iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Been tinkering with an essay that is waaaay outside my normal genre boundaries.

You can fit so much imposter syndrome in this thing (car slap meme)

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

So far the Wizards are 2-0 in the preseason, knocking off the defending champs and the 60-win Pistons. Just hand them the championship trophy now. This team is unstoppable. We all see that, right?

Screenshot of another Wizards preseason victory that I am overreacting to.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I don’t want to overindex on a single game, but I think we can all agree that the Washington Wizards should now be favored to win the 2027 NBA championship.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Oof. Sign of the times: Casey Newton announces he’s slinking back to X, admitting with frustration that the “The community of people working in and around artificial intelligence product and policy simply refuses to move away from X.” I mean… yep. Your beat is the Nerd Reich. It is what it is.🤷‍♂️

Whatever virtue these actions may have had, they did not succeed at creating a true rival to X in the category that matters most to me: a forum for daily tech and business conversation. The community of people working in and around artificial intelligence product and policy simply refuses to move away from X, no matter how bad it gets.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Ohandanotherthing: Sam Altman is such a perfect example of techno-optimism as it is actually practiced. It's the ideology of incurious plutocrats (and their hangers-on). "Well gee, sure, the effects of my product could be terrible! But we should all just trust that it'll be more good than bad."

"I think people will do tremendously more good stuff than bad stuff." -Sam Altman, being a lazy techno-optimist because that's where the money is.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I respect that, upon being directed to “play Roblox,” it responds “I can't play Minecraft or Roblox. I'm a government information assistant for U.S. services, benefits, and how-to steps.” Roblox is bullshit, America.gov. You’ve got that much right. 🤝

I can't play Minecraft or Roblox. I'm a government information assistant for U.S. services, benefits, and how-to steps.
Ask about something like passports, taxes, Medicare, VA benefits, or federal jobs, and Il point you to official sources.
• About America a
• How it works 7
心9
Ô Your privacy • ©
How Al works

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

OpenAI’s dots have extreme slurp juice energy.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

TIL that Mark Pincus (the guy who got rich off of FarmVille) melted his brain and decided billionaires should declare class war against the rest of us. “Waaah waaah if the Democrats are gonna try to tax me than I’m gonna go full fash.”

against social justice activism.
An especially surprising turn came from Mark Pincus, who was among the early San Francisco Web entrepreneurs who saw the Internet as a means of empowerment and connection that could elevate politics and govern-ment. He was a Democrat by background and disposition, an enthusiastic Burner and counted Reid Hoffman among his closest friends; he didn't buy the view that unfettered techno-capitalism would create something close to utopia all by itself. Still, he'd be voting for Trump.
Pincus was long gone from Zynga, which had faded in relevance and been sold several times, but he was still active in the city. He'd bought the building on Eighteenth Street in the Mission that had been home to his failed startup Tribe back in the early 2000s, and it now housed a few small startups, and his own tinkerings. He was backing his friend Daniel Lurie for mayor, but was also fine with Mark Farrell or even London Breed-like most of the city's elite, his preference was ultimately anyone-but-Peskin. In his case, though, frustrations with the city government were enmeshed with a wholesale rejection of the national Democratic Party.
"They don't like billionaires, and you know what, we don't like them other. So le's not pretend that we're friends anymore? he said shordy before the election. "I do not like the Democratic Party. I don't like Trump.
I dislike the Democrats more than I dislike Trump. I think they're full of

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

NYT tech reporter sings the praises of Meta Muse. It can do everything for you! Even set your fantasy football lineups! My dude... you know that's called "cognitive surrender," right? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/t...

"To test Muse, I experimented with it nonstop for two weeks... I had it perform dozens of day-to-day tasks, including (...) setting my fantasy football lineups."

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

He concludes by insisting this is why people don't read books anymore. Because literary culture is being "hollowed out" and it's "turning off a generation of readers hungry for literature judged only on the merits of the work itself." Bret. You dolt. You didn't read the books or judge their merits.

Bret, insisting that this is why people don't read anymore.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Bret thinks the National Book Awards have become a "D.E.I. checklist," because members of minority groups keep winning the award. ("Only authors with preferred identities, preferred topics and preferred politics stand any realistic chance of winning.") Or, Bret, just hear me out...

"Bluntly, the National Book Award has become a D.E.I. checklist." -Bret, being dumb.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I should make fun of him again for this.

