Brian Merchant
@bcmerchant.bsky.social
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
I talked with @bcmerchant.bsky.social about AI in the workplace, Google’s decision to ruin its search engine, robotaxis getting people arrested, Flock cameras getting destroyed, the movement against data centers, and what it means to build power against the tech industry.
The AI Boom Is a Corporate Project. It Can Be Disrupted
“A lot of people are really sitting up and pushing back,” says Brian Merchant.
truthout.org
Le Monde Diplomatique* cuz Le Monde is adopting AI and moving the needle towards mass adoption in French press @lemondediplomatique.cl.web.brid.gy
I'm in Paris, and the entire time I've been here I've seen advertisements for Le Monde's special issue TOUT LE MONDE DETESTE L'IA (All the World Hates AI). I've seen graffiti on metro ads marking them as AI SLOP, and a big scrawl at one stop that read F*CK IA.
Just comical with that disallowed goal back there. What is VAR for if not to review such crucial, borderline decisions. More fuel for my argument that VAR is not built in service of accuracy at all, but for other ends altogether: www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/what-var-t...
What VAR tells us about AI
FIFA's semi-automated refereeing system promises neutrality but brims with bias. It's widely despised yet embraced by elites. It is, in other words, a lot like AI.
bloodinthemachine.com
VAR is, there is little doubt, the generative AI of the football (soccer) world. Fans hate it. The despised FIFA establishment embraces it. www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/what-var-t... @bcmerchant.bsky.social
What VAR tells us about AI
FIFA's semi-automated refereeing system promises neutrality but brims with bias. It's widely despised yet embraced by elites. It is, in other words, a lot like AI.
bloodinthemachine.com
This is characteristically excellent from @bcmerchant.bsky.social www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/what-var-t...
What VAR tells us about AI
FIFA's semi-automated refereeing system promises neutrality but brims with bias. It's widely despised yet embraced by elites. It is, in other words, a lot like AI.
bloodinthemachine.com
All 3 men inside of the van with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo “‘reiterated that there were never any ICE agents in front of the van…They came in and started shooting from the sides.’” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers
Three men who were in the vehicle alongside Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting.
washingtonpost.com
🚨Finally published: How does the US Military enlist AI researchers in war? @siree.sh, Lucy Suchman and I examine 7k US Military grant solicitations for AI research, and show how even "Basic Research" enlists researchers in a warfighting agenda. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Basic research, lethal effects: Military artificial intelligence research funding as enlistment - David Gray Widder, Sireesh Gururaja, Lucy Suchman, 2026
In the context of unprecedented U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) budgets, this paper examines the recent history of DoD funding for academic research in algorit...
journals.sagepub.com
Starting a 🧵 called "AI hater's reading list" ⬇️, for us haters who like to do our homework. Each of these are books I've read and recommend you do as well. Pretty sure this can turn any AI booster into a hater, these books are exceptionally well-researched. Enjoy! 💪 (And reply with more tips!)
Only a third of the way into @bcmerchant.bsky.social's book and I've underlined so much of it that I might as well go ahead and shade in the rest of the pages with graphite.
Never let the cynics and naysayers grind you down. You *can* have it all at once.
Love this image by Koren.
Brian Merchant@bcmerchant.bsky.social · last mo.A big thanks to the folks who made this happen, including producer Ryan Hodes (@storieswetell303.bsky.social), podcast boss Kate Osborn, and artist @korenshadmi.bsky.social. It's an experiment, and a work in progress, so let me know what you all think
Some really shady stuff from Fox here, trying to get people to sign up to the $199.99/year subscription tier during the World Cup game. They dangle promise of $19.99 a month with a 3-day trial, get your information, then herd you to this page—where you can't move on without choosing the $199 tier.
The #AI industry is pouring hundreds of millions into US elections via @bcmerchant.bsky.social #tech open.substack.com/pub/bloodint...
The AI industry is pouring hundreds of millions into US elections
Plus: Fiery resistance to a nuclear AI data center and A24's Google debacle. Welcome to the first episode of BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: THE SHOW, with the great AI and crypto watchdog, Molly White.
open.substack.com
New from 404 Media: Henrico County is a major hub for data centers in Virginia. Its officials said it expects a 25% rise in electricity costs next year, and advised workers to close the blinds and turn off their computers to make up for it. www.404media.co/henrico-virg...
County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to ‘Conserve Electricity’
Henrico County is a major hub for data centers in Virginia. Its officials said it expects a 25% rise in electricity costs next year, and advised workers to close the blinds and turn off their computer...
