Emily Dreyfuss
@emilydreyfuss.bsky.social
Culture editor at The San Francisco Standard. Writer. Painter. Gesticulator.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
👀 studying real humans better for understanding humans than not
@science.org just dropped a story covering this preprint! Check it out below, and thanks to @cathleenogrady.bsky.social for the great write-up! www.science.org/content/arti...
October 1, 2025 at 11:19 AM
👀 studying real humans better for understanding humans than not
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Look, if she doesn't want to leave, we can't force her to go. sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/e...
Naked lady statue on Embarcadero extended to March 2026 Embarcadero’s massive nude statue gets six-month reprieve
Six more months of giant Burner vibes on San Francisco’s waterfront. “R-Evolution,” the 45-foot metal nude that first wowed Burning Man crowds, isn’t going anywhere soon after Rec and Parks extended h...
sfstandard.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Look, if she doesn't want to leave, we can't force her to go. sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/e...
We asked SF high school students how they felt about phone bans in schools and it turns out...THEY LOVE THEM sfstandard.com/2025/10/01/p...
The kids without phones are alright
At three San Francisco schools that have instituted phone bans, the hallways are filled with noise and the students are focused on learning — all without a cell in sight.
sfstandard.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:41 PM
We asked SF high school students how they felt about phone bans in schools and it turns out...THEY LOVE THEM sfstandard.com/2025/10/01/p...
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
"While ChatGPT use has been linked to suicides and mental-health hospitalizations among heavy users, this appears to be the first documented murder involving a troubled person who had been engaging extensively with an AI chatbot."
August 29, 2025 at 1:12 AM
"While ChatGPT use has been linked to suicides and mental-health hospitalizations among heavy users, this appears to be the first documented murder involving a troubled person who had been engaging extensively with an AI chatbot."
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
WSJ: ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.... On Aug. 5, Greenwich police discovered that Soelberg killed his mother and himself in the $2.7 million Dutch colonial-style home where they lived together.
A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich
“Erik, you’re not crazy.” ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.
www.wsj.com
August 29, 2025 at 1:09 AM
WSJ: ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.... On Aug. 5, Greenwich police discovered that Soelberg killed his mother and himself in the $2.7 million Dutch colonial-style home where they lived together.
Last night at 9pm my son ran in and announced, "There's a weird lady outside!" I hadn't heard a knock or anything so thought he pranking me. Then I found the front door slightly open. I opened it further and bam, there was a woman standing right there, preparing to knock.
I screamed. In her face.
I screamed. In her face.
August 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Last night at 9pm my son ran in and announced, "There's a weird lady outside!" I hadn't heard a knock or anything so thought he pranking me. Then I found the front door slightly open. I opened it further and bam, there was a woman standing right there, preparing to knock.
I screamed. In her face.
I screamed. In her face.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
My video about how LLMs are not search engines has led to many, MANY comments telling me that I should be using Perplexity. Some insisting that Perplexity does not hallucinate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
August 23, 2025 at 5:54 PM
My video about how LLMs are not search engines has led to many, MANY comments telling me that I should be using Perplexity. Some insisting that Perplexity does not hallucinate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
🐜 🐜 🐜 New from @knibbs.bsky.social: "Inside the world of illicit wildlife trafficking, there’s a growing assumption that nobody in government is paying attention."
www.wired.com/story/usda-a...
www.wired.com/story/usda-a...
Government Staffing Cuts Have Fueled an Ant-Smuggling Boom
“It’s getting out of hand,” one seller says. “They realize the US market is a gold mine.”
www.wired.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:47 PM
🐜 🐜 🐜 New from @knibbs.bsky.social: "Inside the world of illicit wildlife trafficking, there’s a growing assumption that nobody in government is paying attention."
www.wired.com/story/usda-a...
www.wired.com/story/usda-a...
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
and now you can’t even back up your own data, which we own
Every tech update now is like: "Great news, the word processor you've relied on for twenty years has learned to juggle! Is it good at it? No! Does it help in any way? Of course not! Has it made it insufferable to use? Oh, absolutely."
