Stuart A. Thompson
@stuartathompson.bsky.social
Reporter @nytimes.com. I cover the ~internet~ and report on digital influence operations, AI, far-right politics and lots more
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
Great story by my colleagues on the constant political realignment of Grok, the generative AI chatbot over on the other site.
This change to Grok’s answer about the greatest threat to Western civilization is particularly ironic/meta.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
This change to Grok’s answer about the greatest threat to Western civilization is particularly ironic/meta.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
September 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Great story by my colleagues on the constant political realignment of Grok, the generative AI chatbot over on the other site.
This change to Grok’s answer about the greatest threat to Western civilization is particularly ironic/meta.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
This change to Grok’s answer about the greatest threat to Western civilization is particularly ironic/meta.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
My colleagues and I tested different versions of Grok released since May to pinpoint how Musk has pushed the chatbot to the right www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
How Elon Musk Is Remaking Grok in His Image
www.nytimes.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
My colleagues and I tested different versions of Grok released since May to pinpoint how Musk has pushed the chatbot to the right www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
try my new AI quiz: can you tell whether these talking AI videos are real or not? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What’s Real?
In this quiz, you can guess whether these videos were made by A.I.
www.nytimes.com
June 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM
try my new AI quiz: can you tell whether these talking AI videos are real or not? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
AI has already infiltrated 50 elections around the world, according to a new collection of examples we gathered + work from IPIE www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...
A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy
www.nytimes.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:40 PM
AI has already infiltrated 50 elections around the world, according to a new collection of examples we gathered + work from IPIE www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...
kash is the 🐐. wild story here.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.
www.nytimes.com
June 13, 2025 at 6:55 PM
kash is the 🐐. wild story here.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
every time someone comments on this thread, I earn a little bit of money under Bluesky's revised revenue program
I've spent years following a right-wing influencer who's made a career out of outrage. I wanted to understand why he does it. What does his career look like, his income? Here's what I found. GIFT LINK www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/t...
He’s a Master of Outrage on X. He’s Also Broke.
www.nytimes.com
June 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
every time someone comments on this thread, I earn a little bit of money under Bluesky's revised revenue program
I've spent years following a right-wing influencer who's made a career out of outrage. I wanted to understand why he does it. What does his career look like, his income? Here's what I found. GIFT LINK www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/t...
He’s a Master of Outrage on X. He’s Also Broke.
www.nytimes.com
June 6, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I've spent years following a right-wing influencer who's made a career out of outrage. I wanted to understand why he does it. What does his career look like, his income? Here's what I found. GIFT LINK www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/t...
when story targets decline to be interviewed
May 30, 2025 at 6:34 PM
when story targets decline to be interviewed
I tracked more than 1,000 accounts that Elon Musk follows on X to recreate what he sees www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Inside Elon Musk’s X Feed: Trumpism, Falsehoods and Lots of Love for Elon Musk
The New York Times tracked 1,109 accounts that Mr. Musk follows on X to recreate his news feed.
www.nytimes.com
May 15, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I tracked more than 1,000 accounts that Elon Musk follows on X to recreate what he sees www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
Pretty incredible that Jeff Bezos' Amazon announced a "$5 billion-plus" partnership w/ a Saudi AI co launched by Mohammed Bin Salman and sent CEO Andy Jassy to meet with him less than 7 years after MBS murdered Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for Bezos' Washington Post.
techcrunch.com/2025/05/13/a...
techcrunch.com/2025/05/13/a...
AWS enters into 'strategic partnership' with Saudi Arabia-backed Humain | TechCrunch
Amazon says it'll work with Humain, the AI company recently launched by Saudi Arabia’s ruler, to invest '$5 billion-plus' in a strategic partnership.
techcrunch.com
May 14, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Pretty incredible that Jeff Bezos' Amazon announced a "$5 billion-plus" partnership w/ a Saudi AI co launched by Mohammed Bin Salman and sent CEO Andy Jassy to meet with him less than 7 years after MBS murdered Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for Bezos' Washington Post.
techcrunch.com/2025/05/13/a...
techcrunch.com/2025/05/13/a...
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
It's crazy how much independent life does not incentivize reporting. I spent 2 days working on a piece about Meta censoring the biggest Muslim news acct in India, digging into Meta's relationship w/ India's far right BJP party & I lost paid subscribers. Meaning I lost hundreds of $ doing this story
Meta bans largest Muslim news page in India
The platform is facilitating government requests to censor social media influencers and journalists in the region for 'anti-national content' following the terror attack in Kashmir.
www.usermag.co
May 8, 2025 at 3:19 AM
It's crazy how much independent life does not incentivize reporting. I spent 2 days working on a piece about Meta censoring the biggest Muslim news acct in India, digging into Meta's relationship w/ India's far right BJP party & I lost paid subscribers. Meaning I lost hundreds of $ doing this story
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
In stupid but easy to see coming internet irony news: the people who made up that they were victims of shadowbanning in a conspiracy to silence their speech, so they had to take over Twitter to eliminate the victimization they imagined, have instituted shadowbanning of speech they don’t like.
They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
Three users who disagreed with the site’s owner saw views for their posts plummet.
