“We are not working on building an AI agent. We are working to protect Signal from the invasion of AI agents that threaten privacy and that are being implemented in irresponsible ways”

“It will not be possible for apps like Signal to provide strong privacy guarantees (…) if device-makers and OS developers insist on puncturing the metaphoric blood-brain barrier between apps and the OS” #tech #Ia

AI agents promise to “put our brain in a jar while a bundle of AI systems does our living for us”, writes Meredith Whittaker. “But as in fairy tales, so in life: relying on magical fixes leads to trouble,” she warns

It's Signal. It's worth using. Good interview with @Mer__edith https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-09-14/signal-president-meredith-whittaker-in-technology-its-way-too-easy-for-marketing-to-replace-substance-thats-whats-happened-with-telegram.html h/t #signal

“A fundamental shift is needed in how we approach the development and deployment of AI agents,” argues Meredith Whittaker. “Basic lessons in privacy and digital security are being discarded,” she warns

El lado del mal - Entrevista con Meredith Whittaker, Presidente de Signal. Transcripción y traducción al Español elladodelmal.com/2025/09/entr... #Signal #Privacidad #AIEthics #AI #IA #InteligenciaArtificial #Privacy #AgenticAI

“AI agents can be coaxed into revealing sensitive data they have access to or tricked by hackers into taking harmful actions—from extracting sensitive code to creating havoc in homes by activating smart appliances.” Happily, it’s not too late says @meredithmeredith.bsky.social @economist.com 🧪

El lado del mal - An Interview with Meredith Whittaker (transcript) www.elladodelmal.com/2025/09/an-i... #interview #Signal #privacy #AI #Ethics #AIEthics #Messaging #AgenticAI

📣 NEW -- In The Economist, discussing the privacy perils of AI agents and what AI companies and operating systems need to do--NOW--to protect Signal and much else! www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

"the path currently being taken towards agentic AI leads to an elimination of privacy and security at the application layer"

📣 NEW -- In The Economist, discussing the privacy perils of AI agents and what AI companies and operating systems need to do--NOW--to protect Signal and much else! www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Signal Secure Backups are here 🙌

One extra AI Safety tidbit for this morning: Anthropic's Claude refused to transcribe this passage by Allen Wood (h/t @hilzoy.bsky.social) because it violated their safety protocols.

To explain this photo a bit more: back then, most programming was done on paper (sometimes on special coding sheets), then punched onto cards/tape, then fed into a mainframe to be tested (& if necessary debugged). Counterintuitively, needing LESS computer time was the mark of a better programmer!

I spoke with @histoftech.bsky.social about AI hype, how tools are used to amass power and reshape systems, expertise, and more! www.fastcompany.com/91384078/not...

Most (good) solutions are proposed not by newcomers, but by people who understand an issue deeply. There are exceptions, of course, but generally, if a solution seems "obvious", it's because you don't understand the problem as well as you think. 🧵

I really dislike how science has started calling almost any fancy computational technique AI. 🧪 The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs. That is *pure fantasy*. Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.

Data, striving to represent, can never keep up

New Sunday Times profile in which I succeed, like a fencer in a 2hr marathon match, in fending off Qs abt my personal life & consistently turning focus back to my work & ideas. (Contra the interviewer's claim, many ppl do know me! They're called friends, & you know who you are ❤️) archive.is/BtZD0

the roll out age verification in the UK has clearly been devastating (clear examples of censorship & discrimination, & they’re scanning young people’s faces) but if platforms are also now blocking VPN workarounds that’s the end of the ability to “freely travel” online

This is *WILD*...Security researchers hacked Google Gemini using a poisoned Google Calendar invitation, causing the AI system to turn on a variety of smart home devices.

“So ensuring [privacy] in a world where the authority to know us has been ceded to private actors who may or may not cooperate with one or another regime, who may choose to use that data to manipulate or to harm us or to exclude us from access to resources, is existentially important.”

I was confused recently by an article that claimed Moore's Law was driving tech innovation, seemingly turning something descriptive into something normative, but that makes more sense when you take hype into account (hyped growth = investment from people who believe the hype = R&D)...

