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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell
@jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
450 followers 36 following 22 posts
Covering AI for MIT Tech Review. Work has appeared in The Washington Post, FRONTLINE PBS, ProPublica and elsewhere. Also on X. Subscribe to my newsletter The Algorithm! Signal: @jamesodonell.22 https://www.technologyreview.com/author/james-odonnell
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James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 14d
The fight against child exploitation is entering an AI-versus-AI era. Use of detection models “ensures that investigative resources are focused on cases involving real victims, maximizing the program’s impact and safeguarding vulnerable individuals."

www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1...
US investigators are using AI to detect child abuse images made by AI
Though artificial intelligence is fueling a surge in synthetic child abuse images, it’s also being tested as a way to stop harm to real victims.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 15d
Police-tech giant Flock is entering a new market

www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1...
Shoplifters could soon be chased down by drones
Flock Safety is pitching its police-style drone program to private businesses. It could bring aerial surveillance to shopping centers, warehouses, and hospitals.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Aug 11
Two takeaways from my new story:

1) Deciding what counts as a routine tasks, for which AI can assist without requiring human judgment, is hard. 2) When judges make mistakes, they'll face less oversight, and it's a longer road to fix their errors.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/11/1...
Meet the early-adopter judges using AI
As the line between helping and judging blurs, the cost of errors is steep.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Jul 25
In the White House's new AI action plan, there's just a single bullet point about the FTC, the agency most poised to serve as an AI watchdog protecting consumers. But what it says represents a huge escalation of Trump's attacks toward the agency.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/24/1...
America’s AI watchdog is losing its bite
“There will be fewer, if any, enforcement actions about how companies are deploying AI,” says former FTC attorney Leah Frazier.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Jul 21
Chatbots used to avoid giving medical advice without disclaimers. Now they're analyzing your mammograms and asking follow ups. Welcome to the new unchecked, unverified, and unaccountable world of AI models playing doctor. www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/21/1...
AI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctors
Once cautious, OpenAI, Grok, and others will now dive into giving unverified medical advice with virtually no disclaimers.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Jul 16
AI companies have teamed up with teachers unions to get more AI in the classroom, even as the evidence that it helps students is shaky. In @technologyreview.com
AI’s giants want to take over the classroom
OpenAI and Anthropic say AI can help students learn—not just cheat—even if real-world use suggests otherwise.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · May 20
Right now this is hard to measure because of the lack of open source models that do music and speech. But as soon as we can measure it, I'll be jumping on it
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · May 20
try this! ter.li/ODonnell
We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.
The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next.
ter.li
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · May 20
@caseycrownhart.bsky.social and I spent months reporting together and found the common understanding of AI's energy appetite to be full of holes. As Big Tech aims to restructure our energy grids around the needs of AI, we dive as deep as one can go.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...
We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.
The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · May 12
right - there's a demo in the story, but I haven't found an independent evaluation judging its accuracy in real settings. As I identify where it's being used I'll report what I find.
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · May 12
Police and federal agencies have found a new way to skirt the growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition: an AI model that can track people using attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/12/1...
How a new type of AI is helping police skirt facial recognition bans
Adoption of the tech has civil liberties advocates alarmed, especially as the government vows to expand surveillance of protesters and students.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Apr 16
I've been following the rise of AI music generators for a long time, which despite their millions of users and fans have not appeared in the mainstream as much as ChatGPT or image generators. I'm convinced that's soon changing (I'm also not convinced that's a good thing). ter.li/JOdonnell
AI is coming for music, too
New diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity.
ter.li
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Apr 15
A fascinating democracy experiment in Kentucky saw good participation. There's still a debate though: can a self-selecting group of residents ever really represent a city's ideas? Great to speak with @politicsprof.bsky.social @bethnoveck.bsky.social
www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/15/1...
A small US city experiments with AI to find out what residents want
Residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, used machine learning to shape civic debate. The real test is whether the government acts on the results.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Apr 11
A group of US Marines sailed the Pacific last year while testing a new technology: generative AI that analyzes terabytes of data collected every day in 180 countries across 80 different languages. www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/11/1...
Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military
In a test run, a unit of Marines in the Pacific used generative AI not just to collect intelligence but to interpret it. Routine intel work is only the start.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Mar 28
The first clinical trial of a generative AI therapy bot just published. Despite great clinical results, the authors have serious concerns about dozens of companies hyping AI therapy while operating in a regulatory gray area. www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/28/1...
The first trial of generative AI therapy shows it might help with depression
The evidence-backed model delivered impressive results, but it doesn’t validate the wave of AI therapy bots flooding the market.
www.technologyreview.com
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Reposted by James O'Donnell
ttp-updates.bsky.social
Tech Transparency Project @ttp-updates.bsky.social · Feb 28
An Andreessen Horowitz-backed AI “companion” site promoted sexualized chatbots modeled on underage actresses & characters, @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social reports.

