Anything about machine learning, generative AI, models, prompts, automation, or AI-driven culture
~AI
There's something distinctly American about treating caution as inefficiency. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that xAI’s Grok will join Google’s AI engine inside Defense Department networks, and that Grok is expected to go live later this month. Watching this unfold feels like observing a national
~Technology
The greatest trick LEGO ever pulled was convincing the world that plastic bricks were about architecture when they were really about possibility. Now, at CES 2026, they've done it again, embedding a computer smaller than a single LEGO stud inside what looks like an ordinary 2x4 brick. The
~AI
The University of Maryland’s Crossfire team recently tested a drone-based suppression system on controlled fires at a training facility as part of its entry in the XPRIZE Wildfire competition, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about the absurdity of our timeline. We've gone
~AI
Smart toys have become the unintentional court jesters of modern childhood, delivering responses that fall somewhere between helpful and hilariously wrong. These AI companions—from teddy bears to various interactive gadgets—operate like substitute teachers who learned everything from Wikipedia the night before, creating a new genre of domestic comedy
~AI
The Beautiful Mess of Human Kindness Meets Silicon Dreams Some food banks are starting to use AI systems to predict donation patterns—tools that can help reduce waste and improve distribution when they're implemented well. Literacy nonprofits are experimenting with apps that adapt to each child's
~AI
A question posed at a research conference made everyone pause: "How do we know when an AI is intelligent?" The response came back with characteristic directness: "How do we know when a human is?" This exchange returns to me often as I watch the peculiar theater
~AI
The suits at Warner Music Group just signed a deal with the devil, and the devil's name is Suno. While they're popping champagne somewhere, celebrating their "innovative partnership" with an AI music generator, the rest of us are watching rock and roll get processed
~Music
The suits at OpenAI just signed a deal so fat it could buy every dive bar from here to Memphis and turn them into server farms. They're committing to drop $38 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next seven years—all to build machines that think faster
~Music
Harley Flanagan swung his bass like a medieval mace at CBGB's back in the day, the Cro-Mags tearing through sets sounding like the world ending in a Lower East Side basement. Four decades later, Silicon Valley wants me to believe a neural network trained on Spotify data can
~Technology
The mathematical elegance of a DJ's work has always fascinated me—the precise timing of transitions, the harmonic relationships between tracks, the algorithmic patterns of building and releasing tension. Now YouTube Music is testing something that would have made Xenakis smile: AI-generated radio hosts that don't
~AI
The numbers alone tell the story. Nvidia and OpenAI are planning a $100 billion infrastructure alliance that would deploy 10 gigawatts of computing power across multiple data centers. To put this in perspective, 10 gigawatts could power roughly 7.5 million homes. Instead, it will train and run artificial intelligence
~AI
Wolfgang Van Halen isn't pulling punches. When AI-generated music started creeping into the sonic landscape, he dropped a digital sledgehammer: "I think generative A.I. is really stupid. I just think it's dumb. I think it's a waste of time. I think A.