(I was less succinct - I wrote a whole book about it, and about how the GenAI industry is playing a very similar game:
fintechdystopia.com)
fintechdystopia.com)
fintechdystopia.com
"Exploiting regulatory loopholes and bypassing national controls is the name of the game" with crypto.
"Crypto has never been about innovation, but about getting away with things you would not otherwise be able to."
Nice to hear someone else say it! @jemima.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/dbd0...
"Crypto has never been about innovation, but about getting away with things you would not otherwise be able to."
Nice to hear someone else say it! @jemima.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/dbd0...
Crypto skulduggery isn’t a bug, it’s the whole point
Exploiting regulatory loopholes is the name of the game
www.ft.com
I would love to know if there's been a similar shift in sentiment re crypto and stock trading apps.
Folks will always gamble to some degree, but I suspect some gambling on crypto/stocks/sports is unenjoyable but driven by forces of economic precarity: fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
Folks will always gamble to some degree, but I suspect some gambling on crypto/stocks/sports is unenjoyable but driven by forces of economic precarity: fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
In fintechdystopia.com, I stress how important it is to make fun of the Silicon Valley elite.
Today I heard Thiel is bankrolling Rogan’s Comedy Mothership in Austin, where comedians punch down, not up.
uomod.com/joe-rogans-m...
Is Thiel really behind it?
@gilduran.com @jacobsilverman.com
Today I heard Thiel is bankrolling Rogan’s Comedy Mothership in Austin, where comedians punch down, not up.
uomod.com/joe-rogans-m...
Is Thiel really behind it?
@gilduran.com @jacobsilverman.com
Joe Rogan’s Mothership Turned Austin’s Comedy Scene Into a Platform for Punching Down - UOMOD
Austin’s comedic landscape bears the stamp of Joe Rogan’s Mothership Comedy Club–a venue that traded creative risk for reactionary applause.
uomod.com
The ideologies @xriskology.bsky.social identifies
are also motivating crypto, as I explore here: www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/u...
are also motivating crypto, as I explore here: www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/u...
“bespoke legal AI tools still hallucinate an alarming amount of the time: the Lexis+ AI and Ask Practical Law AI systems produced incorrect information more than 17% of the time, while Westlaw’s AI-Assisted Research hallucinated more than 34% of the time.”
hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-tria...
hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-tria...
AI on Trial: Legal Models Hallucinate in 1 out of 6 (or More) Benchmarking Queries | Stanford HAI
A new study reveals the need for benchmarking and public evaluations of AI tools in law.
hai.stanford.edu
Reposted by: Hilary J. Allen
With a single piece of legislation, Congress has made the US financial system more vulnerable to crises, increased the chances of government bailouts for tech platforms, and further entrenched Silicon Valley’s political power, @profhilaryallen.bsky.social warns. bit.ly/4728dfQ
America’s Crypto Apocalypse
Hilary J. Allen foresees grave risks from recent US legislation deregulating stablecoins – and from the ideology it reflects.
bit.ly
Good article, although I have one quibble. If law is as toothless and obsolete as the article implies, why do these tech titans spend so much time and money trying to coopt the law and bend it in their favor?
by Hilary J. Allen — Reposted by: Timnit Gebru
With both crypto and AI, there are humans involved at every level of the stack. Narratives of automation make it seem like the process is merely mechanical, but if there are humans involved, there are points for regulatory intervention (and in this case, humans who may need legal protections)
Reposted by: Hilary J. Allen, Timnit Gebru, Fabián Muniesa
"“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social , a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart
Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent
www.theguardian.com
Unfortunately, Newsom's track record on crypto doesn't inspire much confidence that he'll do the right thing on AI.
From fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
From fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...
As my new paper on sandboxes explores, there’s no reason to believe that these AI sandboxes will benefit anyone other than the tech industry…
…but you probably guessed that already.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
…but you probably guessed that already.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Behold! Abundance at work!
Reposted by: Hilary J. Allen, Manisha Sinha, Farah Mendlesohn
Mark Zuckerberg’s company faces backlash after rowing back promises to create between 300 and 500 new jobs to man its subsidiary’s new data center. www.wired.com/story/louisi...
Louisiana Hands Meta a Tax Break and Power for Its Biggest Data Center
Mark Zuckerberg’s company faces backlash after rowing back promises to create between 300 and 500 new jobs to man its subsidiary’s new data center.
www.wired.com
Perhaps they might not feel the same way after they listen to the podcast that I did with Art Wilmarth and @amandalfischer.bsky.social on this issue....
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
It was great to speak with Art Wilmarth and @amandalfischer.bsky.social about crypto in 401(k) plans for the DCBar's Brief Encounters:
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
Impact on retirees of Trump's 401(k) order encouraging crypto and private investments by Brief Encounters
President Trump's August 7 executive order directs the Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue guidance allowing employers and plan sponsors to include various private ass...
creators.spotify.com
Next Friday, I’ll be speaking about "innovation" claims in financial services at the State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference with the Better Markets Academic Advisory Board. You can register here if you're so inclined: bettermarkets.org/analysis/bet...
Better Markets Academic Advisory Board State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference | Better Markets
September 19, 2025 | 9:00am - 5:00pm EST Register to Attend Virtually Better Markets Academic Advisory Board (BMAAB) is proud to announce its first annual conference taking place in downtown Washingto...
bettermarkets.org
In Fintech Dystopia (fintechdystopia.com/chapters/cha...), I urge people to mock tech hype mercilessly. The Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers is on the job!
I would also emphasize that real ATMs let you deposit AND withdraw cash, and most Bitcoin ATMs only let you deposit cash. Good luck using Bitcoin ATMs to get any real money back.
My draft article "Regulatory Sandboxes One Decade On" recounts our experience with fintech sandboxes to illustrate why AI sandboxes are extremely ill-advised:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
There's also the possibility that a popping AI stock bubble will trigger it all!
Thanks to Jared for another excellent conversation about fintechdystopia.com, this time with a focus on what you’re buying into when you buy Silicon Valley.
This book is fantastic. It was indispensable as I wrote fintechdystopia.com. I was very happy to shell out for the hardcover version, but now it's a paperback!
