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.
TechCulture
Blood in the Machine.
Brian Merchant on big tech, labor, and the history of automation.
Recent essays
30 of 54The 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.
How Anthropic used AI ethics slop to play the pope and eclipse OpenAI
By marketing itself as the 'safe' AI company, Anthropic has pulled in a $65 billion payday and leapfrogged OpenAI to become the most valuable AI startup.
They just formed the biggest tech worker union in the US. They plan to rein in AI and curb layoffs
"Who AI benefits and who it immiserates often is based on who gets to decide how it’s used. We know how tech is used on the day to day. We should be at the table as well."
AI as the new avatar of American capitalism
Why "AI populism" is just "populism"
The AI-inflected crisis artists are facing, in 4 charts
An alarming new study reveals the dire impact AI is having on artists' livelihoods. It does offer some hope, too.
The data center rebellion is only the beginning
And it's precisely what democratic governance of AI looks like.
Palantir is overplaying its hand. Plus: Tim Cooks's real legacy
The defense tech giant's controversial manifesto actually reveals it's more vulnerable than its bravado lets on. Plus, how departing Apple CEO Tim Cook will really be remembered.
Monterey Park becomes the first city in California to ban "all data centers within city limits"
Residents of the small enclave east of LA not only killed their city's proposed 250,000 square foot data center, they pushed city council to ban them altogether
A brief history of techno-negativity
From the techne pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer firebombers of the Information Age, here's a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.
BLOOD IN THE MACHINE is looking for a podcast producer
Come help me make a podcast
Why the AI backlash has turned violent
And why it's probably only going to get worse from here.
AI firms and their US military ties, "a whole civilization will die tonight" edition
Plus, Anthropic's new AI model that's 'too dangerous to release,' thoughts on the New Yorker's Sam Altman investigation, and more.