Gemeinsam mit Publix und @algorithmwatch.org laden wir ein zum Gespräch mit @meredithmeredith.bsky.social, Präsidentin des Messengers Signal, über die Frage, wie wir Technologie wieder stärker an menschlichen Bedürfnissen ausrichten können – vor allem beim Schutz unserer Privatsphäre. ➡️ t.ly/lIzA3

Anyway just saying

everyone should listen to @meredithmeredith.bsky.social more techcrunch.com/2025/03/07/s...

What--and I say this with my chest--the hell are we doing here people

This, and it doesn't work. Now, it is possible to address the harms of mass engagement-driven platforms. But doing so requires pushing back on the core biz models of the platforms, not tinkering on the edges w surveillant 'solutions' that increase surveillance w/o addressing the root cause.

thanks anne—and we're not done. if you're considering subscribing to WIRED and still on the fence, this year, we also dropped paywalls for FOIA-based reporting (and some guides). so, here is a 🧵 of some unpaywalled articles (which includes some of our most important work)!

Wired rules. Just an incredible group of journalists who are completely meeting the moment. And you can subscribe for $2 a month, which is insane www.wired.com/story/a-new-...

Kinda clear why Reagan-era pearl clutchers didn't want the kids listening...

In my opinion, this is the best version of War Pigs www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4nM...

This the context -> Meredith Whitaker at SXSW in the perfect summary of why agentic AI should be a top line concern: youtu.be/jY8cd2YMdI4?...

This is the exact agentic AI privacy disaster that Meredith Whitaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social described at SXSW:

New from 404 Media: a startup is selling data hacked from peoples' computers to debt collectors, divorce lawyers, more. People already hacked, now being re-vicitmized by startup. I used the tool, found peoples' personal addresses. “This is so gross and predatory.” www.404media.co/a-startup-is...

🎧New podcast: Signal president @meredithmeredith.bsky.social Whittaker in a conversation with Evelyn Austin of @bitsoffreedom.bsky.social about Signal, privacy and AI. Hosted by Nuria Ribas Costa and @dedependance.eu 👉 aboutsignal.com/videos-podca... #signal #signalapp #signalmessenger #privacy

Yes, I did sound the alarm on agentic AI's privacy threat, and rightly so. observer.com/2025/07/sign...

This--that Signal would rather exit a market than undermine the core security and privacy technology that protects the people who use Signal--always still holds. We don't change our principles based on jurisdiction, legislative attack, or time of day...

In a world dominated by tech bros, Meredith Whittaker has the academic muscle and the wit to question their power. “There’s a willingness to believe the hype, a willingness to fake it, and an unwillingness to ask basic questions that could dismantle hype narratives.” @meredithmeredith.bsky.social

Attended a great talk yesterday at @dedependance.eu hosted by Nuria Ribas Costa with @meredithmeredith.bsky.social, Evelyn Austin (@bitsoffreedom.bsky.social) about Signal, AI and Europe's "Big Tech Initiatives" (amongst other things).

Thank you for joining us on our evening with @meredithmeredith.bsky.social. Together with Evelyn Austin, CEO of @bitsoffreedom.bsky.social they shared valuable insights on encryption, surveillance, and AI governance, exploring how we can build technology that truly serves the public interest.

So happy to be joining Burda Media's board of directors! I love a steep learning curve, and this one--schooling up on media business models & opportunities to (re)shape media's relationship to tech--couldn't be more exciting & consequential. Thrilled to contribute ❤️ www.burda.com/en/news/mere...

How to be classy, how to be cute, how to actually walk the walk... Love you for this, @cloudflare.social ❤️ www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/t...

A lot of the signatories to this letter are in the Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence department, and other scientific fields. They supply links to papers that support their concerns.

Worth a watch: Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.

A big humble thank you to ‪@time.com ‬and @billyperrigo.bsky.social for featuring Signal and me in your roundup of 2025’s most influential companies. An honor to serve alongside an incredible group of people backed by a rad movement ❤️ time.com/collections/...

Hype, Sustainability, and the Price of the Bigger-is-Better Paradigm in AI arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160 #artificialintelligence #ethics #sustainability #hype