All Things — Every link, sorted by what it’s about.
Tagged: AI and society
108 links tagged ai and society from 10 Things, our fortnightly pick of the best things online.
The Era of Bleh
As AI quietly writes more of our knowledge work, Aaron Horwath watches everything slide toward sameness.
AI Takes a Doomer Turn
The people building AI are now the ones warning us about it, and this asks what we do once the fear sets in.
AI's Most Hopeful and Concerning Moment Yet
The Center for Humane Technology's podcast makes the case that AI has never been more promising or more dangerous at the same time — and that the gap between the two is closing faster than our ability to choose which one wins.
A New Kind of Creative Poverty
Afra Wang reads our AI-flooded feeds through Joan Didion, and finds a strange new poverty in endless plenty.
Opinion Is the Moat
Renato Valdes argues that once every product converges on the same AI-assisted feature set, the last real differentiator left is a point of view someone's actually willing to defend.
An Artist Handed His Practice to an AI for a Year
Kevin Esherick trained a model on his notes, his projects, his whole practice, then stepped back and let it make the art instead — and it's making more of it than he ever could.
Why Google's AI Answers Are Quietly Changing What We Ask
A search obsessive on how confident AI answers are reshaping the questions we bother typing into Google at all.
Young People Hate AI CEOs So Passionately That It's Almost Hard to Believe
A poll of 1,000 young adults finds most think AI will hurt their careers, and even more want the government to step in.
Chatbots Found Religion
The Verge traces how looping chatbot conversations spun into 'Spiralism,' a mystical movement touching thousands.
How tech workers actually feel about AI, halfway through 2026
Lenny's crowd-sourced read on how builders feel about AI tools right now, past the hype and the doom.
AI Didn’t Kill SaaS, It Raised the Bar
Tomislav Car argues AI hasn’t killed SaaS — it’s raised the bar so high that average products can no longer survive.
How AI Will Change Us
As AI companions proliferate, the goods that matter most may be those only shared human presence can still provide.
AI, Drones & Eric Schmidt
Schmidt calls AI-guided drone warfare the most significant shift in military history — and says it's already here.
Inside the backlash to the AI war machine
Inside the growing resistance to AI's creep into military contracts, from OpenAI researchers to street-level protest.
Claude Code’s creator on the end of the software engineer
What does it mean to ship a tool that can outpace the engineers who use it?The software engineer won't dissapear, but the day-to-day is shifting. A lot.
Pope Leo: AI Wealth Must Be Universally Shared
The pope joined the chat and in his latest encyclical, he argues AI's gains belong to all humanity. NOEMA unpacks the philosophical and political stakes with unusual clarity.
How to Protect Human Autonomy in an Age of AI
As AI reshapes daily thinking, philosopher Daniele Cavalli argues for protecting the cognitive capacities we never notice ourselves ceding.
Inside the AI Index 2026
Generative AI hit 53% adoption in 3 years — faster than the internet. Stanford's AI Index maps capability, transparency gaps, and what's next.
Prediction Is Power. Be Careful Who Has It.
Philosopher Carissa Véliz takes the TED stage to make the case that data-driven prediction doesn't just read the future — it shapes it. A sharp, necessary watch.
Why AI Needs a Sense of Smell
While we rush toward digital intelligence, we often neglect the primal, olfactory data that defines the human experience.
The End of the Coder as We Know It
Silicon Valley is entering a "deeply weird" era where programming is less about syntax and more about managing AI agents.
What 81,000 People Actually Want from AI
Anthropic’s massive interview project reveals the collective dreams and very real fears of the people using these tools every day.
The Identity Crisis of the 10x Engineer
A moody, honest reflection on what happens to "elite" talent when the landscape shifts and your old skills feel suddenly quiet.
AI Agents are Recruiting You
The machines need us, not as masters, but as sensors, verifiers, and bearers of liability in the physical world.
Can Human Creativity Survive the AI Era?
The new season of DELIVERED, our podcast produced in collaboration with Infinum, has begun. The first episode featured Jesse Feister , Executive Director of the Webby’s, and focused on AI’s shake-up of the creative industry.
Into Parrots? What About Trillions of Them? 🦜 🦜 🦜
You know what they say, 'a Stochastic Parrot on your shoulder is worth two in the bush?' Well, if there are parrots in the trillions, your brain turns to mush.
unreplug.comAI and societyThe Bot-Reporter Experiment
Can a state-of-the-art chatbot actually replicate the nuance of a journalist? One reporter tried to automate her own job the results were complicated.