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:52 PM
In stupid but easy to see coming internet irony news: the people who made up that they were victims of shadowbanning in a conspiracy to silence their speech, so they had to take over Twitter to eliminate the victimization they imagined, have instituted shadowbanning of speech they don’t like.
insane that MAGA now supports electric vehicles and hates Big Sugar. remember when Fox News went to war bc NYC wanted to ban Big Gulps? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...
RFK Jr. Declares ‘Sugar Is Poison’ in Campaign Against Food Industry: Trump Live Updates
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:59 PM
insane that MAGA now supports electric vehicles and hates Big Sugar. remember when Fox News went to war bc NYC wanted to ban Big Gulps? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
I really appreciate news stories that take a phenomenon we all generally implicitly understand or assume but don't have any hard data or evidence for, then meticulously prove it. Well done @stuartathompson.bsky.social.
They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
Three users who disagreed with the site’s owner saw views for their posts plummet.
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I really appreciate news stories that take a phenomenon we all generally implicitly understand or assume but don't have any hard data or evidence for, then meticulously prove it. Well done @stuartathompson.bsky.social.
yeah important to understand that everything these people say is about fundraising and fighting off regulation
Here's what Sam Altman said about what will also happen "before the decade is out."
Y'all would rather handover resources to egotistical quacks than do anything that "actually" ends disease, poverty or brings peace to the world.
Y'all would rather handover resources to egotistical quacks than do anything that "actually" ends disease, poverty or brings peace to the world.
April 23, 2025 at 11:14 AM
yeah important to understand that everything these people say is about fundraising and fighting off regulation
These users feuded with Musk on X then saw their reach collapse. It’s the starkest sign yet that Musk has the power to suppress critics and control the conversation on X and is willing to use it. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
Three users who disagreed with the site’s owner saw views for their posts plummet.
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
These users feuded with Musk on X then saw their reach collapse. It’s the starkest sign yet that Musk has the power to suppress critics and control the conversation on X and is willing to use it. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
working in svelte is so amazing because with plain old html it's like width="500px" but in svelte you can so much more easily go bind:this={clientWidth} then outerWidth = clientWidth then width = clientWidth-margin*2 then (onMount(){ activeWidth = client ... thank you rich harris for this innovation
April 21, 2025 at 12:35 PM
working in svelte is so amazing because with plain old html it's like width="500px" but in svelte you can so much more easily go bind:this={clientWidth} then outerWidth = clientWidth then width = clientWidth-margin*2 then (onMount(){ activeWidth = client ... thank you rich harris for this innovation
Canadians are now labeling food with a “T” symbol if it’s American and impacted by tariffs. RIP American-made food sales.
April 19, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Canadians are now labeling food with a “T” symbol if it’s American and impacted by tariffs. RIP American-made food sales.
my wife handed me my phone this morning and neither of us created ANY memory of it. five minutes later she asked if she got my phone for me and i said no. she went looking and i found it mysteriously already in my pocket. if you want to know how parenting is going lately.
April 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
my wife handed me my phone this morning and neither of us created ANY memory of it. five minutes later she asked if she got my phone for me and i said no. she went looking and i found it mysteriously already in my pocket. if you want to know how parenting is going lately.
people don't understand negotiating! just signal to one side that if they hold out a little longer and don't make a deal, they'll get everything they want!
💎✨ the art of the deal ✨💎
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/w...
💎✨ the art of the deal ✨💎
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/w...
Rubio Says U.S. to ‘Move On’ From Ukraine Peace Efforts if No Progress Soon
“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said as he departed meetings in Paris.
www.nytimes.com
April 18, 2025 at 12:29 PM
people don't understand negotiating! just signal to one side that if they hold out a little longer and don't make a deal, they'll get everything they want!
💎✨ the art of the deal ✨💎
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/w...
💎✨ the art of the deal ✨💎
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/w...
there's a ridiculous trend among right-wing users on X where they ask Grok unknowable questions then believe that the answers are 100% accurate instead of based on chatbot autocomplete. they dont understand AI and are so eager to believe the word of something they worship.
April 15, 2025 at 2:36 PM
there's a ridiculous trend among right-wing users on X where they ask Grok unknowable questions then believe that the answers are 100% accurate instead of based on chatbot autocomplete. they dont understand AI and are so eager to believe the word of something they worship.
i can't believe the only asset rising right now is gold, making every prepper and right-wing podcaster ultimately right about gold as a safe haven asset that made a great investment! 🤬
April 11, 2025 at 5:55 PM
i can't believe the only asset rising right now is gold, making every prepper and right-wing podcaster ultimately right about gold as a safe haven asset that made a great investment! 🤬
Reposted by Stuart A. Thompson
The European Union and China are now starting negotiations to abolish EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
This is a major strategic failure for the United States.
This is a major strategic failure for the United States.
EU, China start talks on lifting EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Handelsblatt reports
The European Union and China have begun negotiations on the abolition of EU tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.
www.reuters.com
April 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The European Union and China are now starting negotiations to abolish EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
This is a major strategic failure for the United States.
This is a major strategic failure for the United States.