Who is NOT bearing the risk of a burst AI bubble? Wall Street. @agranato42.bsky.social & @pranjal-drall.bsky.social on how private credit firms are shifting the risk of their insane AI gambles to life insurance companies, with state guaranty funds (i.e., taxpayers) on the hook to clean up the mess.

Private credit companies are key owners of AI-related assets. Many of their parent private equity firms own life insurers that are dumping grounds for bad loans—and subject to state bailouts.

Instead of passing through bankruptcy, insolvent life insurers have all their liabilities—in particular the policyholder claims—paid for by state guaranty funds.

prospect.org

"Strategy plans, policy documents, corporate communications..to the federal government..show that Koch’s political operation is attempting to shape and help implement a U.S. AI technology agenda, which could ultimately profit Koch’s traditional oil and gas business" www.desmog.com/2025/12/11/t...

The Koch Network Is Pushing Trump to Accelerate AI, Documents Show

Right-wing political group Americans for Prosperity, backed by oil and gas billionaire Charles Koch, sees data centers as part of a larger pro-fossil fuel agenda.

desmog.com

AI is eliminating jobs, spreading disinformation, and accelerating irreversible climate change. Join Rise and Resist to demand that Big Tech regulate AI and stop racing headlong to a bleak future. We start with Google on August 5 at 5pm. We will visit more climate criminals in the weeks ahead!

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

It would probably help things a lot if people wrapped their heads around the fact that "moderate influencers" like Matty Yglesias make a living reassuring wealthy people they aren't becoming increasingly right wing while preparing moderate middle class voters to become increasingly right wing.

Whether it's climate, trans issues or, apparently, water, NYT is a conservative publication whose editorial maxim is "What Would The WSJ Do?" Many such examples.

Sarah Taber@sarahtaber.bsky.social · 6d ago

Yeah so NYT asked me ~2 yrs ago to write an op-ed about how the Colorado is running dry, & what we should do to keep this exact thing from happening. I said "There's only one real answer. Bill farmers by how much water they use. Duh." NYT editorial staff freaked tf out & cancelled the piece.

A strip done in collaboration with the @humanartistry.bsky.social , starring Question Hound as he gets some unwanted help for a comic he’s working on:

Every left of center person needs to internalize the fact that most legacy outlets are now captured by fascist billionaires. These institutions are coasting off their previous goodwill and will reporting. But they are now propaganda outlets whose primary goal is to aid the Republican Party.

SpaceX-owned xAI, the developer of Grok, sued Minnesota AG to challenge a law coming into effect in the state that will ban "nudify" apps, use of these AI image generators to make non-consenting intimate images, aka AI deepfake porn of real people including minors. www.cnbc.com/2026/07/28/s...

Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps

Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, is challenging a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in Minnesota

cnbc.com

the fuck is wrong with this company

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · last wk.

AYFKM “Meta will be able to draw upon Newsmax's significant current reporting as well as archived content to support AI queries across Meta's apps and devices.” ir.newsmax.com/news/news-de...

So glad we're taking people's homes to power the plagiarism and pron machines

‘My childhood home is being taken’: Eminent domain for data centers targets properties across a thousand miles of grid expansion in Georgia | Fortune

Nearly 30 residential properties are located along a 35-mile stretch in Georgia where some residents said they have no choice but to sell their homes.

fortune.com

I see your doom scrolling, and I raise it this. www.news.com.au/technology/o...

AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books

If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.

news.com.au

Breaking: Koch and Meta backed study find disinfo on Meta definitely not a problem, nope, nothing to see here.

Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social · last wk.

🚨New Science Advances🚨 Untrustworthy sources on Facebook and Instagram in 2020: Concentrated exposure but no attitudinal effects www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... -Exposure very low but highly concentrated -Reducing exposure by ~70% for months had no measurable effects *even among frequent consumers*

We know about the water and energy... but not the #foreverchemicals www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US environmental groups urge EPA to reject new Pfas to cool datacenters

Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s use

theguardian.com

For social media platforms that are unwilling to act on their own accord and put in place information integrity policies, it is up to policymakers to step in and hold them accountable. “Ultimately it’s up to policymakers, and it’s up to the public to demand that from the policymakers."

CAAD_Coalition@caadcoalition.bsky.social · last wk.

"As a primary care doctor, I see firsthand that climate-fueled disasters are becoming more frequent and severe,” Green added. “We should be focused on protecting people, not wasting valuable time countering false narratives.”

