Taylor Barkley
tbarkley.bsky.social
Taylor Barkley
@tbarkley.bsky.social
Director, Technology and Innovation at the Abundance Institute. Senior Fellow at the Beacon Center of Tennessee.
Reposted by Taylor Barkley
New research alert!🚨 Pleased to share a new @cendemtech.bsky.social report on information resilience in the context of AI and elections.

For me it answers the question of whether AI matters for elections with a clear “yes” - though not always in the way you’d expect🧵 cdt.org/insights/ada...
Adaptation and Innovation: The Civic Space Response to AI-Infused Elections
With case studies also by: Laura Zommer and Kian Vesteinsson Introduction AI avatars delivered independent news about Venezuela’s contested election, allowing journalists to protect their identity and...
cdt.org
March 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Taylor Barkley
1899 article on new media ‘brainrot’:

"The number of people who think like birds, in little broken thoughts, will be greatly enlarged."

Making people: “unable to learn anything, to know anything well and to concentrate their minds upon anything." newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-1800s-...
The 1800s Had 'Brainrot' Too!
The Oxford Dictionary just added "brainrot" as its newest official word—a tongue in cheek term for consuming too much short-form social media content.
newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org
December 3, 2024 at 5:04 AM
Today we wrapped and summarized findings from an 11 month study of generative AI and how it was used in the US election. Bottom line: Although it was present, AI was not the disinformation game changer many pundits predicted it would be. nowandnext.substack.com/p/part-v-the...
Part V: The Abundance Institute AI and Post-Election Update
Tracking the Impact of AI on the 2024 U.S. Election
nowandnext.substack.com
November 12, 2024 at 6:45 PM
The Terminator, HAL 9000 etc etc are fictional characters and not actual evidence of AI harm.
June 2, 2023 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Taylor Barkley
From our brief ”’Virtually no modern website would function if users had to sort through content themselves.' ... All would thus be harmed if Section 230 were constricted to exclude automated recommendation systems." https://www.thecgo.org/research/amicus-curiae-brief-filed-in-gonzalez-v-google-llc/
May 18, 2023 at 4:13 PM
Today is a good day for the internet. The Supreme Court could have used this opportunity to erode Section 230's protections for internet platforms, yet chose not to. Like we said in our amicus brief: algorithms play an essential role in sorting content. Leaving 230 for another day is the right call.
May 18, 2023 at 4:01 PM
Q1 2023 saw biggest drop ever in paid tv subscribers. YouTube TV was only provider tracked by the survey to have gained customers. We are still in the middle of the media landscape shift. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cord-cutting-all-time-high-q1-2023-pay-tv-losses-1235610939/
May 18, 2023 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Taylor Barkley
So... we're excited to launch: Moderator Mayhem (which we've spent the last few months building, in partnership with Engine). A browser-based mobile content moderation simulator game: https://moderatormayhem.engine.is/
May 11, 2023 at 4:31 PM
Those quotation marks don’t help at all.
May 9, 2023 at 11:19 AM
NEW RESEARCH from @thecgo.org that analyzes the attitudes of Americans towards commercial drone overflights; how much they'd need to be paid for that; and the level of gov best situated to regulate local airspace: https://www.thecgo.org/research/can-landowners-exclude-drones-from-their-low-airspace/
May 2, 2023 at 3:10 PM
I was glad to be interviewed for this piece on state and federal social media bills. The emphasis on digital literacy and equipping teens is indeed the better approach. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/federal-and-state-lawmakers-want-to-regulate-young-social-media-users-will-it-work/2023/04
May 1, 2023 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Taylor Barkley
Hi @aoc.bsky.social, so glad you are here!

Can I shill you my paper on NEPA reform? The problem is that current NEPA practice goes well beyond any plain reading of the law as it was originally passed.

https://www.thecgo.org/research/bringing-nepa-back-to-basics/
Bringing NEPA Back to Basics
If we are to address the challenges of our time, whether they be climate change or the emergence of strategic adversaries, we must not let NEPA keep one hand tied behind our backs.
www.thecgo.org
April 27, 2023 at 10:10 PM
Was Marc Andreessen’s Substack intended to run for only a week in March? Where’d it go?
April 16, 2023 at 12:58 PM
I was in entrepreneur.com this week writing about the proposed TikTok ban, small businesses, and what Congress should be doing to balance those issues: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/banning-tiktok-would-hurt-small-businesses-heres-what/449607
April 15, 2023 at 7:01 PM
I think about this potentiality every time I see a USB charging port when I am out and about.
Be cautious when using public charging stations. To protect your devices from potential 'juice jacking' bring your own charger, a portable battery, or use a charge-only cable.
FBI says you should avoid public USB stations if you don’t want malware on your phone
Hackers have figured out how to hijack phones connected to free charging stations. Here’s how to avoid getting ‘juice jacked.’
www.fastcompany.com
April 11, 2023 at 1:25 PM
Easter ribs.
April 9, 2023 at 7:12 PM
Nice to have Will Rinehart and my research featured in this New York Magazine article on teens, social media, and mental health: https://t.co/atXpzvPIST
March 28, 2023 at 2:03 PM
Fascinating to watch the Utah social media bills pass into law. Provided they aren’t prevented by courts from actually being enacted, how will we know whether or not they are effective?
March 28, 2023 at 1:27 PM