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Kevin Bankston

@bankston.bsky.social
2.8K followers 444 following 229 posts

CONVERGER at kevinbankston.substack.com. Senior Advisor on AI Governance @cdt.org. Teaching AI law @georgetownlaw.bsky.social. Imagining futures @imaginationasu.bsky.social. My opinions, not theirs.

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Reposted by Kevin Bankston
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The major platforms—Facebook, YouTube, and X—are all refusing to show the trailer for the upcoming documentary that eviscerates the ridiculous pest Elon Musk. So I guess we have to do our part to make sure it is seen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY_8...
youtube.com
Musk | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street
YouTube video by Musk
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A question for your inner twelve-year-old: PIRATES VS. NINJAS: WHO WOULD WIN?? I’ll be answering that question in a new comic miniseries coming to @kickstarter.com next spring, with artist @federicosabbatini.bsky.social! Visit kickstarter.com/projects/kevinbankston/pirates-vs-ninjas-1 for more!
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: PIRATES VS. NINJAS #1 is coming in Spring 2027!
The first chapter of an epic comic book tale fusing manga-inspired ninja action and swashbuckling pirate adventure!
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Center for Democracy & Technology @cdt.org · 20/08/2026
As websites defend against an onslaught of AI bots, will web-crawling for public-interest purposes like journalism, cybersecurity & public health survive or end up as collateral damage? CDT's @bankston.bsky.social in collab with @publicknowledge.bsky.social maps the conflict: cdt.org/insights/wil...
cdt.org
Will the Open Internet Survive the War on Bots? Mapping the Debate Over “AI Preferences”
Next week, CDT — along with a broad cohort of tech and policy experts from civil society, the internet publishing world, search engine providers, AI labs, commercial data collectors, digital archivist...
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The integration of AI into traditional content pipelines is well underway: Netflix has used generative AI in *300* movies and shows just in 2026. More on AI's collision with Hollywood in this week's Converger: converger.kevinbankston.com/p/convergers...
converger.kevinbankston.com
CONVERGER’S AI in Hollywood News Roundup
All the news that's fit to stack about AI's collision with the film business in July and August
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Summer 2026: AI and Hollywood are Colliding. Which studios are adopting AI fastest, which filmmakers are inviting the tech and which are rejecting it, what are the latest tools and trends? Read the latest CONVERGER newsletter to find out. converger.kevinbankston.com/publish/post...
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
We should start running dystopian tours. You can stroll past clusters of armed soldiers loitering and giant banners of the Dear Leader’s face on your way to the tarp-shrouded ghost of the Kennedy Center.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Why is Wonder Woman storming the Oval Office to confront the President? Across the Marvel & DC universes right now, authoritarian villains and billionaire oligarchs rule, and the heroes are now insurgents fighting the power. Gee, wonder what that's about? converger.kevinbankston.com/p/when-villa...
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Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
i've been covering national security for decades, on and off. i've never heard of anything like this. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
USS Abraham Lincoln sailors tried to jump overboard amid extended deployment – reports
Aircraft carrier’s crew in ninth month at sea and has spent record 250 days consecutively without making land
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Why is Iron Man teaching people to make Molotov cocktails? Across Marvel & DC comics, in an obvious response to current politics, authoritarian villains & billionaire oligarchs now rule while the heroes are insurgents fighting the power. Read more: converger.kevinbankston.com/p/when-villa...
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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 11/08/2026
One of the biggest topics at last week's Black Hat and @defcon.bsky.social conferences was the future of the CVE Program, which assigns vulnerability IDs that are used all over the place. My new story wraps together everything we heard from key CVE figures: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cve-pro...
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My new article highlights how today's biggest comic creators like @ssnyder1835.bsky.social @denizcamp.bsky.social @attackerman.bsky.social @jason-aaron.bsky.social and @tomking.bsky.social are injecting timely anti-authoritarian themes into their entertaining-as-hell DC and Marvel superhero stories.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman are fighting white supremacist cops, ICE, & billionaire oligarchs while the Avengers are fomenting a leftist revolution. How did comics become woke AF? And how much longer will their corporate owners allow it? My latest newsletter: substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
When Villains Rule: How Marvel and DC Comics Became the Unexpected Anti-Trump Art Form
Across the comics multiverse, authoritarian villains rule while insurgent superheroes fight the power...for now.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Would you be surprised to learn that the most mainstream anti-authoritarian art right now is in...corporate comic books? Subscribe now at converger.kevinbankston.com to catch tomorrow's essay, "When Villains Rule: How Marvel and DC Comics Became the Unexpected Anti-Trump Art Form."
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Nahel Belgherze @wxnb.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
This is the most delightful nerd news I've heard in awhile. Look forward to getting the literal magazine in my mailbox.
