When I launched Transformer a year ago, it was with a simple mission: provide decision-makers with the information and analysis needed to anticipate and steer the impacts of transformative AI. Today, we're announcing an exciting new effort to achieve that: Transformer 2.0.

Welcome to Transformer 2.0

We're now a team of reporters and editors dedicated to covering the power and politics of AI

transformernews.ai

California SB 53, the watered-down successor of last year's fumbled AI safety bill, might actually stand a chance. It all comes down to whether Gov. Newsom values voters over tech billionaires. I covered SB 53's home stretch @transformernews.bsky.social: www.transformernews.ai/p/california...

California's latest AI safety bill might stand a chance

SB 53 is entering the home stretch despite industry lobbying. Will it make it over the line?

transformernews.ai

Like the big tech of previous years, the AI industry has been lobbying hard against regulation. California's last attempt at passing legislation on AI failed, but its latest might just have a shot at becoming law. Read @celiaford.bsky.social dive: www.transformernews.ai/p/california...

California's latest AI safety bill might stand a chance

SB 53 is entering the home stretch despite industry lobbying. Will it make it over the line?

transformernews.ai

How a securities fraud case broke animal welfare enforcement: a quick Q&A with @delcianna.bsky.social director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at @vtlaw.bsky.social By @celiaford.bsky.social thereplacement.substack.com/p/research-f...

“Research facilities have carte blanche to violate the Animal Welfare Act"

How a securities fraud case broke animal welfare enforcement

thereplacement.substack.com

Hello, reporters, writers and commentators covering AI. I'm commissioning pieces for Transformer and I would love to hear from you! Feel free to send (brief) pitches to jasper@transformernews.ai. And if you're covering the beat and want to chat through what we're interested in, drop me a line!

Pleasantly surprised by how not-horrible the YouTube comments have been so far, but this callout was brutal and accurate.

Celia Ford@celiaford.bsky.social · last yr.

It was an absolute honor to chat about ChatGPT and critical thinking with Manuel Rapalo on @aljazeera.com's The Take! TLDR; use your brain first. 🧠 Watch the video: youtu.be/qz_ZYa3oRSE Or listen wherever you get your podcasts, if that's more the vibe! podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/i...

It was an absolute honor to chat about ChatGPT and critical thinking with Manuel Rapalo on @aljazeera.com's The Take! TLDR; use your brain first. 🧠 Watch the video: youtu.be/qz_ZYa3oRSE Or listen wherever you get your podcasts, if that's more the vibe! podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/i...

Is ChatGPT hurting our critical thinking skills? | The Take

YouTube video by Al Jazeera English

youtube.com

Meet The Replacement: a bi-weekly newsletter on the global transition away from animal testing. ✨ Coverage of animal testing & research policy often flies under the radar, but it's more urgent than ever. I'm here to round up the news for you. 🫡 Please share widely! thereplacement.substack.com

Welcome to The Replacement

a bi-weekly newsletter covering the global transition away from animal testing

thereplacement.substack.com

hahaha unfortunately i was behind the times with this and the rough drafts of history are already being written www.vox.com/future-perfe... by @celiaford.bsky.social

The case for using your brain — even if AI can think for you

Digital dependence is reshaping our brains. But we can fight it.

vox.com

Jessica McKenzie@jessimckenzi.bsky.social · last yr.

there will be bestselling nyt books about how to undo the damage of using ai too much, with titles like RECLAIM YOUR BRAIN or something

BREAKING: The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University has reneged on their commitment to host the @sciencewriters.org annual conference and withdrew their entire financial support. The National Association of Science Writers is now looking for a new venue, sponsors, and partners.

Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs. It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎

48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science

48 scientific societies representing almost 100,000 scientists signed on to a letter asking Congress to protect the future of science

ucsusa.org

1/ Today, @Vox published a piece that's very close to my heart. Science depends on animal testing, but the work comes at a steep psychological cost—one that too many researchers have been told to endure in silence. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The harrowing lives of animal researchers

Science depends on animal testing. But the work comes at a steep, hidden cost.

vox.com

Being a Vox Future Perfect Fellow is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Now, it's time to pass the torch. If you're an early-career writer thinking about how to make the world a better place, this is for you! (one year, remote + well-paid!) job-boards.greenhouse.io/voxmedia/job...

