@keshaunpearson.bsky.social has fought corporate extraction before. He knows how companies turn neighborhoods like his into their dumping grounds. And he knows how to fight - and win.

In 2013, taxi drivers began noticing something unusual: unmarked, black cars were cutting them off in taxi lines and picking up their passengers. Little did they know, those black cars were the start of Uber — and that it wasn’t just going to destroy the taxi industry, but wage labor as we knew it.

Tech execs are doing everything they can to make the power they’re consolidating feel inevitable - as though there’s nothing we can do to stop it. So how do we counter that? We go deep, and we go networked.

For the third episode of REAL Resistance, @alixdunn.com speaks with four incredible organizers and researchers that are fighting back against tech’s struggle for power in their countries.

Governments across the Global Majority are trying to tackle tough problems with tech. But instead of creating the oft-promised efficiencies, these tools are delivering deeper inequities–while making them harder to see and challenge.

Tech companies are making AI the front door to the internet—and it's distorting news, language, and knowledge as we know it. For our first episode of REAL Resistance, @alixdunn.com spoke with @klaudia.bsky.social, @aliyabhatia.bsky.social, and Yanick Kemayou about how AI warps the world’s info.

Welcome to REAL Resistance: a series of conversations produced in collaboration with @REAL ML, a global network of experts and advocates building movements to challenge the material harms of technology.

Tech should be designed to serve our collective well-being. But today, a handful of billionaires pull the strings that shape our lives. To change that, we need to understand how these systems work, what a better technological future could look like, and how we can build it together.

"We look at it with horror, seeing armed conflict and violence spreading across the world, where they see it as business opportunities." @marwasf.bsky.social speaks with @alixdunn.com and @docmattmoudi.bsky.social about how tech executives view AI-powered warfare with dollar signs in their eyes.

They discuss the demands of their joint statement, what it takes for public dissent to motivate private action, and what future we can (and must!) build towards. "What if tech companies built tools that were considered public goods? What if they weren't private?" @docmattmoudi.bsky.social

“ It's saying mass killing or mass occupation is the point. If you are using Palestinians or Lebanese or Iranians, whoever it may be, almost as a testing ground for your new technology, when there is no accountability for mass killing or mass crimes, why would you stop them?”

@alixdunn.com is going live this Friday, June 5th at 12pm ET with @daminis.bsky.social, Director of Amnesty Tech at @amnesty.org , and @gregmepstein.bsky.social , Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and MIT, to unpack this moment.

The US military and Big Tech drive a huge portion of funding for academia and the scientific community. This enables warmongers and tech executives to shape, control, and direct innovation towards profit and war crimes. So what do we do about it?

“Ahmad, do you want to die with those around you or alone?” That's what an Israeli soldier asked a Lebanese man on the phone while he sat with family members. Ahmad hung up, quickly walked out of the home, and got in his car. Minutes later, Israel launched two missiles at his car, killing him.

Lis starts in 2017, and breaks down how US politicians and tech execs constructed a highly effective narrative to steamroll safety standards, drive unthinkably large resources to Big Tech, and prop up shoddy tech before it’s actually ready.

What they found is shocking: this algorithm is overcharging the poorest and undercharging the richest.

What they don’t mention is that in giving this data, in agreeing to these expensive contracts, that the US government is locking themselves in partnership with Anduril and Palantir. 4/

SpaceX might be described as a satellite company that also makes some of the world’s most unsafe commercial AI technology. You can also describe it as an ads company that makes rockets. As Elon Musk aims to take it public this year, it might be his biggest attempt at trillionaire status yet.

In this conversation with @alixdunn.com, Jeffrey Stern walks us through the precursor to AI-driven warfare: the development of self-guided missiles and the fallacy of “precision.”

Older workers face a brutal job market. Enter AI data annotation platforms: they’re recruiting highly‑skilled workers to train AI models—models that ultimately aim to replace them.

War is a serious business. When an autocratic America partners up with SaaS companies looking for ARR, we get something that feels both unserious and horrifying.

The Node Project generated Danny with AI to drum up white nationalism and xenophobia. This secretive collective is funded by the far-right party Advance UK to make political campaign content, bringing disinformation to a whole new level.

What do Frankenstein and Sigourney Weaver have in common? They both tell stories inspired by Luddites.

Why are schoolchildren in Brazil being surveilled for…attendance? Every day, as many as one million students in the state of Paraná have their faces scanned and biometrically assessed, all to try and save a few seconds of roll call.

Tech billionaires and MAGA politicians want us to feel scared right now. But @naomiaklein.bsky.social thinks that's a sign that they're the ones who are actually TERRIFIED— and should be. 1/

We’ve been nominated for a Webby!! Computer Says Maybe with @alixdunn.com is up for Best Technology Podcast - we’re honored that our conversations about tech politics and power are resonating with the good people of the Internet. Huge thanks to everyone who listens and shares the pod with friends 🙌🏼

Do you wanna guess what the kids call anything that feels fake, hollow, or emotionally unresonant? They call it AI.

Grammarly, a glorified AI spellchecker, briefly introduced a feature called “Expert Review,” where users could ask writers, dead and alive, to review their writing.

@anatosaurus.bsky.social brings her messaging chops to the fight for our technological future. She and @alixdunn.com explore how the left centers problems and how we need to instead share values, show solutions, and bring people to action.

A few reality checks: 1️⃣ No modern computer approaches the complexity of the human brain. 2️⃣ Data centers in space would overheat - cooling in a vacuum is extremely difficult. 3️⃣ Earth’s deadliest day was when an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. That day was far more livable than an average day on Mars.