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mvzelenko.bsky.social
Michael Zelenko
@mvzelenko.bsky.social
1.1K followers 260 following 73 posts
Executive Editor, Rest of World
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mvzelenko.bsky.social
This morning @restofworld.org published the incredibly heart-breaking story of Gaza Sky Geeks, the vibrant Gaza-based tech hub that was the darling of international press through the 2010s 🧵

restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
restofworld.org
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks was a model for how tech could transform Gaza. Just days after October 7, its office was blown to pieces by an Israeli airstrike. Now, with a tentative ceasefire in place, it’s trying to rebuild.

Read our new feature from @mohamhawish.bsky.social & Aseel Mousa:
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
guan.dk
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
violazhou.bsky.social
Very glad to see my story on AI and medicine printed in the Guardian this week!

If you haven’t read it: restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
October 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
ericumansky.bsky.social
BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
lauraannegilman.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...
Headline from the New York Times, 1939: “Goebbels ends careers of five “Aryan“ actors who made witticisms about the Nazi regime.”
September 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
rinachandran.bsky.social
Assad is out. Startups are in. Syria’s tech industry was put on hold by 14 years of devastating civil war and crippling economic sanctions. Now it’s roaring back to life as tech founders try to rebuild the country. @emilywither.bsky.social for @restofworld.org
restofworld.org/2025/syria-t...
Syria’s quest to build its own Silicon Valley
Tech founders in Damascus are rebooting a war-torn country.
restofworld.org
September 16, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
lorak.bsky.social
“India is the world’s third-largest producer of e-waste, having generated approximately 1.75 million metric tons in the fiscal year ending 2024, an increase of nearly 75% over the last five years.” restofworld.org/2025/india-e...
The dirty truth behind the e-waste recycling industry
The informal recycling economy is turning global e-waste into profit — at a steep human and environmental cost.
restofworld.org
September 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
lmatsakis.bsky.social
this is a really important project, and I can't think of anyone better than @damonberes.com to be leading it
damonberes.com Damon Beres @damonberes.com · Sep 10
I'm proud to share a new project that @alexreisner.bsky.social and I launched at @theatlantic.com today! It's called AI Watchdog, and it's our new home for all of the investigations into training data sets, such as LibGen, Books3, and OpenSubtitles. www.theatlantic.com/category/ai-...
AI Watchdog landing page AI Watchdog Data Set Search
September 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
hswapnil.medsky.social
Interesting deep dive into DeepSeek providing medical advice to a kidney patient - @violazhou.bsky.social mother!

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...

Feat @melhoenig.bsky.social and @kidneyboy.bsky.social

#NephSky #AI #LLM
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 7, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
datasociety.bsky.social
“DeepSeek is so much better than doctors.” @violazhou.bsky.social is unsettled by the way her mother, a kidney transplant patient in eastern China, relies on an AI chatbot for health advice. But she also recognizes that the bigger problem is a systemic one. restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 5, 2025 at 2:48 PM
mvzelenko.bsky.social
“DeepSeek is more humane,” my mother told me in May. “Doctors are more like machines.”

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
September 3, 2025 at 10:17 PM
mvzelenko.bsky.social
“Our forefathers did this. … No one else can do it,” he continued. “If someone tried, he will be beaten black and blue.”

The dirty truth behind the e-waste recycling industry
restofworld.org/2025/india-e...
The dirty truth behind the e-waste recycling industry
The informal recycling economy is turning global e-waste into profit — at a steep human and environmental cost.
restofworld.org
September 3, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
techmeme.com
A reporter details how her mother, a kidney transplant patient who lives in China, bonded with DeepSeek's chatbot as her AI doctor, calling it "more humane" (Viola Zhou/Rest of World)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
September 3, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
dannygroner.bsky.social
Good listen. restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
violazhou.bsky.social
Not long after DeepSeek R1 launched, I discovered that my mother had started using the chatbot as her virtual doctor.

I worried about her reliance on AI. But over time, I realized Dr. DeepSeek was offering something no human in her life could.

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
violazhou.bsky.social
In this personal essay (my first for @restofworld.org), I explore patients’ relationship with AI, why chatbots can’t yet replace doctors, the caretaking burden on my one-child generation, and the tech industry that promises to ease our struggles.

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
rinachandran.bsky.social
When her mom, a kidney transplant patient in a small Chinese city, turned to DeepSeek for medical advice @violazhou.bsky.social asked doctors to review the chat logs. They said the AI bot was giving flawed advice. Read the firsthand account on @restofworld.org
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
restofworld.org
When her mom became smitten with Dr. DeepSeek, @violazhou.bsky.social asked human doctors to review the chat logs. They said the AI bot is giving alarmingly flawed advice. But maybe her mom is after something more than just medical help.

Read our new feature: restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
mvzelenko.bsky.social
This week's @restofworld.org feature from @violazhou.bsky.social is really special:

It's about Viola's mom, who — like so many sick and lonely people in the modern world — turned to AI as she struggled with her health.

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
arjun.bsky.social
This is an indictment of a lot of things but I'm not sure what it's indicting the most. Probably doctors.
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
September 2, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
techmeme.com
Inside India's growing ~$1.5B e-waste recycling industry, about 95% of workers are employed informally, doing dangerous, toxic, and lawless work for meager pay (Yashraj Sharma/Rest of World)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
August 27, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
nkalamb.bsky.social
An internal Israeli intelligence database reveals 83% of those killed by the IDF in Gaza were civilians, contradicting public claims to the contrary.

www.972mag.com/israeli-inte...
Data from an internal Israeli intelligence database indicates that at least 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza were civilians, an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian can reveal. Figures obtained from the classified database — which records the deaths of militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — contradict by a huge margin the public statements of Israeli army and government officials throughout the war, which have generally claimed a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of civilian to militant casualties. Instead, the classified data backs up the findings of several studies suggesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed civilians at a rate with few parallels in modern warfare. The Israeli army confirmed the existence of the database, which is managed by the Military Intelligence Directorate (known by the Hebrew acronym “Aman”). Multiple intelligence sources familiar with the database said the army views it as the only authoritative tally of militant casualty figures. In the words of one of them: “There’s no other place to check.”
August 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
laurengoode.bsky.social
A couple months ago I made an unusual request to my editors at @wired.com: I asked if I could go work at a tech company for a few days to learn how to vibe code. Then, for some reason, the $10 billion dollar startup Notion agreed to let me embed with them. 🧵
August 21, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Michael Zelenko
gayathriv.bsky.social
The UAE plans to become the world’s testing ground for autonomous vehicles and upend the lives of 30,000 cabbies in the process. Amar Diwakar in @restofworld.org
restofworld.org/2025/uae-rob...
Dubai’s robotaxi dreams are coming for human drivers
The UAE plans to become the world’s testing ground for autonomous vehicles and upend the lives of 30,000 cabbies in the process.
restofworld.org
August 13, 2025 at 2:58 PM