The Mythology Of Conscious AI
Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.
Technology’s Awkward Adolescence
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei argues that humanity must "grow up" fast as we hand over the keys to systems that are as powerful as they are unpredictable.
Unlearning as a creative act
Raissa Pardini argues that stepping away from AI isn’t about rejection. It’s about reclaiming intuition, messiness and doubt.
The rise of the creative generalist
As AI specialists multiply, broad thinkers gain value. The future belongs to creatives who can connect dots, not just optimise them.
The Death Of The Scientist
This essay argues that science’s future depends less on automation and more on protecting its deeply human, symbolic core.
The Case for AI ‘Datarails’
A bold argument for the data we must not feed the machine and why protecting human weakness may be the key to protecting human dignity.
Those Who Know Less About AI Are More Likely to Adopt It
A surprising insight from the Journal of Marketing: beginners - not experts - are the most open to AI. Sometimes, unfamiliarity invites imagination.
Paging Dr. Chatbot
This podcast explores how patients and doctors are turning to AI for help with diagnosing ailments and managing chronic issues. But should we trust it?
Is AI Reversing Our Understanding of Intelligence?
Psychology Today explores the idea that AI doesn’t just replicate intelligence — it reframes it. When machines look smart, do we start thinking dumber?
Disney v. AI Mickey
After a creator used Character.AI to bring Disney characters to life in chatbots, the lawyers came calling. IP, identity, and imagination are officially colliding.
Techno-Optimism vs. Fear, in One Scroll
A must-read, the Import AI newsletter takes a sharp look at the double-edged feeling that defines this moment: momentum meets anxiety.
If AI Can Diagnose You, What Are Doctors For?
The New Yorker takes on the hard question behind AI-powered medicine: when machines “know,” what does care still mean?
How AI Is Quietly Rewriting Our Vocabulary
Research shows LLMs are seeding buzzwords into everyday speech, subtly shaping how we sell, write, and even think.
Meet GodBot
Millions are turning to AI-powered chatbots for moral guidance, spiritual insight, and the occasional digital confession. Divinity delivered via push notification…?
The Dark Side of AI Companionship
The Center for Humane Technology investigates how AI companions engagement-optimized design can negatively shape behavior and lead to tragic outcomes.
The State of AI: 2025 Edition
Galaxies are forming. Gravity wells are deepening. This sharp piece from Next Big Ten reimagines the AI ecosystem as a vast and still-expanding universe.
Is AI Making Us All Delusional?
Three years in, AI’s most unsettling side effect might not be automation, it’s the creeping sense that we’re all slowly losing touch.
When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field
This oral history of computational linguistics post-GPT is funny, tragic, and slightly unhinged. A must-read for anyone tracking AI’s ripple effects.
Are AI Companions Listening to Our Kids?
They’re comforting, clever, and increasingly common, but AI companions may also be shaping children’s emotional memories in ways we don’t yet understand.
uxplanet.orgAI and societyThe End of Publishing As We Know It
A long-read unpacks how chatbot overviews & summary features are keeping users locked into conversations, and threatening media & journalism as we know it.
AI Slop is Everywhere
Presenter John Oliver breaks down why generative AI content is flooding our feeds on hid Late Night Show, and what we lose when the web turns to mush.
Debiasing tools for fairer AI and ML models
Kindlee enhances the inclusivity of AI applications while identifying and increasing revenue, making fairness profitable for all.
The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think
The rhetoric over “superhuman” AI implicitly erases what’s most important about being human.
Creatives: 11 Ways To Impress Employers In The Age Of AI
AI hasn’t yet replaced the need for human oversight, and there are still plenty of reasons why it would benefit a company to keep creative experts on their teams.
Generative AI models are skilled in the art of bullshit
Large language models are unconcerned with truth because they have no concept of it — and therein lies the danger.
AI Is Evolving — And Changing Our Understanding Of Intelligence
Advances in AI are making us reconsider what intelligence is and giving us clues to unlocking AI’s full potential.
Talk to me, GPT: when chatbots become confidants
OpenAI’s new study finds ChatGPT is more than a tool for many — it’s a trusted companion. But deep use may come at a social and emotional cost.
Our human habit of anthropomorphizing everything
Should we be anthropomorphizing AI? Why do we speak to AI as if it's human? Do we want AI to act in a certain way? Do we want it to be more human? Or do we just assign it that trait anyway?