August 20, 2025 at 12:50 AM
and now you can’t even back up your own data, which we own
Browsing beauty supplies at the mall:
9yo: Wow, this is so RACIST!
Me: What is?
9yo: It says, DESTROYS BLACKHEADS!
9yo: Wow, this is so RACIST!
Me: What is?
9yo: It says, DESTROYS BLACKHEADS!
August 20, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Browsing beauty supplies at the mall:
9yo: Wow, this is so RACIST!
Me: What is?
9yo: It says, DESTROYS BLACKHEADS!
9yo: Wow, this is so RACIST!
Me: What is?
9yo: It says, DESTROYS BLACKHEADS!
All us ADHD kids would win in this type of college class
Increasingly, what makes sense to me is framing a class as a *dialogic community* and assessing students on their contributions as members of that community. Such contributions can be and should be as spontaneous as they are regulated. +
August 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
All us ADHD kids would win in this type of college class
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Neil Young is done with Facebook.
Neil Young Quits Facebook Over Meta's 'Unconscionable' Use of Chatbots With Children
Neil Young has requested that his Facebook account stop being used, with the rocker quitting in response to Meta chatbots interacting with children.
www.rollingstone.com
August 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Neil Young is done with Facebook.
*whispers*
He's not going to bargain Alaska away to Putin, right? Right?
He's not going to bargain Alaska away to Putin, right? Right?
August 9, 2025 at 10:37 PM
*whispers*
He's not going to bargain Alaska away to Putin, right? Right?
He's not going to bargain Alaska away to Putin, right? Right?
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Police are requesting the public’s help locating an 11-year-old boy from San Jose who has been missing since Monday. He was last known to be heading to San Francisco on public transportation.
Police seek public’s help locating missing San Jose boy, 11
Police are requesting the public’s help locating an 11-year-old boy from San Jose who has been missing since Monday. He was last known to be heading to San Francisco on public transportation.
bit.ly
August 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Police are requesting the public’s help locating an 11-year-old boy from San Jose who has been missing since Monday. He was last known to be heading to San Francisco on public transportation.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
After asking ChatGPT what to eat instead of salt, a man slowly poisoned himself over course of 3 months and gave himself a psychiatric illness that was common in the 19th century, according to a new medical case study:
www.404media.co/guy-gives-hi...
www.404media.co/guy-gives-hi...
Guy Gives Himself 19th Century Psychiatric Illness After Consulting With ChatGPT
"For 3 months, he had replaced sodium chloride with sodium bromide obtained from the internet after consultation with ChatGPT."
www.404media.co
August 8, 2025 at 2:27 PM
After asking ChatGPT what to eat instead of salt, a man slowly poisoned himself over course of 3 months and gave himself a psychiatric illness that was common in the 19th century, according to a new medical case study:
www.404media.co/guy-gives-hi...
www.404media.co/guy-gives-hi...
once i was walking past a beautiful row of houses in sf and i smelled the overwhelming aroma of opium. i told my husband, "there's a ton of opium in one of those houses." he was like, nah, you can't possibly smell that. a week later the cops announced they seized a bunch of opium from that street!
August 8, 2025 at 9:06 PM
once i was walking past a beautiful row of houses in sf and i smelled the overwhelming aroma of opium. i told my husband, "there's a ton of opium in one of those houses." he was like, nah, you can't possibly smell that. a week later the cops announced they seized a bunch of opium from that street!
A new era of dumbness is upon us, where all knowledge and critical thinking is happily offloaded to a machine and our lumpy brains are left to....what? Seek dopamine hits and quietly atrophy.
“GPT-5 is the first time that it feels like talking to an expert in any topic — a Ph.D.-level expert,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.
