It's actually crazy that American capitalism invented a whole new type of elite impunity: build something that is capable and autonomous enough to literally do crimes, but the only reason they're not crimes is because a human didn't do them!

Holy shit. Bombshell reporting from Deepa and colleagues at Reuters, per this story:

Thanks Google!

Had fun digging into the craziest AI story to date with Krystal and Saagar for Breaking Points today!

The AI battle in New York 12 isn’t over. GOP nominee Caroline Schinkel is embracing the tech in the general election against Micah Lasher. (Yes, this is real. Sound on)

AI companies are famously unprofitable. But the biggest mistake the bubble crowd makes is assuming AI products lose money too. Ironically, no one's done more to undermine the bubble case than its most famous proponent.

gift: www.wsj.com/business/me...

Not surprised in the slightest, but example 1,000 in the abuse of executive authority to further entrench power.

OpenAI is tripling down on an untenable position. The company's chief lobbyist Chris Lehane was one of the architects of Leading the Future and its president and cofounder is the biggest donor. LtF is an OpenAI super PAC. Full stop. x.com/tyler_johns...

I appreciate Beth stating up front how bad the situation is, but I can't help but feel like her prescription is out of step with the diagnosis.

New piece: as AI companies (w/ one notable exception) prove themselves to be eager collaborators in building an authoritarian nightmare state, employees are getting organized to resist it. But they're racing against their own effort to render themselves obsolete. bsky.app/profile/gar...

But in the (AI generated?) image they included for the ad about people over profit, it shows the money *outweighing* the people! The combination of functionally infinite money and crippling incompetence is a bit surprising, but not something that will necessarily last.

Genuinely shocking how fast the admin's pivoted on AI safety. www.wsj.com/world/china...

Thoughts and prayers for Marc, who must be experiencing unprecedented levels of concern. x.com/pmarca/stat...

Big tech largely staved off unionization efforts using generous pay and benefits. But as leadership is increasingly out of step with what the rank and file want, organizing is starting to look more important.

Important new development. AI company employees have an enormous amount of power — far more than they realize. Absent legislation, AI co worker power is one of the key levers to shaping what the industry does and doesn't do. x.com/WIRED/statu...

The term "artificial intelligence" gets a lot of hate — much of it deserved. But there is a deep connection between many of the things under the AI label nowadays, despite what a lot of critics want you to believe.

In 50 years, if they're still a thing, AP US classes will write whole essays on this primary source document.

Really good piece on Sama's COIs. His tenure seems more precarious than (well, almost) ever. Gift: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/cha...

Speaking of books that will piss off Silicon Valley elites, my book, Obsolete: The AI Industry's Trillion-Dollar Race to Replace You—and How to Stop It, is also avail for preorder (l*nk in bio).

Nothing like responding to allegations of fascism with a speech ban. Also incredible free advertising for the book and real time evidence for its thesis packaged together. Preordered. x.com/sf_mills/st...

The AI industry is trying to posture as responsible stewards of a powerful technology, all while it hires crypto and sports gambling lobbyists to fight exceptionally hard and dirty against any regulation (from my forthcoming book Obsolete.)

Kudon is best-known for his efforts to rapidly legalize and get tax breaks for sports betting companies. His law firm's webpage proudly links an article from the NYT describing his role, with the title "Cigars, Booze, Money: How a Lobbying Blitz Made Sports Betting Ubiquitous."

The "American Innovators Network" — an a16z backed lobbying coalition that has been aggressively lobbying to block state AI regulations to regulate catastrophic risk and protect kids online — recently hired Jeremy Kudon as its new executive director.

For more on the current fight: www.theverge.com/policy/9092... And here's more from the book:

I cover Section 702, how AI enables truly unprecedented and terrifying levels of mass surveillance, and what to do about it in my forthcoming book Obsolete: orbooks.com/catalog/obs...

The legal authority enabling mass surveillance of Americans expires next week. GOP has a 2 vote majority and some are wavering. If every Dem in the House unified, they could extract meaningful concessions, like closing the data broker loophole. So I asked them all. 🧵

Sam Altman said he regrets calling the New Yorker profile "incendiary," but never edited his blog post. Now the SF DA is using the same term in a call for deescalation that implicitly frames journalism as a public safety threat. x.com/GerritD/sta...

Dario Amodei has made some of the strongest claims of AI's inevitability. Spoiler: it's not. We can stop the industry and redirect AI toward solving our problems, not rendering us obsolete. Book preorders just went live yesterday and will ship in May! orbooks.com/catalog/obs...