author of Blood in the Machine, tech writer, luddite
newsletter: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/
books: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/brian-merchant/
kofi link: https://ko-fi.com/brianmerchant
Brian Merchant
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MYTHOS is so powerful that it must be protected by strict guardrails that prevent anyone from ever learning whether or not it's actually powerful at all
Anthropoic founder: “How will we ensure the gains of AI are shared globally? We do not have a mechanism for this.”
@bcmerchant.bsky.social: “They're called taxes. And just because AI companies don't really like that idea, they don't like the concept of being taxed, doesn't mean they don't exist.”
#CriticalAI 4.1, artist Molly Crabapple speaks out against corporate tech’s fleecing of creative workers and the production of “vampiric slop” which mimics their artistry through AI.
read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Brian Merchant
Alex Baumhardt
Very much enjoyed digging into Anthropic's road to the top of the AI startup mountain with @micahloewinger.bsky.social and @onthemedia.bsky.social, and how it shrewdly exploited its reputation as the 'ethical' AI company to win over investors, the media—and the pope.
Here's the piece we discussed on the spot, for those interested:
www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-anthro...
Molly does great work, so it's unsurprising that is an great resource — a one-stop shop for tracking how much AI and crypto companies are spending on lobbying.
One somewhat surprising finding here is that crypto's still spending more, apparently by a considerable margin
“The known cases of police stalking are almost certainly a vast underreporting of the overall abuse, because they largely include only cases in which the behavior was so egregious that it led to police officers being fired, arrested, or both.”
Brian Merchant
Brian Merchant
By marketing itself as the 'safe' AI company, Anthropic has pulled in a $65 billion payday and leapfrogged OpenAI to become the most valuable AI startup.
Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
mattdpearce.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
NEW: Cybersecurity researchers are not happy about the guardrails on Anthropic’s new model Fable.
Researchers say that the new LLM basically blocks anything related to cybersecurity, including code reviews and prompts asking for help writing secure code.
Hypervisible
Cybersecurity researchers are complaining that Anthropic's new model Fable has guardrails that are too strict for any cybersecurity work.
Did Anthropic really earn its reputation as an "ethical" AI company, or is it just a clever marketing strategy? To answer the question, @micahloewinger.bsky.social spoke with tech journalist @bcmerchant.bsky.social.
Anthropic visited the Vatican and gave a speech as the Pope presented his encyclical on AI. The next week, Anthropic filed for what is likely to be the largest IPO in history. @bcmerchant.bsky.social explains how these events are related: on-the-media.visitlink.me/-Rowuq
Anthropic visited the Vatican and gave a speech as the Pope presented his encyclical on AI. The next week, Anthropic filed for what is likely to be the largest IPO in history. @bcmerchant.bsky.social explains how these events are related: on-the-media.visitlink.me/-Rowuq
Matt Pearce
Some really crazy cases in here
- cop looked up ex-girlfriend and family in Flock 100+ times
- cop stalked wife giving "test" as reason
- cop searched one plate 395 times in 10 months; was later fired
Cops keep getting arrested for using Flock to stalk people
www.404media.co/cops-keep-ge...
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Video
Anthropic went from a distant #2 in the AI startup race to winning news cycles, sharing the stage with the pope, eclipsing OpenAI's valuation and barreling towards an historic IPO, all in a matter of months.
How did Anthropic pull it off? By doubling down on its key export: AI ethics slop.
The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.
The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.
I've been running Follow the Crypto since 2024. Today I'm relaunching it as Tech Influence Watch, expanded to cover AI political spending alongside crypto. They’ve spent more than $400 million this election cycle, and now you can follow it in close to real time.
influence.citationneeded.news
Joseph Cox
By marketing itself as the 'safe' AI company, Anthropic has pulled in a $65 billion payday and leapfrogged OpenAI to become the most valuable AI startup.
