Platformer

Casey Newton

Weekly audio updates at the intersection of tech and democracy. From Casey Newton.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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31 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes31

Newest first

March 6 · 15 min
Inside the backlash to the AI war machine
A protest at OpenAI headquarters suggests the backlash to military AI is growing — even if its politics are still half-formed. PLUS: The Pentagon declares Anthropic a supply chain risk. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/openai-protest-military-ai-movement/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 3 · 21 min
What is OpenAI going to do when the truth comes out?
Sam Altman’s deal with the Pentagon seems too good to be true. What happens when the public realizes that? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/openai-pentagon-surveillance-drones-backlash/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 27 · 17 min
The authoritarian AI crisis has arrived
AI safety researchers have long worried that a government would seek to use AI for domestic surveillance and autonomous killing. The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic threatens to make it a reality. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/anthropic-pentagon-authoritarian-ai/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 20 · 6 min
The infinite scroll goes on trial
Testifying before a jury in LA, Mark Zuckerberg makes the case that platform design is about free expression. But the walls are closing in on Section 230. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/the-infinite-scroll-goes-on-trial/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 10 · 12 min
Why the infinite-scroll childhood may be coming to an end
A lawsuit that begins in LA this week, along with a new investigation into TikTok by the European Commission, could change social apps forever. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/social-media-addiction-trial-eu-tiktok-investigation/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 6 · 13 min
The reporter who tried to replace herself with a bot
Anxiety about AI replacing entry-level jobs is on the rise. Could a state-of-the-art chatbot do the job of a Platformer fellow? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/journalism-job-automation-claude/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
February 3 · 10 min
Five ways of thinking about Moltbook
What a social network for AI agents tells us about the future. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/moltbook-ai-agents-security-content-moderation/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
January 28 · 12 min
What a big study of teens says about social media — and what it can’t
The “moral panic” framing misses how platforms actually harm kids. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
January 23 · 6 min
The AI productivity paradox
Managers say it makes them more productive. Workers don't. What gives? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
January 14 · 6 min
What I learned while cloning my own voice
Announcing Platformer+, a new way to listen to our columns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
January 13 · 5 min
Grok gets blocked
More than a week into a deepfake scandal, a handful of foreign governments have found the strength to do what Apple, Google, and the United States will not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Platformer

Inside the backlash to the AI war machine

What is OpenAI going to do when the truth comes out?

The authoritarian AI crisis has arrived

The infinite scroll goes on trial

Why the infinite-scroll childhood may be coming to an end

The reporter who tried to replace herself with a bot

Five ways of thinking about Moltbook

What a big study of teens says about social media — and what it can’t

The AI productivity paradox

What I learned while cloning my own voice

Grok gets blocked