Marc Ambinder
@marcambinder.bsky.social
National security, politics, breaking news, cats. Author of "The Brink." Trust and safety policy @ TikTok now. Amateur Everettian quantum mechanic. 🌈
Glad we're doing this. More power to our users and their authentic choices.
TikTok to give users power to reduce amount of AI content on their feeds
Platform reveals it hosts more than 1bn AI videos as it starts testing over next few weeks before global rollout
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Glad we're doing this. More power to our users and their authentic choices.
Advanced LLMs will make redacting (and releasing) classified documents more challenging, and deciphering those redactions a bit easier. Single word or short redactions will be virtually impossible to sustain when LLMs can better predict the next word in a sequence.
August 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Advanced LLMs will make redacting (and releasing) classified documents more challenging, and deciphering those redactions a bit easier. Single word or short redactions will be virtually impossible to sustain when LLMs can better predict the next word in a sequence.
Anyway, if you like Star Trek intelligence and security fan fiction, follow my Substack. Kinda the best I can do at this point. (Also: it's not about misinformation. I don't like the word, no, not anymore.)
marcambinder.substack.com
marcambinder.substack.com
July 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Anyway, if you like Star Trek intelligence and security fan fiction, follow my Substack. Kinda the best I can do at this point. (Also: it's not about misinformation. I don't like the word, no, not anymore.)
marcambinder.substack.com
marcambinder.substack.com
I’ve been jealous of @vermontgmg.bsky.social since college, when it became clear to me that he would become a prodigious author and I would be, at most, a dilettante. His - must be like 40th? - book is coming out soon.
July 11, 2025 at 1:35 AM
I’ve been jealous of @vermontgmg.bsky.social since college, when it became clear to me that he would become a prodigious author and I would be, at most, a dilettante. His - must be like 40th? - book is coming out soon.
Reposted by Marc Ambinder
*Eight* byline Chicago Tribune story profiling the new pope’s childhood on Chicago’s South Side — www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/08/r...
The White Sox, Aurelio's Pizza and St. Mary's Mass: A South Sider becomes pope
Robert Prevost’s Catholic roots were planted in Chicago’s south suburbs, where he lived in Dolton and attended St. Mary’s parish before becoming Pope Leo XIV.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 9, 2025 at 1:20 AM
*Eight* byline Chicago Tribune story profiling the new pope’s childhood on Chicago’s South Side — www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/08/r...
Google's AI and search don't align, part 1 million. Hallucinations are getting worse.
May 8, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Google's AI and search don't align, part 1 million. Hallucinations are getting worse.
Eddie Murphy's impersonation of Tracy Morgan!!!
February 17, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Eddie Murphy's impersonation of Tracy Morgan!!!
CNN and NBC reporting that 3 members of the military were on board the Blackhawk, but no designated VIPs.
January 30, 2025 at 3:54 AM
CNN and NBC reporting that 3 members of the military were on board the Blackhawk, but no designated VIPs.
Reposted by Marc Ambinder
I continue to believe this stuff is still what most humans want out of social media.
I'm just here for pictures of your dog, brunch, new hobby project, announcement of accomplishments.... You know .. like normal people
January 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I continue to believe this stuff is still what most humans want out of social media.
The Watch Duty app has provided more life-saving information, adding real value, to a larger audience, than any of the AI use cases that people unfurl in those LLM-written threads. I'd like to see a company make it a priority to use LLMs to help regular people live normally.
January 9, 2025 at 7:41 AM
The Watch Duty app has provided more life-saving information, adding real value, to a larger audience, than any of the AI use cases that people unfurl in those LLM-written threads. I'd like to see a company make it a priority to use LLMs to help regular people live normally.
The combination of less wind, and the availability of air assets, probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of homes. I think the #SunsetFire will be contained soon. But challenge: mass evacuation of northern Hollywood/West Hollywood is not tenable. Gridlock remains.
January 9, 2025 at 4:15 AM
The combination of less wind, and the availability of air assets, probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of homes. I think the #SunsetFire will be contained soon. But challenge: mass evacuation of northern Hollywood/West Hollywood is not tenable. Gridlock remains.
We live in the middle of the city. This fire, which (right now) is looking like it'll be contained, verges on the Mid-City and Hollywood - the most dense parts of this dense city. There is no interface between urban and rural areas anymore. Entire cities can burn.
