interrupting all the self serving industry ai safety discourse today to wish a very happy hadestown original lead cast pro shot recording lost boys cast album release day to you and yours
kate brennan
@kate-brennan.bsky.social
senior director of ainowinstitute.org
the idea that AI was going to disrupt—and not entrench— google's dominance in the search market has been flawed from the start! www.techpolicy.press/decision-in-...
The Information@theinformation.com · 3mo agoGoogle is collapsing the line between Search and Gemini, a shift that could make OpenAI fight for growth against one of the most-used products on the internet. Read more in tonight's Briefing newsletter: https://thein.fo/4ftQeU7
my team at @ainowinstitute.bsky.social is hiring three new roles: a program associate, comms associate, and senior operations director. come join us in the fight to shape the future of AI in the public interest! more details here: bit.ly/49jMZe7
Careers - AI Now Institute
Join us in this pivotal moment in the fight to shape the future of AI and its role in society.
bit.ly
so proud to launch this toolkit alongside dozens of trailblazing partners mapping the best policies to stop the unaccountable expansion of data centers at the local, state, and federal level. designed for visionaries and policy wonks alike, it answers "so what do we do?" with over 100 recos ✨
AI Now Institute@ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 4mo agoToday, we're launching our interactive North Star Data Center Policy Toolkit to stop, slow, and restrict the rapid expansion of US AI data centers. The toolkit and training series lay out affirmative local, state, and federal policies to protect communities: datacenters.ainowinstitute.org 🧵
highly recommend @heidykhlaaf.bsky.social’s full interview on CNN refocusing the conversation around Anthopic’s fallout with the Pentagon on the pressing issue at hand: the US military is integrating LLMs across its systems despite their failure to meet existing safety and reliability standards
AI Now Institute@ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 5mo agoWatch the full 20 minute interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w16f...
in the wake of us v. google, i wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social how generative AI is not going to magically unseat a dominant firm like google: it's going to enable it to become even more dominant. news in the past 24 hours shows exactly this (see thread!) www.techpolicy.press/decision-in-...
Decision in US vs. Google Gets it Wrong on Generative AI | TechPolicy.Press
Google will continue to enjoy the fruits of its search monopoly to secure its success in the generative AI market, writes Kate Brennan.
techpolicy.press
my latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social on the US v. Google search antitrust case and just how badly the court missed the opportunity to contend with Google’s power in the genAI market. genAI won’t magically unseat Google’s market dominance, as the court suggests, it will only deepen it
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 11mo agoThe Google search antitrust remedies trial decision fails to seriously contend with the tremendous advantages the company holds in the generative AI market due to its search monopoly says Kate Brennan, associate director at the AI Now Institute.
In today’s Senate Commerce Hearing the White House endorsed support for federal preemption of state AI laws. The fight against preemption did not disappear with the moratorium—in fact, Sen. Cruz introduced a bill today putting us directly on the path to preemption. A thread on its risks below: 🧵
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · last yr.Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s recent Times op-ed on AI regulation seems like a reasonable middle ground. But it is also a reminder of a threat on the horizon: an industry-scripted federal standard that would effectively eclipse state legislation, write Kate Brennan, Sarah Myers West, and Amba Kak.
congrats to the supreme court for ignoring decades of circuit precedent, twisting logic to avoid textbook definitions (despite being obsessed with, uh, textualism), and undermining the equal protection clause to ensure trans kids can't receive the medical care they deserve
SCOTUSblog@scotusblog.com · last yr.NEW: In U.S. v. Skrmetti, a closely watched case on a Tennessee law barring certain medical care for transgender minors, the court holds that Tennessee's law can remain in place.
the proposed moratorium on state AI laws is dangerous. a welcome chorus (with unlikely allies!) is rising against the ban. our latest in @techpolicypress.bsky.social argues we must use this momentum to demand more accountability from AI firms and protect against weak, industry co-opted regulation
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · last yr.Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s recent Times op-ed on AI regulation seems like a reasonable middle ground. But it is also a reminder of a threat on the horizon: an industry-scripted federal standard that would effectively eclipse state legislation, write Kate Brennan, Sarah Myers West, and Amba Kak.
