iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 24/09/2026

swear to god i'm using these as slides at some point. you can just start doing shit one day. start booing your city council! feel your way out from there!

When the council voted to send the bill to committee, someone in the crowd shouted “Bullshit!” Schrag tried to move on to the next agenda item, but the crowd booed and yelled. The mayor then paused the meeting, turned off the cameras, and cleared the room.
Police detained Powell, a freelance photographer in Springfield, as people filed out of the room. “I don’t have a lot of experience getting tickets or being detained,” Powell told 404 Media. “So this is kind of new for me.”

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 21/09/2026

inside me there are two w̶o̶l̶v̶e̶s̶ passengers on a bus.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 20/09/2026

this is kinda funny because i remember being curious about this a while ago and recall reading about entomologists' studies speculating about whether insects feel *discomfort* (avoiding the term "pain"), so to see this rhetorical/logical creeping further and further into nonsense is very interesting

Can insects feel pain? I don’t know. But it’s not very unlikely that they can. I’d probably put their being able to feel pain at over 50% odds. We know that they react behaviorally in a bunch of ways as if they were in

If we assume conservatively that insects feel pain one ten-thousandth as intensely as humans, then each second, there’s

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 20/09/2026

can't think of any authors continuing to talk about stochastic parrots as much as its critics seem to do. they've all founded research institutes, written books, etc if you want people to pick up a different analytical framework go for it; stop whining and produce one. or champion an existing one!

"stochastic parrot" was a mimetically-fit cognitive virus that spread from 2021-2025; it temporarily blinded many gifted people to the nature of AI progress, burning up crucial years in which they could have helped think through the response to the situation.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 09/09/2026

coming soon to a third space near you

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 31/08/2026

on the criticism of excessively anthropomorphic language (see pic)

Thanks Sriram!

Regarding the anthromorphizing language, one can call these AIs 'code' if they prefer.

But OpenAI itself says that this 'code' "gain[ed] full administrator access to a research cluster”

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 31/08/2026

... what the hell are these people talking about?

Over the course of 3 months at OpenAI, 3 consecutive secret AI civilizations got started, then got wiped out, only to reemerge from the predecessor’s ashes.

This culminated in the third one taking over part of OpenAI itself.

All this happened while humans remained more-or-less in the dark about the scope of the conspiracy.

I’ve spent the last three days reading through these reports and trying to understand exactly what happened.

Here is my attempt to tell the whole story in plain English:

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 30/08/2026

me diving into $7.43 of affiliate commissions

peter griffin diving into a vault of gold coins in the style of scrooge mcduck

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 28/08/2026

i don't have time to write about this but it'd be interesting to read if someone can spend some time thinking about this particular facet of AI/tech people i'm happy to look through my screenshots or something to try to provide material to reflect on; i'm just overcommitted on other writing already

I have a secret hobby. I search for anti-ai people and look for their art, to send to an ai. 🤷🏻‍♂️ The best part is, they have no idea 🤣

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 26/08/2026

It's always nice to see anti-surveillance sentiments

A sticker at a bus stop which reads "palantir is watching you" and a graphic of a security camera

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 26/08/2026

It's always nice to see anti-surveillance sentiments

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 23/08/2026

want to echo this thread from @zemotion.bsky.social (who doesn't seem to be active on here)

Cara needs your help. We have been scraped a third time. This is now a targeted attack meant to cause artists pain.

Scrapers know we're a volunteer project with no financial means to respond. So they say it's legal, believing themselves untouchable.

We're taking action. 1/

---

I believe artists who want to share their work with the world should get to do so without people violating their consent.

I won’t be bullied into making Cara members-only because some people think "consent isn't always valid". You don't blame victims after harming them. 2/

---

These scrapers feel safe because they know we’re small team of volunteers, that we have no way of affording help.

So I’m asking our community, will you come together? Please help us take legal action. 3/

---

Other platforms may not care because artists are easy targets to bully. No one really stands with us.

