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Julia Black

@juliablack.bsky.social

Correspondent, Vanity Fair Signal: @mjnblack.09 Work: https://www.juliablackwrites.com/

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Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Big day! You can now SUBSCRIBE to my new weekly @vanityfair.com newsletter, A Billion to One. I'll be covering big money, big tech, and big personalities from my usual insider-outsider perspective. New issues drop Tuesdays... including today. Don't miss out! www.vanityfair.com/newsletter/b...

<p>A Billion to One <br/> by Julia Black</p>

From the mad scientists to the megadonors, a dispatch on the money, power, and influence of technology.

vanityfair.com

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 7mo ago

NEW: Ashley St. Clair has sued Elon Musk's xAI, alleging it uses “AI to undress, humiliate, and sexually exploit victims.” Today Musk and xAI ALSO filed their own suit against St. Clair. St. Clair's lawyer tells me, “We intend to hold Grok accountable.” www.vanityfair.com/news/story/a...

Ashley St. Clair Sues Elon Musk’s xAI, Alleging His Company Uses “AI to Undress, Humiliate, and Sexually Exploit Victims”

xAI filed its own lawsuit the same day, accusing St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk’s 14 known children, of violating its terms of service.

vanityfair.com

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 8mo ago

There's a growing schism over AI policy between the right's religious conservatives and its tech libertarians. Now all eyes are on the Pope, who is expected to release a landmark document on the topic in the coming weeks. I wrote about it for Transformer! www.transformernews.ai/p/pope-artif...

Can the Pope spur meaningful action on AI?

AI safety advocates are hoping an unlikely ally can provide a rallying cry for guardrails and regulation

transformernews.ai

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 10mo ago

By the way... my current fellowship winds down soon-ish, and I'll be back on the market for a full-time reporting role! If you want to do stories like this together, feel free to reach out (: email/links in bio

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 10mo ago

While I was reporting this NYT profile of defense tech investor & JD Vance ally Katherine Boyle, a State Department official told me: “If you’re looking at her project as a policy project, you’re not really understanding it. Her project is ultimately civilizational.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/b...

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 10mo ago

This year, two new products launched claiming to be able to detect IQ in embryos(!) In my latest for @technologyreview.com, I dove into the ethical morass—and very real world implications—of ranking humans before they are even born. ter.li/JuliaB

The race to make the perfect baby is creating an ethical mess

A new field of science claims to be able to predict aesthetic traits, intelligence, and even moral character in embryos. Is this the next step in human evolution or something more dangerous?

technologyreview.com

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · last yr.

Coming out of stealth mode... to share that I will be joining the @omidyarnetwork.bsky.social's next Reporters in Residence cohort! This support will enable me to work on some absolute dream projects. I'm so grateful. more news soon! 👀 omidyar.com/update/omidy...

Announcing our sixth class of reporters in residence - Omidyar Network

Our new reporters will report on the emerging rules, institutions, norms, people and narratives shaping our technology and society.

omidyar.com

Alexander Reid Ross@areidross.bsky.social · last yr.

Reading this article by @juliablack.bsky.social from Aug9 is basically just opening tomorrow's newspaper.

Yet the Yarvin associate perhaps poised to wield the most influence is J.D. Vance. In 2021, Vance told podcaster Jack Murphy he'd been reading Yarvin's arguments that "we should basically eliminate the administrative state," adding that he found himself "sympathetic to that project." Vance doubled down on the theory the next year, saying that he would advise Trump to "fire every single mid-level bureaucrat...and when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say, the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it," according to Vanity Fair.
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · last yr.

JUST IN: Judge William Alsup declines to stay his order requiring rehiring of probationary employees at 6 federal departments, calls OPM acting chief failure to testify 'violation of this court's order.' Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Julia Black@juliablack.bsky.social · 3y ago

I dunno how shameless self-promotion plays on this platform but, uh, I really do want you to read this story, so here’s some anyway: https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-worldcoin-helion-future-tech-2023-4

He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction

With the success of ChatGPT, Altman has turned into a household name. And he's just getting started.

businessinsider.com