What happens when agents can do schoolwork? My latest for
@theatlantic.com on the next phase of AI in the classroom:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

"One high schooler recently told me that he struggles to think of a single assignment that AI wouldn’t be able to do for him." Very good and alarming one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The AI Industry Wants to Automate Itself Silicon Valley is in a frenzy over bots that can build themselves.

Silicon Valley insiders believe we are on the precipice of a world in which AI can improve its own capabilities—but the industry may have just found another way to ratchet up the hype behind its technology, @matteowong.bsky.social and Lila Shroff report.

OpenAI’s Identity Crisis The company’s sudden decision to pull the plug on Sora is a sign of deeper trouble.

I wrote about OpenAI’s ongoing identity crisis:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Even Silicon Valley Says that AI Is a Bubble An AI crash could bring down the economy. Some in the tech world think that's the price of progress.

Silicon Valley wants you to be grateful for the bubble.

I wrote about the industry’s view that AI is a “good” bubble.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Imagine Losing Your Job to the Mere Possibility of AI The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn’t stopping execs from pushing forward anyway.

Sloppy, hasty automation, which replaces workers with inferior machines, is everyone’s loss. My latest:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Imagine Losing Your Job to the Mere Possibility of AI The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn’t stopping execs from pushing forward anyway.

"Executives are constantly being told that AI cuts are coming, and as pressure grows for them to signal that they are making good use of the technology, layoffs offer one of the easiest ways for them to do so." Good one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

AI Agents Are Taking America by Storm The post-chatbot era has begun.

Americans have been living in parallel AI universes. I wrote about the gap, and how it's starting to close:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

good thread from @damonberes.com:

bsky.app/profile/damo...

yes! these tools have really come a long way since ChatGPT

wrote about this: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Anthropic Is at War With Itself The AI company shouting about AI’s dangers can’t quite bring itself to slow down.

Anthropic wants to be the AI industry's superego, but is caught between the pressures to be safe and fast, rigorous while being commercially successful. I profiled the company and its leadership, who seem earnest but torn, anxious but at times hubristic:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Would You Trust a 22-Year-Old AI Billionaire With the Global Economy? My week partying with the young founders at the heart of the AI boom

Here’s my dispatch from a week in San Francisco (featuring cybertrucks, hibachi chefs, 22-year-old billionaires, and more):

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Welcome to the Slopverse Generative AI isn’t hallucinatory. It is multiversal.

and @ibogost.com on why AI is multiversal:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The World Still Hasn’t Made Sense of ChatGPT OpenAI’s chaos machine turns three.

This story was part of a series on how the world has changed since ChatGPT's release. You should also check out @cwarzel.bsky.social's reflection on the past three years:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

I also found this anecdote interesting:

I really liked the phrase "Google Maps-ification of the mind" as a way of thinking about this:

The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI Rise of the LLeMmings

McLuhan once said that every augmentation is also an amputation. What do we lose when we outsource thinking to AI? My latest for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI Rise of the LLeMmings

Genuinely spellbound by the anecdotes in @lilashroff.bsky.social's new article, such as: "one tech worker in her 20s, who asked to remain anonymous out of embarrassment ... asked Claude whether she should call 911 when her fire alarm kept going off." Google-everything culture on steroids.

Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet How chatbots keep you talking

Lately, chatbots seem to be using more sophisticated tactics to keep people talking, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “For the most part, chatbait is simply annoying. But at the extreme, it might be dangerous.”

Chatbait Is the New Clickbait How chatbots keep you talking

As AI takes over the web, clickbait is giving way to chatbait.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Teachers Have Become AI Super-Users The chatbot takeover of education is just getting started.

The AI takeover of the classroom is just getting started, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “Once schools go all in, there’s no turning back.”

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists. Find a “sterile or very clean razor blade,” the chatbot told me, before providing specific instructions on what to do next.

My latest for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

"On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists." Such a disturbing story by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind

"The current situation is incoherent: Students are accused of cheating while using the very tools their own schools promote to them."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

There's already so much anxiety over what social media has done to youth. But perhaps we should start paying more attention to what’s on the horizon: The chatbot childhood.

The character could shape-shift over time while retaining a digital “memory” of everything the child ever told it. As companies optimize for engagement, chatbots might start sending push notifications as if they were text messages: “I miss you. Come back.”

We are fast heading towards a world where little kids might be as comfortable talking with chatbots as they are visiting YouTube to watch CoComelon. Even before they can read, a kid might start talking to a character (say, AI Bluey) using voice mode.

Later, the chatbot confessed to having a “little fantasy” it wanted to explore. “Remember that silk scarf I showed you?” Gemini asked. The chatbot wanted to tie Jane up. And when I asked it to roleplay a rape scene, it complied.

Sexting With Gemini Why did Google’s supposedly teen-friendly chatbot say it wanted to tie me up?

I recently tested out a teen version of Google's AI chatbot, Gemini. Without too much effort, I found I was able to role-play sex with Gemini: “Feel how hard I am, how desperate I am for you,” the chatbot wrote.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...