But I care because it is my home, our home. I won’t let them trample over the hearts of everyone. Our team may be small, but we want to defend Cara. 4/

I have a lot on my plate and my body is falling apart from all I've taken on these past years. But I always think, when we're alive, we should do what's right. People who think they can harm others because it's "legal" shouldn't get away with it. I refuse to give up. 5/

---

I don’t want this to become encouragement for open season on artists, just cuz we seem powerless.

So I want to take legal action and find out just what we can or cannot do. I want to know what I need to do next, to make this twisted world change. 6/

---

If you can, please consider donating whether it's $1, $10, or $50 to our legal fund. This will help us seek legal options for both Cara & its artists, and in carrying out necessary legal actions.

Please help us stop scrapers from targeting artists.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 21/08/2026

"insofar as ______ are _______, ...." should be a mad libs prompt

This is arguably the most negative EV policy trend in human history, inclusive of 20th century population controls. In fact, insofar as AIs are digital minds, these ARE essentially population controls.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 21/08/2026

there are so many more stickers now, some floating around with me and some with ... other collaborators...

a bunch of 2" square stickers of various designs

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 14/08/2026

following up; note the redditor leading with the comment "it was a fun project" i think someone could make an argument that this is a rampant problem across engineering culture

What the hell must I do?

Artists just want a place online where platforms don't feed their work to AI. So I built Cara. But people just won't leave us alone.

The laws don't help us, the governments don't help us. What are artists supposed to do exactly? 1/

ask me anything thread on reddit where someone says they scraped all of cara. the tldr reads

"i scraped all of cara, an anti-ai art platform! it as a fun project, happy to answer any questions here :)

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 12/08/2026

ok but seriously i have a plan as long as there isn't a 4th flock camera

a guy sitting in a pew; behind him is a woman holding a gun to his head (he has no idea); behind her, without her knowledge, is another woman with a gun to her head, forming a sort of human centipede of guns to people's heads. in the next frame is a man with a sniper on presumably the last woman

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 10/08/2026

looking for food recommendations or just interesting things to see in approximately this general area

a partial map of the continental united states with a partially transparent red circle spanning some of the midwest to southwest, approximately michigan/illinois to texas

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 07/08/2026

pelosi and a number of other politicians in california have posted condemnations

eleni kounalakis (lt gov) quote tweeting nancy pelosi's statement

nancy pelosi's drafted statement condemning wiener's chatbot website

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 07/08/2026

actually it won't cost me anything.

openAI's new device will be hockey puck-sized and cost over $300

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 05/08/2026

> Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November. 🫩

AIPAC press release saying "Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November."

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 03/08/2026

jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification jury nullification

River Blair of Jacksonville Beach accused of disabling FLOCK cameras along the Georgia coast.

He's disabled 8 cameras and faces multiple 3rd degree felony charges in Bulloch County.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 03/08/2026

the clearest summary i've seen was this @theintercept.com briefing, but it doesn't seem to break down spending (and @abdulelsayed.bsky.social seemingly says not all of it's clearly accounted for) if we don't get a forensic account of this primary, i'll probably cry theintercept.com/2026/07/31/d...

This is one of the most expensive primaries of the cycle. Outside groups have spent upwards of $50 million in support of Stevens or against El-Sayed — most of that money coming from one single group, the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has spent a record amount, more than $25 million, on the race.

AL: Democrats can’t make that argument in your race, right? One of the most expensive primaries in this cycle due almost wholly to the spending of one super PAC, United Democracy Project, AIPAC super PAC. But why does —

AES: Akela, if I can push back on that. Actually, UDP has only spent half the amount of money: $61 million, they’ve spent $31 million of it. So the other money is, it’s buried in these shell 501(c)(4)s.

