Alisa Perren
@aperren.bsky.social
Media studies prof. Director, Center for Entertainment and Media Industries at UT-Austin. Latest book: The American Comic Book Industry and Hollywood. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
If you have ever thought that my journalism or my first book were net positives for the world, understand that they probably would not exist if I did not have a spouse who paid the mortgage. If I'd been a solo earner/parent, I likely would have left criticism, journalism or book writing long ago.
And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
If you have ever thought that my journalism or my first book were net positives for the world, understand that they probably would not exist if I did not have a spouse who paid the mortgage. If I'd been a solo earner/parent, I likely would have left criticism, journalism or book writing long ago.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
It's weird to not only have lived through an information revolution but also now living through its undoing, all within less than a generation.
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It's weird to not only have lived through an information revolution but also now living through its undoing, all within less than a generation.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Media literacy is down, so to be clear, when the WSJ writes “Ultimately, the fact pattern Meta relies on to meet its conflicting objectives strains credibility” about your accounting practices and runs an accompanying flowchart, that is the equivalent of a 500-foot neon sign reading “FRAUD”
This feels like one of those stories you're going to look at a year from now and say to yourself, "Why didn't I move more of my portfolio into cash?" **
** (This post is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or any other advice.)
🎁
www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ai...
** (This post is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or any other advice.)
🎁
www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ai...
AI Meets Aggressive Accounting at Meta’s Gigantic New Data Center
Favorable treatment off the balance sheet hinges on some convenient assumptions.
www.wsj.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Media literacy is down, so to be clear, when the WSJ writes “Ultimately, the fact pattern Meta relies on to meet its conflicting objectives strains credibility” about your accounting practices and runs an accompanying flowchart, that is the equivalent of a 500-foot neon sign reading “FRAUD”
Reposted by Alisa Perren
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Reposted by Alisa Perren
WAPO jumps into the circular-revenue graphic game.
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
November 22, 2025 at 1:53 PM
WAPO jumps into the circular-revenue graphic game.
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Well slap my ass and call me Suzy
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Well slap my ass and call me Suzy
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Reposted by Alisa Perren
This FT piece on OpenAI and Oracle is bonkers, esp bc of these charts showcasing just how much the business is projected to become OpenAI-dependent
![Chart:
Consensus forecasts for Oracle's capex and data centre revenue
[Shows Capex and Cloud Infrastructure Revenue growth from 2021 to 2030. Y-Axis goes from $0 at bottom to $150bn at top, w lines every $50bn
2021-2024: Capex is low, close to 0. No Cloud Infrastructure Revenue.
2025: Capex near $25bn, Cloud Rev near $10bn
2026: Near $40bn, near 20$bb
2027: $50bn, near $40bb
2028: Near $70bn, near $75bn
2029: Naar $75bn, near $125bn
2030: Near $75bn, over $150bn]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:v2cwzcqbfb7qvkspmpege6y7/bafkreie3dsxijttaqzxhz2ojw4lbd7devtwqnlxkglwre433rfznzkby7i@jpeg)
November 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM
This FT piece on OpenAI and Oracle is bonkers, esp bc of these charts showcasing just how much the business is projected to become OpenAI-dependent
Bummer
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Bummer
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Elsevier has a 38% profit margin, and the other journal publishers aren't far behind.
"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."
November 18, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Elsevier has a 38% profit margin, and the other journal publishers aren't far behind.
Give me all the John Wells doing the medical profession and none of John Wells doing politics. Thank you
November 18, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Give me all the John Wells doing the medical profession and none of John Wells doing politics. Thank you
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Amazing, no notes, I do not desire to learn anything else about this story, for it would only detract from the perfection on this headline.
November 16, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Amazing, no notes, I do not desire to learn anything else about this story, for it would only detract from the perfection on this headline.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Some great charts on #AI from the Wall Street Journal. t.ly/xvvbw "AI products would have to create an additional $650 billion a year, indefinitely, to give investors a reasonable 10% annual return. That’s more than 150% of Apple’s yearly revenue"
November 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Some great charts on #AI from the Wall Street Journal. t.ly/xvvbw "AI products would have to create an additional $650 billion a year, indefinitely, to give investors a reasonable 10% annual return. That’s more than 150% of Apple’s yearly revenue"
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
November 15, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Please make this timeline stop
This is possibly the most fucked thing I've ever seen but also the bit at the end where the grandmother is straight up being tricked into providing training content for the app feels particularly revealing.
Nightmarish idea for a startup tbh
November 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Please make this timeline stop
Reposted by Alisa Perren
I was in downtown LA last night and witnessed someone honking furiously at a Waymo for not making a right on red and it felt like it really captured our moment.
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 AM
I was in downtown LA last night and witnessed someone honking furiously at a Waymo for not making a right on red and it felt like it really captured our moment.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference
November 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference
No notes
November 3, 2025 at 11:58 PM
No notes
A large majority of U.S. adults now get news digitally, but nondigital news consumers are less likely to say they extremely often or often encounter inaccurate news.
Read more on Americans’ views of information accuracy and distinguishing truth from fiction:
Read more on Americans’ views of information accuracy and distinguishing truth from fiction:
Many Americans say they often come across inaccurate news – and have a hard time knowing what’s true
Those who report often encountering inaccurate news are more likely than those who rarely or never do to say it’s hard to know what is true (59% vs. 31%).
www.pewresearch.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Alisa Perren
just 10 people accumulated $700 billion dollars in the last year.
that's over $5k per household in the US.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
that's over $5k per household in the US.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year – report
Oxfam warns Trump policies risk driving inequality to new heights – but Democrats have also exacerbated wealth gap
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:12 AM
just 10 people accumulated $700 billion dollars in the last year.
that's over $5k per household in the US.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
that's over $5k per household in the US.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
I love for everyone that this is now the baseball app
November 2, 2025 at 3:40 AM
I love for everyone that this is now the baseball app
Reposted by Alisa Perren
We do have an extra hour to work with
November 2, 2025 at 3:41 AM
We do have an extra hour to work with
Reposted by Alisa Perren
You have to be a real trashcan to use “AI” tools to make videos of cute babies and animals. If you can’t come up with an adequate supply of cute babies and animals using reality, you are, I repeat, a trashcan.
November 1, 2025 at 5:46 PM
You have to be a real trashcan to use “AI” tools to make videos of cute babies and animals. If you can’t come up with an adequate supply of cute babies and animals using reality, you are, I repeat, a trashcan.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
People are saying that AI will transform the way we teach and learn. It has already transformed the way students cheat and, to my surprise, how they apologize for cheating.
Two professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said they grew suspicious after receiving identical apologies from dozens of students they had accused of academic dishonesty. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...
Their Professors Caught Them Cheating. They Used A.I. to Apologize.
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:50 AM
People are saying that AI will transform the way we teach and learn. It has already transformed the way students cheat and, to my surprise, how they apologize for cheating.