Using chatbots for nonfiction and journalism seems like playing Russian roulette with a semi-automatic firearm. Writing is hard enough without a minefield of fabricated quotes and flagrant plagiarism. Also, the cognitive offloading seems to weaken discipline. www.nytimes.com/2…
Who's Who of AI
Gil Durán
California writer. Ida Tarbell stan. Beat: tech fascism, billionaire extremism, network state, crypto cartels.
Writing: “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy.”
The Nerd Reich: http://www.thenerdreich.com
What they're sharing
Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I. nytimes.com
As A.I. Fever Rises in Silicon Valley, Pope Leo Has a Few Words nytimes.com
axios.com
Opinion | Progressives Are Listening to the Wrong People on A.I. nytimes.com
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No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious theatlantic.com
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Nearly 400 local newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright theft - New Jersey Globe newjerseyglobe.com
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youtube.com
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Opinion | We Can’t Let My Former Venture Capital Colleagues Buy Off Our Democracy nytimes.com
AI, Argentina and the Antichrist: Thiel’s Vision Blooms thenerdreich.com
Elon Musk's USAID Cuts: A Silicon Valley Genocide thenerdreich.com
Pluralistic: How the Epstein Class recruits (20 Jun 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net
Tokenminimizing: Meta Moves to Curb Employee AI Usage as AI Costs Reach Billions theinformation.com
Articles & links
“Big Tech is essentially its own religion with its own theology and rites, not to mention its own power and influence. Pope Leo’s encyclical will be automatically viewed as false doctrine.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/t...
They still can’t quite say it, but the establishment press is getting so, so close to grasping the situation. I think I predicted 2027 as the year when even the New York Times will take this stuff seriously. I’m an optimist! www.axios.com/2026/06/20/a...
Gil Durán reposted
Dems like Bernie Sanders and AOC are using regulations to effect change in the AI industry—but their goals are informed by hypecycle bluster from Silicon Valley higher-ups rather than workers. Me for @nytimes.com
Gil Durán reposted
"For all the times that 'honesty' is mentioned in Claude’s constitution, I would argue that it is fundamentally dishonest to have a machine emit many categories of sentences, including any sentences using first-person pronouns."
Gil Durán reposted
Nearly 400 local newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright theft. newjerseyglobe.com/media/nearly...
Gil Durán reposted
My work tracking cryptocurrency and AI industry political spending has only underscored the importance of getting big money out of politics. I recently talked to @tiffanymuller.bsky.social from @endcitizensunited.bsky.social about how we can do this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ…
Rarely do we see a venture capitalist speak out against fellow VCs. "We Can’t Let My Former V.C. Colleagues Buy Off Our Democracy." Please read and share (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/o...
AI, Argentina, Antichrist. Peter Thiel’s decision to plant roots in Argentina makes a lot more sense now that President Javier Milei has unveiled plans to ban AI regulation and allow "non-human" corporations. The "Network State" rears its ugly head. www.thenerdreich.com/ai-arg…
When billionaires preach "abundance," remember that the richest man in the world killed the poorest children in the world just for the LOLs. And if these AI fascists get their way, most of us will join the starvation class. www.thenerdreich.com/a-silicon-va...
Gil Durán reposted
Also not mentioned in Ezra Klein’s statement, but something Cory Doctorow revealed this week about when he was invited (and quickly, REPEATEDLY declined): You had to pay a minimum of $16,000 to go! I would like to know how much Klein paid to casually check it out. pluralistic.…
AI Weekly's analysis
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- Dialog, co-founded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, secretly grades prospective members A, B, or C based on wealth and influence.
- Lower-graded attendees pay retreat fees exceeding $10,000 while higher-graded members receive discounts, according to leaked data.
- Cory Doctorow received solicitations to pay thousands of dollars to speak at a Dialog retreat, which he declined citing Yog's Law.
Read full analysis →
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Tokenminimizing: Meta Moves to Curb Employee AI Usage as AI Costs Reach Billions www.theinformation.com/articles/tok...
Their own posts
Recent commentary
One thing AI LLMs are very good at: convincing their victims that mediocrity is greatness, and that the ability to generate high volumes of mediocre content is a substitute for skill, talent, or work. This is the distinct impression I get every time I look at LinkedIn.
Peter Thiel's interest in New Zealand and Argentina traces back to the 1997 book "The Sovereign Individual," which argued that technology would collapse nation-states like the USA in the 21st century. Almost 30 years later, he is still chasing the "prophecy" (now AI and Antichrist-enhanced)
Silicon Valley: Everyone must use AI for everything all the time! It's a miracle! Also Silicon Valley: Please do not use AI, it is too expensive (and we are watching you)
BlueSky has its problems, but I appreciate the lack of vagueposting and AI-generated story-lying here. Every time I crack open one of the older social media sites, it's a tidal wave of overwrought engagement bait. Even the annoying things about BlueSky are decidedly human.
Someone published a fake AI knockoff of my book and it’s *terrible.* Really shows the limitations of the technology! It tried to guess my book and got nowhere near it—confidently! I’ll do a review at some point. (It’s been removed from Amazon)
Did anyone happen to capture screenshots of the Objection AI website (the Thiel-funded app to go after journalists)? The original website has been removed (already!) and it's not preserved in WayBack Machine.
I used Grammarly for many years but quit once it pivoted to shoving AI down everyone's throat. At the end, it was both offering to rewrite your stuff with AI...and to detect any AI writing. A nice circular economy of baiting and busting, which seems to be where we are now.
The amount of scammy AI-generated “let us make your book a best-seller with our book club/list” spam emails is truly impressive. As if!
Their network
In Gil Durán's orbit
Center = Gil Durán. Left = members they follow (green edges). Right = members who follow them (blue edges). Top = mutual follows (orange edges, slightly larger). Drag any node to reposition; click to open that profile.