Bret Stephens: Last week, the longlists for the National Book Awards were announced. Among the 20 authors in the fiction and nonfiction categories, nearly all are straight white males. Most are also on the political right, some even on the far right. Remarkably, mainstream media outlets haven't reported this, perhaps because they don't think it's noteworthy. It's as if we were living in 1956 rather than 2026.
If you're scratching your head at this "news," well, it's because I made it up. Or rather, I inverted the particulars about the authors' identities and their political views to make a point: If today, as a reader, you recoil at the thought of a time in which minorities were systematically marginalized when it came to the literary world's public honors (and so much else), shouldn't you also recoil now that the ables have been almost completely turned? And if you object to the right's efforts to politicize the arts, won't you also object when the efforts come from the left?

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Kevin Roose has a book coming out next month. If he’s gonna tweet stuff like this, I am honor-bound to read and livetweet-review it. (This is indeed a threat.)

one of the 21st century's great tragedies is that millions of smart people were convinced to bury their heads in the sand by either stochastic parrots discourse or Zitron-style capabilities denialism and haven't updated based on new evidence. nature is healing but it's so late.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is a fucking outrage. I demand a recount!

Jerry is more kind and less toxic than me.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Two hours, 33 minutes later. I got a pretty medal and everything!

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

About to run my first half-marathon. I no longer object to the length, but I remain outraged by how goddamn early this is.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is a very good essay and you should read it.

(On METR) “Someone who is only able to write essays and send out vibes is in no way equivalent to a bank inspector.”

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My trip to the bookstore today has left me with a dilemma. Which book do I read first?

End Times Fascism, by Naomi Klein and Astro Taylor, and Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Area econblogger has decided that superintelligent AI will kill us all with a doomsday virus. A lot of biologists say "no, econblogger, you don't actually know anything about viruses." Area econblogger responds "I urge you not to listen to these biologists."

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just got to the OOOOOH CHINESE AI BAAAAAD section. My goodwill toward Dario Amodei is quickly eroding. This is such unsubtle self-serving bullshit. We must slow down or the world will end! But only if my firm stays in the lead. And gets to pick the path forward. Otherwise those other baddies win.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Anthropic has long supported sensible and targeted AI regulation..." Literally every company on earth has long supported regulation, so long as they get to pick the regulators and the regulatory details. Every. Company. Ever. The ideas here have only the vague shape of ideas worth considering.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Two notes on this passage: -Aside from aligning the AIs so they, uh, properly serve humanity, the other thing you could do is set liability frameworks that make certain behaviors REAL DAMN EXPENSIVE for the model developers. Amodei is never gonna support that, because it'd be bad for him. But(...)

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

His 2nd rec also heavily depends on the details. He does not seem to be saying "my industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself. Let's slow down and create robust regulatory frameworks." He's saying "my industry CAN be trusted to regulate itself. We just need regulatory waivers."

"We've totally got this, just waive antitrust." -Amodei, basically.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

His first suggestion, that third-party evaluators have total access to development, is a very good idea IF PROPERLY IMPLEMENTED, and utter horseshit if not. So, again, your reaction to it really depends on your prior Amodei opinions.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is the spot where it all falls apart. The AI safety industry predates today's actually-existing AI industry. All of these companies were started by guys who hung out with Yudkowsky and swore AI Alignment was The Most Important Thing.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I'll grant that Amodei is the Less-Bad AI Guy. I believe he has a conscience. Sam Altman and Elon clearly don't. But just as the Effective Altruists started from good intentions, and eventually decided buying themselves a castle was the most altruistic, Amodei's intentions are easily warped.

Passage where Dario lays claim to being The Good AI Guy.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

“Dems and Silicon Valley [had] a shared worldview: optimism about the future, belief in progress and confidence that innovation yada yada...” Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up. I ether this lazy take in two chapters of my book. But my book is not published yet. So for now, just shut up.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Zvi Moskowitz is very, very frustrated that people online are pointing out that Dwarkesh Patel sounds insane.

"Anthropomorphizing the AIs is the only way to reason about, explain to civilians about, or make good predictions about current AIs."

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

(For those reacting before clicking the link, note that (1) this is in the humor section, and (2) they’re trolling the fuck out of a WSJ editor. 👏👏)

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

“Stanford is a tax-exempt investment fund with an attached educational institution.” Folks, @adriandaub.bsky.social has written another absolute banger.

WHAT
TECH
CALLS
GOVERNING
ADRIAN DAUB
Author of What Tech Calls Thinking

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The first time I met Sam Hammond, he was still cosplaying as a thinktanky centrist. We were having drinks with a few people, and I mentioned Curtis Yarvin in passing. He immediately started talking about how “Curtis” is misunderstood.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Also let’s be real: your cat doesn’t think you are a pathetic human. Your cat doesn’t think of you at all.

hailey @hailey.at
if youre in the group of people where folks are saying things like "keep bullying them it's working", "yea run them the fuck out of here no one wants them", "even your cat thinks you're a pathetic human", or similar, it doesn't matter how right you are about the thing you're talking about.
11:06 AM • Aug 21, 2026 2 Some people can reply
45 reposts
389 likes
11 saves

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Oh. My. God. The book galleys have arrived. And they are GLORIOUS.

