Kristin Toussaint

@ktoussaint

staff writer @ Fast Company / words in Teen Vogue, Vox, Vice, Metro, Boston.com she/her WGAEast member ktoussaint@fastcompany.com

496 Following426 Followers287 Posts

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Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· 9d

screenshot of a Tweet that reads: i'm not falling for that hot take. that's clearly someone with a fetish for getting yelled at. i refuse to participate in that kind of perversion

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· 15d

I actually don't know how I would react if someone used AI to talk to me in person. I would be tempted to just walk away. Also, it's fine to not know things in a conversation. If you're unfamiliar with a book, ask them, let the real human you are in front of explain it to you!

Screenshot of an article that reads: Niharika Abbaraju uses artificial intelligence in her work as a cancer researcher. But when she leaves the lab, the tool becomes her conversation coach. ChatGPT helps her draft pickup lines for dating apps and icebreakers for parties.

She'll even, at times, fire it up to formulate a response to the person standing next to her. When the conversation shifts to an unfamiliar book or article, for instance, Abbaraju will call up an AI summary. The vibe she's going for: "Like, I read sometimes," she says.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· 28d

seeing bad air is so wild. the view out of one of our office windows just yesterday versus today

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· 28d

this idea that every action or pursuit has to 'make economic sense' is a plague (this is a quote from a man who has used AI to publish ~445 books) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/t...

Screenshot of an article that reads: "Almost everyone I know says they want to write a book," he said. "It's a very romantic concept to sit down and toil, page after page, paragraph after paragraph, but it doesn't make economic sense."

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 30

what do you mean a *loss* to the left???????

Screenshot of headline that reads: House Dems fear another big loss to the left in Colorado

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 30

Though there was once a group of HR employees assigned to certain warehouses, Amazon workers now say they may not encounter even a single HR person who remains on site for their entire shift

"The HR desk is always empty," says Italo Medelius, an Amazon worker based in North Carolina. "You never see anybody there. I've seen that there's a line of people waiting for HR, but the guy never shows up. The last time that I tried to talk to HR, there were maybe five people waiting in line, and a manager came out and said, 'The HR person isn't here. He only works from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.'"

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 25

did a data center make up this holiday

screenshot of text that reads: Artificial Intelligence (AI) touches every aspect of our modern lives, at home, at work, and on the go. This technology is America's greatest economic and societal asset, and it's being built right in the Heart of America. For National AI Appreciation Day on July 16, I would like to suggest highlighting critical AI technology that is Made in America."

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 17

would you guess that this is my husband describing when he saw a cockroach

Screenshot of a message that reads: When I looked at him...it was like a movie and the camera zoomed right into his face. His eyes went so wide and then SMACK. It's such a vivid moment for me

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 16

...I think people would be happier to have scarce Colorado River water going to active farmland vs to a data center, no? www.kpbs.org/news/environ...

Screenshot of article that reads: In the suit, the developer said they have leased 160 acres of active farmland to the south of the proposed complex, which uses roughly the same amount of water that the data center project needs. IVCM said it plans on letting that farmland go dormant, or "fallow," arguing that would offset its water needs.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 11

the group chat has been updated

a screenshot of a group chat called "knick toks" with an image of a basketball that says "knicks"

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jun 10

love to get conflicting information right from the company chatbot

A screenshot of a chatbot with Sweetgreen. The chatbot says "I will attach a screenshot of the link shared and we can confirm you that our new summer bowl is vegan"
Customer responds "What new summer bowl is vegan? None of the items in that image are marked vegan"
Chatbot says: "Thank you for your understanding and patience! You are correct, the Summer Tomato Panzanella salad as it is currently prepared is not completely vegan due to ingredients like feta cheese, garlic breadcrumbs, and the tomato vinaigrette dressing containing mayo (which has eggs.) However, you can absolutely make it vegan by modifying or removing those ingredients that you are sensitive to."

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· May 22

like, did you do site:wired.com ....because I think I found it easily

a screenshot of a Google search where the query is "site:wired.com Ouagadougou google search" and Wired articles from 4 hours ago and from February 2010 come up in the results.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· May 8

inequality.org/article/bill...

A graph that shows Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $224 billion, while Amazon's company median pay is $37,181

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 20

last night I saw MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee (amazing), and I looked up the set list to check one cover they played, and saw that the setlist posted on a wiki included this note—which really happened!

Under the setlist mention of the song "Wristwatch" is the note: (Interrupted by an asshole couple who wouldn't sit at an all-seated acoustic when asked politely to)

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 15

oh, follow up thought:

screenshot of text that reads: actually the Town would be better as a musical

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 15

sent this story about a Boston Globe reporter with an accent everyone loves to my (from Massachusetts) husband and somehow that led him to this thought www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/s...

screenshot of text that reads: how come they haven't made a broadway musical of the departed

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 13

if you missed some of the comments before they were apparently turned off

Screenshot of a comment that reads: Exactly. I'd wish them all the happiness in the world if their wealth didn't come at the expense of basic worker rights and benefits, ruining small businesses, and the environmental destruction caused by their data centers

Screenshot of a comment that reads: So, they've donated a couple billion. It sounds impressive, but it's about 1% of their fortune and less than the annual interest. In the mean time, a hefty percentage of Amazon employees rely on Medicaid and other government assistance to make ends meet. But Lauren Sanchez thinks billionaires like her husband shouldn't feel guilty, but have more fun.
Okay, then."