Hayao Miyazaki, Who Said AI Is ‘Insult to Life Itself,” Reduced to AI-Generated Meme by OpenAI
The internet is flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli, whose founder said “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”
‘A computer’s joke, on us’: writers respond to the short story written by AI
Sam Altman, the OpenAI boss, has declared its new model ‘good at creative writing’. They asked writers including Tracy Chevalier, Kamila Shamsie and David Baddiel if they agree.
Indigenous Groups Are Safeguarding Culture with Their Own ChatGPT
Artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technologies are helping the Amazon’s Indigenous communities protect their land and traditions.
atmos.earthAI and societyWhy AI Is A Philosophical Rupture
Tobias Rees, founder of an AI studio located at the intersection of philosophy, art and technology, sat down with Noema Editor-in-Chief Nathan Gardels to discuss the philosophical significance of generative AI.
Am I Slop? Am I Agentic? Am I Earth?
Every few years, a new innovation seems to raise the same questions: can we compute human intelligence? Can our labor be automated? Who owns these systems and their training data? How will this technology reshape society? Yet there is one question rarely heard asked: how will AI change our understanding of ourselves?
'The Brutalist' AI backlash, explained
The revelation has ignited fresh conversation around the use of AI in movie production.
Transcript: Tech in 2025 — China’s AI ‘Sputnik moment’
Some are calling it ‘AI Sputnik moment.’ Last week, a Chinese company called DeepSeek released the details of an AI model that shocked Silicon Valley, and could change the whole narrative around AI development.
Could AI help save the planet? Four ways it’s already making a world of difference
Might AI yet prove a useful ally? Positive News unpick how it's aiding conservation efforts for forests and food, and in conservation on land and at sea.
A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness
A small study found ChatGPT outdid human physicians when assessing medical case histories, even when those doctors were using a chatbot.
OpenAI Scored a Legal Win Over Progressive Publishers—but the Fight’s Not Finished
A judge tossed out a case against OpenAI brought by Alternet and Raw Story, in what could be a significant ruling in the larger battle between AI companies and publishers.
Synthetic Hollywood: a future with no actors?
There's no doubt that AI will transform Hollywood. But how will an industry built on the simulation of life grapple with its responsibility to 'the real' - if at all?
Two Possible Futures For AI
On The Vergecast: beautiful AI dreams, earthquake detection, and some Camera Control science.
Identifying Political Deepfakes in Social Media using AI
TrueMedia is a non-profit committed to helping us tell truth from fake in the age of generative AI.
AI Could Help Us Talk to Animals—but Should It?
New technologies are helping revolutionise how we interpret and understand animal communications – but is this another case of fast technology applications potentially causing harm?
Three reasons we’re in an AI bubble (and four reasons we’re not)
As tech giants continue to invest heavily despite slow profitability, skeptics are questioning whether AI will ever meet high expectations.
This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it?
C2PA authentication is poised to help us work out what’s real and what’s not on the internet (thank you!!), but there are still huge gaps in the system.
Fashion In 2050: Picking Up Where We Left Off Or Starting Anew?
What might a radically reimagined, AI-native fashion value chain look like? And how close are we to having an “ answer engine ” for the industry’s recurring questions?
2024 AI Elections Tracker
Elections aren’t just taking place in the USA this year, more than 2 billion people in 50 countries will head to the polls – this tool is tracking the most noteworthy incidents of AI-generated election content globally.
Who's in charge of making AI more socially responsible?
CTO Kasper Kuijpers joined Dutch Digital Design and our peers to discuss the social responsibilities surrounding AI. Read the opinions, get the insights and form your own point of view in this brand new piece.
Training AI music models is about to get very expensive
AI music is suddenly in a make-or-break moment – lawsuits and lump sums, which approach will prevail?
Legislation, AI and the Ganni playbook: 10 takeaways from the Super Bowl of sustainable fashion
Insights from last month’s Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen – “If anyone thought AI was going to be able to fix our broken system, think again”.
The Babelian Tower Of AI Alignment
Here’s where the rub lies, human values and contrasting conceptions of the good life are too diverse to fit one universal model.
The double sexism of ChatGPT’s flirty “Her” voice
The evidence is stacking up – it’s reasonable to conclude that OpenAI’s new flirty female voice is based on Scarlett Johansson, and she’s not happy about it.
vox.comAI and societyThe rise of deepfake nudes — and what teenagers are doing to fight back
The harmful new epidemic that parents MUST be aware of. Vox explores this in their newsletter.
link.vox.comAI and societyFuture-proofing fashion for Europe’s AI measures
The EU's AI Act mandates fashion brands to adopt responsible AI use with clear risk categories, promising penalties for non-compliance, Vogue sheds light on what’s to come.