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 29/06/2026
Today could be Congress's last chance to stop the KIDS Act. Tell your lawmaker to vote NO on this rushed, messy package of internet bills that threatens privacy, free expression, and private messaging online. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
eff.org
The KIDS Act Would Require Age Checks To Get Online
Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will push online services to verify all users’ ages, require government-directed moderation policies for online speech, and even create new rules about
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Sadly ironic that today's the 55th anniversary of an overreaching White House going to the Supreme Court to try to block the Pentagon Papers' publication, and now with Anthropic's Fable we're seeing another historic prior restraint by an equally lawless administration. #FreeFable
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
NEW: The Trump admin clamped down on Anthropic following a spat over the company granting South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom access to Claude Mythos. Why? US officials were concerned the company may have ties to China.
wired.com
The Korean Telecom Giant at the Center of Anthropic’s Mythos Controversy
Days before Anthropic took its most advanced AI models offline, the White House ordered the company to revoke SK Telecom’s access to Claude Mythos over claims of alleged ties to China.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Great thread from @cdt.org's First Amendment maven, @kateruane.bsky.social
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
My brother's a Hollywood creative exec. I dragged him to the 'AI on the Lot' conference to see the future. Then I interviewed him: “They keep talking about saving time and money. I live in Burbank, man—that ‘time and money’ are all my neighbors.” converger.kevinbankston.com/i/201583118/...
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Jeff (Hot Type) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
There's been not enough attention to the fact that this event on public property can be seen only through--who else's?--Paramount's paywalled streamer. I'm among many praying for thunderstorms to wash it out. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Seven fights on the South Lawn: Trump prepares for UFC birthday spectacle at White House
Show goes on for Trump’s 80th birthday event – featuring a 92ft ‘Claw’, thousands of seats and a fighting cage – despite ominous weather forecasts
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Uh, I think cyberattacks happen on the internet.
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Kate Ruane @kateruane.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
To be clear, this is an order to depublish speech based on vague and unsupported “national security” concerns. We have seen this before. It wasn’t justified then and it’s not justified now. The fact that it’s a new technology does not change the analysis. www.anthropic.com/news/fable-m...
anthropic.com
Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5
The US government has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Confession time: I helped murder Punky Duck. Accidentally. Which I guess makes it duckslaughter? A couple weeks ago I went to the AI on the Lot conference in LA, and unexpectedly found myself at the center of Hollywood’s AI controversy of the week... converger.kevinbankston.com/p/converger-...
converger.kevinbankston.com
CONVERGER #4: How I Got an AI-Generated TV Series Cancelled (Accidentally)
ALSO: ‘AI on the Lot’ Conference Takeaways, Tech Brother vs. Hollywood Brother, and the Last Edition of Hannah Einbinder’s Swirlie Watch!
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
We didn't get the data portability we wanted for social networks in time to matter. Now the same fight's shaping up around AI. In my 1st guest post for @mbogen.bsky.social's AI policy newsletter Elicitation, I lay out what real AI portability would look like. elicitation.substack.com/p/dont-let-p...
elicitation.substack.com
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of portable
For real AI data portability, we need importability
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Rav BOO!dram 🎃👻 @rvbdrm.com · 04/06/2026
Autonomous robot clown roundhouse kicks a small child
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Why do this? Do we need even more national guards standing around doing nothing?
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Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I would be immensely grateful if the house office of legislative counsel could drag themselves into oh I don't know 1995 so that the bills they produce could be a) in a machine readable format and b) have actual internal links from the table of contents.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
There were signs: Scorcese spoke positively of the next generation using these tools in a recent BFI interview. I covered that, and other directors' comments indicating the ongoing AI vibe shift (most recently visible at Cannes) in my newsletter Converger converger.kevinbankston.com/p/converger-...
converger.kevinbankston.com
CONVERGER #3: The Cannes AI Vibe Shift
Also: mapping the microdrama megatrend, how I “engineered wonder" by making comic books, and more!
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 03/06/2026
🧵1/3 🎮 What if cultural history disappears because no one is allowed to preserve it? Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia, reflects on the fragility of games, media, and cultural memory in his essay in VANISHING CULTURE, from the #InternetArchive. Read it here: archive.org/details/vani...
Dark green graphic quoting Jordan Mechner, Game Designer, for the Vanishing Culture series, with the question "Why is it important to preserve gaming history?" and the quote "Historical oblivion is the default, not the exception."
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 03/06/2026
A little surveillance break, as a treat.
engadget.com
Meta will reportedly let employees take 30-minute breaks from its tracking program - Engadget
Workers can pause the all-seeing eye when they need to "check something personal."
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amac @amac0.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
AI is changing how products behave and how they are built. Product lawyering has to change too. Here's my attempt to describe how. I'd love to hear if this rings true to folks who are still product counseling. www.bricoleur.org/2026/06/prod...
bricoleur.org
Product Counselling in the AI Era
AI is changing how products behave and how they are built. Product lawyering has to change too.  Product counsel have always needed to unde...
