In a new @fastcompany.com op-ed, I connect recent developments involving Anthropic, Kimi K3, and the EU AI Act to a question from my research: how do rules aimed at one company change the behavior of others in the AI supply chain? www.fastcompany.com/91580189/sho...
Should AI companies be able to outsource safety?
Rules aimed only at downstream applications can make AI products less safe. Policymakers should hold both model makers and the companies building on them accountable.
fastcompany.com
When Uber bankrolled a California ballot measure that carved its workers out of state labor law, it promised to create a fair way to appeal deactivations. Drivers have filed a lawsuit arguing that it broke that promise. www.fastcompany.com/91553175/ube...
Uber promised drivers a way to appeal deactivations. They say it doesn’t exist
A new lawsuit argues that Uber’s appeals process under California’s Prop 22 is little more than window dressing, leaving drivers with no meaningful way to fight sudden removals from the platform.
fastcompany.com
New from me: A federal takeover of OpenAI or Anthropic remains highly unlikely, at least outside some extraordinary crisis. But a softer version of nationalization is becoming easier to imagine. www.fastcompany.com/91552253/ai-...
What AI nationalization could really look like
A government takeover of the leading labs remains unlikely, but Bernie Sanders’s public-ownership proposal and President Trump’s model-review order show how quickly the debate over AI control is shift...
fastcompany.com
read the story here! www.fastcompany.com/91550844/aus...
How Austin’s sandlot baseball scene became a magnet for indie rockers, filmmakers, designers, and brands
If you build it, they will come.
fastcompany.com
Longreads@longreads.com · 2mo agoOur Top 5: · Reign makers, @harpers.bsky.social · Board brothers, @nytimes.com · Filling blanks, @theamscho.bsky.social · War games, @nybooks.com · Field dreams, @fastcompany.com
For nearly a decade, a small baseball field outside Austin has become a magnet for musicians, artists, designers, and baseball obsessives. I wrote about the world Jack Sanders built, and how it came to draw in everyone from Kevin Morby to Beto O’Rourke www.fastcompany.com/91550844/aus...
How Austin’s sandlot baseball scene became a magnet for indie rockers, filmmakers, designers, and brands
If you build it, they will come.
fastcompany.com
Had a very fun convo with The Comeback creator about AI and (more importantly) our shared Scranton roots www.fastcompany.com/91542600/the...
'The Comeback' creator Michael Patrick King warns AI may be creativity's extinction event
The veteran writer and producer talks about AI’s uneasy arrival in Hollywood and the enduring appeal of the sitcom format.
fastcompany.com
Thank you, @maxuf.bsky.social and @fastcompany.com for this informative piece on Bookmarked. As I say in the piece, “Bookmarked is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” Y’all. Banning books is bad. Quit it.
kelly jensen@heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe startup that turned Texas’s book ban law into big business Bookmarked’s software promises districts cover under SB 13. Whether that looks like oversight or overreach depends on whom you ask. Yes, this is about OnShelf by BookmarkED. www.fastcompany.com/91496176/boo...
This John J. Lennon essay offers a searing look at how fragile, tightly controlled tech access shapes life behind bars. Please do give it a read. www.fastcompany.com/91399196/wri...
Writing from my cell in the age of prison Wi-Fi
The expansion of tablets and prison Wi-Fi shows both the promise of connectivity and the cost of relying on billion-dollar contractors.
fastcompany.com
"Large data centers, many devoted to researching artificial intelligence, are expected to use more than 150 billion gallons of water across the U.S. over the next five years, according to the advocacy organization Alliance for the Great Lakes."
AI could deplete drinking water sources around Illinois, Midwest
Large data centers working on artificial intelligence that need water for cooling could drain area water supplies, a Great Lakes advocacy group warns.
chicago.suntimes.com
Imagine if Congress had an office dedicated to laying out the risks and benefits of emerging technologies. Turns out, it once did! But then Newt Gingrich defunded it 30 years ago. My latest @fastcompany.com: www.fastcompany.com/91378299/off...
Tech policy could be smarter and less partisan if Congress hadn’t shut down this innovative program
For years, the Office of Technology Assessment helped Congress see around corners on science and tech. Its 1995 shutdown left lawmakers flying blind.
fastcompany.com
After a secret lobbying effort, Trump’s Justice Department ousted staff and reversed course on Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed megamerger. www.levernews.com/how-big-tech...
How Big Tech Powered A Justice Department Coup
After a secret lobbying effort, Trump’s Justice Department ousted staff and reversed course on Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed megamerger.
levernews.com
NEW: ChatGPT allows Google to index chats users share using the Share functionality - presumably misinterpreting "make this chat discoverable". The result? Frank admissions about sex lives and drug dependencies. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91376687/goo... tip @techmeme.com
Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data
Thousands of shared ChatGPT chats—including deeply personal details about mental health, relationships, and trauma—are appearing in Google search results, raising major privacy concerns.
fastcompany.com
This @fastcompany.com article about the legacy of Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker is well worth a few minutes of your time.
