Rights defenders at the US-Mexico border tried for years to warn about Border Patrol's abusive culture. We built a database of abuses (borderoversight.org/event) and several reports. Maybe 2 dozen national Democrats were responsive; the politics were tricky. We couldn't keep that work funded. Now:

Are Labubus the new face of “Made in China”? @ncotemunoz.bsky.social (CEO, Vantage Point Strategies) joins us to share how Labubus are resonating across different cultures and changing the way people perceive China. ▶️ Watch: https://www.ncuscr.org/video/labubu-soft-power/

In a few 1000 years there will be an especially toxic type of bro obsessed with the “American Empire” and its fall. One of their integrated AI microchips will be full of just facts from the past 6+ months Imagine going on a date with this guy and him mansplaining “the Jimmy Kimmel moment” to you

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

Effective AI writing assistance doesn't involve AI writing for you. When I was concussed, I experimented with AI to support my writing while keeping my voice. My latest piece breaks down the workflows that worked. open.substack.com/pub/artifici...

Labubu is a spectrum

A friend in Beijing had a Labubu on his briefcase before a client meeting. When advised to put it away: “Trust me.” Client: “Nice Labubu! Hard to get and expensive. Business must be going well.” Here I explore “cuteness” as a strategic asset in my latest: open.substack.com/pub/ncotemun...

Washington DC right now like: I’m at the ICE raid. I’m at the FBI stop. I’m at the combination National Guard-Metropolitan Police Department-ATF-DEA-U.S. Marshall-Park Police-FBI-ICE raid stop checkpoint.

I don't get the blanket resistance to AI art. As if obsession and choice haven't been acknowledged as valid facets of art practice for at least a century.

Washington DC right now like: I’m at the ICE raid. I’m at the FBI stop. I’m at the combination National Guard-Metropolitan Police Department-ATF-DEA-U.S. Marshall-Park Police-FBI-ICE raid stop checkpoint.

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. @ncotemunoz.bsky.social on the money again. This is what most of those who can’t understand why I — a critical thinker and lover of language, artists’ rights, and creative expression — use AI. And why and how it’s genuinely changed my life.

TL;DR: the CEO of Gumroad moonlit at DOGE, created AI slop code that slashed veterans’ benefits, talked about it openly and posted code on GitHub, got fired. The biggest story nobody is talking about here👇 open.substack.com/pub/artifici...

Check out the AI and data newsletters of these folks recently added to the directory: @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social @annaloverus.com @itselisadavis.bsky.social @hollyjones1.bsky.social @ncotemunoz.bsky.social @hlntnr.bsky.social

My latest for @artificialinquiry.bsky.social

My latest for @inkstickmedia.com : Pope Francis revolutionized diplomacy without armies or sanctions - just moral clarity. He proved influence can be relational, not transactional. His death leaves a void when values-driven diplomacy is needed most. Read here: bit.ly/3YI7dsV

Pope Francis made moral credibility a diplomatic asset in an age of hard power. By: @ncotemunoz.bsky.social inkstickmedia.com/pope-francis...

#2 this week on AI and art:

“I used AI to vibe code an app that made me a millionaire” Well I used AI to help me re-learn HTML I haven’t used since the 90s and make a single use website about an ant rebellion ant-rebellion.glitch.me

#2 this week on AI and art:

My latest for @artificialinquiry.bsky.social

A última vez que eu pisei na China foi em 2019 e eu peguei muito o período citado pela Natalia. Tenho pensado muito sobre esse tempo, sobre como escrevo uma newsletter sobre China e tenho estado fisicamente distante sabendo as mudanças bruscas que acontecem em 6 meses na China, que dirá em 6 anos.

What happens when AI refuses to vote—then quietly picks the same candidates anyway? I asked 6 top models how they’d vote. Their answers? Reasonable. Predictable. Almost… ideological. The catch: Their values aren’t how they’re used. Read here: bit.ly/4jgEJhV

I asked 6 LLMs how they would make decisions in elections and applied it to the 2024 US & Mexico Presidential elections and 2022 Colombia presidential election. They all voted for Kamala and Petro and were split for Mexico. What does that mean? Read below for more. bit.ly/4jgEJhV

Great read 👍

“In China, a 5-year absence can leave you 30 years behind." After 8 years away, I returned to find my Beijing replaced by something new—digitally seamless yet strangely distant. Read here: bit.ly/4jggZuu

This is merely the cost one must bear to curry favor with our future overlords

🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read. He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:

“[China] is … ahead of the curve. And at the same time, it appears to be pursuing a development path that prioritizes internal cohesion over international integration. … [And] as China has become more difficult to access physically, its global presence has only expanded.”

“[China] is … ahead of the curve. And at the same time, it appears to be pursuing a development path that prioritizes internal cohesion over international integration. … [And] as China has become more difficult to access physically, its global presence has only expanded.”

How is The Onion so right all the time?

The MAGAverse is splintering over tariffs

Honored for Artificial Inquiry bit.ly/ArtificialInquiry to be featured here. Check the excellent list of AI expert newsletters below.

“In China, a 5-year absence can leave you 30 years behind." After 8 years away, I returned to find my Beijing replaced by something new—digitally seamless yet strangely distant. Read here: bit.ly/4jggZuu

If you’re interested in #gametheory and #tariffs, check out my latest where AI simulates the tariff endgames with various players: bit.ly/42mmRfP

total clarity here from @edwardluce.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/4c4b...

Live this AM!

Live tomorrow!

Preview of my upcoming post for @artificialinquiry.bsky.social, "Game of Tariffs", where I use AI to simulate the tariff war via game theory Live on Tuesday, April 15, 9AM ET here: bit.ly/42mmRfP For more posts, see bit.ly/ArtificialIn...

This is so mean girls coded

the link is now live! bit.ly/4iXyFdX

The goal of this Substack is to write satirical AI policy. Trump beat me to it. The “Libertation Day” tariffs read like they were written by ChatGPT at 2am. So I asked: were they? Does it matter? What does it mean? I broke it down. Live tmr 4/8 AM @ artificialinquiry.substack.com

NEW: For decades, the Wilson Center in DC has produced valuable research on foreign policy for US policymakers and the public. Today, its 130 workers were put on leave and will be fired because of Trump and Musk ordering a shutdown. Our @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/u...

I lived in Beijing and saw these posted across the campus I taught at. It seemed absurd and excessive. And now we are doing the same…

Memes are the opium of the extremely online people . . . . . Please give me more

Idiocracy was sent to us as a warning from the future but we were too stupid to see it

ECONOMY IN SHAMBLES U.S. job cuts hit 275,240 in March 2025, the highest since the pandemic peak in 2020, surpassing 2001 & 2008 recessions. Layoffs surge as federal cuts, led by DOGE, echo Covid-era losses. It's the third highest monthly total on record.

My ridiculous White Lotus theory is that nobody dies, they’re just high on lorazepam and floating. Is it based on any Easter eggs on the show? No. Is it going to happen? Also no. I’m just here for a good time.

Yes, the stock market may be tanking and our national security apparatus has never been more vulnerable and we're on the verge of both economic collapse and war, but it was all worth it to keep pronouns out of email signatures.