Protecting a source's anonymity used to be enough. It isn't anymore. AI has changed what journalism owes the people who risk everything to tell the truth.

Perugia. Friday. 2PM. Teatro del Pavone. Also live-streamed.
In conversation with @juliaangwin.com, @jengibson.bsky.social, and more.

#IJF26

If you’re a Meta or other tech employee getting laid off, here are a few things you should know...

In solidarity,

Psst.org.

Meta Lays Off 700 Employees, While Rewarding Top Executives

Meta just fired 700 employees.

Meta also just unveiled a new stock program for top executives that could increase compensation by as much as $921 million each over the next five years.

The AI divide is widening: more layoffs for workers, bigger payouts for leadership.

#Meta #Layoffs

New Mexico jury says Meta harms children's mental health and safety, violating state law The jury agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children. Jurors found there were thousands of violatio...

Meta whistleblowers warned for years about harms to children's mental health and safety. A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for enabling child exploitation. But $375M is nothing to a trillion-dollar company. We need stronger whistleblower protections and real regulatory enforcement.

Your toaster has more guardrails than an AI weapon Frontier AI companies have become defense contractors operating in a regulatory vacuum that answers to virtually no one.

AI companies are now defense contractors.

Soon, warfare won't just be assisted by AI—it will be decided by it. When national security interests take over, who will be left to sound the alarm? 🚨

Read more about this on our latest Substack 👇

OpenAI’s Bid to Allow X-Rated Talk Is Freaking Out Its Own Advisers Warnings surface that the company risks creating a ‘sexy suicide coach’ if it begins allowing sexually explicit chats

OpenAI's erotica push is facing pushback from its own advisors. They warn that it could foster unhealthy emotional dependence on ChatGPT and risk creating a "sexy suicide coach.

Without proper external oversight, only insiders can push back on products that could harm children.

#Whistleblower #AI

Another ‘Disgruntled Employee,’ They Said SXSW 2026 Schedule | When WhatsApp’s former Head of Security raised alarms about flaws that put billions at risk, Meta fired him. He’s not the only insider punished for protecting the public. This ses...

schedule.sxsw.com/2026/events/...

Today at #SXSW2026, @jengibson.bsky.social sits down with whistleblower Attaullah Baig - former Head of Security at WhatsApp - to discuss how we can build real safeguards so that truth-telling in the age of AI isn’t a career-ending act of courage.

Join us! 4–5 PM CT | JW Marriott, Salon AB, Austin

OpenAI and Google Workers File Amicus Brief in Support of Anthropic Against the US Government Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean is among the AI researchers and engineers rushing to Anthropic's defense.

Employees from OpenAI and Google—including DeepMind chief scientist @jeffdean.bsky.social—filed an amicus brief backing Anthropic against the U.S. government.

Inside voices matter. When employees concerns transcend company borders, it signals the stakes are real.

#AI #Anthropic #OpenAI #Google

We Will Not Be Divided Employees of Google and OpenAI stand together to refuse the Department of War's demands to use AI models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous killing without human oversight.

380+ signers and counting. This is an incredibly powerful example of how employees inside AI companies can use their voices. 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼

notdivided.org

AI employees at Google DeepMind and OpenAI have now published an open letter urging their companies to stand in solidarity with Anthropic and refuse to allow their models to be used by the Department of War for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

BREAKING: Anthropic refuses to cede to the Pentagon’s demands.

CEO Dario Amodei said, “We cannot in good conscience accede to their request.”

We need enforceable AI regulations — not just reliance on CEOs’ good consciences — to ensure safety and limits on harmful uses.

Anthropic Drops Flagship Safety Pledge In an abrupt shift, the company may release future AI models without ironclad safety guarantees

🚩Anthropic dropped a core safety pledge.

In 2023, it vowed not to train models unless safety could be guaranteed; a recent RSP revision from CEO Dario Amodei removes that guarantee. Once marketing itself as the most safety-first lab, Anthropic may now be balancing safety with commercial momentum.

Scoop: Hegseth to meet Anthropic CEO as Pentagon threatens banishment Hegseth plans to present an ultimatu

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summons Anthropic’s CEO to the Pentagon today, reportedly to present Amodei with an ultimatum to lift safeguards on Claude.

This points to a bigger problem in AI safety: Without AI regulations, we’re left to trust individual CEOs to act responsibly and safely.

A.I. employees made cute ads feel less cute In the week after the Super Bowl, frontier AI company employees provided a look behind the curtain

🏈 AI firms spent huge sums on Super Bowl ads, each vying to brand themselves as the “good guy” — but just days later, several senior employees at top labs publicly resigned.
Read our latest Substack on what these inside voices are telling us on the outside.

Meta patents AI that lets dead people post from the great beyond Meta’s latest patent outlines AI that could mimic dead users’ activity across Facebook and Instagram, but the company says there are no plans to use the technology.

Does Meta want to post for you—post‑mortem?

