Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it

@tamigraph.bsky.social and I get to some mythbusting today about data centers and the supposed future they bring. Long story short: 😬

“…what we are left with is a structure of feeling that is now a part of AI as an artifact, the aspirations pinned to its potentials, which are directing its adoption into spheres of intellectual inquiry where it may have little or even nothing to offer.” www.artforum.com/features/gen...

And while you’re at it - also read @bcmerchant.bsky.social's excellent AI Now report AI Generated Business, on how OpenAI has used narratives around AGI (front and center in this report) to inflate its business proposition: ainowinstitute.org/publications...

Amazing group of AI auditing scholars and practitioners at the AI Accountability Lab @aial.ie, led by @abeba.bsky.social ✨

NEW: 911 audio and EMS records from ICE detention centers reveal a surge in medical emergencies — including staff sexual assaults, suicide attempts, and head injuries. Records also show calls over severe pregnancy complications. Free to read: www.wired.com/story/ice-de... w/ @dell.bsky.social

While existing disability rights statutes do provide some legal recourse against AI-enabled discrimination, state-level regulation remains a vital avenue for harm mitigation. The proposed federal moratorium on state AI laws threatens those very protections, Ariana Aboulafia and Travis Hall write.

NEW: A protester was shot and killed at the Salt Lake City 'No Kings' march. A man is in police custody, booked on suspicion of murder—but not the one who fired the gun. From video, witnesses and interviews, @schotthappens.com and I tried to piece together what really happened Saturday. Our report-

Most reporting on AI examines worst-case systems deployed under the guise of efficiency. But what would a good faith effort at Ethical AI look like? For two years, we’ve been looking over the shoulder of a city trying to do things differently.

Federal data misuse is accelerating, but state and local governments can still act, argue Reem Suleiman, Esra’a Al Shafei, and Brian Hofer. “Before DHS, ICE, or others come knocking, governments should run, not walk! — through this triage checklist to protect the privacy of the most vulnerable.”

I'm biased, but this report is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the state of AI in 2025. It explains how AI is entrenching power for big tech and the oligarch class, speeding deregulation, dislodging human expertise and threatening workers—and how there's still time to refuse all that.

Today, as part of the @techpolicypress.bsky.social and @datasociety.bsky.social "Ideologies of Control: A Series on Tech Power and Democratic Crisis" series, @emilymbender.bsky.social and I write about the myth of AGI. www.techpolicy.press/the-myth-of-...

"Actual reform is done carefully...Instead, AI appears to be understood within this administration as a highly effective tool for consolidating power..." Great piece by Jake Metcalf & Meg Young introducing a @techpolicypress.bsky.social series on technofacism: www.techpolicy.press/tech-power-a...

NEW REPORT: Artificial Power, our 2025 Landscape Report, is out. Today’s AI isn’t just being used by us, it’s being used on us. We urgently need to reclaim public power over the future trajectory of AI. Another path is possible. Read the report: ainowinstitute.org/2025-landscape

I spent five weeks talking to federal workers about knowledge loss and brain drain across the federal government, and its implications, both right now and for decades to come. Their stories are frightening, but I think it's important to know what we're facing: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Happy to have a shared piece on trust in relationality in the new @datasociety.bsky.social Trust Issues Anthology! Read below 🪢

A new tool has scraped YouTube comments, lets harassers or anyone else search for a specific user, use AI to approximate where the person might be from based on their comments. Developer says it's for cops, but there are no checks. We signed up and used it www.404media.co/developer-bu...

Psst! Hey you! EFF is hiring a staff technologist and *you* should apply! www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.p...

Listening to an author talk by @karenhao.bsky.social on her new book Empire of AI, hosted by @alltechishuman.bsky.social. Hao describes "quasi-religious" beliefs motivating doomer/boomer narratives around the "inevitability" of AGI that run parallel to narratives around the inevitability of empire.

When @kesearles.bsky.social and I began our research we thought we would be studying experts’ experiences w/ *online* harassment. But we quickly realized that was insufficient. Now we speak of tech-facilitated harassment & hybrid forms of harassment. A 🧵 about what we found and why it matters: 1/

This is really not good; www.techpolicy.press/us-house-pas...

SCOOP: DOGE used Meta's Llama 2 model to review emails from federal workers responding to the original "Fork in the Road" email. www.wired.com/story/doge-u...