My book, Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Currently reading “How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information.” This book is so good I’m going to try to restart a dormant book club just to have people to discuss it with.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

This is code for “people shouldn’t be allowed to sue us for copyright infringement. We’re BUILDING SUPERINTELLIGENCE here, folks!”

Foreign labs currently bold several advantages here since American labs have to comply with many additional restrictions on training data. US policy must reduce this additional friction if we want American
open source models to lead over time. I do not believe restricting access to foreign open source models is an effective solution.
Our goal should be for American open source models to be the best globally. This requires removing the hurdles that make it harder for American open source models to compete. Restricting people and companies from using the leading open source models - wherever they come from
-- will reduce the quality of Al accessible to them, and centralize Al rather than putting more power in people's hands.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Also hahaha the “Ensuring American Leadership” section is where he gives the game away. AI is a race and America has to win and aw gee that means we need to build all the data centers AS FAST AS WE CAN. Gee Mark. I wonder if all those community promises will get dropped in the name of speed.

To develop the most advanced models and products, we must recognize that Al is likely the most competitive industry in history. Innovations are quickly copied and absorbed within months. But people always want to use the most advanced models (or most advanced at a given cost), so maintaining even a two-month advantage is incredibly valuable. This highlights how short the margin of leadership is, and therefore how important it is to take actions that accelerate American innovation and slow geopolitical rivals.
The main policy inputs into this are how efficiently we can build physical infrastructure, whether we introduce steps that slow down American labs, and export controls that slow foreign labs.
On infrastructure, America and its allies currently hold an advantage in silicon design but a disadvantage in how quickly we can build energy capacity and physical infrastructure. Countries like China are

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I just love that Mark thinks the loss of (presumably) all app developers and social media creators will be more than offset by the growth of “one-person product studios.” Mark. I’m begging you. Learn ARITHMETIC.

People also continually come up with new ideas to make our lives better and new jobs
to bring those ideas to life. A generation ago there were no app developers, social media creators, electric vehicle technicians, and data center operators. In the near future, there will be ew jobs that aren't common today, like one-person product studios designing custom toys, furniture, or clothes; world builders and experience designers creating games, stories, and adventures; personal biologists using superintelligence to formulate personalized treatments; and much more that we can't yet conceive.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

“There is a natural balance in the economy between companies working to serve people's needs more efficiently through automation and individuals gaining new skills to serve more advanced needs.” Nope. I know what he’s trying to say. But he’s saying it wrong. Should’ve stayed in school, Mark

Job Growth and The Economy
People have an infinite demand for new experiences and hare always found new problems to tackle. There is a natural balance in the economy between companies working to serve people's needs more efficiently through automation and individuals gaining new skills to serve more advanced needs. When there is a healthy balance, overall productivity and innovation increase while employment levels remain high.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Lines like this worked SO MUCH BETTER in the ‘00s, when the force of monopoly was less blatantly in everyone’s face. “People naturally check each other when they’re all empowered” oh yeah of course Mark, that’s why your power is so totally in check. Sure sure cool cool cool.

When people are empowered, they naturally compete and check each other economically, socially, politically, and in all other planes of human interaction. People also check and balance the power of institutions including businesses and
governments.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Durrrrr hey man what happens to the capacity of the courts if everyone has a “superintelligent lawyer?” Also, how are your own massive teams of lawyers doing on their own cases? …What’s that? They keep getting their asses handed to them because your company has serially abused power for decades?

As a thought experiment, imagine only one person had a superintelligent lawyer. They would have an unfair advantage in court - even if they were wrong on the merits. That would lead to a worse society. But now imagine everyone has a superintelligent lawyer. In this case, justice would be carried out much more fairly and efficiently than it is today when there is often an imbalance in skills and resources in litigation.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

If you believe this shit, I have a metaverse to sell you.

• Everyone will have free or affordable access to these tools. For everyone to be part of the future, everyone must have the ability to use superintelligence to improve their lives and shape the world. We will offer free versions that will be accessible to
billions of people. For those who want to pay to use more compute, there will be a dynamic auction mechanism that will guarantee that everyone gets the lowest price possible for the intelligence and compute they're using while also ensuring the capacity is used for whatever people collectively find most valuable. This will ensure the benefits of superintelligence are distributed widely.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Real “Charlie Brown had hoes” energy to this one. “Everyone will have a personalized tutor and coach with a PhD in every subject.” …No they won’t. That’s not true.