A reminder of Joshi's Workslop Postulate

I've written a few books and checked all the quotes (deleting some bangers because I doubted their authenticity) and if you're letting fabricated ones slip through then you're cutting corners in an egregious way. It is not the copy-editor's job to check every source, it's yours. Do the damn work

AI is making everyone's life more expensive, according to CNN. "Households must spend just over $375 more to purchase the same goods and services as they did this time last year due to AI’s inflationary impact,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, says. www.cnn.com/2026/07/28/e...

AI is making your life more expensive. Here’s how | CNN Business

AI is raising prices for Americans – and not just electricity bills.

cnn.com

Meta’s Hyperion data center project is a stunning example of what the state is willing to trade away in backroom deals—tax revenue for public goods, stable rents, affordable electricity, and environmental safety. Our report on AI shows what Big Tech wins in the absence of democratic planning:

AI First: How the Federal Government is Prioritizing AI Over People and Planet

The data center boom shows that world-altering infrastructure can rapidly expand when the interests of state and capital are aligned.

stopgreedbuildgreen.climateandcommunity.org

Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · last wk.

"The secrecy was agreed to by nearly everyone involved, from utility executives to the governor’s office to a local elected official who knew about the talks with Meta and sold 300 acres of his own property for the project."

"I can tell you what they’re going to do: they’re going to accentuate the positive. They’re not going to talk anything about the impacts. They make promises with no guarantees, and this is something people here are going to regret.” thecurrentga.org/2026/07/23/o...

OpenAI data center project sparks outrage among Effingham County residents - The Current

“It’s a done deal. It was the right fit for everyone," a senior OpenAI official said about the planned Georgia data center. Nearly 1000 people disagree.

thecurrentga.org

“You’re talking about a number that is potentially half a percent of global electricity consumption by itself just for data centres in Alberta.” via @desmog.com

‘Absurdly High’: Alberta Considering Almost 21 GW of Gas-Powered Data Centres

Expert warns that would require 200 billion litres of water and explode Canada’s emissions.

buff.ly

Whew, the editors of @science.org are getting real.

The Assault On Science Funding Continues

science.org

Love 2 suggest nuking your neighbor over smoke wafting

CAAD_Coalition@caadcoalition.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our new report 'A Summer of Extreme Lies' documents how disinfluencers recycled familiar climate lies during extreme weather events, and how platforms allowed them to reach millions. caad.info/analysis/rep...

A ‘golden age’ for whom? Cole Donovan argues that White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director Michael Kratsios' new report on the future of American science is cover for reallocating funding to the administration's friends—the big AI firms and hyperscalers.

OSTP Vision for Science is a ‘Golden Age’ for Corporations

"Science: A New Golden Age" tries to reframe the conversation away from the ongoing destruction of American science, writes Cole Donovan.

techpolicy.press

Don’t reach for ChatGPT Images or Nano Banana as your first option when creating scientific images There are multiple free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations. #plantscience @stephenturner.us blog.stephenturner.us/p/free-open-...

Free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations

Phylopic, NIH Bioart, Bioicons, Scidraw, Open Science Art, Health Icons, Servier Medical Art, Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Noun Project, Segment Anything, Excalidraw, draw.io, Biographics

blog.stephenturner.us

Same exact story for NYT, i once went on a date with "the youngest editor at the NYT". Turns out she just copy edited Brett Stephens, and was NOT allowed to fact check him, because then thered be nothing left.

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 9mo ago

When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”

everyone seems to be responding positively to this and i hate to burst anyone's bubble, but i recently went to a Luddite festival in NYC and this is something organizers specifically warned about: don't let capitalists sell your hatred of capitalism back to you

The PS1 startup sound as a lesbian@janus.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hatred of AI now reaching the level of cultural consensus that becomes attractive to advertisers

In today's Hill Heat: How the threat of data centers has provided new vibrancy to our endangered and moribund democracy

The U.S. Climate Politics Almanac: The Data Center Backlash

Fossil-fueled hyperscalers are causing popular revolt at the ballot box, and policymakers are taking note

hillheat.news

Kirk's audience was always the Boomers funding him and TPUSA, cant say im surprised the kids dont care about yet another bigoted billionaire mouthpiece

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 4w ago

Among Gen A he's basically become a funny meme with no context to who he was or his beliefs. Basically he's Keyboard Cat to them - ‘His legacy is cringe’: how Charlie Kirk became a punchline among the young - even his supporters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...