Justin Brannan on Twitter / X

Worst case AI scenario may not be all-powerful, ungovernable machines but a tiny group of all-powerful, ungovernable people. We ponder the sci-fi horror of civilization ending but should focus on the more plausible horror of a society divided into haves and have-nots, forever. https://t.co/5nrw7wwQSH— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) October 20, 2026

The contagion of fear | The Observation Deck

I have a difficult confession to make — a shameful incident that I have never spoken of, even to those closest to me. Late one night in my first year at university and having found computer science to be my life’s calling, I was in the back of the large computer science lab, talking with some fellow underclassmen. We were snidely decrying the lack of technological understanding in the broader population, with the kind of arrogance and hubris that youth and precociousness can uniquely summon. Somewhere in this discussion, a terrible idea was hatched: what if we went next door to the general computer lab, and told the humanities students there that a computer virus was spreading through their machines? Would they believe it?

Opinion | The Sad and Dangerous Reality Behind ‘Her’

At least a quarter of the more than 100 billion messages sent to our chatbots are attempts to initiate romantic or sexual exchanges.