A generative election
Three of the biggest losers in the midterm elections were data centers, AI, and tech oligarchs. The winners were those united in opposition. But this must merely be the beginning.
TechCulture
Blood in the Machine.
Brian Merchant on big tech, labor, and the history of automation.
Recent essays
30 of 65Data centers, AI, and the 2026 elections. Ft. Paris Marx.
Plus, three things we should be watching as Americans head to the polls on Tuesday.
We cannot under any circumstances let AI firms govern the future
Anthropic is trying to write its own laws. And all the AI firms have proposals for how their AI will serve the public. Here’s what they have in common--and why we shouldn’t accept any of them.
The big tech defectors you’re not hearing about
After Tariq Ra’ouf spoke out about Apple’s treatment of Palestinians, he was fired. He joins a growing legion of overlooked workers protesting big tech, and he hasn’t stopped fighting.
California vs. the tech billionaires
Inside the fight to pass California’s Prop 40, and to stop tech titans’ dystopian vision for working people from coming to pass. With CA labor leader Lorena Gonzalez. Plus: Is the AI bubble bursting?
The 15 best Luddite horror films
From Godzilla to Pulse to the Terminator, these are the best films that register an aggressive critique of technology.
The two words the AI industry hates more than anything
I talk with computational linguist Emily M. Bender, co-author of the influential 2021 “stochastic parrots” paper, about why AI industry leaders can’t stop seething over the term.
California just passed the strongest AI labor laws in the US
Finally, some good news
What’s really behind AI ‘super intelligence’
This week on the podcast, we pull back the curtain on the AI extinction narrative, and interview the humans working long hours behind the scenes to make this “powerful AI” possible.
The AI extinction narrative is winning out
The x-risk of super intelligence going rogue must be addressed, and mint trillion dollar companies in the process. Plus: How workers can beat the tech oligarchy
How to kick Flock out of your town
How to fight the surveillance state one block at a time, with “Ed” from DeFlock.
The ‘End Times Fascists’ of AI, ft. Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
Listen now (64 mins) | A conversation with Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor about “end times fascism” in the tech industry.
The politics and possibilities of ‘AI could kill us all’
AI will not exterminate the human race. But what big tech really *is* doing is bad enough that the notion may help fuel the movement against it.
The real AI jobs apocalypse
A chat with sociologist and ‘AI Con’ author Dr. Alex Hanna. Plus, the human labor that behind Waymos, NYC bans AI in schools, and why a ‘tech forward future’ is a mirage.
Why office workers are turning against AI
Whether or not you like AI at work ultimately boils down to a question of power.
The revolt against Meta’s ‘pervert glasses’ is part of a growing storm
AI. Data centers. Flock cameras. Now Meta’s “pervert” glasses. Breaking down the latest stage of a mass resistance to big tech with Chris Gilliard, privacy scholar and author of Luxury Surveillance.
With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial.
The backlash against data centers is difficult to understand if your salary depends on your not understanding it.
Charting the rise of tech fascism
How the tech right seized power, with Gil Duran, author of the Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.
The State of the AI Bubble with Ed Zitron
How much further can the AI bubble inflate before it bursts? What might cause the ultimate puncture? Why aren't more people worrying about this? A dive into all those questions, and more.
The Odyssey as tech criticism
Christopher Nolan's Odysseus is an entrepreneur who unleashes an AI-caliber scourge on the world
What is an 'Elon Musk'?
How the world's richest man explains the AI boom and 21st century economy. An interview with Quinn Slobodian, co-author of Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed.
"Everyone hates AI" in Paris
A dispatch from the European capital where “tout le monde déteste l’IA.”
Xbox workers speak out about layoffs, AI, and how big tech brought a crisis to gaming
Three Microsoft workers hit by mass layoffs reveal what it's like to be run over by a tech giant in the age of AI--and how they're fighting back.
What VAR tells us about AI
FIFA's semi-automated refereeing system promises neutrality but brims with bias. It's widely despised yet embraced by elites. It is, in other words, a lot like AI.
The Luddites take New York
The Summer of Ludd just wrapped in NYC; we talk to a participant and documentarian. Plus, is the Trump admin secretly worried about an AI bubble? The biggest-ever data center gets shut down, and more.
How and why to de-Google your life
Plus, a data center rebellion erupts in Canada, Gen Z says it's sexy to be a Luddite, and the push to paint anti-tech activists as extremists. This is Episode 2 of the BITM show with guest Paris Marx.
The AI industry is pouring hundreds of millions into US elections
Plus: Fiery resistance to a nuclear AI data center and A24's Google debacle. Welcome to the first episode of BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: THE SHOW, with the great AI and crypto watchdog, Molly White.
Understanding the Luddites in the age of AI
The Luddites are back in fashion, but too many people still get them all wrong. This is what they really stood for, fought against, and why they matter now more than ever.
How to use AI doom marketing to dupe the media and rake in billions in 10 easy steps
The anatomy of what may be the most effective marketing campaign ever. Plus, the mythology of the world's first trillionaire, the Summer of Ludd, and a D&D game inspired by Blood in the Machine.
Working class neighborhoods are resisting data centers at 5 times the rate of wealthy ones
And other key insights about the data center protest movement. Plus, Bernie Sanders' AI sovereign wealth fund proposal, Ted Chiang's argument against AI consciousness, and much more.