William Powers
@wpowers.bsky.social
Writer | Tech Humanist & Entrepreneur | New Englander | Visiting Scholar at Max Planck Center for Humans and Machines, Berlin
https://www.williampowers.com/
https://www.williampowers.com/
Reposted by William Powers
Move carefully and fix things. Build things that help people, and protect democracy.
December 18, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Move carefully and fix things. Build things that help people, and protect democracy.
. . . And could those dulled minds explain the unfortunate state of things in general?
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Is AI dulling our minds? — Harvard Gazette
Experts weigh in on whether tech poses threat to critical thinking, pointing to cautionary tales in use of other cognitive labor tools.
news.harvard.edu
December 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
. . . And could those dulled minds explain the unfortunate state of things in general?
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Reposted by William Powers
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
dlvr.it
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 AM
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Michelle, I've so enjoyed following your work. Looking forward to hearing about your next chapter!
October 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Michelle, I've so enjoyed following your work. Looking forward to hearing about your next chapter!
Reposted by William Powers
Reposted by William Powers
A word of gratitude to the anonymous reviewers, the unsung heroes of science.
We recently had the great fortune to publish in @nature.com. We even made the cover of the issue, with a witty tagline that summarizes the paper: "Cheat Code: Delegating to AI can encourage dishonest behaviour"
🧵 1/n
We recently had the great fortune to publish in @nature.com. We even made the cover of the issue, with a witty tagline that summarizes the paper: "Cheat Code: Delegating to AI can encourage dishonest behaviour"
🧵 1/n
October 21, 2025 at 3:20 PM
A word of gratitude to the anonymous reviewers, the unsung heroes of science.
We recently had the great fortune to publish in @nature.com. We even made the cover of the issue, with a witty tagline that summarizes the paper: "Cheat Code: Delegating to AI can encourage dishonest behaviour"
🧵 1/n
We recently had the great fortune to publish in @nature.com. We even made the cover of the issue, with a witty tagline that summarizes the paper: "Cheat Code: Delegating to AI can encourage dishonest behaviour"
🧵 1/n
Reposted by William Powers
Paul Simon, born today in 1941.
“It’s a cliché,” he said, “but music really IS the closest we come to a universal language. It crosses borders as effortlessly as a cloud.”
“It’s a cliché,” he said, “but music really IS the closest we come to a universal language. It crosses borders as effortlessly as a cloud.”
October 13, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Paul Simon, born today in 1941.
“It’s a cliché,” he said, “but music really IS the closest we come to a universal language. It crosses borders as effortlessly as a cloud.”
“It’s a cliché,” he said, “but music really IS the closest we come to a universal language. It crosses borders as effortlessly as a cloud.”
Reposted by William Powers
I wrote this essay, which is, in part, about the time I tried to turn a language model into Bartleby the Scrivener.
Experimenting with the math and data behind large language models helped me understand how AI “thinks.” I wish everyone had the chance to do the same, writes WSJ software engineer John West.
Essay | I’ve Seen How AI ‘Thinks.’ I Wish Everyone Could.
Experimenting with the math and data behind large language models can be exhilarating—and revealing.
on.wsj.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I wrote this essay, which is, in part, about the time I tried to turn a language model into Bartleby the Scrivener.
Reposted by William Powers
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
September 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Reposted by William Powers
“Gen Z needs a normal that we’ve never experienced.” The Reconnect Movement has organized phone-free hangouts on college campuses in Florida. Now it’s bringing them to colleges and cities in other parts of the country.
College Students Are Seeking Out Phone-Free Social Connection
A campus movement aims to find out.
nyti.ms
September 30, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“Gen Z needs a normal that we’ve never experienced.” The Reconnect Movement has organized phone-free hangouts on college campuses in Florida. Now it’s bringing them to colleges and cities in other parts of the country.
Reposted by William Powers
The city of Toyoake in Aichi Prefecture has become the first municipality in Japan to introduce an ordinance asking all residents to limit their daily leisure-related use of smartphones.
City in Aichi Prefecture passes ordinance capping screen time to two hours
There are no penalties for violators, with the city's mayor saying the aim is for residents to see whether they are losing sleep by using smartphones too much.
ebx.sh
September 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The city of Toyoake in Aichi Prefecture has become the first municipality in Japan to introduce an ordinance asking all residents to limit their daily leisure-related use of smartphones.
