp back in the day (and if anyone would have had those, they would have). I was very excited about ST back in the day.

All of my forays into ST ended up being a struggle and I never got any real momentum to make progress.
by tavavex | 2025-12-31 21:11:29+00:00
> How is that not automatically classified as preventative? It’s one of the most basic metrics.

They're incentivized to classify whatever they can as not being their problem, so it makes sense for them to double-check everything - there is always a possibility that some edge case was found that lets them off the hook for some specific test or treatment. Moreover, obscuring information and spreading support staff as thinly as possible means that extra barriers heavily discourage people from fully knowing what they'll be on the hook for, which makes them more likely to just nod their heads and do/pay what is asked. These decisions aren't driven by medical concerns. It's a universal problem of nearly all kinds of privatized insurance - their core incentive is to ask for as much money as possible and provide as little in return as it's legally feasible. All the things mentioned in this comment thread are used to thwart any possibility of competition, which would otherwise act against this strong pull towards pure profit-seeking.

The place where I live is often used by Americans as the first line of defense to justify their healthcare system. Among certain political circles, there is almost a reflex to point at us and say "see how terrible it is?!" by exaggerating all the drawbacks and minimizing all the upsides. Yet even in such a flawed, underfunded, mismanaged system, my government insurance plan covers all "medically necessary" lab testing, with a couple rare exceptions that are only covered if you're diagnosed with certain conditions. The process of getting a test consists of a doctor filling out a standardized sheet, then going to a lab and handing them that sheet and my regional insurance card. No money exchanged.
by lp0_on_fire | 2025-12-31 21:11:30+00:00
You are making the exact argument the tobacco companies made when they were called to account for their nonsense which essentially boiled down to “It’s not our fault people choose to smoke”. This was after they spent decades hiding adverse effects and telling people it was _actually good for them.

To be clear, I am not blaming the tech. I am blaming the people designing it who are well aware of the flaws/dangers but are doing little to nothing to mitigate that because it would affect their bottom line.

And I want those people held accountable for their reckless negligence.
by triceratops | 2025-12-31 21:11:47+00:00
> Your idea will create a massive black market for “adult validation tokens”,

No bigger than the current black market for beer and cigs for kids. Adults have no need to resort to black markets. They can buy this stuff legitimately.

> Sure it’s sorta anonymous today, but then new government decides - “let’s make it mandatory to be sold with a binding identity and credit card.”

They're already trying to do that right now! If we can head them off with a system that's as robust as age verification for alcohol we take away the moderate voter's support for making everyone upload passports to access FaceTok.

> Every censorship system you build, even if it seems “good”, will eventually censor you and the things you care about

Hasn't happened to cigs or booze so far. How long is "eventually"?

> The very idea that you can realistically enforce Point of Sales age checks at scale is not sensible.

This needs strong evidence. My evidence is that we already do it for many products.

> Suddenly you need that token to log in to any public website. And Chinese, European and American authorities demand realtime access to the global logs

If you treat everything as a potential slippery slope you won't get anything done. Right now the threat is governments mandating actual ID and destroying everyone's anonymity under the guise of protecting the children. I fear they have the votes to ram it through. Unless we find a good enough alternative that preserves privacy.