“We're not interested in discussing whether or not an individual technology like ChatGPT is good. We're asking whether it's good for society that these companies have unaccountable power," says @kate-brennan.bsky.social in @wired.com
if you’ve been looking for an all-in-one resource to explain why it’s troubling for tech companies to push AI into every corner of our social, political, and economic lives, you might love our latest report from @ainowinstitute.bsky.social called Artificial Power: ainowinstitute.org/publications...
Artificial Power: 2025 Landscape Report
In the aftermath of the “AI boom,” this report examines how the push to integrate AI products everywhere grants AI companies - and the tech oligarchs that run them - power that goes far beyond their d...
ainowinstitute.org
Bold enforcement remedies are crucial to meet this moment in AI shaped by Big Tech dominance. My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social argues that removing AI divestiture as a remedy in the Google search monopoly case fits the troubling anti-regulatory patterns taking shape around the world (1/2)
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · last yr.Last week, the DOJ removed the AI divestiture remedy from its revised proposed final judgment. It was a bold and necessary requirement, argues AI Now Institute Associate Director Kate Brennan, but it appears to have succumbed amidst anti-regulatory headwinds taking shape across the globe.
I spoke with @jasonplautz.bsky.social about how essential energy dominance is to this administration's policy of AI boosterism, and the harmful effects this is sure to have on climate and communities:
Jason Plautz@jasonplautz.bsky.social · last yr.David Sacks may not be an energy wonk. But as Trump's AI and Crypto czar, his work to unshackle the tech industry will have huge implications for the grid and the climate. Where does he stand? www.eenews.net/articles/ene...
OpenAI furious DeepSeek might have stolen all the data OpenAI stole from us 🔗 www.404media.co/openai-furio...
In a new opinion piece for @nytimes.com, AI Now’s Chief AI Scientist @heidykhlaaf.bsky.social and Co-Executive Director @smw.bsky.social warn that AI may threaten, rather than preserve, national security. Read more: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/o...
Opinion | Our Military Is Adopting A.I. Way Too Fast
The military is integrating A.I. into its deadly systems too quickly, and Trump will only accelerate a dangerous situation.
nytimes.com
As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/
At a convening of worker advocates in California organized by @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social, @ambakak.bsky.social told @khari.bsky.social, “Labor has been at the forefront of rebalancing of power and asserting that the public has a say in determining how and under what conditions this tech is used."
I spoke with MIT Tech Review about reviving the failed California AI safety bill SB 1047 in New York and how the bill overlooks material harms AI is posing to people, workers, and the climate right now: (1/3) www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/09/1...
A New York legislator wants to pick up the pieces of the dead California AI bill
The new bill being drafted in New York aims to regulate advanced AI systems while addressing concerns with the California bill.
technologyreview.com
My statement on the Bipartisan House Task Force Report on AI on @techpolicypress.bsky.social. In one breath the report cautions against material risks posed by large-scale AI, and in the other encourages widespread, uncritical adoption of AI across the economy. www.techpolicy.press/reactions-to...
This piece made me furious. Nurses are asked to *bid* on shifts, offering to work lower and lower wages, and then the app can fail and not pay them at all. We don't have a nursing shortage, we have a shortage of good jobs sane humans are willing to work. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Uber for Nursing: How an AI-Powered Gig Model Is Threatening Health Care - Roosevelt Institute
Through original interviews with 29 “gig” nurses and nursing assistants, Katie J. Wells and Funda Ustek Spilda find that on-demand nursing companies encourage nurses to work for less pay, fail to prov...
rooseveltinstitute.org
I spoke with @katearonoff.bsky.social about the heedless rush to build computing infrastructure for AI, which hinges on hypothetical economic growth but will leave very real harm to consumers and the climate in its wake: newrepublic.com/article/1894...
What If Tech Execs Don’t Really Need All These Data Centers?
The rush to build new computing and energy infrastructure for artificial intelligence comes with a lot of unintended consequences—especially if this new infrastructure isn’t actually needed.
newrepublic.com
What better way to make my Bluesky debut than a great conversation with @alissacooper.bsky.social, @cristinacaffarra.bsky.social, and David Dinielli for the @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast on effective remedies in the Google search antitrust case and its implications for generative AI.
Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 2y agoFor the Tech Policy Press podcast, the Knight-Georgetown Institute's Alissa Cooper hosted a discussion with experts Cristina Caffara, Kate Brennan, and David Dinielli on considerations around remedies following a federal court ruling that Google is a monopolist. www.techpolicy.press/how-to-remed...