Reposted by William Powers
I wrote a response to Thomas Friedman's "magical thinking" on AI here: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
September 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I wrote a response to Thomas Friedman's "magical thinking" on AI here: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
Reposted by William Powers
Good news about the cutting-edge AI tools from the $3-trillion-dollar company.
September 2, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Good news about the cutting-edge AI tools from the $3-trillion-dollar company.
Reposted by William Powers
An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.
The A.I.-Profits Drought and the Lessons of History
Like the steam engine, electricity, and computers, generative artificial intelligence could take longer than expected to transform the economy.
www.newyorker.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:43 PM
An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.
Reposted by William Powers
We're going to need journalists to stop talking about synthetic text extruding machines as if they have *thoughts* or *stances* that they are *trying* to *communicate*. ChatGPT can't *admit* anything, nor *self-report*. Gah.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat...
August 7, 2025 at 1:46 PM
We're going to need journalists to stop talking about synthetic text extruding machines as if they have *thoughts* or *stances* that they are *trying* to *communicate*. ChatGPT can't *admit* anything, nor *self-report*. Gah.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat...
Reposted by William Powers
“Democracy tolerated Hitler and helped him take office to destroy democracy. This peaceful death of German democracy is one of the strangest chapters in history. German democracy marched to its grave with eyes wide open, and singing, ‘Beware of Adolf Hitler.’” www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...
Fleeing One Step Ahead of Fascism
The chilling warnings of Europe in the 1930s: "Reality is stronger than all our wishes"
www.doomsdayscenario.co
July 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM
“Democracy tolerated Hitler and helped him take office to destroy democracy. This peaceful death of German democracy is one of the strangest chapters in history. German democracy marched to its grave with eyes wide open, and singing, ‘Beware of Adolf Hitler.’” www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...
Reposted by William Powers
‘Humanists knew that they were imitating the ancients when they sat and talked in libraries. But they knew little about what these lost collections looked like or included.’
Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anthony Grafton · No Cheese Please: The First Bibliophiles
The library made possible a new kind of intellectual life. Machiavelli, when he’d been exiled from Florence, described...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
‘Humanists knew that they were imitating the ancients when they sat and talked in libraries. But they knew little about what these lost collections looked like or included.’
Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This headline makes me wonder:
Are social media dying? Or is a new generation of smarter, more human-positive social platforms waiting to be born?
Are social media dying? Or is a new generation of smarter, more human-positive social platforms waiting to be born?
Breaking up is hard to do—harder yet when there’s a deactivation period. Here’s how to log off every big social site, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, Bluesky, and Truth Social. www.wired.com/story/how-to...
How to Delete All of Your Social Media Accounts
Breaking up is hard to do—harder yet when there’s a deactivation period. Here’s how to log off every big social site, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, Bluesky, and Truth Social.
www.wired.com
July 19, 2025 at 10:33 PM
This headline makes me wonder:
Are social media dying? Or is a new generation of smarter, more human-positive social platforms waiting to be born?
Are social media dying? Or is a new generation of smarter, more human-positive social platforms waiting to be born?
Reposted by William Powers
On this date in 1776 the statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.
Because America didn't want a king who lived above the law.
Because America didn't want a king who lived above the law.
July 10, 2025 at 7:50 PM
On this date in 1776 the statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.
Because America didn't want a king who lived above the law.
Because America didn't want a king who lived above the law.
Reposted by William Powers
The singularity is awesome
June 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The singularity is awesome
Reposted by William Powers
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
June 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Worth a watch:
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.
Reposted by William Powers
Good article on masking and identity concealment by agents on ICE raids (also quotes me, for which thanks). A few bits: /1
ICE agents concealing their faces: Can they really do that?
It's not illegal, but paired with high-visibility raids, police masking sows fear and conflict.
www.motherjones.com
June 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Good article on masking and identity concealment by agents on ICE raids (also quotes me, for which thanks). A few bits: /1
Reposted by William Powers
A robin made a nest in one of my plant pots right outside my studio. The baby birds are hatching today.
June 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
A robin made a nest in one of my plant pots right outside my studio. The baby birds are hatching today.