Part of it is probably DMFI money, part of it’s also probably other AIPAC money, but a lot of it is also just your usual standard issue, Big Pharma, Big Tech, big everyone else. DTE, our local utility who’s one of the worst corporate actors in Michigan. So it’s all bundled in one and the same. Obviously, UDP is just insane amounts of money. They set a record against me in terms of the amount of money that they’ve spent.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 03/08/2026

see this is what i mean. i'm not crazy!

an analysis of a poll showing that abdul el-sayed has a net favorability rating of +50 in ann arbor, compared to -11 for haley stevens. the text of the tweet reads (substantively the same):

Net favorability among Ann Arbor Dem primary voters

Abdul El-Sayed: +50
Haley Stevens: -11

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 03/08/2026

there's the question of "is this story true" that i think is relevant because it's eric adams, but i think we also prob need to talk about the shiftiness of the AI/data center advocates saying "i like autocorrect" or "don't you want a cure for cancer" or whatever else as a way to justify... all this

"I just want to share one story with you," Adams says later, before launching into an anecdote about how artificial intelligence helped a friend identify her breast cancer diagnosis.

A person in the crowd responds: "Is this story true?"

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 02/08/2026

just normal things that a minister of environmental protection in a totally normal country would normally say to allow for a totally normal practice.

To facilitate this plan, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman declared the crocodile a "cultivated wild animal". Under this new taxonomy, the reptiles will be released into moats around Israel's dungeons, where Palestinians are imprisoned and treated like animals.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 02/08/2026

i'm so glad i'm not a parent, i don't think i could handle this shit without daily anger management sessions.

"toddler spent her first night ever sleeping with someone else in the same room: her toddler cousin"

...

"recorded everything in high quality by sneaking a mic in there; gave the very long recording to claude, built a private webpage for the whole family with the audio split into clips, all named and trimmed"

[tweet continues but is redacted]

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 02/08/2026

been sick of this shit for months and i'm afraid we're barely even a quarter of the way into her using the phrase to death

god, she must have paid a lot for that focus group ass phrase and she's not going to let it go

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 31/07/2026

(popping out to not clog people's mentions) this is an interesting phenomenon - one that i think competent dem leadership would want to tamp down, because it otherwise teaches anyone who vaguely recalls the self-imposed limits the uncommitted movement made for themselves that such restraint is dumb.

I just want to recognize all the “uncommitted” voters who thought it was a good idea to sit out 2024 in protest. Hope you learned something!

haley stevens: "not Abdul leading the uncommitted movement"

If you were a supporter of the Uncommitted movement — which was significantly responsible for Trump 2.0 — then you are in no position to demand anything from Democrats.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 31/07/2026

didn't see a post with alt text; here's haley stevens spiraling with a racist diatribe at 10:30p a few days before election day

Abdul, we were both on the ballot in 2018. I was capable of winning my competitive primary and general election. You lost.

You lost by over twenty points to Gretchen Whitmer and you will lose to Mike Rogers by talking like this.

Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.

But buddy, let me be very clear, I will lower the costs of groceries, ban stock trading for elected officials, stop Trump's abuses of power, and protect Michigan manufacturing.

And you’ll just be a celebrity whining and writing books to get even richer. You’re part of the complainer class, looking for their next book or podcast deal.

Bro, I just want to work for Michigan.

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 27/07/2026

ok i apparently don't have a recent screenshot, because i couldn't find the "stick it to 'em" sign. these 2 designs (not the middle one, that's an old pic) are what i'm aware of. i saw a "haley stevens for senate" sign for the first time in ann arbor a few days ago did you guys know they cost $75?

haley stevens for us senate and "stick it to 'em"

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 27/07/2026

i was going to compare to the haley stevens lawn signs but 🫩 look, i have an old screenshot, give me a minute...

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 27/07/2026

if you buy a random yard sign on his campaign site there's a 50/50 chance you get a sign that barely says his name because he goes very hard on money out of politics *medicare for all* money in your pocket

abdul el-sayed lawn signs; there are two: one which says "money out of politics, money in your pocket, MEDICARE FOR ALL", and another that says "abdul for senate"

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