Screenshot of a comment that reads: Someone has to be happy. Why not everybody else, like the 90% who are left behind in this economy? Their happiness is not because they worked so hard to get there. It's because our tax system has been rigged and distorted so that people like Jeff Bezos can take a salary of $80,000, which keeps his taxes down, then take low-interest loans using his wealth as collateral to fund his lavish lifestyle, and take a business tax deduction on it. Low business and capital gains taxes, too. The system is totally rigged. If I lived in a multi bazillion dollar mansion on an exclusive island where I could wake up to watch an ocean sunrise, work out with a personal trainer and traipse the planet in yachts, private airplanes and spaceships, I might enjoy it too. The wealth inequality in this country is beyond obscene. This article doesn't make it feel better by trying to whitewash it.

Screenshot of a comment that reads: Long ago, when I was young, rich people were not discussed all that much. The United States was a middle-class society, and Americans seemed to care more about the lives of regular folks.

In the 1980s, after Regan got elected, society started to pay more attention to the rich, implicitly assuming that they were more interesting and important.

They are not more interesting and important,

I went to medical school at UCLA, where we had two special wards for the rich and famous. In a hospital gown, these people are indistinguishable from the rest of us ,

I wish this woman no bad luck, but I do not think that she should be profiled in a newspaper of record.

This country would be better off if we paid less attention to the rich and more attention to people who are trying to make the US and the world better.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 7

I watched Pearl Jam's Unplugged the other night and I haven't been able to stop thinking about this rat long sleeve / sweatpants combo. I genuinely want this outfit

An image of a drummer at a drum set, in a black long sleeve shirt with images of white rats on the arm, and black pants with white rats on the side of the legs

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Feb 18

thinking, for no reason at all..., of this paragraph from The Dream Hotel

Screenshot of text that reads: That they have committed no crime is beside the point. In any case crime is relative, its boundaries shifting in service of the people in power. Once upon a time, adultery and miscegenation used to be crimes, now they aren't. Burning flags and collecting rainwater were once legal; now they aren't. A crime isn't the same as a moral transgression. The law delineates the former, never the latter. I have done nothing wrong, Sara thinks. It's only that the line of legality has moved, and now I'm on the wrong side of it.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Dec 16

Screenshot of text that reads: Either we eradicate the billionaires or we will march steadily into dictatorship of capital so strong that everything else means little. Total spending on the last presidential election was about $5B, all in, on all sides. Ken Griffin is worth $50 billion, and Bloomberg and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and the Waltons and the Google guys are each worth more than $100 billion, and Larry Ellison and Bezos and Zuckerberg are each worth more than $200 billion, and Musk is worth more than $300 billion. Of the 330 million people in America, these are the ones who will decide everything. Do you like that? Well, it doesn't matter. You don't get to decide. You don't have $5 billion to buy a presidential election. These people do. For another $10 billion you could pay for every single Congressional election, as well. Ken Griffin could buy all of the above and still have enough to buy all the rest of Basquiat's paintings, and hand them on his mansion wall, and cock his head like a golden retriever as he stars at them and wonders what they all mean.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Nov 20

anyway, can't wait for the economy to crash because of glorified predictive text that is continually wrong

Screenshot of Google AI overview that reads: The last time January 2nd was on a Friday was in 2021. This is because January 1st, 2021 was a Friday, making January 2nd the day after, a Saturday.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Nov 20

oop, but there it is (from the NYT opinion article)

screenshot that reads: "Whichever way you look at it, the potential payoffs of A.I. adoption are staggering—for the economy, for social sectors, and, of course, for investors. That could not be said for the majority of the big historical bubbles, such as the tulip mania of the early 17th century.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Nov 20

Screenshot that reads: The benefits of economic growth. Increase in income and wages: As the economy grows, businesses tend to experience greater profits which allows for them to offer higher wages. This however is not always the case, as businesses may choose to keep higher profits as opposed to offering higher wages.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Nov 20

"But what if the bubble is an inevitable part of developing & adopting a revolutionary tool that will fundamentally improve productivity & growth?" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/o... OK, but who benefits? Productivity has already been growing. So has the "economy." & they left the working class behind

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Oct 17

Refinery29's Money Diaries used to dominate online discourse. Many twitter threads! The New Yorker wrote about them in 2017! They spurred a whole subreddit! Now the past 2 (after 2 weeks with no posts) are Klarna ads ..thatno one is even paying enough attention to to write a homepage headline for

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jul 29

very apt day to get this fact from my @usafacts.org calendar...

A picture of a fact-a-day calendar that reads: "Between 2018 and 2021, heat-related deaths in the US increased 59%"

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jul 22

can't believe I've been missing out on quality ads like this by using an ad blocker

A screenshot of an article on Curbed, in the middle of which is an ad block that shows a cartoon drawing of a cat peeing accompanied by the text "Your home smells like cat pee? Try This" with an arrow to a button that says "learn more"

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· May 6

cool cool cool cool cool www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/t...

Screenshot of an article that reads: These systems use mathematical probabilities to guess the best response, not a strict set of rules defined by human engineers. So they make a certain number of mistakes. "Despite our best efforts, they will always hallucinate," said Amr Awadallah, the chief executive of Vectara, a start-up that builds A.I. tools for businesses, and a former Google executive. "That will never go away."

Screenshot of an article that reads: For more than two years, companies like OpenAI and Google steadily improved their A.I. systems and reduced the frequency of these errors. But with the use of new reasoning systems, errors are rising. The latest OpenAI systems hallucinate at a higher rate than the company's previous system, according to the company's own tests.

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Apr 16

my Otter account is somehow so attuned to me that when someone said "Tuscon" it transcribed it as "Toussaint"

screenshot of text that reads "Our Elantra, our Toussaint"

Kristin Toussaint@ktoussaint· Jan 13

since I updated to iOS 18, my phone counts all the time that it is turned completely off as screen time. how can I get this to stop??