Troy Wolverton
@troywolv.bsky.social
Longtime tech and Bay Area journalist. Currently a senior tech correspondent with The San Francisco Examiner. https://www.sfexaminer.com/users/profile/troy_wolverton/
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
like i love this story and I think it reveals something important. the atari is encoding a ton of information about the rules of chess explicitly in a very small amount of data, and the associational model, despite a much larger amount of data & computation, does not effectively model the game
ChatGPT "Absolutely Wrecked" at Chess by Atari 2600 Console From 1977
Despite all its advances, ChatGPT still, seemingly, is less smart than an Atari simulator on beginner mode.
futurism.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:18 PM
like i love this story and I think it reveals something important. the atari is encoding a ton of information about the rules of chess explicitly in a very small amount of data, and the associational model, despite a much larger amount of data & computation, does not effectively model the game
You might have heard there's going to be a March for Billionaires in San Francisco on Saturday. Yes it's real, and no it's not satire.
I spoke with the guy behind it, an AI startup founder here in The City who opposes a proposed billionaire tax and thinks billionaires are getting a bad rap.
I spoke with the guy behind it, an AI startup founder here in The City who opposes a proposed billionaire tax and thinks billionaires are getting a bad rap.
Billionaires march leader ID'd, says effort sincere
Startup founder not billionaire, but supports them.
www.sfexaminer.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:34 AM
You might have heard there's going to be a March for Billionaires in San Francisco on Saturday. Yes it's real, and no it's not satire.
I spoke with the guy behind it, an AI startup founder here in The City who opposes a proposed billionaire tax and thinks billionaires are getting a bad rap.
I spoke with the guy behind it, an AI startup founder here in The City who opposes a proposed billionaire tax and thinks billionaires are getting a bad rap.
Generative and other kinds of AI have numerous harmful effects. In a recent paper, Boston University professors @hartzog.bsky.social and @jessicasilbey.bsky.social identify and highlight a new concern: AI is sabotaging democracy by destroying the institutions that undergird it.
Researchers: How AI undermining democracy
Paper argues tech threatens democratic foundations.
www.sfexaminer.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Generative and other kinds of AI have numerous harmful effects. In a recent paper, Boston University professors @hartzog.bsky.social and @jessicasilbey.bsky.social identify and highlight a new concern: AI is sabotaging democracy by destroying the institutions that undergird it.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who studies democracy backsliding, on Don Lemon's arrest:
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
January 31, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who studies democracy backsliding, on Don Lemon's arrest:
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
I don't know who needs to hear this, but I stand with Don Lemon @donlemonofficial.bsky.social and Georgia Fort @bygeorgiafort.bsky.social — and against this blatant attack on the First Amendment.
January 30, 2026 at 5:31 PM
I don't know who needs to hear this, but I stand with Don Lemon @donlemonofficial.bsky.social and Georgia Fort @bygeorgiafort.bsky.social — and against this blatant attack on the First Amendment.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
The government’s arrests of journalists @donlemonofficial.bsky.social and @bygeorgiafort.bsky.social are attacks on freedom of the press.
Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon, but instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.
Read our statement:
Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon, but instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.
Read our statement:
January 30, 2026 at 3:24 PM
The government’s arrests of journalists @donlemonofficial.bsky.social and @bygeorgiafort.bsky.social are attacks on freedom of the press.
Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon, but instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.
Read our statement:
Two federal courts flatly rejected prosecuting Lemon, but instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down.
Read our statement:
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
Just say the government is lying. The goal of journalism should be to inform, not gaslight.
A battle over the truth erupts after deadly Minneapolis shooting
A battle over the truth erupts after deadly Minneapolis shooting
Federal and local leaders are sharply divided over what happened and who is to blame.
dlvr.it
January 26, 2026 at 1:29 AM
Just say the government is lying. The goal of journalism should be to inform, not gaslight.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
Years from now, it'll be difficult to explain the things people in media were wailing about before all this. Sophomores writing underconsidered op-eds about cultural appropriation. Protests against demagogues on campus. YA drama. "Mobs" on Twitter. These were the threats to free society.
