In 1958, Mao ordered every village to produce steel. The steel was useless. The crops rotted. Today's top-down AI mandates are producing the same pattern: ba...
Companies rushed in on AI. Now some are pulling back
Rapid AI adoption left workers cleaning up a flood of errors and low-quality work
The Rise of Industrial AI in America: Microfoundations of the Productivity J-curve(s)
Early AI adoption in U.S. manufacturing produced a J-curve pattern of short term productivity loss followed by medium term growth – though quite unevenly.
The Great AI Divide: Navigating U.S. and Chinese dominance
At a Rest of World event during New York Tech Week, we explored the challenges and possible solutions to the dominance of American and Chinese AI companies.
The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019–2025
An inside view of the AI revolution, from the people an…
The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019–2025
An inside view of the AI revolution, from the people and companies making it happen.
AI FOR EPISTEMICS & COORDINATION
Civilization and technology have radically improved the human condition. Nonetheless, the world sometimes goes in directions which essentially nobody would prefer — e.g., nuclear arms races, unexpected financial crashes, predatory marketing, or ubiquitous political misinformation.
OpenAI Calls for New Industrial Policy as AI Reshapes Economy and Governance
OpenAI’s policy paper argues that governments must adopt a new industrial policy to manage AI’s economic disruption.
AI Almost Started a U.S.–China War — and No One Seems to Care
The tech world is too busy dreaming up imaginary doomsday scenarios to focus on a very real one that flared up between nuclear powers.
Import AI 452: Scaling laws for cyberwar; rising tides of AI automation; and a puzzle over gDP forecasting
How much could AI revolutionize the economy?
AI’s Imperial Agenda
“Empire of AI” author Karen Hao on how Silicon Valley’s young AI companies parallel colonial empires of old.
Welcome to a Multidimensional Economic Disaster
The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis.
Notes from inside China's AI labs
Lessons from my trip to talk to most of the leading AI labs in China.
TrendLife Study Shows AI Is Moving Fast, but Consumers and Families are Being Left Behind
New study of over 10,000 consumers across 9 countries reveals worry exceeds excitement about generative AI as most lack the tools and confidence to use it safely TOKYO, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ --...
When will average people feel AI’s impact?
We’re <5 years into a compounding revolution which could take a century, and how the AI industry should manage this.
Separating AI’s Technological Problems From its Capitalism Problems
Nathan E. Sanders and Bruce Schneier say integrating a technology as disruptive as AI responsibly requires deep structural reforms.
AI development and the US military
The education of a computer
Secret History of Silicon Valley
Border Wars : The Science and Politics of Artificial Intelligence
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Turing Test
AI and the techno-utopian path not taken
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