Alisa Perren
@aperren.bsky.social
Media studies prof. Director of Industry Relations for the Radio-Television-Film Department at UT-Austin. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further
March 8, 2025 at 12:13 AM
its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further
Reposted by Alisa Perren
wealth concentration is already 200% as bad at is was in 2020. think about that
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering
The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory
The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory
February 15, 2026 at 3:20 PM
wealth concentration is already 200% as bad at is was in 2020. think about that
Reposted by Alisa Perren
lol this is gonna burst so fucking hard
February 14, 2026 at 11:47 PM
lol this is gonna burst so fucking hard
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Legendary founder of NPR programming Bill Siemering is enjoying Zoom visiting with students so much that he's asked me to put a second call out. No honorarium necessary. Any takers?
Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.
A Founding Father of NPR Worries About Its Fate
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Legendary founder of NPR programming Bill Siemering is enjoying Zoom visiting with students so much that he's asked me to put a second call out. No honorarium necessary. Any takers?
Reposted by Alisa Perren
AI is not inevitable. If we had sane people in government that were not in thrall to billionaire tech CEOs, LLMs could be regulated, forced to obey existing copyright laws, and banned from places where their use is inappropriate, such as college classes. This should be a moderate position.
February 12, 2026 at 4:14 PM
AI is not inevitable. If we had sane people in government that were not in thrall to billionaire tech CEOs, LLMs could be regulated, forced to obey existing copyright laws, and banned from places where their use is inappropriate, such as college classes. This should be a moderate position.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Ring is first and foremost a scheme to charge Amazon customers to deter crime that costs Amazon (not the customers themselves) billions annually in refunds, returns, double shipping, and customer service overhead.
February 12, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Ring is first and foremost a scheme to charge Amazon customers to deter crime that costs Amazon (not the customers themselves) billions annually in refunds, returns, double shipping, and customer service overhead.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
“If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than AI. Authoritarian leaders & tech oligarchs are deploying AI systems to hollow out public institutions with an astonishing alacrity.”
February 12, 2026 at 1:36 PM
“If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than AI. Authoritarian leaders & tech oligarchs are deploying AI systems to hollow out public institutions with an astonishing alacrity.”
Reposted by Alisa Perren
The top 10 most popular creators on YouTube and TikTok hardly changed in the past year, which means it's getting harder and harder to break through as a generalist creator and amass millions of followers. In the coming years, the newer creators who succeed will be the ones who niche down and develop
Hitting the social media jackpot is harder than ever
TikTok dances won't make you an A-list celebrity anymore. But niche content creators make substantial incomes and are having a moment.
www.businessinsider.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:11 PM
The top 10 most popular creators on YouTube and TikTok hardly changed in the past year, which means it's getting harder and harder to break through as a generalist creator and amass millions of followers. In the coming years, the newer creators who succeed will be the ones who niche down and develop
Reposted by Alisa Perren
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: “.. In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it.”
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
February 10, 2026 at 1:17 PM
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: “.. In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it.”
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Bad Bunny's historical advisor is an assistant professor at UW-Madison.
Hell of a flex for your tenure file.
Hell of a flex for your tenure file.
Not at all surprised to learn that Bad Bunny has a historical adviser. His halftime show was a reminder that our history and culture are deeply intertwined with the rest of the western hemisphere. We should think of his performance as part of #America250. #SuperBowl
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Bad Bunny's historical advisor is an assistant professor at UW-Madison.
Hell of a flex for your tenure file.
Hell of a flex for your tenure file.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Yes x 1000. I told my editors that all of the LLM drama came for romance (thanks to the Amazon marketplace) over a decade ago. Every iteration after that has been the same cycle over and over again. Can’t get serious people to treat it seriously, however, because it’s about women’s economic activity
“Whenever the publishing industry is rocked by a technological shift, it usually hits romance first.”
The New Fabio Is Claude
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Yes x 1000. I told my editors that all of the LLM drama came for romance (thanks to the Amazon marketplace) over a decade ago. Every iteration after that has been the same cycle over and over again. Can’t get serious people to treat it seriously, however, because it’s about women’s economic activity
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Don’t know who needs to hear this but one of the puppies on the Puppy Bowl this year is named Chappell Bone
February 8, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Don’t know who needs to hear this but one of the puppies on the Puppy Bowl this year is named Chappell Bone
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.
New Mozilla Firefox version to allow AI features to be blocked
Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser.
www.siliconrepublic.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Published my first piece at @wired.com today, about a string of AI thrillers that have bombed (most recent being the hopelessly naive Chris Pratt vehicle 'Mercy'), the backlash to Darren Aronofsky's YouTube slop take on the American Revolution, and a grotesque nostalgia-bait Super Bowl ad:
Hollywood Is Losing Audiences to AI Fatigue
Entertainment about or made with artificial intelligence has been missing the mark with viewers over the past year.
www.wired.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Published my first piece at @wired.com today, about a string of AI thrillers that have bombed (most recent being the hopelessly naive Chris Pratt vehicle 'Mercy'), the backlash to Darren Aronofsky's YouTube slop take on the American Revolution, and a grotesque nostalgia-bait Super Bowl ad:
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Of course. Of course.
