







In the ’60s, the Bay Area almost got a high-speed train from Marin to San Jose. What could happen if we dreamed big again?
BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System by John King, Michael C. Healy
When BART opened in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1972, it became a catalyst for a renaissance in modern rail transit, both nationally and

Introduction - SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: The Decade Ahead
Leopold Aschenbrenner, June 2024 You can see the future first in San Francisco. Over the past year, the talk of the town has shifted from $10 billion compute clusters to $100 billion clusters to trillion-dollar clusters. Every six months another zero is added to the boardroom plans. Behind the scenes, there’s a fierce scramble to

Will the AI IPO boom make S.F. richer, or wipe out what’s left of its middle class?
OPINION: Anthropic and OpenAI plan IPOs that make previous tech booms look tiny. If San Francisco wants to benefit, our leaders need far more urgency on housing, the editorial board writes.

From Chile to the Philippines, meet the people pushing back on AI
Individuals and communities are resisting the demands and practices of Big Tech's AI infrastructure — such as data centers and digital labor — due to their environmental and social costs.

‘We gave them hell’: The people who fought Google buses remember battles won and lost
Thirteen years ago, their protests against SF’s tech buses made headlines. Now they warn that the AI boom is making things even worse.
Designing a wayfinding concept for Vancouver's Skytrain system.
I wasn’t always a big fan of public transport.

AI Commons - One Project
What if we could redefine AI? What if we could shift its development from a capitalist model to a more disruptive, inclusive, and decentralized one?

Union.ai: Ship fast. Scale big. Orchestrate the future.
The AI development platform to go from experimentation to production faster. Orchestrate, train, and serve AI.

Resetting on engineering expectations in the age of AI
I’m accepting new sponsorships for The Modern Leader for 2026. If you’re interested (or you think your company may be interested), you can learn more here.
The AI Kids Take San Francisco
Brilliant, workaholic teenagers are flooding the city — and reshaping our future in their image.

The AI We Deserve
Critiques of artificial intelligence abound. Where’s the utopian vision for what it could be?

The AI spending boom could have real consequences for the U.S. economy
As revisions to U.S. jobs numbers call into question economic growth, Big Tech is becoming an even more important part of American prosperity.

AI Data Centers: Big Tech's Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More via @ConsumerReports
Massive data centers are gobbling up resources across the United States. The boom has just begun—and you may be paying for it.
Don’t Believe the Hype — or Doom — About AI
For America’s VC-dominated tech industry, AI hype isn’t just a crazy by-product — it’s a structural part of the US economy in which capital tries to write our destinies. We shouldn’t let it.

The Four Fits: A Growth Framework for the AI Era
Everything's changed. Here's how to reach $100m at venture speed.

What Sort of AI Bubble Are We In?
Think broadband. Or, potentially, the 2008 housing market.