2025 Future Perfect Fellows

Remote (US Only)

job-boards.greenhouse.io

Chilling read by @celiaford.bsky.social "As our mental security becomes less guaranteed, we’ll need to decide whether the convenience of controlling stuff with our minds is worth letting tech companies colonize our last truly private space." www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Meta’s brain-to-text tech is here. We are not remotely ready.

Why we should start caring about the right to brain privacy now.

vox.com

I do miss that beautiful time [two weeks ago] when we could post about science, instead of just sharing shit like "contact your district attorney asap if you want to retain your right to whisper 'the earth revolves around the sun' to yourself"

"A modern-day book burning," a "five-alarm fire": Groups decry the CDC taking data offline, and the CDC's advisory board demands answers, acknowledging it may be their last act. “We all discussed that,” said one board member. “We expect to be fired.” New from @statnews.com this evening:

CDC advisers push agency to explain data removal, say when info will be restored

Information on topics such as gender, teens' behavior, and infectious diseases was removed from the CDC's website.

statnews.com

BREAKING NEWS: CDC orders mass retraction and revision of submitted research across all science and medicine journals. Banned terms must be scrubbed. Goes beyond MMWR +other CDC pubs. Applies to research already submitted to top medical journals. Take a look. open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

BREAKING NEWS: CDC orders mass retraction and revision of submitted research across all science and medicine journals. Banned terms must be scrubbed.

Any unpublished manuscript mentioning certain topics, including gender and "LGBT," must be pulled or revised.

open.substack.com

BREAKING: Vital, nationally-representative data has been removed from the CDC website. "Everyone I know in public health and science more broadly is freaking out right now,” @albeccia.bsky.social told me. Read: www.statnews.com/2025/01/31/c...

CDC removes data on sexual orientation, gender identity from website

Data from an expansive federal survey on youth behavioral habits, including their sexual orientation and gender identity, have been removed from the website of the CDC.

statnews.com

“If the freeze is not stopped, I might lose my house." Some NSF-funded postdocs are having trouble paying rent and credit card bills because their salaries were paused this week, even though the federal funding freeze memo was rescinded. www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...

National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills

An NSF online payment system remained down after the federal funding freeze was lifted, leaving early-career scientists scrambling to pay bills

statnews.com

Huge thanks to @vox.com for writing on the crucial issue of funding and meeting cessation at NIH. Also, @celiaford.bsky.social wins for characterizing study sections as "jury duty for nerds". www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Researchers are terrified of Trump’s freeze on science. The rest of us should be, too.

Government support is essential to science. The Trump administration kneecapped it.

vox.com

It's been a week, and the vibes are bleak. Or, in the words of one NIH senior scientist I heard from, "fucking scary." I walked through the whirlwind of NIH-related chaos for @vox.com: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Researchers are terrified of Trump’s freeze on science. The rest of us should be, too.

Government support is essential to science. The Trump administration kneecapped it.

vox.com

As science chaos gets more chaotic, I am begging us to remember that highlighting areas where science can improve — even criticizing long-standing institutions — is NOT inherently anti-science. Two things are true: 1. Science is an invaluable public good. 2. It should be so much better.

Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able. #academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social

I forgot how much physical stress this news cycle creates. If you're here, relax your jaw. Drop your shoulders. Remember that you're just a soft animal with a mind that wasn't built to know this much.

i just hope carrie underwood knows how many times i've sung 'before he cheats' at gay bars

I got a PR email this morning saying that, in a hypothetical reality where companies can program your dreams to feature ads, 31% of young adults would pay $167/year for an "ad-free sleep experience." I-- ????

For @vox.com's Future Perfect newsletter, I wrote about what Trump 2.0's mission to defund and deregulate science means for animal research. It's...complicated. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Animal rights advocates are ready for Trump’s war on science

Cuts to science spending may save lab animals — at a cost.

vox.com

Devastated to be back again with a statement on today's layoffs at Vox.com. Please stay tuned for more details on how you can support our colleagues who lost their jobs today.

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