January 25, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Years from now, it'll be difficult to explain the things people in media were wailing about before all this. Sophomores writing underconsidered op-eds about cultural appropriation. Protests against demagogues on campus. YA drama. "Mobs" on Twitter. These were the threats to free society.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 1, 2026 at 6:32 PM
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
God this is so utterly despicable. Trump is “he was no angel”- ing a journalist who was murdered and dismembered with a bone saw by agents of an authoritarian regime.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 19, 2025 at 1:24 AM
God this is so utterly despicable. Trump is “he was no angel”- ing a journalist who was murdered and dismembered with a bone saw by agents of an authoritarian regime.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
If I were editing a column about Charlie Kirk’s political genius, I would tell the writer he needed to quote Kirk’s actual political beliefs. If the writer responded that doing so would weaken or distract from his argument, it’d be a pretty good sign that the column was not ready for prime time.
September 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
If I were editing a column about Charlie Kirk’s political genius, I would tell the writer he needed to quote Kirk’s actual political beliefs. If the writer responded that doing so would weaken or distract from his argument, it’d be a pretty good sign that the column was not ready for prime time.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
So glad ICE is in Chicago. The city is a lawless hell-scape. Blues musicians wrecking hundreds of police cars. High schoolers doing weird scientific sex experiments. Kids home alone during the holidays. Women killing their husbands and lovers and then SINGING about it sassily. This has to stop.
September 8, 2025 at 9:14 PM
So glad ICE is in Chicago. The city is a lawless hell-scape. Blues musicians wrecking hundreds of police cars. High schoolers doing weird scientific sex experiments. Kids home alone during the holidays. Women killing their husbands and lovers and then SINGING about it sassily. This has to stop.
Venture capitalists responded to George Floyd's 2020 death by stepping up their investments in Black-founded startups, according to a new study. But in retrospect, what happened ended up looking a lot like "tokenism," the researchers say.
Study: VCs engaged in ‘tokenism’ after Floyd death
Black-led startups saw surge in funding, then drop.
www.sfexaminer.com
September 2, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Venture capitalists responded to George Floyd's 2020 death by stepping up their investments in Black-founded startups, according to a new study. But in retrospect, what happened ended up looking a lot like "tokenism," the researchers say.
In a recent study of the reasoning abilities of generative AI systems, a team of researchers at Arizona State concluded that large language models like OpenAI's GPT-5 don't really reason at all. Their study builds on other recent research that casts doubt on AI's reasoning abilities.
Researchers: AI reasoning a ‘brittle mirage’
Models fail to solve problems outside their training, study contends.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 26, 2025 at 5:17 PM
In a recent study of the reasoning abilities of generative AI systems, a team of researchers at Arizona State concluded that large language models like OpenAI's GPT-5 don't really reason at all. Their study builds on other recent research that casts doubt on AI's reasoning abilities.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
media doesn't have to pretend that every statement from Donald Trump, a serial liar with a long record of proven falsehoods, has to be evaluated in a vacuum.
August 26, 2025 at 2:29 AM
media doesn't have to pretend that every statement from Donald Trump, a serial liar with a long record of proven falsehoods, has to be evaluated in a vacuum.
The yearslong battle over public access to the Bay Area's Martins Beach — via a road venture capitalist Vinod Khosla tried to close — will continue on for at least a little while longer.
Martins Beach case delayed again for negotiations
Lawyers for state, VC Khosla sought more time.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
The yearslong battle over public access to the Bay Area's Martins Beach — via a road venture capitalist Vinod Khosla tried to close — will continue on for at least a little while longer.
This is a very good piece by Miriam Jordan of @nytimes.com. But it's frankly journalistic malpractice at this point to not call Trump's lies just that.
