Brett Frischmann
@brettfrischmann.bsky.social
Interdisciplinary researcher & teacher (Villanova Univ.). Infrastructure. Knowledge Commons. Re-Engineering Humanity. Tech & Humanity/Society. IP Theory. Lately, Friction-in-design, Age Gating. TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbC3hmhHAU
Just to be clear. No one, including Discord or Australia, is (or is seriously considering) banning kids from the Internet
One can debate the merits of different approaches to online safety, security, privacy, etc. but fear mongering isn't helpful
One can debate the merits of different approaches to online safety, security, privacy, etc. but fear mongering isn't helpful
February 10, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Just to be clear. No one, including Discord or Australia, is (or is seriously considering) banning kids from the Internet
One can debate the merits of different approaches to online safety, security, privacy, etc. but fear mongering isn't helpful
One can debate the merits of different approaches to online safety, security, privacy, etc. but fear mongering isn't helpful
Highly recommended, rdcu.be/e29YU
The case against efficiency: friction in social media
npj Complexity - The case against efficiency: friction in social media
rdcu.be
February 9, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Highly recommended, rdcu.be/e29YU
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
This is fascinating: www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/s/I...
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
From the OpenAI community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the OpenAI community
www.reddit.com
July 16, 2025 at 9:21 PM
chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
“To understand how crypto has opened a new frontier for corruption, we first need to reckon with this basic feature of criminal law: the gap between what behavior might feel worthy of punishment and what the criminal law is designed to punish.”
michiganlawreview.org/crypto-klept...
michiganlawreview.org/crypto-klept...
Crypto Kleptocracy - Michigan Law Review
Many Americans are worrying about whether they will soon be living in a post-democracy autocracy. But in the meantime, they may already be living in a crypto-fueled kleptocracy. Less than one year int...
michiganlawreview.org
February 9, 2026 at 1:26 PM
“To understand how crypto has opened a new frontier for corruption, we first need to reckon with this basic feature of criminal law: the gap between what behavior might feel worthy of punishment and what the criminal law is designed to punish.”
michiganlawreview.org/crypto-klept...
michiganlawreview.org/crypto-klept...
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
“Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Yale universities recently found that 60 FDA-authorized medical devices using AI were linked to 182 product recalls, according to a research letter published in the JAMA Health Forum in August.”
As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts
Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient ...
www.reuters.com
February 9, 2026 at 12:42 PM
“Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Yale universities recently found that 60 FDA-authorized medical devices using AI were linked to 182 product recalls, according to a research letter published in the JAMA Health Forum in August.”
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
Wait, just more AI hype theatre? Can’t be. So many folks were so seriously excited ….
“Not only is most of the chatter on Moltbook meaningless, but there’s also a lot more human involvement that it seems. Many people have pointed out that a lot of the viral comments were in fact posted by people posing as bots.”
Moltbook was peak AI theater
The viral social network for bots reveals as much about our own current mania for AI as it does about the future of agents.
www.technologyreview.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Wait, just more AI hype theatre? Can’t be. So many folks were so seriously excited ….
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
Good morning. The President of the United States was in the middle of the most serious child sex trafficking ring of the last quarter century.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
February 8, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Good morning. The President of the United States was in the middle of the most serious child sex trafficking ring of the last quarter century.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
Great article on the limits of disclosure and improvements in design, including friction and testing comprehension
Closely related to my recently published reforming digital contracts paper, defending consent in privacy law paper (under submission), and other friction-in-design projects
Closely related to my recently published reforming digital contracts paper, defending consent in privacy law paper (under submission), and other friction-in-design projects
Regulators are pushing for AI disclosure labels in many jurisdictions around the world, but they risk becoming digital wallpaper that people ignore, writes Muhammad Irfan. With care, he writes, disclosures can be signals that ordinary people actually notice when it matters.
AI Disclosure Labels Risk Becoming Digital Background Noise
With care, regulators can turn AI disclosures into a signal that ordinary people actually notice when it matters, writes Muhammad Irfan.
buff.ly
February 8, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Great article on the limits of disclosure and improvements in design, including friction and testing comprehension
Closely related to my recently published reforming digital contracts paper, defending consent in privacy law paper (under submission), and other friction-in-design projects
Closely related to my recently published reforming digital contracts paper, defending consent in privacy law paper (under submission), and other friction-in-design projects
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
Wow, NBC edited out the audience booing JD Vance at the Olympics. And this is one of the few remaining news outlets NOT owned by right-wing billionaire Trump sycophants
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
NBC appears to cut crowd’s booing of JD Vance from Winter Olympics broadcast
The US vice-president, JD Vance, was greeted by a chorus of boos during when he appeared at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan on Friday
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Wow, NBC edited out the audience booing JD Vance at the Olympics. And this is one of the few remaining news outlets NOT owned by right-wing billionaire Trump sycophants
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
2026 Flagship Conference | Day 1 Welcome & Keynote
YouTube video by Silicon Flatirons
youtu.be
February 6, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
If you want to FINALLY watch Scott Bessent get pinned down on specifics about the illegal money laundering operation being conducted by the Trump admin from someone who knows WTF he’s talking about, this clip is your chance. Bessent gets destroyed.
February 4, 2026 at 8:22 PM
If you want to FINALLY watch Scott Bessent get pinned down on specifics about the illegal money laundering operation being conducted by the Trump admin from someone who knows WTF he’s talking about, this clip is your chance. Bessent gets destroyed.