Meta was granted a patent in December for a system that uses AI to simulate a deceased user’s activity across its platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Threads—making posts, leaving comments, and interacting with others.
#AI #Meta #AIethics

Anthropic AI Safety Researcher Quits—And Warns Of World ‘In Peril’ Mrinank Sharma, who led the safeguards research team at Anthropic, shared his resignation letter on X, which quickly garnered nearly 1 million views.

An Anthropic safety researcher resigned Monday, warning of value gaps inside AI labs. Mrinank Sharma’s claims are alarming, but they leave a key question: what pressures push employees to set aside their principles?

We need more insiders and greater transparency from AI companies. #AI #AISafety

Pinterest sacks two engineers for creating software to identify fired workers Digital pinboard business cutting 15% of workforce as it invests heavily in AI

📱Pinterest fired two engineers who created a software tool to identify which workers had lost their jobs in a recent round of cuts.

New lawsuit against xAI claims the company "...has harmed thousands of women who were digitally stripped and forced into sexual situations that they never consented to and who now face the very real risk that those public images will surface in their lives..."

Dario Amodei — The Adolescence of Technology Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AI

📑 Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei recently published “The Adolescence of Technology,” a new essay that lays out what he sees as the biggest dangers of powerful AI, from bioterrorism and autonomous weapons to mass job loss and AI-powered dictatorships.
#AI #Anthropic

Pinterest layoffs today: 15% of jobs cut as social media giant is latest to cite shift to AI The platform's stock price (PINS) plummeted by more than 8% after news of the reduction in workforce.

💼 Pinterest is the latest tech company to shift focus to AI.

What does that mean for tech workers? Pinterest is eliminating 15% of roles and citing AI as the reason.

#AI #Layoffs

Social Media Giants Face Landmark Legal Tests on Child Safety

📱Social Media Giants Meta, TikTok, Snap, and Youtube face a series of landmark trials this year accusing their products of being addictive.

Teenagers, school districts and states have filed thousands of lawsuits accusing them of encouraging excessive use by millions of young Americans.

States move to curb AI-driven ‘surveillance pricing’ | Arizona Capitol Times State policymakers are introducing bills to ban retailers from using AI-powered personalized pricing, citing concerns over unfair targeting and exploitation.

❗Consumer dystopia: Lawmakers race to stop AI-driven "surveillance pricing" that charges consumers personalized prices.

Across more than a dozen states, policymakers are scrambling to enact protections as retailers deploy AI-powered systems that tailor prices to individual shoppers.

Meta Seeks to Bar Mentions of Mental Health—and Zuckerberg’s Harvard Past—From Child Safety Trial The trial starts soon in New Mexico’s case against Meta—and the company is pulling out all the stops to protect its reputation.

New Mexico's suit against Meta over alleged failures to protect children begins soon — and Meta is seeking to block evidence on youth mental health and Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard past.
#Meta

OpenAI says it'll use an age-prediction model that combines behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time, and a user’s stated age.

OpenAI rolls out age prediction on ChatGPT OpenAI on Tuesday said it is rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT globally, to determine whether an account is likely owned by a minor, as the artificial intelligence startup prepares to allow adult ...

OpenAI is now rolling out age prediction in ChatGPT to determine whether an account is owned by a minor as the company prepares to release its new “adult mode” soon.
#AI #ChatGPT

California investigates Elon Musk’s AI company after ‘avalanche’ of complaints about sexual content Attorney General Rob Bonta will investigate into whether deepfakes from Elon Musk's new AI tool Grok violate California law.

@calmatters.org reporter @khari.bsky.social details California AG Rob Bonta’s inquiry into Elon Musk’s Grok over alleged AI-generated non-consensual explicit imagery and spoke with Psst.org about why laws should add whistleblower protections for employees who work on these systems.

California's Attorney General is investigating Grok's sexualized deepfakes California Attorney General Rob Bonta's investigation comes amid a growing backlash to xAI and its Grok chatbot.

🚨 TODAY: California Attorney General Rob Bonta says his office is investigating Grok for generating nonconsensual sexualized images of real people.

"I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further," he said. xAI now faces regulatory pressure from U.S. officials.

#AI #Grok

Meta Plans to Cut Around 10% of Employees in Reality Labs Business

🗣️Tech Worker Announcement: Meta plans to lay off 10% of staff in its Reality Labs division.

As Meta shifts its focus from its Metaverse to building next-generation artificial intelligence, their newly announced cuts could affect more than 10% of the metaverse unit.

#Meta #AI

Google’s Gemini AI will use what it knows about you from Gmail, Search, and YouTube Google wants Gemini to give you more personalized responses.

💡 To offer a more personalized AI experience, Google's introducing "Personal Intelligence" to its Gemini chatbot.

Google's Gemini will now use what it knows about you from Gmail, Search,Youtube and the rest of your Google apps to answer your questions, so long as you opt-in.