OpenAI Unveils GPT-5, Its Latest and Most Powerful Model, After Two-Year Wait
CEO Sam Altman said using the chatbot will be like talking with a doctorate-level expert in any topic.
www.wsj.com
August 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
A new era of dumbness is upon us, where all knowledge and critical thinking is happily offloaded to a machine and our lumpy brains are left to....what? Seek dopamine hits and quietly atrophy.
overheard the 9yo explaining to his friends why he has parental controls on roblox (they don't): my mom is a journalist and reads all these bad stories about bad adults on the internet so she's overprotective
August 7, 2025 at 9:08 PM
overheard the 9yo explaining to his friends why he has parental controls on roblox (they don't): my mom is a journalist and reads all these bad stories about bad adults on the internet so she's overprotective
I was struck on a recent trip to Budapest by signs in restaurant and store windows saying Bathroom Available for Use. Such a cultural change from here, where you can't use the bathroom anywhere unless you are a customer. Not excusing this man at all, but I do think the bigger problem is access.
20th and Valencia, San Francisco today. Not homeless, just your average white man exhibiting fatherless behavior, literally peeing on the street, not even on a corner or the tree. There were tons of cafes and restaurants around, and Dolores park is 2 blocks away.
August 7, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I was struck on a recent trip to Budapest by signs in restaurant and store windows saying Bathroom Available for Use. Such a cultural change from here, where you can't use the bathroom anywhere unless you are a customer. Not excusing this man at all, but I do think the bigger problem is access.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Silicon Valley for years has been shocked, SHOCKED at the suggestion that their devices are listening to us.
Now they just brag about it.
(via @hypervisible.bsky.social )
Now they just brag about it.
(via @hypervisible.bsky.social )
i was out to drinks with one of the reporters of this story, just catching up and shit-talking, when suddenly she remembered to tell me she was recording everything sfstandard.com/2025/08/05/a...
AI wearables are quietly listening to everyone in Silicon Valley
Discreet devices and software are recording everything. Is it legal? And do you consent?
sfstandard.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Silicon Valley for years has been shocked, SHOCKED at the suggestion that their devices are listening to us.
Now they just brag about it.
(via @hypervisible.bsky.social )
Now they just brag about it.
(via @hypervisible.bsky.social )
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Today in luxury surveillance.
i was out to drinks with one of the reporters of this story, just catching up and shit-talking, when suddenly she remembered to tell me she was recording everything sfstandard.com/2025/08/05/a...
AI wearables are quietly listening to everyone in Silicon Valley
Discreet devices and software are recording everything. Is it legal? And do you consent?
sfstandard.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Today in luxury surveillance.
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
Damning @nytimes.com reporting on Uber sweeping sexual assault under the rug.
“Our purpose/goal is not to be the police,” stated a 2021 brainstorming document about Uber’s global safety standards. “Our bar is much lower and our goal is to protect the company... "
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...
“Our purpose/goal is not to be the police,” stated a 2021 brainstorming document about Uber’s global safety standards. “Our bar is much lower and our goal is to protect the company... "
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...
Uber’s Festering Sexual Assault Problem
www.nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Damning @nytimes.com reporting on Uber sweeping sexual assault under the rug.
“Our purpose/goal is not to be the police,” stated a 2021 brainstorming document about Uber’s global safety standards. “Our bar is much lower and our goal is to protect the company... "
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...
“Our purpose/goal is not to be the police,” stated a 2021 brainstorming document about Uber’s global safety standards. “Our bar is much lower and our goal is to protect the company... "
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...
i was out to drinks with one of the reporters of this story, just catching up and shit-talking, when suddenly she remembered to tell me she was recording everything sfstandard.com/2025/08/05/a...
AI wearables are quietly listening to everyone in Silicon Valley
Discreet devices and software are recording everything. Is it legal? And do you consent?
sfstandard.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:40 PM
i was out to drinks with one of the reporters of this story, just catching up and shit-talking, when suddenly she remembered to tell me she was recording everything sfstandard.com/2025/08/05/a...
Reposted by Emily Dreyfuss
😍
I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, but here's a map of San Francisco's cable car routes from the 1890s (www.cablecarmuseum.org/co-map.html), and from today.
August 5, 2025 at 12:53 AM
😍