404media.co
It’s been so inspiring to see the growth of data center opposition across the US and the wider world. Taking on the tech industry is bringing communities together — which seems like exactly what we need right now.
Tech Won’t Save Us@techwontsave.us · last mo.Across the United States, communities are uniting in opposition to data centers to power generative AI. This week Saul Levin joins @parismarx.com to talk about those fights and how they center on tangible issues that bring people together. Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/334_...
deeply insulted that I didn't make the cut for even a derogatory archetype here bambamramfan.github.io/ai-compass/
The AI Compass
29 questions. Two axes. Which of 30 AI archetypes are you?
bambamramfan.github.io
Always dig Brian’s reporting, looking forward to binging the podcast!
Brian Merchant@bcmerchant.bsky.social · last mo.Trying something a little different at Blood in the Machine this week, something that no one has ever attempted or thought of before: A podcast. The idea is to document the vital and widening resistance to big tech and AI, and give the mic to the voices behind it.
"AGI, the automate everything machine, is a business pitch that is extremely lucrative to companies like anthropic" @bcmerchant.bsky.social in a very humorous craft session at #FAccT2026
The wonderful @marisakabas.bsky.social let me go long on the grim historic parallels between the Prairieland defendants and 19th century America’s brutal repression—and execution—of anarchists, union organizers, and political dissidents. We are all antifa now. www.thehandbasket.co/p/haymarket-...
From Haymarket to Prairieland: How dissent has unleashed the long arm of the law
The Prairieland sentencing has dark historical parallels, Kim Kelly writes. But we can change the end of the current story.
thehandbasket.co
Super stoked to be producing the new Blood in the Machine podcast with @bcmerchant.bsky.social. The BITM newsletter has been a staple on The Stories We Tell for ages, so I jumped at the opportunity. Lots of amazing guests & ideas for the future, but for now, enjoy ep. 1 w/ the brilliant @molly.wiki
Brian Merchant@bcmerchant.bsky.social · last mo.Trying something a little different at Blood in the Machine this week, something that no one has ever attempted or thought of before: A podcast. The idea is to document the vital and widening resistance to big tech and AI, and give the mic to the voices behind it.
Forrest Gump: (intermittently while recounting his incredible life story at the bus stop) Really. you've never heard of any of this shit
Aaaahhhh love to see BITM continuing to expand (especially into such ~unprecedented~ territory)! Congratulations :)
Trying something a little different at Blood in the Machine this week, something that no one has ever attempted or thought of before: A podcast. The idea is to document the vital and widening resistance to big tech and AI, and give the mic to the voices behind it.
The AI industry is pouring hundreds of millions into US elections
Plus: Fiery resistance to a nuclear AI data center and A24's Google debacle. Welcome to the first episode of BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: THE SHOW, with the great AI and crypto watchdog, Molly White.
bloodinthemachine.com
At my previous job, LabX fired or otherwise ousted the entire journalism team so they could do veiled advertorials instead. Bad news for the industry!
the public meetings around data centers are getting .... heated?
'We Will Fight to Our Very Last Breath:' Township Leaders Vow to Fight Nuclear AI Data Center
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and a proposed nuclear weapons AI data center in Michigan have earned the ire of community leaders.
404media.co
Treating surveillance as an isolated privacy problem is the wrong frame, says UN Special Rapporteur Gina Romero, who argues digital monitoring is dismantling the trust, funding, and institutional memory that civil society depends on to function. www.techpolicy.press/the-quiet-er...
The Quiet Erosion of Collective Action Under Digital Surveillance
Digital surveillance is undermining privacy, trust and civic freedoms across 84 countries, writes United Nations Special Rapporteur Gina Romero.
techpolicy.press
Would like to assert, again, that there is no conflict in suggesting that a) the user experience of LLMs and image/sound/video models have improved and that the foundational AI critique is unchanged by this AND b) the user experience of technology creates new sets of problems worthy of examination.
A travesty. Springer Nature offloads SciAm—the most storied science magazine in the US—onto a content mill consortium, LabX, during an almost certainly successful union vote. LabX now says it will lay off 15 people, over 1/3rd of the unit and 60% of the bargaining committee. Pure union busting.
Laura Helmuth@laurahelmuth.bsky.social · last mo.Statement by @sciamunion.bsky.social on Springer Nature's sale of Scientific American and massive editorial layoffs right before a successful union vote is counted. www.wgaeast.org/wgae-scienti...