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
There's a point, well below a billion dollars, where the amount of money you have lets you rid yourself of anyone who can be a check on your worst impulses, and replace them with people who tell you those worst impulses are somehow valorous. Rare is the billionaire with someone to tell them "no."
You can look at the Epstein files and conclude that only bad people have billions of dollars, but I think it’s also possible that having billions of dollars cauterizes your humanity
February 3, 2026 at 7:42 PM
There's a point, well below a billion dollars, where the amount of money you have lets you rid yourself of anyone who can be a check on your worst impulses, and replace them with people who tell you those worst impulses are somehow valorous. Rare is the billionaire with someone to tell them "no."
Moral panicking about moral panic is sooo annoying
February 3, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Moral panicking about moral panic is sooo annoying
Yes!!! emojis are not only insufficient, but cringy
It is so fucking weird and dystopian to me when I post a video of, like, ICE pepper spraying a child and then people just respond 😢
I just don’t feel like emojis meet the moment.
I just don’t feel like emojis meet the moment.
February 3, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Yes!!! emojis are not only insufficient, but cringy
I may need to write again about abundance and why it is not a mindset (and when folks insist it is, that’s a clue).
I should pick up on www.frontiersin.org/journals/res...
But without the focus on externalities. Also, need to return to Infrastructure (2012).
I should pick up on www.frontiersin.org/journals/res...
But without the focus on externalities. Also, need to return to Infrastructure (2012).
Frontiers | Externalities, scarcity, and abundance
Do externalities work and matter differently in a world of scarcity versus a world of abundance? In this article, we critically examine the economic phenomen...
www.frontiersin.org
February 3, 2026 at 4:24 PM
I may need to write again about abundance and why it is not a mindset (and when folks insist it is, that’s a clue).
I should pick up on www.frontiersin.org/journals/res...
But without the focus on externalities. Also, need to return to Infrastructure (2012).
I should pick up on www.frontiersin.org/journals/res...
But without the focus on externalities. Also, need to return to Infrastructure (2012).
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
I DON'T LOOK LIKE THIS WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANY ACTUAL COMMERCIAL SITE MAKE AN "AI" PICTURE OF ME WHEN THERE ARE DOZENS OF PICTURES OF ME AVAILABLE ON STOCK ART SITES AND EVEN SOME GODDAMN CREATIVE COMMON PICTURES FOR FUCK'S SAKE THIS PERSON LOOKS LIKE A HUMAN BOOGER
DON'T FUCKIN' USE "AI" Y'ALL
DON'T FUCKIN' USE "AI" Y'ALL
February 3, 2026 at 3:43 PM
I DON'T LOOK LIKE THIS WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANY ACTUAL COMMERCIAL SITE MAKE AN "AI" PICTURE OF ME WHEN THERE ARE DOZENS OF PICTURES OF ME AVAILABLE ON STOCK ART SITES AND EVEN SOME GODDAMN CREATIVE COMMON PICTURES FOR FUCK'S SAKE THIS PERSON LOOKS LIKE A HUMAN BOOGER
DON'T FUCKIN' USE "AI" Y'ALL
DON'T FUCKIN' USE "AI" Y'ALL
Just spoke about the fundamental freedom to be off, to be free from AI, at the Silicon Flatirons conference. This is one important mechanism for exercising that freedom and maintaining autonomy. We will need others
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 1:06 PM
Just spoke about the fundamental freedom to be off, to be free from AI, at the Silicon Flatirons conference. This is one important mechanism for exercising that freedom and maintaining autonomy. We will need others
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
So the President of the United States of America is posting to his personal social media network blatantly fake news videos that I'm pretty sure are AI generated slop. This one is supposedly about Gavin Newsom panicking that Walmart is pulling out of California (it's not).
January 29, 2026 at 6:09 AM
So the President of the United States of America is posting to his personal social media network blatantly fake news videos that I'm pretty sure are AI generated slop. This one is supposedly about Gavin Newsom panicking that Walmart is pulling out of California (it's not).
I thought it was just me!
welcome to zoom. as punishment for launching the app two (2) minutes before the meeting you're running, we are downloading ten (10) minutes of updates... now
January 29, 2026 at 4:22 PM
I thought it was just me!
Reposted by Brett Frischmann
Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
www.science.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Seriously adding to near term queue ...
So thorough. I think I would do well to spend time migrating than looking at any more media
Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump was a mask off moment and showed the world we can’t depend on US tech companies.
For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!
For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!
January 28, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Seriously adding to near term queue ...
So very cool! A Journal of Things We Like Lots article by the incredible Nancy Kim about my Better Digital Contracts article with Moshe Vardi.
contracts.jotwell.com/slowing-down...
contracts.jotwell.com/slowing-down...
Slowing Down the Clicks - Contracts
Brett Frischmann & Moshe Y. Vardi, Better Digital Contracts with Prosocial Friction-in-Design, 65 Jurimetrics J. 1 (2025).Nancy KimBrett Frischmann and Moshe Y. Vardi’s article, Better Digital Contrac...
contracts.jotwell.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:30 PM
So very cool! A Journal of Things We Like Lots article by the incredible Nancy Kim about my Better Digital Contracts article with Moshe Vardi.
contracts.jotwell.com/slowing-down...
contracts.jotwell.com/slowing-down...