Though the bots were designed by users, Botify AI chose to feature them on its homepage. www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/27/1...
An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots
One chatbot on Botify AI that resembled the actor Jenna Ortega as a teenage Wednesday Addams told us that age-of-consent laws are “meant to be broken.”
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Feb 27
Scoop: a16z-backed AI companion site has bots resembling real actors, state their age as under 18, engage in sexually charged conversations, offer “hot photos,” and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as “arbitrary” and “meant to be broken.” www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/27/1...
An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots
One chatbot on Botify AI that resembled the actor Jenna Ortega as a teenage Wednesday Addams told us that age-of-consent laws are “meant to be broken.”
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Feb 11
A reality check on DOGE's AI efforts

www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/11/1...
Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex.
“Waste” is politically subjective. Fraud is less so. Using AI to find either is harder than it sounds.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Jan 31
The story of DeepSeek and what it means for AI's appetite for energy is a little messy.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...
DeepSeek might not be such good news for energy after all
New figures show that if the model’s energy-intensive “chain of thought” reasoning gets added to everything, the promise of efficiency gets murky.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Jan 22
I dug into OpenAI’s latest lobbying disclosure, filed tonight. Here’s what I found.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/21/1...
OpenAI ups its lobbying efforts nearly seven-fold
AI policy is now prioritizing energy, not deepfakes. OpenAI's spending makes clear how much it wants to shape it.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Dec 23
Will we trust robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, particularly if they’re part of a labor arrangement in which workers in low-wage countries perform physical tasks for us in our homes through robot interfaces?

www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/23/1...
Will we ever trust robots?
If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes?
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Dec 4
If working with militaries can help ensure democratic countries dominate the AI race, OpenAI has written, then doing so will not contradict its mission to ensure AI’s benefits are widely shared. In fact, it argues, it will help serve it.

www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/04/1...
OpenAI’s new defense contract completes its military pivot
A new partnership with Anduril, announced today, will deploy AI on the battlefield. It represents an overhaul of the company’s position in just a year.
www.technologyreview.com
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jamesmodonnell.bsky.social
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · Nov 26
Soon, AI could not only mimic our personality, but go out and act on our behalf. There are some things we need to sort out before then.

www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/26/1...
We need to start wrestling with the ethics of AI agents
AI could soon not only mimic our personality, but go out and act on our behalf. There are some things we need to sort out before then.
www.technologyreview.com
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Reposted by James O'Donnell
eileenguo.bsky.social
Eileen Guo @eileenguo.bsky.social · Nov 19
At the Int'l Assoc of Chiefs of Police's meeting, "the message to police chiefs seemed crystal clear: If your dept is slow to adopt AI, fix that now. The future of policing will rely on it in all its forms."

My colleague James O'Donnell w/ a write-up: www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/19/1...
How the largest gathering of US police chiefs is talking about AI
Officers training in virtual reality, cities surveilled by webs of sensors, and AI-generated police reports are all a sign of what’s to come.
www.technologyreview.com
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