Instead, we get Jordan saying Trump "amplified a baseless claim by his running mate, JD Vance, that Haitians there were stealing and eating pets."
Instead, we get Jordan saying Trump "amplified a baseless claim by his running mate, JD Vance, that Haitians there were stealing and eating pets."
An Ohio City Faces a Future Without Haitian Workers: ‘It’s Not Going to Be Good’
www.nytimes.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This is a very good piece by Miriam Jordan of @nytimes.com. But it's frankly journalistic malpractice at this point to not call Trump's lies just that.
Instead, we get Jordan saying Trump "amplified a baseless claim by his running mate, JD Vance, that Haitians there were stealing and eating pets."
Instead, we get Jordan saying Trump "amplified a baseless claim by his running mate, JD Vance, that Haitians there were stealing and eating pets."
California Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (@rbkforassembly.bsky.social) has been trying for three years to push through a bill to offer some protections against discrimination by automated decision systems. I took a look at the fight over her latest effort — AB 1018.
Bill regulating AI decision systems draws fire
Business groups prioritizing defeating California AB 1018.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 20, 2025 at 5:24 PM
California Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (@rbkforassembly.bsky.social) has been trying for three years to push through a bill to offer some protections against discrimination by automated decision systems. I took a look at the fight over her latest effort — AB 1018.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
August 19, 2025 at 7:42 PM
"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.
In talking with family and friends — even people who are very technologically literate — it's pretty clear that many don't understand how systems like ChatGPT work or their limitations and risks. So, I put together a guide — a "Things to Think About" when using generative AI chatbots.
Keep these ChatGPT limitations, risks in mind
Remember these tips on how chatbots work, fall short.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
In talking with family and friends — even people who are very technologically literate — it's pretty clear that many don't understand how systems like ChatGPT work or their limitations and risks. So, I put together a guide — a "Things to Think About" when using generative AI chatbots.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
As I said to @troywolv.bsky.social, don't use chatgpt when you need to be right about something. It's not, in fact, an all-knowing orb. (Fun convo, fun piece) www.sfexaminer.com/news/technol...
Keep these ChatGPT limitations, risks in mind
Remember these tips on how chatbots work, fall short.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
As I said to @troywolv.bsky.social, don't use chatgpt when you need to be right about something. It's not, in fact, an all-knowing orb. (Fun convo, fun piece) www.sfexaminer.com/news/technol...
The widespread disappointment with OpenAI's new GPT-5, sparked in part by it making similar mistakes as its predecessors, highlighted the gulf between the massive hype that's being used to sell these generative AI systems and their actual capabilities.
GPT-5 debut spotlights AI’s hype-reality gap
OpenAI’s “PhD-level” intelligence made dumb errors.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
The widespread disappointment with OpenAI's new GPT-5, sparked in part by it making similar mistakes as its predecessors, highlighted the gulf between the massive hype that's being used to sell these generative AI systems and their actual capabilities.
While some of the biggest companies in tech have put in place mandatory in-office policies, many large San Francisco tech companies are doing the opposite. I took a look at how local tech companies are now thinking about in-office and remote work.
Many SF tech companies sticking with remote work
Dropbox, Pinterest, Figma and more remain committed.
www.sfexaminer.com
August 12, 2025 at 6:52 PM
While some of the biggest companies in tech have put in place mandatory in-office policies, many large San Francisco tech companies are doing the opposite. I took a look at how local tech companies are now thinking about in-office and remote work.
Reposted by Troy Wolverton
The phrase “ parents have a legitimate concern about integration of races in schools and as a party, we haven’t done a very good job of listening to those concerns.” would shock and offend I would hope. A similar statement about trans kids should also shock and offend.
August 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The phrase “ parents have a legitimate concern about integration of races in schools and as a party, we haven’t done a very good job of listening to those concerns.” would shock and offend I would hope. A similar statement about trans kids should also shock and offend.