“This primer maps what we currently know about generative AI’s role in scams, the communities most at risk, and the broader economic + cultural shifts that are making people more willing to take risks, more vulnerable to deception, and more likely to either perpetuate scams or fall victim to them.”

staging a show-and-tell about a fake genocide during a real genocide to the government that has done the most to seek justice for that real genocide is designed to break our brains. They know what they are doing. www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/w...

One of the world's biggest data center booms is quietly underway just outside of Reno. Some projects have been covered, but few outlets have recognized the full scope of the plans. The developments will require gigawatts of new electricity generation & could consume billions of gallons of water.

This FTC workshop about kids safety online features speakers and organizations that work diligently to harm marginalized youth, especially teens who identify as LGBTQIA+. This is not a serious workshop. Shocking, I know. www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

We’re among 100+ organizations calling on House leaders to reject a proposal that would stop states from regulating AI. This still-in-development technology should not be allowed to make unfettered life-or-death decisions about our lives, safety, and freedoms. edition.cnn.com/2025/05/19/t...

Here’s this week’s Better Offline. I’m joined by @karenhao.bsky.social to talk about her book Empire of AI, the confusing world of OpenAI, and the associated mind-poison of artificial general intelligence. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... Linktr.ee/betteroffline

Early Wednesday, at a markup hearing to consider legislative recommendations for budget reconciliation, House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans advanced a ten-year moratorium on enforcing state legislation on artificial intelligence.

feels like a good time to issue one of my favorite respectful invitations: to support worker-run, reader-funded, billionaire free news

The deadline (May 30) is approaching for submissions to our workshop at the Aarhus Conference 2025! 👇

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

"DOGE understands that he who controls the data infrastructure holds the keys to the government." Great piece by @salome.bsky.social.

Internet friends (and future friends!): I'm putting together a talk about joyful weirdness on the web and was looking for examples of what other people have fallen in love with: Could I ask you to show me examples of weird, delightful, unexpected websites and webapps you've made or seen?

A critical resource for researchers. Link to the AoIR guide here: aoir.org/wp-content/u...

A spreadsheet containing all publicly available information about CBP and ICE databases, from the American Immigration Council www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/content/unde...

So basically, the reactionary right wing & centrist elites whose identities are based on the idea that “the left” is a conspiratorial borg that coordinates its messaging and targets, have a group chat in which they coordinate their messaging and targets. How shocking. www.semafor.com/article/04/2...

It’s a deliberate war on labor, targeting first the trades and crafts that have the greatest cultural power.

I see generative AI is as of a larger trend of devaluing craftsmanship and expertise. No need for actual writers; AI will write pages of generic drivel! No need for actual artists; AI will create bland, generic images! No need for scholars; AI will make up shit!

The top priority of the next functional government has to be reforming the Privacy Act to prevent the use of personal data for reasons other than originally prescribed & to effectively ban database matching all but entirely.

📢 #Hiring: Head of AI, Labor & Economy Location: Remote (U.S. or Canada) | Salary: $145K–$165K This is a senior role for someone with deep expertise, vision, and a collaborative spirit. You’ll engage across sectors to shape policy and research Apply: partnershiponai.org/careers/

If you're interested in the intersection of Technology and Religion, then I highly recommend reading the works of Kanta Dihal, Beth Singler, Sarah Dillon, Heather Freeman, Robert Geraci, and Jacob Boss, if you're not already familiar.

Hey, we've opened applications for the practitioner-in-residence program for 2025/2026 - give it a look, and feel free to email with any questions! mediaarchaeologylab.ghost.io/practitioner-in-residence-open-call/

My story breaking this news exclusively was 7K+ words and had almost all of this in it, and more: www.npr.org/2025/04/15/n...

"Scott’s injunction to look for resistance where it does not immediately appear turns the familiar hierarchy of the visible & the invisible on its head. Don’t look only at the operations of power...Look, instead, at things that don’t seem worthy of comment at all." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The US government holds a tremendous amount of data about US citizens. Now, The Trump administration is trying to access that data and link it together. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...

NEW: DOGE operatives have repeatedly referred to the software company Palantir as a possible partner in creating a “mega API” at the IRS, sources tell WIRED. @makenakelly.bsky.social with the scoop www.wired.com/story/doge-h...

I'm looking for a postdoc to work on justice-oriented audit frameworks. Closing date April 30, 2025. pls share widely