A common comment on my videos about LLM "hallucinations" is that this isn't as much of a problem because LLMs "cite their sources" now. This is a category error. Citing a source implies it was consulted. LLMs do not consult, even with RAG. A citation might be *included* but it's not *consulted*.

I argue in this piece that Big Tech is creating its own digital empire through what I call the Silicon Valley Effect law.stanford.edu/publications... Major AI companies are shaping the transnational legal order by lobbying, direct influence and influencing regulatory discourse.

Looking forward to citing this in follow up writing on the Silicon Valley Effect (see pinned post)

Thread that scholars should also read:

Read ISP Executive Director @chinmayiarun.bsky.social's new article, published by the @knightcolumbia.org: "The Right to Access Foreign Communicative Infrastructure" knightcolumbia.org/content/the-...

New essay about why the right to receive ideas should evolve into the right to access communicative infrastructure (changing what counts as burdening speech in TikTok v. Garland). I am grateful to @katygb.bsky.social @jameeljaffer.bsky.social and @knightcolumbia.org for the opportunity and feedback.

"logic of Musk’s empire is total. X shapes the discourse. Grok automates it. Grokipedia rewrites the historical record. Starlink can deliver it all, everywhere, to everyone. Each layer reinforces the others. It’s not about winning arguments in the public sphere. It’s about building a replacement."

They plan to appeal but this is an interesting development

Looking forward to giving this talk at Tilburg (from London) next week www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/school...

Here we go: I argue that in the digital age, the right to access foreign ideas should be accompanied by a (qualified) right to access foreign communicative infrastructure. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Sometimes it’s convenient to articulate an unwillingness to be regulated as geopolitical conflict.

Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”

Really looking forward to discussing my work on the Silicon Valley Effect at Science Po later this month. Details below if you’ll be in Paris and want to come say hello. www.sciencespo.fr/ecole-droit/...

Apropos of nothing I’ll soon be sharing a draft of my essay on the right to access foreign communicative infrastructure

Join us next Wednesday for a webinar on “Governing AI Beyond the Global North: Emerging Frameworks in the Majority World” with Carlos Affonso Souza, Jhalak M. Kakkar, and Paolo S. Tamase! 🗓️ Wednesday, January 21 🕛 10:00–11:30 AM EST 📍 Online DM for Zoom info

The European Commission issued X a fine of €120 million for breaching its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), reports Ramsha Jahangir. Infractions include deceptive design of X's ‘blue checkmark,' lack of transparency of its ad repository, and failure to provide access to researchers.

As many know, @bjard.bsky.social and I have been drafting a Technology Law coursebook for a few years. We've used it to teach classes at three institutions, including Yale Law School, and others have used chapters in their techlaw classes. We're excited to share the current version more broadly!

In this drought of academic job postings, here's an amazing position for junior faculty in AI Policy and Media at Northeastern. Come join the intellectual community in Boston!!! northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...

This series features high among my reasons for missing Boston

Meta designed its teen safety products to be ineffective and rarely used, outright blocking feature tests that might trigger users to spend less time on the platform.

In 2019 Meta did causal research looking at the effects of randomly asking Facebook users to stop using the platform for a month. After the first week of the study, results showed that leaving the platform was good for people’s mental health. Meta then shut the project down.

I was honored to get to do this. law.yale.edu/yls-today/ya...

I don’t enjoy being right about these things, but I did write that the Silicon Valley Effect would eventually overpower even strong jurisdictions law.stanford.edu/publications...

A weirdly self aware name for an LLM? www.inc.com/maria-jose-g...

The future of news?

Reminder that Monday is the submission deadline for the Accountable AI Research Conference, at the Wharton School in Philadelphia on Feb. 6. For researchers on AI governance, responsibility, safety, ethics, or policy, don't miss this opportunity! ai-analytics.wharton.upenn.edu/wharton-acco...

