Who's Who of AI

đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder

189 trust researcher @davidthewid.bsky.social · 3,086 followers
AI research Compute & infrastructure
Why they matter

Researcher with public evidence across AI research, Compute & infrastructure.

AI signals
2
past 30d
Sources
2
distinct domains
DiscussÔes
14
past 30d
Latest signal
20d ago
View every signal from đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder →
Assistant Prof at UT Austin's iSchool. Big Tech, political economy, AI hype, AI in War trying to help computer ppl think more critically about computer, including me exCornell/CMU/NASA/MSR/IntelLabs. davidwidder.me
What they're sharing

Articles & links

↻ đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder reposted
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com

In the end, it's all pretty simple: hyperscaler growth is now tied to the ability of OpenAI and Anthropic to spend hundreds of billions of dollars, requiring both the demand, funds and completed capacity to do so. Their futures depend on the impossible. www.wheresyoured.at/don


Don't Look Up wheresyoured.at
AI Weekly's analysis →
  • Zitron writes OpenAI and Anthropic account for "70% or more of the AI revenues of Microsoft, Google, and Amazon", with both losing tens of billions annually.
  • The two labs "raised a combined $217 billion in the first half of 2026" and "they'll have to raise $150 billion each" in 2027.
  • Against 190GW of planned capacity needing $1.62-$2.92 trillion in annual demand, Zitron concludes: "If Microsoft doesn't have the demand, nobody has the demand."
Read full analysis →
 View on Bluesky →

Once again, everyone is now worried there's an AI bubble. It is, and it will deflate. But deflating doesn't undo the harmful effects, as @histoftech.bsky.social and I wrote back in 2024
 ash.harvard.edu/resources/wa...

Watching the Generative AI Hype Bubble Deflate – Ash Center ash.harvard.edu
AI Weekly's analysis →
  • Goldman Sachs and Sequoia Capital publicly questioned whether generative AI costs are generating commensurate revenue, signaling the hype peak.
  • U.S. coal plant retirements slowed by 40% amid AI energy demand; Microsoft abandoned its 2030 carbon-negative goal as emissions climbed 30% since 2020.
  • The authors argue the bubble's deflation will not reverse environmental damage, labor displacement in creative fields, or erosion of information quality.
Read full analysis →
View on Bluesky · ♄ 36 ↻ 9 ↩ 2 · 2 from the directory shared this · 152d ago
↻ đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder reposted
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app

I love it when companies offer free shovels to dig your own grave.

Anthropic is giving teachers free access to premium Claude features, details here - 9to5Mac 9to5mac.com
AI Weekly's analysis →
  • Anthropic is giving verified US K-12 teachers a free year of premium Claude, including Cowork and Code, with enrollment open through June 30, 2027.
  • The offering normally costs $20 per month and includes Claude Opus 4.6, higher usage limits, unlimited Projects, and a Learning Commons connector.
  • Educator accounts have model training off by default and FERPA-aligned terms, with Anthropic saying a dedicated schools and districts offering is next.
Read full analysis →
 View on Bluesky →

My 3rd year co-advised PhD student, Shuxian Liu @shuxianliu.bsky.social, is presenting our work on the US-China "AI Arms Race" tomorrow at 8AM in the Simcoe room. Visa issues sadly prevent her attendance IRL, but she would love to engage with you: ischool.utexas.edu/profiles/s


Shuxian Liu ischool.utexas.edu
View on Bluesky · ♄ 11 ↻ 3 ↩ 0 · 32d ago
↻ đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder reposted
@geryon.bsky.social

Nvidia buys Hugging Face: Yeah ok @davidthewid.bsky.social @meredithmeredith.bsky.social & @smw.bsky.social had the full story in “Open (For Business)” papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Under the at least US-led political economy “open” projects WILL be tools of big SV tech & (t


papers.ssrn.com View on Bluesky →

🚹Finally published: How does the US Military enlist AI researchers in war? @siree.sh, Lucy Suchman and I examine 7k US Military grant solicitations for AI research, and show how even "Basic Research" enlists researchers in a warfighting agenda. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177


journals.sagepub.com
View on Bluesky · ♄ 77 ↻ 44 ↩ 7 · 2 from the directory shared this · 125d ago

Hi Victor (and thanks Hagen!) - this is the paper of mine Hagen was referring to: bsky.app/profile/mere... And a longer preprint: davidwidder.me/open.pdf

davidwidder.me
View on Bluesky · ♄ 4 ↻ 1 ↩ 0 · 2 from the directory shared this · 88d ago
Their own posts

Recent commentary

I am pleased to share that I will be a visiting fellow at Cambridge University Digital Humanities for the Easter '27 term. There, I will examine how the US Military conceives of the "other" as it funds and builds AI systems. I'll be in Europe for most of summer too-happy to talk, give a talk, etc!

View on Bluesky · ♄ 24 ↻ 1 ↩ 2 · 8d ago

I am teaching an undergrad course called "đŸ€–AI, Hype, and Capitalism đŸ€‘" — yes, the emojis are mandatory đŸ˜€. I was told undergrads are Not Well. But after reading responses to the intake survey, I am SO EXCITED FOR CLASS TOMORROW:

View on Bluesky · ♄ 9 ↻ 1 ↩ 2 · 78d ago
Their network

In đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder's orbit

Center = đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder. 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.

Are you đŸŒ¶ David Gray Widder? Show it.

Add the Who’s Who of AI badge to your site or bio. It links back to this profile.

Listed in AI Weekly's Who's Who of AI

Markdown: [![Listed in AI Weekly's Who's Who of AI](https://aiweekly.co/modules/custom/aiweekly_whoswho/images/whoswho-badge.svg)](https://aiweekly.co/whos-who/person/davidthewid-bsky-social)