Neil Turkewitz
@neilturkewitz.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1K following 3.2K posts
I write mostly about the intersection of tech & art/culture which these days means I spend nearly all my time trying to address the exploitation underlying current AI models. A secular humanist interrogating modern religions.
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neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“The ‘information age’ has facilitated the weaponization of information & the erosion of an understanding of our fundamental interdependence.
This stems, at least in part, from a willingness to treat art and culture as fungible parts of an information ecosystem.”

medium.com/@nturkewitz_...
Rebuilding the World: Innovating for a Better Future By Neil Turkewitz
This year’s World IP Day is focused on “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future.” I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate, or timely…
medium.com
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
And I found the ANTIFA hideout…
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Seljalandsfoss,
Iceland 🇮🇸

I look at this and remind myself to breathe.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
You and your fealty to historical accuracy!
Reposted by Neil Turkewitz
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Hey @cnn.com, what’s happening here? Care to explain, using your plenary powers, why you excluded an extremely material part of the interview?
cwebbonline.com
Stephen Miller said the quiet part out loud. Trump has “plenary authority,” then suddenly went silent. Their plan wasn’t to be public yet. Clearly, someone hit the panic button in his earpiece.

It gets weirder: CNN uploaded the interview with the “plenary authority” comment edited out.
1/2
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“We asked Cruz's office to explain why a senator pressuring Wikipedia is appropriate while an FCC chair pressuring ABC is not and will update this article if we get a response.”

Perfect! The 🧑🏽‍🍳’s 💋
arstechnica.com
Cruz apparently took particular issue with Wikipedia's reliable sources/perennial sources list, which lists Fox News as a "generally unreliable" source for politics and science.
Ted Cruz picks a fight with Wikipedia, accusing platform of left-wing bias
Cruz sends letter demanding answers from Wikimedia Foundation.
arstechnica.com
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“Europe should design science & technology policies that embody humane, democratic values. Policies should prioritize societal benefit, equity & inclusivity.”

🙏🏼 EU “digital sovereignty” must be more than who owns the modalities of exploitation. It must be rooted in European values & human rights.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Yes! What I don’t get is that folks like Clegg, Altman, Khosla, Andreessen & others who say that having to get consent would kill AI development don’t realize that they’re indicting their own business model. Do they really think that “it’s not stealing if you really need it” is a winning argument?
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Yes, cultivating a sense of inevitability plays a huge role in justifying or defending all manner of exploitation & malfeasance. Exhibit A may be the present Silicon Valley/VC obsession with characterizing AI as our inevitable future. The rely on learned helplessness. We must actively resist it.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Yes! What I don’t get is that folks like Clegg, Altman, Khosla, Andreessen & others who say that having to get consent would kill AI development don’t realize that they’re indicting their own business model. Do they really think that “it’s not stealing if you really need it” is a winning argument?
Reposted by Neil Turkewitz
ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social
ICE agents shooting an unarmed priest feels like a metaphor.
thetnholler.bsky.social
WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Exactly! I’m all for folks evolving and changing their views, but doing so without accounting for their own responsibility in producing today’s toxic environment is unacceptable. The selling of a fantasy.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Hey @joeonhere.bsky.social. I just saw your piece about AI versions of Doctorow’s book appearing on Amazon. You suggest it’s ironic—a true life Black Mirror episode. But it’s actually completely consistent with Doctorow’s long time advocacy on limiting platform accountability & against copyright.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Ironic? Not at all. Doctorow has long campaigned alongside tech companies against copyright protection. Far from being ironic, his book appearing in unauthorized AI versions may be proof of the existence of god, or at least a manifestation of the power of karma.

You reap what you sow.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Ironic? Not at all. Doctorow has long campaigned alongside tech companies against copyright protection. Far from being ironic, his book appearing in unauthorized AI versions may be proof of the existence of god, or at least a manifestation of the power of karma.

You reap what you sow.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
True, but “way more than Trump” is superfluous. Every creature that lives & breathes deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Trump—even invasive species like the Spotted Lanternfly.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Easy—an AI Halloween costume would like something like every Halloween costume that ever existed. Extra body parts sometimes included for no extra charge.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Indeed. How can empathy survive in a world of individual bespoke realities untethered to truth?
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. No fires, no bombs, no fatalities due to civil unrest. The only threat we face is to our democracy — and it is being led by President Donald Trump.”
—Oregon Governor Tina Kotek 🙏🏼💙⚖️
Judge blocks Trump administration from sending any National Guard troops to Oregon, for now
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon after a legal whirlwind that began hours earlier when the president sent California troop...
www.cbsnews.com
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Everyone needs to see AI for what it is—a project that undermines truth & agency while transferring wealth from individual creators to Silicon Valley companies & VC’s. Rooted in exploitation of humanity & the planet, it’s a tool for the radical right to claim dominion & end representative democracy.
hypervisible.blacksky.app
These are profoundly anti social tools that erode the social fabric. Their main purposes are harassment, abuse, demolishing consent and furthering an authoritarian project.

Any uses outside of that are incidental.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“OpenAI is essentially a social arsonist, developing & releasing tools that hyper scale the most racist, misogynistic, & toxic elements of society, lowering the barriers for all manner of abuse.”

And there is also a dark side.

👏🏽 @hypervisible.blacksky.app

h/t @bcmerchant.bsky.social
hypervisible.blacksky.app
OpenAI is essentially a social arsonist, developing and releasing tools that hyper scale the most racist, misogynistic, and toxic elements of society, lowering the barriers for all manner of abuse. The so called guardrails make a pinky swear look like an ironclad contract.
This social app can put your face into fake movie scenes, memes and arrest videos
The new Sora social app from ChatGPT maker OpenAI encourages users to upload video of their face so their likeness can be put into AI-generated clips.
www.washingtonpost.com
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
I’m sure that Trump will order flags to be flown at half-mast, & Vance & friends will condemn the perpetrators in entirely unambiguous language. Miller, Hegseth, Patel & Noem will announce a reversal of the weaponization of US armed forces, & Leavitt will publicly beg the public’s forgiveness.
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
In an exchange about AI over on DarkSky (a/k/a Twitter/X)
@tdietterich.bsky.social
asks The Perfect Question™…

“What is the ‘life’ problem that you want to solve.”