mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06writer, former la times tech columnist, science fiction editor, luddite
NEWSLETTER: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/
Big tech promotes the story that since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, AI has become so popular it's rushed to meet the demand.
The reality on the ground is a bit different. A study by a trio of design scholars shows how tech co's have had to push AI on its users with a variety of intrusive tactics.
This is how big tech is force-feeding us AI:
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-big-tech-is-force-feeding-us
GPT-5 has been hyped for years as the next step towards AGI. Sam Altman promised a "PhD-level intelligence on any topic." It's not even close.
On the terms OpenAI itself laid out for its own product, any fair assessment must conclude that GPT-5's launch is a failure.
Now the question is: Will it change anything?
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/gpt-5-is-a-joke-will-it-matter
Wrote about the ~current state~ of social media, and why Mastodon, while far from perfect, is pretty much the only decent app left standing at this point
During two of the year's biggest news events, Politico reporters watched in surprise as management installed an AI bot atop the homepage. It promptly made embarrassing errors and violated editorial standards. No corrections were issued.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Politico has a union contract that legally says bosses must give 60 days notice to its journalists of all AI products.
And the fight erupting now, over AI in journalism, is only beginning.
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/inside-the-escalating-struggle-over
OpenAI's technology may soon be built with funding from some of the world's most repressive regimes. Its AI has officially been put in service of making the US military "more lethal" and improving "warfighting." Its AI is powered by fossil fuel companies that accelerate the climate crisis. Its AI produces images of propaganda that are used to inflame tensions, provoke violence, and justify hatred.
Is this Sam Altman's gentle singularity?
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/this-is-the-gentle-singularity