How many times are we, as a people, going to kick this specific, stupid SV football??? Drives me nuts.
How many times are we, as a people, going to kick this specific, stupid SV football??? Drives me nuts.
Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”
It Turns Out Waymos Are Being Controlled by Workers in the Philippines
During a Congressional hearing, Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, was grilled over the company's reliance on overseas workers.
futurism.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Of course. Of course.
How many times are we, as a people, going to kick this specific, stupid SV football??? Drives me nuts.
How many times are we, as a people, going to kick this specific, stupid SV football??? Drives me nuts.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Yeah, I can't really think of a larger one off the top of my head. The Messenger was similar in raw numbers, though it was a complete closure rather than the gutting of a newsroom like the Washington Post yesterday.
Even the massive CBS News layoffs this past fall are small in comparison...
Even the massive CBS News layoffs this past fall are small in comparison...
February 5, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Yeah, I can't really think of a larger one off the top of my head. The Messenger was similar in raw numbers, though it was a complete closure rather than the gutting of a newsroom like the Washington Post yesterday.
Even the massive CBS News layoffs this past fall are small in comparison...
Even the massive CBS News layoffs this past fall are small in comparison...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Man Who Lost Everything In Crypto Just Wishes Several Thousand More People Had Warned Him https://theonion.com/man-who-lost-everything-in-crypto-just-wishes-several-t-1848764551/
February 3, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Man Who Lost Everything In Crypto Just Wishes Several Thousand More People Had Warned Him https://theonion.com/man-who-lost-everything-in-crypto-just-wishes-several-t-1848764551/
Reposted by Alisa Perren
One third. apnews.com/article/wash...
Washington Post says one-third of its staff across all departments is being laid off
The Washington Post says one-third of its staff across all departments, not just the newsroom, is being laid off.
apnews.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:17 PM
One third. apnews.com/article/wash...
Yet more enshittification
I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
February 3, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Yet more enshittification
Reposted by Alisa Perren
"When in doubt, draw a distinction."
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
February 1, 2026 at 4:31 PM
"When in doubt, draw a distinction."
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Not sure where he got it, but in grad school one of my teachers taught me that.
This (long) thread is about the key distinctions I rely on as a critic. There's a Twitter version from 2021. This one builds on that one.
I will post them one at a time. Ready?
Reposted by Alisa Perren
CBS News invites everyone who works for them to quit.
Below is the buyout offer all CBS Evening News staff received today.
"We hope you are excited about this vision, but we understand that some of you may not be, and we want to provide support. As such, we are offering an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment."
"We hope you are excited about this vision, but we understand that some of you may not be, and we want to provide support. As such, we are offering an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment."
January 28, 2026 at 11:39 PM
CBS News invites everyone who works for them to quit.
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Documents from lawsuit claiming Meta & Google purposely marketed addictive & dangerous products to children reveal corporate strategies for pushing into a schools to force young kids into their ecosystems.
Below slide from internal Google pitch deck.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
Below slide from internal Google pitch deck.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
January 25, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Documents from lawsuit claiming Meta & Google purposely marketed addictive & dangerous products to children reveal corporate strategies for pushing into a schools to force young kids into their ecosystems.
Below slide from internal Google pitch deck.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
Below slide from internal Google pitch deck.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com.
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
Ed tech is profitable. It is also mostly useless
Independent research identifies few learning gains
economist.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Blistering piece on ed tech in @economist.com.
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
‘Although ed-tech companies tout huge learning gains, independent research has made clear that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it.’
economist.com/united-state...
Reposted by Alisa Perren
“But what stood out to me as I listened to the recorded conversation between Nadella and Fink is that they have largely given up on organic adoption by consumers. They have moved on to a new dream of forced adoption mandated by government and managerial coercion.”
I watched a bunch of AI sessions at the WEF so you wouldn’t have to.
But you should read this.
But you should read this.
"You have to use it. You have to trust it.": Forced Adoption of AI is The Subtext of Davos
Authoritarianism is the AI Bailout; But If AI Doesn't Need a Bailout, Does it Need Authoritarianism?
theamericanvandal.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:56 PM
“But what stood out to me as I listened to the recorded conversation between Nadella and Fink is that they have largely given up on organic adoption by consumers. They have moved on to a new dream of forced adoption mandated by government and managerial coercion.”
Reposted by Alisa Perren
early industrialists adopted the power loom initially not because it was faster or cheaper than the workers it was replacing, but because increased precarity allowed harsher discipline of the workers who remained
i've rarely seen or even read about such blatantly unambiguous interlocking directorate behavior?? just irrational investment despite all evidence because the finance class likes AI's political power. i'm sure historians have better cases but this stands out to me.
January 21, 2026 at 6:58 PM
early industrialists adopted the power loom initially not because it was faster or cheaper than the workers it was replacing, but because increased precarity allowed harsher discipline of the workers who remained