📢 Apply now for the 2026–27 ISP Resident Fellowship at Yale Law School! We encourage projects on AI and the digital public sphere—free speech, content moderation, privacy, antitrust, and algorithmic governance. More info: law.yale.edu/isp/join-us#...

All true. He was so very inspiring and prescient. If you’ve ever asked me why I believe that people with power may choose to sacrifice it to end violence - I learned that from Conor in 2008 when he showed us all how. It was such a privilege to be his student- I’m still trying to earn it.

Every time you ask ChatGPT to proofread your email you quietly borrow from the labour of millions. In this sense, cultural production has already become a planetary co-operative. Updating its funding mechanism accordingly is necessary: it is time to socialise AI’s inputs. @faustogernone.bsky.social

The entire point of Elon's takeover of Twitter, @mcmegan.bsky.social, was to tilt the playing field, which he has done. The whole point of @bsky.app was not to create an alternative space, but an *alternative system* underpinning it so that a future Elon couldn't do that again.

Court clash between Meta and NSO ends in $168m defeat for spyware firm

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our annual Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference! We’re grateful to the incredible scholars, discussants, and attendees who made this past weekend such a valuable exchange of ideas on speech, technology, and democracy. #FESC2025

A transnational approach for a transnational company. I’ll be following this case with interest.

No great surprise but it seems officially that the AI Liability Directive is now about as lively as Mr Praline's Norwegian Blue.

I couldn’t agree more. You wouldn’t believe the amount of pushback this framing got just a year ago carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Such a treat to visit Tulane Law and discuss the Silicon Valley Effect with Matheusz Grochowski’s class. Until next time, NOLA.

Classic academic life. You wake at an ungodly hour because there’s so much to do, you can’t sleep. By the end of the day, you’re walking down a street in New Orleans listening to busker perform a gorgeous electro swingy cover of Nina Simone.

French publishers, authors and composers are taking Meta (formerly Facebook) to court in Paris for allegedly using copyrighted work without permission from creators or their publishers in order to develop its generative artificial intelligence (AI) model. 👇 #BookSky

ISP Executive Director @chinmayiarun.bsky.social published a must-read book review in @lawfare.bsky.social : ‘Data Colonialism’ and the Political Economy of Big Tech: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/data...

many thanks to @chinmayiarun.bsky.social for her very thoughtful engagement with @ulises-mejias.bsky.social and my recent book #DataGrab. The review just came out in LawFare: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/data...

This week at @yaleisp.bsky.social

While the U.S. law banning ByteDance's TikTok is on hold (forever?), America's top downloaded iPhone apps include: #4 Temu, owned by a Chinese company 8. TikTok 9. Gauth, the AI homework aide by ByteDance 10. Shein (China origin) 12. Lemon8 by ByteDance 13. CapCut by ByteDance (SensorTower data)

My review of Ulises Mejias and Nick Couldry’s book “Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back” for @lawfare.bsky.social www.lawfaremedia.org/article/data...

Looking forward to my short trip to DC next Friday for the Georgetown Journal of International Law symposium where I’ll discuss the Silicon Valley Effect and the global south. Imagine if the cherry trees decide spring is here 🤞🏾

Are you going to #SXSW? Don't miss my panel on Saturday morning! schedule.sxsw.com/2025/events/...

I was going to say that DeepSeek making $200 million/year on >500% profit margins is almost as big a deal as its model performance to training cost improvement. Then I saw that's "theoretical." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

At the Institute for Ethics in AI, we’re looking to hire a postdoc fellow in law working on AI ​law/regulation together with the fabulous Oriel College, starting ​this fall (2-3 ys). Oxford will announce the details in the coming weeks but please share with people who might be interested

Gathering the influencers is a TikTok strategy that Meta is adopting (based on research for my most recent paper)

The Silicon Valley Effect. Admittedly even I didn’t imagine it would go this far this soon, but if this reordering of tech regulation doesn’t convince states that they can’t regulate transnational companies as if they’re domestic, nothing will. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.....