The movement to pause AI is gaining momentum, but can anyone actually stop the race toward more powerful artificial intelligence?SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co         Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzTo listen to the full episode and get access to more bonus episodes, an ad-free listening experience, and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠         Support my work on Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠ In this week's episode of Power User, I’m joined by Washington Post technology journalist Gerrit De Vynck to unpack the growing backlash against AI, the activists calling for a pause on advanced AI development, OpenAI’s decision to slow development of its most advanced models, and the growing political fight over AI data centers.We break down what the Pause AI movement actually wants, why AI safety activists are worried about superintelligence and rogue AI agents, and whether governments could realistically prevent companies from training increasingly powerful models.We also discuss the growing grassroots backlash against AI data centers, Bernie Sanders’ role in the AI debate, the national security argument for continuing the AI race, competition with China, and why companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google have very different incentives when it comes to slowing AI development.Most importantly, we look at a much bigger question: Is the rapid expansion of AI actually inevitable, or could public opposition, regulation and infrastructure constraints meaningfully slow it down??

To access an ad-free listening experience, get bonus episodes, and receive my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at⁠ ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠         Support my work on Patreon:⁠ ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠⁠Anthropic just announced that Claude and all its AI tools will now watermark every piece of text a user generates, even if it's scientific research or computer code. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Neil Chilson, former FTC Chief Technologist, to break down exactly what AI watermarking is, how the EU AI Act transparency code is forcing this change worldwide, and why this could threaten your privacy and free speech.We explain how probabilistic text watermarking works by subtly altering word choices in AI-generated content, why this creates serious problems for legal documents scientific research and creative writing, and how Anthropic's decision to apply these watermarks globally affects US users who never consented to this tracking. Neil also breaks down the cybersecurity risks, the potential for government overreach, and why open-weight AI models might be the only escape hatch from extraterritorial regulation. If you use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any AI writing tool, (or even if you don't!) you need to understand how the EU AI Act transparency requirements are reshaping AI output behind the scenes. We discuss the dangers of compelled speech on digital platforms and what watermarking means for the future of anonymous online expression.SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠         Support my work on Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠

Zuckerberg Wants AI to Know Everything About You SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co         Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzMark Zuckerberg just published a massive 6,500-word manifesto laying out an aggressive vision for the future of AI. But is this really about democratizing technology, or is it a desperate PR move to catch up with OpenAI and Anthropic? I sat down with New York Times technology reporter Mike Isaac, who has covered Zuckerberg and Meta for more than a decade, to unpack what Zuckerberg is really proposing and why Meta is making such an aggressive push into AI right now.We discuss Meta's battle with OpenAI and Anthropic, Zuckerberg's renewed embrace of open models, the company's massive data center buildout, the backlash against AI infrastructure, and why Meta may be trying to position itself as the alternative to the AI safety movement.We also get into the biggest problem with Zuckerberg's vision, and Mike explains why Zuckerberg is suddenly talking to the media again, how far behind Meta really is in the AI race, what the company's next generation of AI agents could look like, and what to watch for at Meta Connect.  To get access to ad-free listening and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠         Support my work on Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠ 

To listen to the full episode and get access to more bonus episodes, an ad-free listening experience, and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co         Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz  What happens when startups straight up stop hiring human creators and start leveraging industrial-scale bot farms powered by AI? In this bonus episode of Power User, I sit down with New York Magazine's Rebecca Jennings to discuss her investigation into Doublespeed, a massively viral new venture-backed startup founded by 21-year-old entrepreneur Zuhair Lakhani that aims to replace human influencers with an army of AI-generated personas. They've already raised over $1 million from Andreessen Horowitz. From sneaker botting and manufactured restaurant waitlists to operating thousands of cold Android phones from a desktop computer, Rebecca and I unpack the dark mechanics and patterns behind these bot armies running on phone farms in LA. We also discuss the total atrophy of the internet as we know it.  We break down how AI bot farms work, why brands are turning to AI instead of human influencers, and how Silicon Valley is turning manufactured virality into a business. We also discuss the explosion of AI slop, the future of the influencer industry, the death of online authenticity, AI advertising, political manipulation, human verification and what happens when bots become indistinguishable from real people.

Inside the Case That Could Change Protesting ForeverFOR AD-FREE EPISODES SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co         Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz    This week on Free Speech Friday, I sat down with independent investigative journalist Andrew Fedorov, whose bombshell Mother Jones piece reveals the horrors of the Prairieland case, which was one of the harshest protest sentencing outcomes in modern U.S. history. Activists who gathered outside a Texas ICE detention center on July 4th are now facing sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years, with combined sentencing for the group reaching over 580 years. Andrew sat in the courtroom for the entire trial, interviewed the defendants' friends and families, and pieced together a detailed timeline of what actually happened that night. We break down the real story of how these activists were persecuted and how the government built its case using Signal chats and iCloud backups. We break down:Who the Prairieland activists actually are and how they got involvedWhat really happened outside the ICE facility on July 4thHow the government used signal chats, iCloud data, and TikTok activity as evidenceWhy one man is facing 30 years and deportation for moving a box of zinesWhat these sentences mean for the future of protest and free speech in AmericaWhy big tech companies are complying with government subpoenas targeting anti-ICE accountsThis is a case everyone should understand because prosecutors are already calling it a successful blueprint, and similar cases are emerging in Minnesota, Washington, and beyond.Read Andrew Fedorov's full investigation, "How Anti-ICE Protesters Became Prisoners in Trump's War on Antifa," linked below.https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/prairieland-texas-antifa-trial-ice-protesters-terrorism-conspiracy/