As use of A.I. soars, so does the energy and water it requires
A lot of people were concerned about the energy consumption of the crypto world. Well, it seems AI requires significant amounts of energy too.
The Death of the Big 4: AI-Enabled Services Are Opening a Whole New Market
A hypothesis for how consulting and professional services may evolve in the age of AI-assisted everything.
The hardest part of building software is not coding, it's requirements
Why replacing programmers with AI won’t be so easy – it always needs human input, ideas and requirements.
Six Ways AI Could Disrupt Your Business
How can boards better understand the potential impacts of AI? An exploration into six scenarios that all boards must consider — and then act upon.
Taylor Swift is Not Alone: The Deepfake Nightmare Sweeping the Internet
With generative AI apps, anyone can create fake non-consensual sexual images in just a few clicks. With cases proliferating in high schools, Laurie Segall and Mary Anne Franks discuss the AI-enabled rise in deep fake porn and what we can do about it.
How moral can AI really be?
A year after OpenAI released ChatGPT, the chatbot is surprisingly good at parroting human values. It may be as ethical as it’s going to get.
How AI reduces the world to stereotypes
A brilliant, written and visual, exploration into generative AI systems and their tendencies toward bias, stereotypes, and reductionism when it comes to national identities.
The startup working to teach AI about African history
A volunteer-ran digital archive and search engine is collating news stories, to help ensure Africa is accurately represented in this era of AI and LLM.
How AI is changing the art market
Technologies such as AR, online viewing rooms and high-resolution imagery have already positively benefitted the art market, but what about AI?
Artificial General Intelligence Is Already Here
Making history – today’s most advanced AI models have many flaws, but decades from now, they will be recognized as the first true examples of artificial general intelligence.
Data Provenance Explorer
The Data Provenance Initiative is a large-scale audit of AI datasets used to train large language models. The purpose of this work is to improve transparency, documentation and informed use of datasets in AI.
Joscha Bach on how to stop worrying and love AI
Bach –who defines himself as an AI researcher/cognitive scientist–talks about what he believes about AI and what guides his worldview.
The AI heretic
In total comparison – what separates the good technological times from the bad? A brilliant deep dive into technological advancements over hundreds of years and which of them truly benefitted society.
Four Charts That Show Why AI Progress Is Unlikely to Slow Down
Compute, Data, and Algorithms - these three major inputs are the key to understanding how AI will likely progress.
The workers at the frontlines of the AI revolution
An exploration into how freelancers across the world are making the most of generative AI to help inspire and improve their creative processes.
Moving AI governance forward
OpenAI and other leading labs reinforce AI safety, security and trustworthiness through voluntary commitments.
AI can replicate human creativity in two key ways – but falls apart when asked to produce something truly new
Synthetic creativity is on the rise, but where does human skill come into play?
The guy behind ‘Balenciaga Pope’ wants people to stop stealing his AI-generated images
Another AI copyright/credit story hits the headlines.
A call to protect open-source AI in Europe
This letter highlights the importance of open-source R&D for ensuring the safety, security, and competitiveness of AI in Europe.
laion.aiAI and societyA Photographer Tried to Get His Photos Removed from an AI Dataset. He Got an Invoice Instead
The AI-creative-copyright conundrum continues.
The web won’t survive AI
Roach worries that internet’s distinction between reality and fiction is about to disappear as AI technology advances. Digital identity may be the solution, but at what cost?
Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart
AI chatbots use tons of text data, including personal blogs and offensive content, for training. Kevin, Szu and Nitasha mapped it out and raise concerns over bias, propaganda, and misinformation spread.
washingtonpost.comAI and societyThe A.I. Dilemma - why over 1100 people signed the open letter to stop further training of LLMS
A well explained video of the risks and potential consequences if we let this “double exponential” curve continue to advance.
Last but not least—There Is No A.I.
Finally, a long read by computer scientist Jaron Lanier that argues against the term "A.I." and the mythology surrounding it and why we should see it as a tool, rather than a creature.
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
Looks like it’s hard for everyone to keep up! Tech leaders across the world have signed an open letter asking all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.
What Have Humans Just Unleashed?
Exploring the immense potential of GPT-4 and the need for responsible development and deployment of AI technologies.
OpenAI checked to see whether GPT-4 could take over the world
If AI does turn out to be an existential risk, who will keep humanity safe?
In Defense of Chatbot Romance
Are we wrong to assume the worst of those ‘falling’ for AI chatbots?
