How to Start an AI Panic
Last week the Center for Humane Technology summoned over 100 leaders in finance, philanthropy, industry, government, and media to the Kissinger Room at the…
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A Native Son of Palo Alto Thinks His Hometown Will Kill Us All
I meet Malcolm Harris, voice of millennials and anti-capitalist crusader, at a Brooklyn coffee shop, suggested by his publicist for a book-tour interview. He…
Who Should You Believe When Chatbots Go Wild?
In 1987, then-CEO of Apple Computer, John Sculley, unveiled a vision that he hoped would cement his legacy as more than just a former purveyor of soft…
Google Pioneered Stratospheric Loon Balloons. Was China Watching?
Alphabet pulled the plug on Loon in early 2021. It was a business decision, not a reflection on the technology—basically, its mission became moot as remote…
Down the Chatbot Rabbit Hole
Further generations of humans—or robots—might one day look back on this week as the tipping point in the way that computers and people interact. On Monday,…
Startup T2 Wants to Terminate Twitter
In mid-2021, Gabor Cselle bought a $15 Moleskine notebook to sketch out ideas for new startups. On the first page, he wrote “T2” and began taking notes for a…
Alphabet’s Layoffs Aren’t Very Googley
In 2004, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin engaged in a comically passive-aggressive IPO road show. They eschewed business suits for casual garb,…
My Week With the Future of Garbage Bins
It’s 10 pm and, like a vampire stirring in its coffin to greet the nocturne, my garbage bin comes to life. A semicircle of yellow lights on the lid starts…
Lina Khan’s Plan to Liberate US Workers
“I am dubious that three unelected technocrats have somehow hit on the right way to think about noncompetes and that all the preceding legal minds to examine…
Welcome to the Wet Hot AI Chatbot Summer
Late last year, I attended an event hosted by Google to celebrate its AI advances. The company’s domain in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood now extends…