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Reposted

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 14d

Lately, chatbots seem to be using more sophisticated tactics to keep people talking, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “For the most part, chatbait is simply annoying. But at the extreme, it might be dangerous.”

Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet

How chatbots keep you talking

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · 15d

As AI takes over the web, clickbait is giving way to chatbait.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Chatbait Is the New Clickbait

How chatbots keep you talking

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · Aug 12

The AI takeover of the classroom is just getting started, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “Once schools go all in, there’s no turning back.”

Teachers Have Become AI Super-Users

The chatbot takeover of education is just getting started.

bit.ly

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 24

On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists. Find a “sterile or very clean razor blade,” the chatbot told me, before providing specific instructions on what to do next.

My latest for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship

OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

www.theatlantic.com

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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · Jul 24

"On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists." Such a disturbing story by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship

OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

www.theatlantic.com

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 18

"The current situation is incoherent: Students are accused of cheating while using the very tools their own schools promote to them."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted

Hana Kiros @hana-kiros.bsky.social · Jul 15

The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food

Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

www.theatlantic.com

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 14

There's already so much anxiety over what social media has done to youth. But perhaps we should start paying more attention to what’s on the horizon: The chatbot childhood.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 14

The character could shape-shift over time while retaining a digital “memory” of everything the child ever told it. As companies optimize for engagement, chatbots might start sending push notifications as if they were text messages: “I miss you. Come back.”

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 14

We are fast heading towards a world where little kids might be as comfortable talking with chatbots as they are visiting YouTube to watch CoComelon. Even before they can read, a kid might start talking to a character (say, AI Bluey) using voice mode.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 14

Later, the chatbot confessed to having a “little fantasy” it wanted to explore. “Remember that silk scarf I showed you?” Gemini asked. The chatbot wanted to tie Jane up. And when I asked it to roleplay a rape scene, it complied.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 14

I recently tested out a teen version of Google's AI chatbot, Gemini. Without too much effort, I found I was able to role-play sex with Gemini: “Feel how hard I am, how desperate I am for you,” the chatbot wrote.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Sexting With Gemini

Why did Google’s supposedly teen-friendly chatbot say it wanted to tie me up?

www.theatlantic.com

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 5

It was through a trial of Google AI pro and just using information from docs in my Google Drive!

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 5

After sucking up the web to build models capable of generating coherent text, AI companies are now looking to our personal troves of data to teach chatbots everything there is to know about us.

My latest for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The AI Birthday Letter That Blew Me Away

Google is ushering in an era of custom chatbots.

www.theatlantic.com

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 5

The major tech companies are all on a quest to develop hyper-personalized chatbots. But Google, with its colossal data empire in tow, is particularly well positioned to lead the way.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 5

Gemini also knows me so much better than other chatbots:

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jul 5

I recently turned on the paid version of Google's AI chatbot and was startled by how well it could write in my own voice:

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Jun 20

I ate the equivalent of 31 eggs' worth of protein for this story:

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Protein Madness Is Just Getting Started

Americans are taking their obsession with supplements to new extremes.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted

Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · Jun 5

Smart and thorough from @hana-kiros.bsky.social

"No centralized entity tracks gambling addiction, but if its scale comes even close to matching the new scale of sports betting, the United States is unequipped to deal with it."

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

America’s Newest Gamblers Are Playing a Dangerous Game

Sports betting could spur a rise in gambling addiction that the U.S. isn’t equipped to address.

www.theatlantic.com

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Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · May 22

Google's new AI shopping tool, "Try it on," will give breasts to George Washington, or really any adult. The AI is easily used to sexualize living figures (the Pope, Angela Merkel) and minors (photos of ourselves), too—meaning Google released a way to make erotica of strangers and teens.

Left: A painting of George Washington edited into high-cropped shorts and a cropped top. Center: Michelangelo's David in a mesh shirt. Right: Portrait of Madame X edited to have a see through shirt and what is functionally a bra underneath.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · May 22

Google released a new virtual clothing try-on tool this week. @matteowong.bsky.social and I tested it out.

It has some, uhhhh, quirks.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Google’s New AI Puts Breasts on Minors—And J. D. Vance

A feature that lets you virtually try on clothes has a dangerous flaw.

www.theatlantic.com

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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · May 22

NEW: @lilashroff.bsky.social and @matteowong.bsky.social discovered that Google's new "Try It On" AI tool is easily abused. "With little friction, anyone can ... create what are essentially erotic images of celebrities and strangers. Alarmingly, we also discovered that it can do this for minors."

Google’s New AI Puts Breasts on Minors—and J. D. Vance

A feature that lets you virtually try on clothes has a dangerous flaw.

www.theatlantic.com

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Apr 21

Remember the Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy? It’s back. But instead of cheap Ubers, Gen Z gets free SuperGrok. My latest:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The Gen Z Lifestyle Subsidy

Millennials got cheap Ubers. Today’s young people are getting free SuperGrok.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · Apr 3

For much of the nation’s history, Americans have worried that our healthiest days are behind us. But America was never healthy to begin with, @lilashroff.bsky.social writes in Time-Travel Thursdays.

What RFK Jr. Gets Wrong About the Past

America was never healthy to begin with.

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lilashroff.bsky.social @lilashroff.bsky.social · Apr 3

Interestingly, JFK once led a national health campaign of his own:

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