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
We are all in horrible danger when our nation’s intelligence apparatus is run by a corrupt regime loyalist with no relevant experience
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 02/06/2026
🧵 Some publishers & news organizations are blocking the Wayback Machine from archiving journalism, stifling access to the public record. 📣 If you rely on the Wayback Machine to preserve news & history, tell them not to block web archiving. ✏️ Sign the open letter👇 www.savethearchive.com/NewsLeaders
Black graphic from Fight for the Future urging New York Times, The Atlantic, and USA Today to keep journalist archives in the Wayback Machine, with the text "The news isn't getting preserved in the Wayback Machine anymore because major media outlets are blocking it. This petition is a demand for them to stop."
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Tiffany Babb 🔜 NYCC @explodingarrow.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
... and we're LIVE! You can pledge for the fourth issue of the coolest newspaper format journal of comics criticism around now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/tif...
kickstarter.com
The Comics Courier, A Comics Criticism Journal [Issue 4]
A newspaper-format journal dedicated to in-depth comics criticism edited by Tiffany Babb
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Backrooms and Obsession have set off a small-budget big-box office revolution, but Parsons and Barker are just two of the many creators making the YouTube-to-cinema leap. Check out my roundup of the next gen of viral video-to-horror feature directors: converger.kevinbankston.com/i/196771089/...
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
The AI vibe shift at Cannes that I just wrote about in Converger was in full effect at AI on the Lot this past week in LA as studios & networks like Fox, Paramount, MGM, & AMC were all there talking about integrating AI--though not without pushback. converger.kevinbankston.com/p/converger-...
converger.kevinbankston.com
CONVERGER #3: The Cannes AI Vibe Shift
Also: mapping the microdrama megatrend, how I “engineered wonder" by making comic books, and more!
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Honestly, this is good because it removes any plausible deniability about the type of people Trump put in charge of his domestic paramilitary operations
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Wrote about how Bluesky users do not click links and read articles (yes, this is behind the scenes stuff so paywalled). Bluesky isn’t unique among social networks. Many people do not click through. Instead they scroll, maybe reply, and move on. Not good for journalism www.404media.co/behind-the-b...
404media.co
Behind the Blog: Being New and Some Numbers
This week, we discuss going deeper and Google's search changes.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
That Texas Blood is an exceptional book. Very excited for the creators; FX should be a great home for this.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
In LA today for the AI on the Lot conference, looking forward to meeting new people & learning new things about the intersection of AI and film, which I'm covering in my tech & media newsletter Converger (latest issue at converger.kevinbankston.com/p/converger-...). Drop a line if you'll be around!
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Absolutely nothing is stopping John Cornyn, Tillis, Murkowski, & Paul from caucusing immediately with Democrats & giving them control of the Senate. The same is true of Thomas Massie & any 2 retiring GOP Reps in the House. It is a choice to continue caucusing with the authoritarian personality cult.
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
From pro-AI comments by filmmakers like Peter Jackson & Steven Soderbergh to screenings by new AI film creators & toolmakers, the Cannes Film Festival made it clear: a vibe shift is happening in the film community around AI. Read more in Converger: converger.kevinbankston.com/p/converger-...
converger.kevinbankston.com
CONVERGER #3: The Cannes AI Vibe Shift
Also: mapping the microdrama megatrend, how I “engineered wonder" by making comic books, and more!
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I was delighted to be interviewed for Sophie Raseman's fabulous American Childhood newsletter, offering advice for her 9 yr-old who wants to start making comics. The pictured graphic novel—The Cartoonists Club—is THE first book any parent should hand to their kid who wants to explore comics-making.
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Whitney Merrill @wbm312.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
If it’s collected, they will come.
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Hello, it's Dan McDaid @danmcdaid.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Got a notification from a medieval copyright lawyer
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Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I calculated the Pentagon's "black budget".... Using Claude, the LLM banned from the Pentagon by Hegseth, I went through the military’s initial budget submissions. I found $126 billion in programs either explicitly marked as classified, or described only through a code word. (1/2)
media.tenor.com
an aerial view of the pentagon in washington d.c. with lightning strikes
ALT: an aerial view of the pentagon in washington d.c. with lightning strikes
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Kevin Bankston @bankston.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Nice to see more evidence that the comics to streaming pipeline is heating up again. These are the deals that keep a lot of independent publishers in business and help draw meaningful investment into the perennially precarious comics direct market.
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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
One good thing that entertainment journalists covering The Odyssey can do is never to ask Nyong'o, Page, or Nolan about this. When a prominent racist and transphobe says something racist and transphobic, go make his life miserable and leave his targets alone. They have nothing to defend or explain.
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