Hulk Hogan changed media forever with his Gawker lawsuit
The superstar athlete, who died on Thursday, cast a long shadow over the world of professional wrestling—and a far more ominous one over the world of internet publishing.
fastcompany.com
NEW: Despite having an office of hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton is frequently opting for private lawyers — many to whom he has personal or political ties — to argue on behalf of Texas. One attorney cost taxpayers more than $24,000 for a day’s work. With @texastribune.org
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Outsourcing More of His Office’s Work to Costly Private Lawyers
Despite having an office of hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton is frequently opting for private lawyers — many to whom he has personal or political ties — to argue on behalf of Texas. One attorney cost...
propublica.org
I wrote about a former FBI agent who spent decades chasing art forgers, and why he’s now using tech to try to stop fakes before they’re made. www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
He went undercover to catch art thieves. Now he’s using tech to stop forgeries
After decades with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Ronnie Walker launched the Art Legacy Institute to protect artists before their work gets forged or stolen, rather than after.
fastcompany.com
This year, Tesla’s lobbyists publicly advocated against only two bills. Both died. One would have required public hearings if a collision involving an autonomous vehicle — like the robotaxis Musk is rolling out — resulted in a fatality. With @kutnews.bsky.social & @texastribune.org
Elon Musk’s Long Game to Influence the Texas Legislature
While Elon Musk took Washington, D.C., by storm, his company representatives and lobbyists were also notching up big political wins in the heart of his vast business empire: Texas.
propublica.org
Drones are hampering recovery efforts in Texas from unexpectedly harsh floods - as they hampered wildfires in California in January, and many others. What's going on? My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91363994/tex...
Texas flood recovery efforts face an unexpected obstacle: drones
As emergency teams race to save lives after deadly flash floods, amateur drone pilots are clogging the skies.
fastcompany.com
Anthropic's AI copyright "win" might not actually be a win, unless they want to pay billions of dollars. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91357755/ant...
Anthropic's AI copyright 'win' is more complicated than it looks
Tech companies are celebrating a major ruling on fair use for AI training, but a closer read shows big legal risks still lay ahead.
fastcompany.com
Bolloré's businesses seem to “prey on countries with weak governance standards... Their relative impunity is made possible by the control they have over the media," Chanez Mensous, advocacy and litigation manager at Sherpa. @clintrainey.bsky.social reports on Bolloré's corruption allegations 👇
Rihanna and The Weeknd champion causes in Africa. The billionaire stakeholder behind their labels faces corruption allegations there
Activists say Vincent Bolloré built his fortune through abusive business practices in West Africa. They’re urging UMG artists to take a closer look.
fastcompany.com
DOGE is racing to digitize federal retirements—with a system built under Biden, not Trump. Insiders tell @fastcompany.com it's a prototype not ready for prime time. www.fastcompany.com/91332785/dog...
Elon Musk’s DOGE is launching a new AI retirement system. It was built mostly under Biden
The controversial government tech task force is claiming credit for a digital breakthrough, but insiders say the Biden administration started building the project years earlier.
fastcompany.com
New one from me on @fastcompany.com: This California bill could redefine digital consent by requiring opt-in approval before companies collect or share your location data www.fastcompany.com/91333177/cal...
California’s location data privacy bill aims to reshape digital consent
Assembly Bill 1355 would require opt-in consent for collecting and sharing geolocation data, a targeted approach that reflects growing national concern over surveillance and use of sensitive data.
fastcompany.com
DOGE guy at the CFPB owned verboten stocks. He was explicitly warned by ethics lawyers that he wasn’t permitted to take any action that could benefit those companies — and him. He then helped fire workers anyway. Including the ethics lawyers who warned him. www.propublica.org/article/cfpb...
DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interest
Before he helped fire most Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staffers, DOGE’s Gavin Kliger was warned about his investments and advised to not take any actions that could benefit him personally, ac...
propublica.org
New from me: Critics warn that DOGE’s rushed use of AI could lead to wrongful firings, mishandling of sensitive data, and lasting damage to core public services. www.fastcompany.com/91324480/dog...
How DOGE used AI to reshape the government in just 100 days
Critics warn that the rushed, untested use of AI could lead to wrongful firings, mishandling of sensitive data, and lasting damage to core public services.
fastcompany.com
New from me: Critics warn that DOGE’s rushed use of AI could lead to wrongful firings, mishandling of sensitive data, and lasting damage to core public services. www.fastcompany.com/91324480/dog...
How DOGE used AI to reshape the government in just 100 days
Critics warn that the rushed, untested use of AI could lead to wrongful firings, mishandling of sensitive data, and lasting damage to core public services.
fastcompany.com
You can use the most secure encrypted messaging app in the world, but it's the dumb human in the loop that'll reveal your plans to bomb Yemen to the world. My latest for @fastcompany.com on that ridiculous Signal breach and its ramifications www.fastcompany.com/91305043/tru...
The Trump administration’s Signal scandal shows humans will always be the weakest link in cybersecurity
A catastrophic breach involving top U.S. officials shows that even the most secure apps are useless when human error enters the chat.
fastcompany.com
I talked to Age of Disclosure director Dan Farah about how he managed to get Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jim Clapper and dozens of other officials to go on record about alien life. www.fastcompany.com/91301211/dan...
‘This might be the one thing that could bring parties together’: UFO film director on the surprising bipartisan support in Congress
Director Dan Farah’s new documentary brings the alien conversation into the mainstream, with help from some of the most powerful names in Washington.
fastcompany.com
What does a decentralized social network look like when it starts to scale? For @fastcompany.com’s Most Innovative Companies program, I looked at how @bsky.app — and its CEO @jay.bsky.team — are evolving with the shifting social media landscape. www.fastcompany.com/91271080/blu...
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber on her company's ascendant year and what she's planning next
With 33 million users and counting, Bluesky is showing that decentralization may be social media's best path forward.
fastcompany.com