January 9, 2025 at 4:08 AM
We live in the middle of the city. This fire, which (right now) is looking like it'll be contained, verges on the Mid-City and Hollywood - the most dense parts of this dense city. There is no interface between urban and rural areas anymore. Entire cities can burn.
Endorse.
This is really excellent
"The fundamental problem, as I see it, is not that social media misinforms individuals about what is true or untrue but that it creates publics with malformed collective understandings." www.programmablemutter.com/p/were-getti...
January 8, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Endorse.
There are numerous fires burning IN the city. Power is out. 35,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders. (Where will they go?). And this is just what we know. On the other side of the fire lines, it's a thermal black box.
January 8, 2025 at 6:02 AM
There are numerous fires burning IN the city. Power is out. 35,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders. (Where will they go?). And this is just what we know. On the other side of the fire lines, it's a thermal black box.
This is, by far, the worst fire in the LA basin in the 14 years I've lived here. The urban/rural interface is burning. Average wind (AVERAGE) gusts are 25 mph. The county with the most fire resources in the country is overwhelmed. It will get worse before it get better.
January 8, 2025 at 6:02 AM
This is, by far, the worst fire in the LA basin in the 14 years I've lived here. The urban/rural interface is burning. Average wind (AVERAGE) gusts are 25 mph. The county with the most fire resources in the country is overwhelmed. It will get worse before it get better.
Not Apple's AI summarizing Notre Dame's win at the beginning of the third quarter..... Top - summary. Bottom - actual ESPN notification.
January 3, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Not Apple's AI summarizing Notre Dame's win at the beginning of the third quarter..... Top - summary. Bottom - actual ESPN notification.
What's the word for that anxiety you feel when you're stuffing your bag in the overhead bin and realize that a hundred people are waiting to board behind you?
January 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
What's the word for that anxiety you feel when you're stuffing your bag in the overhead bin and realize that a hundred people are waiting to board behind you?
Reposted by Marc Ambinder
Huh oh. As a committed anti-conspiracy-theorist for the "phones listen to your microphone and targeted ads based on what you say" thing I can tell this is going to be exhausting
I think probably 95% of speculation that your phone is secretly listening to you is overblown, but man the tech industry really does not do itself any favors with that 5% arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Apple users may get $20 each for up to five Siri-enabled devices.
arstechnica.com
January 2, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Huh oh. As a committed anti-conspiracy-theorist for the "phones listen to your microphone and targeted ads based on what you say" thing I can tell this is going to be exhausting
Billboards on I-80 - The trip to and from SFO - tells a story of crazes. 5 years ago - fintech, fintech! 2-3 years ago - crypto, web3. Last year - AI for your product! This year - compute capacity for your AI.
January 2, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Billboards on I-80 - The trip to and from SFO - tells a story of crazes. 5 years ago - fintech, fintech! 2-3 years ago - crypto, web3. Last year - AI for your product! This year - compute capacity for your AI.
Reposted by Marc Ambinder
If you want a diversion, tune to PBS. They're showing Ken Burns' series on the national parks. If only for Peter Coyote's soothing voice
January 2, 2025 at 6:17 AM
If you want a diversion, tune to PBS. They're showing Ken Burns' series on the national parks. If only for Peter Coyote's soothing voice
Quite unsettling to send a dozen or more "are you OK" text to folks in 3 different cities in one day, after MCIs that they might plausibly been affected by. One friend was a few blocks from Bourbon Street. My mind understands the moment, but my brain is begging - just stop.
January 2, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Quite unsettling to send a dozen or more "are you OK" text to folks in 3 different cities in one day, after MCIs that they might plausibly been affected by. One friend was a few blocks from Bourbon Street. My mind understands the moment, but my brain is begging - just stop.
How and when did the British Huw become the American Hugh?
December 31, 2024 at 12:40 AM
How and when did the British Huw become the American Hugh?
Reposted by Marc Ambinder
After nearly three decades, a Minnesota summer camp for kids with HIV/AIDS is closing and up for sale... because retroviral drugs are so effective that there aren't enough campers.
Science works, y'all.
www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...
Science works, y'all.
www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...
Closure of northern Minnesota camp is ‘the greatest story.’ Here’s why.
Willow River, Minn., camp One Heartland is for sale after serving kids there for nearly three decades.
www.startribune.com
December 27, 2024 at 9:46 PM
After nearly three decades, a Minnesota summer camp for kids with HIV/AIDS is closing and up for sale... because retroviral drugs are so effective that there aren't enough campers.
Science works, y'all.
www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...
Science works, y'all.
www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...