#nihilismAndTechnology
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
October 1, 2026 at 6:41 PM
This is actually hell, right?
September 26, 2026 at 5:24 PM
AI is being used to...

-Facilitate online scams
-Process health insurance claims, leading to wrongful denials
-Price gouge customers via surveillance pricing
-Set higher car insurance premiums using personal data

The dangers of AI aren’t in some far-off future.

They're already here.
September 26, 2026 at 7:50 AM
September 24, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Really good Bloomberg package on the AI data centre impact on urban heat island effects in the US, with exhaust heat raising temps up to 4ºF (2.25ºC) higher up to 1/3 mile away from the data centre. One more driver to 70% US opposition to data centres.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
September 23, 2026 at 4:28 PM
i gave mark zuckerberg’s ai access to my bank accounts, email, and docs. i am very smart
September 23, 2026 at 6:44 AM
Foucault: "Society is a panopticon."
Zuckerberg: "But what if we put a panopticon in every cell of the panopticon?"
#NihilismAndTechnology
Really wild stuff from Meta:
“every Muse user gets a better personal agent as we all collectively use the product and help the model understand the intricacies of human life”
September 22, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Wow they're really going to great lengths to make AI Doomerism seem legit...
#NihilismAndTechnology
so we just nearly started a war with china (a nuclear state) because of genAI use
September 19, 2026 at 9:30 AM
New from 404 Media: humans are reading ChatGPT conversations.

OpenAI has hired an army of contractors who read real ChatGPT users' chats. I've seen internal docs, the review system, and real user prompts. Sometimes they contain very personal and sensitive information www.404media.co/inside-proje...
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 M...
www.404media.co
September 14, 2026 at 10:04 PM
AI will kill us because the data centers AI requires are accelerating climate change. But weirdly that's not the discussion AI Doomerists are interested in having...
#NihilismAndTechnology
Anyway, it is Day 7 of the Be Specific Challenge, where I beg any reporter talking to these tech CEOs about how, exactly, AI is going to make us extinct in a year. If they dreamscape 50 hypotheticals, ask them to be specific, because they are doing a creative writing exercise for money, not policy.
September 14, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Very cool that Bari Weiss has turned 60 Minutes from a serious news program into an Doomerist propaganda machine for AI companies...
#NihilismAndTechnology
New correspondent Ross Douthat says "no story looms larger than the latest developments in artificial intelligence." The technology and its impacts will be a major focus of 60 Minutes reporting.
September 14, 2026 at 6:44 AM
“As a result of the Trump administration’s deregulation spree and attacks on renewable energy, the wave of new AI data centers is increasingly powered by dirty energy that can impact Americans’ health even if they don’t live near a data center…”
Trump is giving data centers a pass to pollute
The EPA is “thinking first about industry’s needs.”
www.theverge.com
September 13, 2026 at 8:03 AM
"Yes, we believe AI will end humanity. No, we will not stop developing AI. So, you better invest in our AI company so you can be one of the 'good ones'..."
#NihilismAndTechnology
And then there’s this response from the alignment science lead at Anthropic
September 9, 2026 at 6:31 AM
"School students’ reading scores have plunged across the developed world, as widespread access to AI and social media has harmed teenagers’ ability to concentrate, said a newly published international survey."
Reading scores plummet as ‘digital distraction’ harms students
Widespread access to AI and social media has set back educational attainment across the world, study shows
giftarticle.ft.com
September 8, 2026 at 12:37 PM
On the one hand, academics can use AI to solve problems. On the other hand, the tech companies behind the AI can try to blackmail academics into unethical behavior...
#NihilismAndTechnology
this story is crazy. also, looks like academia's not so obsolete after all.
September 8, 2026 at 12:33 PM
The worst part is that everyone the author interviews knows that AI isn't a good solution, but they're either addicted to it, or because the problems it was meant to solve have only gotten worse, AI is treated as an even more attractive "solution". What a nightmare...
#NihilismAndTechnology
September 7, 2026 at 9:04 AM
September 4, 2026 at 7:06 AM
Breaking the law once makes you a criminal.
Breaking the law as a business model makes you of "national interest"...
#NihilismAndTechnology
"The Justice Department told a Manhattan federal court that it was in the national interest for the judge to find that OpenAI did not violate copyright law when it used articles by The New York Times and other publishers to develop artificial intelligence systems."

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/t...
Justice Dept. Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Suit (Gift Article)
The department argued in a court filing that OpenAI legally used articles by The New York Times to develop A.I., adding that national security depended on American tech dominance.
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2026 at 6:51 AM
In a short span of time we went from people speculating that companies were listening to their conversations to companies offering listening to your conversations as a feature.
Plaud is launching AI earbuds
An AI wearable, but for your ears.
www.theverge.com
August 27, 2026 at 6:28 PM
We need AI to protect our kids, because they're in constant danger of being stalked, by people using AI...
#NihilismAndTechnology
A consistent pitch by the makers of ai wearables is that they solve the problem of getting to know your child. www.businessinsider.com/parents-brea...
August 25, 2026 at 6:39 AM
New: An "expert witness" in a $61 million lawsuit over an industrial explosion that killed three people and destroyed 200 homes used ChatGPT to write his report for the court.

He prompted ChatGPT to "show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding"

www.404media.co/show-how-3m-...
August 17, 2026 at 6:15 PM
‚There currently is no replacement lined up, suggesting shifting priorities at the company. According to the FT‘s sources, Bakalar was the only remaining dedicated ethicist at the company.‘ 👻
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI's "Head of Ethics" Suddenly Leaves Company Under Mysterious Circumstances
Chloé Bakalar left her post as OpenAI's ethics lead in July, less than a year after joining the company, without any announcement.
futurism.com
August 16, 2026 at 12:13 PM
“The litigation has revealed a clear pattern: Uber’s lawyers scour women’s private communications, medical records, therapy notes …They grill the women about those issues, their sex lives and their behavior on the night of the incident.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/b...
Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’
The ride-hailing giant promised to handle legal claims “in a way that is best for the survivor.” Its lawyers are pursuing a far more aggressive strategy.
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2026 at 8:08 AM
The Mayo Clinic's AI assistant has serious privacy problems, an extremely high error rate, and a team that manipulated data to lie about the tool. After raising concerns, the research director and AI compliance lead was fired.

The future is bright! futurism.com/health-medic...
July 23, 2026 at 8:12 AM