The Wild Rise and Fall of Leopold AschenbrennerLISTEN AD-FREE!! 👇🏻 Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co        Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz   Until a week ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner was hailed as the "Nostradamus of AI". A 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher whose 165-page manifesto, Situational Awareness, convinced Silicon Valley and Wall Street that superintelligence was coming faster than anyone expected, his hedge fund ballooned to over $20 billion. Then, it came crashing down. In this episode of Power User, WSJ reporter Berber Jin joins me to break down the meteoric rise and fall of Leopold Aschenbrenner, from his early days in the effective altruism movement and FTX's Future Fund, to his controversial exit from OpenAI, to the margin calls, Citadel bailout, and chaos that unfolded the very same week he got married We discuss what Aschenbrenner's spectacular blowup tells us about Silicon Valley, AI hype, and the rush to bet billions on AI.Follow Berber Jin (Wall Street Journal): https://twitter.com/berber_jin Read Berber's story: https://www.wsj.com/finance/leopold-aschenbrenner-situational-awareness-ai-fund-597633d3  

Everyone got this viral lawsuit totally wrong.FOR AD-FREE EPISODES, BUY A PAID SUBSCRIPTION TO MY PATREON OR SUBSTACK!! SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co       Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz       This week, a viral story claimed Elon Musk's xAI is suing Minnesota so that he can create AI-generated CS*M. That false claim exploded across social media, but it leaves out the most important part.    In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff to break down Minnesota's new AI law, why xAI is challenging it, why major civil liberties orgs like the ACLU are also against the law, and why free speech advocates across the country say the law raises serious concerns.This convo is NOT defending Elon Musk. It is about understanding how AI regulation can produce unintended consequences and why even laws that claim to do good can do immense harm to us all.  We discuss:The $500,000-per-image penalties facing AI companiesHow the law could affect image generators, creative software, and indie developersWhy First Amendment scholars are sounding the alarmThe risks of strict liability for AI platformsThe chilling effect on online speech and creative expressionWhether AI-generated content deserves First Amendment protectionHow this compares to Section 230, FOSTA-SESTA, and the Take It Down ActWhy regulating platforms instead of bad actors may have unintended consequences

Is AI destroying human literature? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co      Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz         You might have seen the viral videos of a "book guillotine" slicing the spines off thousands of books in a massive warehouse. Last week, the internet exploded after videos surfaced showing Anthropic cutting the spines off thousands of books to train AI models. Social media quickly filled with claims that AI companies were destroying rare books, erasing human knowledge, and building a future where artificial intelligence replaces libraries. But is that actually what happened?In this episode of Power User, I sit down with tech policy expert Derek Slater, who worked on the original Google Books project, to explain why Anthropic is actually scanning books and destroying physical copies afterward, how decades of copyright law (not just AI) created this bizarre situation, and how we can actually save the books!! We discuss:Why Anthropic buys books by the palletWhether rare books are actually being destroyedHow Google Books handled digitizationWhy copyright law incentivizes destroying booksThe Internet Archive lawsuitsFair use and AI trainingThe future of libraries in the AI eraWhy the viral outrage missed the bigger story

Nantucket's "No Influencers" Sign Started a Gender and Class War, Here's What It's Really AboutSUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co     Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Last week, the internet exploded after a small Nantucket shop posted a simple sign reading "No Influencers." What started as a local controversy quickly became a national debate about influencer culture, old money, quiet luxury, class, authenticity, and the future of social media.In this bonus episode of Power User, I'm joined by freelance reporter Andrea Domanick, co-host of The Culture Journalist podcast and newsletter, to unpack the most cursed discourse of the summer. We get into why this fight is not actually about one sign or one influencer, and who gets to define status, taste, and authenticity in America's most exclusive spaces. We explore:The Four Winds Craft Guild controversyPaige Lorenz and Dairy BoyQuiet luxury and the old money aestheticThe rise of influencer cultureWhy "influencer" has become a loaded wordThe history of influencer bansSocial media, class, and cultural capitalWhy privacy has become the ultimate luxury

If AI becomes the foundation of search, education, government, and everyday life, the fight over who controls AI outputs could shape the future of the internet. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co    Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz       The Trump administration is making a major push to reshape AI in a way that could affect ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and every AI company building the future by trying to ban "woke" AI.  In this episode of Free Speech Friday, TechDirt's Mike Masnick joins me to break down the FTC's proposed AI policy, what it actually says, and how it will pressure AI companies to change their answers, withhold information, give misleading information, and what this battle means for free speech, censorship, AI regulation, and open-weight models.We discuss:• Trump's AI Executive Orders • The FTC's new anti-woke AI policy proposal • ChatGPT and AI censorship • Free speech and the First Amendment • OpenAI vs Grok • Open-weight AI models • Government regulation of artificial intelligence • The future of AI in America