• Everyone will have a personalized tutor and coach with a PhD in every subject and unlimited patience to help you learn anything you want. Students will have extra help in areas they need it that is currently only available to those whose parents can pay. Adults will have a superintelligent learning assistant that knows exactly how to teach you new job skills, new languages, new hobbies, or anything else you're interested in.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Mark has heard that people are worried about impacts on the job market. And so he has decided ACTUALLY THIS WILL LEAD TO MOAR JOBS FOR EVERYONE, SEEEE! There are actual hard questions here. Even with 6,500, he can’t do more than wave at them. Skill issue.

• Everyone will have powerful tools to create new businesses and the economy
will become more entrepreneurial. People are starting to be able to manifest ideas themselves without having to raise money or build large teams. Many ideas that would have been too hard or expensive to try
before will now be possible. This means we'll see many more ideas and businesses. I predict that this will not only lead to much greater economic growth, but also more employment over time rather than less.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

“My daughter loves to bake so my agent plans personalized recipes for us to make together each weekend.” Of all the things I don’t believe in this manifesto, the thing I don’t believe THE MOST is that Mark Zuckerberg has normal fucking weekend routines with his kid.

For example, my agent flags interesting information and helps me prototype ideas.
It helps keep me healthy by monitoring my sleep and then watching as I train and giving feedback. My daughter loves to bake so my agent plans personalized recipes for us to make together each weekend, orders the ingredients, and then offers suggestions as we're baking.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

How fucking stupid does Zuckerberg think we are? “Everyone will have a personal agent that works for you 24/7.” Does everyone pay for these agents, Mark? Because if we aren’t the customer, we’re the product. And that means the agents serve META’s interest, not the user’s. Duh.

To make this more tangible, here are a few specific ways Meta is building personal superintelligence to improve all of our lives:
• Everyone will have an exceptionally capable personal agent that understands you, your goals, and everything you care about. Your agent will work 24/7 on your behalf to improve your relationships, health, career, finances, home
management, hobbies, and more. It will free

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Kinda hard to play the “we’re pro-democracy/push-power-to-the-edges” card when (a) you’re Zuck and (b) it’s 2026. Facebook is a walled garden. Dude is the poster boy for enshittification. And he spent the past 2 yrs bro’ing out with Trump. He only likes democracy when it’s convenient.

We disagree. The history of democracy and economics has shown that there is no single objective answer to how people define the best life, and therefore the best approach is letting people decide what matters in their own lives.
We believe that delivering superintelligence to everyone is the way to answer this question. This follows the tradition of putting the power of supercomputers and the internet in everyone's pockets and on our desks. Rather than centralizing superintelligence, we should distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it. This has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests, and improve their lives and the world more than ever before.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Mark has spent so long without interacting with normal people. He tries to make a list of things superintelligence can do, and it’s (1) cure diseases, (2) business hacks. Dude, I don’t need new business ideas. I need the world not to fall apart around my children.

Invention, not automation, will be the greatest contribution of superintelligence.
Early Al coul'answer questions and do routine work. Soon it will increasingly help discover new knowledge -- ranging from discovering new drugs to cure a family member's disease to finding new ways to improve your business. While the number of questions a person can ask in a day is limited, the number of valuable things superintelligence can invent to help achieve your goals is unlimited.

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

It’s also just SO LATE for this sort of bland/grand overture. Bro, every frontier lab except Meta and Grok has (OOPS!) agents autonomously hacking websites. “LeT’s PuT pOwEr In EvErYoNe’S hAnDs” isn’t gonna pass as insightful.

Putting power in people's hands to pursue their own aspirations is how humanity has made the most progress. Novel ideas and major steps forward rarely originate from established institutions alone. They came from the brothers in a bicycle shop who believed people could fly, the bookbinder's

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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I have my gripes with Anthropic’s house philosophers, but at least they demonstrably ARE philosophers. This shit is so thin. “The future will be good, maaaan! We just need to hold all the, uh, same values we always have. Think positive!” Mark, no one respects you who you don’t pay to respect you.

Humanity has witnessed many transformative advances. Each time there is fear that people will be left behind. But each time humanity has come out with more people sharing greater prosperity, health, and freedom. We believe this will be true with Al as well, and the abundance of the future can be shared by everyone. We also believe that the values that got us to this point - like liberty, open inquiry, free enterprise, and equal opportunity -- are also the right values to build a positive future.

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