iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Deepti Doshi

A mother fighting for justice. A Gen-Z innovator rebuilding technology. Teens everywhere reclaiming their attention. OUT TODAY: “Your Attention Please” investigates how social media is designed to hijack our attention & introduces the people building it differently. www.yourattentionplz.com/watch

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 12/08/2026

@deeptidoshi.bsky.social, a New_ Public Co-Director, shares the secret sauce separating healthy, sustainable Facebook groups from the ones that explode into chaos or burn out from conflict: the good ones have a dedicated steward, someone who cares for, maintains, and nurtures the space.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 07/08/2026

Great read from @alltechishuman.bsky.social's David Polgar! We highly recommend you read through, but here are the 5 lessons he wants responsible tech to think about 👇

projectlibertynewsletter.substack.com

5 lessons on the state of responsible tech

Is the responsible tech movement going through a reset?

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 24/07/2026

The Community·Computer Interaction Lab published a toolkit of 23 design patterns naming the small, often invisible ways people care for one another in online communities, “inspired by cultural practices … that offer a way of seeing what usually stays in the background.” c-cilab.com/care-pattern...

Light gray background with text "A TOOLKIT FROM THE C-CI LAB" at top. Large bold black heading reads "Patterns of Everyday Care" followed by description "A toolkit to help notice and design for the subtle, everyday ways people care for one another in online communities." Three interactive buttons displayed: black rounded button labeled "How to read a pattern →", white button labeled "Browse the collection", and gray text link "Get the materials".

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/07/2026

So what do we do about this? In recent research, @eli.bsky.social and @angelquicksey.bsky.social suggest that a hybrid public square is possible, but only if humans + agents are guided with explicit rules and transparency. This could be a viable third path, but only if we act now.

A diagram from Hybrid Public Square titled "For most online content, both humans and AI will be involved in production." A horizontal color bar spans four categories from left to right: Fully human (human-authored, no AI involvement), AI-assisted (AI helps the human draft and publish), Human principal, transparent agent (agent acts on your behalf, but you're accountable), and Autonomous agent (no clear principal). Below the bar, a bracket groups the middle two categories as the "Transparent Agent Economy" — agents attached to disclosed human principals — and a second bracket groups the rightmost category as the "Dark Agent Economy" — agents with no disclosed principal, where you can't tell who sent them or whose interests they serve.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 10/07/2026

🌌 We’re excited to show you another great addition to the "growing constellation of interconnected apps" on the open web: Bonfire🔥 Bonfire helps build spaces for communities, outside of the Big Tech social platforms, that are shaped by the people who will use them, for exactly what they want.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 09/07/2026

“We need more spaces — physical, digital, institutional — where genuine deep listening can happen. Not consultations. Not focus groups. Not audience metrics. Real connection.” Shirish Kulkarni conducted in-depth community research in Wales exploring what people actually need from journalism.

shirishkulkarni.co.uk

Journalism's Logical Fallacy - Shirish Kulkarni

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 08/07/2026

“We're trying to make publishing more fun and more social!” 🎉🥬 Thank you, @schlage.town! One of our Honorable Mentions at the Open Social Awards, @leaflet.pub embodies the spirit of the open social web in the publishing space by allowing independent writers to really own and control their writing.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 08/07/2026

RESEARCH: Access to local news plays an important role in reducing loneliness. Whether it’s an community spotlight or an obituary, local news helps locals know what’s happening (and therefore, where to gather) and encourages a sense of community identity. From @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social

washingtonmonthly.com

How Local News Reduces Loneliness

Research suggests that whether it’s an obituary, a puff piece, or news of a community event, local news makes us feel less alone.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 07/07/2026

Not all communities are the same, and neither are their rules. Linguist and New_ Public’s Staff Researcher for Public Spaces Incubator Abby Bajuniemi shares her thoughts on Substack’s latest community moderation feature: Reply Rules newpublic.substack.com/i/203756028/...

What’s really great about this is that it allows authors control over how they shape the community they’re building. One-size-fits-all moderation guidelines don’t always work for every community, especially when those communities use what linguistics professors like me call “reclamation,” terms and phrases that, from someone outside of the community, would be considered slurs or vulgar language. But when used for reclamation within the community, this language works as community bonding, as empowerment. I have optimism that Reply Rules will work well to hide obvious abuse, but I am less confident it will do a good job hiding posts that are covertly or subtly abusive, and I wonder about how it will deal with useful or desirable reclamation behaviors.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 06/07/2026

“Never before in human history has power over the flow of information been so concentrated in the hands of a few American billionaires.” Hear from @iame.li, Founder and CEO of @stream.place. Streamplace is one of the Open Social Award’s Honorable Mentions open web projects 🏆 newpublic.org/OSA

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 03/07/2026

Just in time for the 4th, New_ Public’s @joshpkramer.bsky.social reflects on how Roundabout, our local community app, fits into the proud American tradition of local clubs and groups.

leaflet.pub

250 years of clubs in the U.S.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 02/07/2026

A healthy democracy thrives on debate. We don’t want toxic and chaotic spaces, but sanitized, hyper-civil spaces aren’t the goal either. As @angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, says here, we benefit from respectful conversations with lots of friction, even arguments.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 29/06/2026

“We believe the heart of social networks are people — not platforms or protocols.” This is @quillmatiq.com from @anew.social, the non-profit behind Bounce. Bounce makes it easy for users to shift between the two biggest open social web protocols: AT Protocol and ActivityPub.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 26/06/2026

🤖 Where are AI agents going to interrupt the digital town square and where are they not? “In places where we're consuming information, trying to make buying decisions, we're going to see a lot of disruption … On the other hand, I do not want my friend's agent replying to me in the group chat.”

youtu.be

Will AI Agents Kill Social Media—Or Save It? - New_ Public's Eli Pariser

YouTube video by Nicholas Thompson

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/06/2026

@angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, puts forward a vision for the future of social media where we don’t just have TikTok and X, but also bespoke, cultivated social apps tied to community needs and with higher “nutritional value”.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/06/2026

“AI can be engineered to be parasitic — or prosocial.” Watch New_ Public Co-Director @eli.bsky.social's speech at the Vatican about AI’s impact on human relationships. The panel includes Marijana Grbesa from @coe.int, Vineet Khosla @washingtonpost.com, and @kashhill.bsky.social @nytimes.com.

youtu.be

Preserving Human Voices and Faces Congress - Panel I ENGLISH

YouTube video by Dicastery for Communication

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 24/06/2026

A great report from the Trust for Civic Life on how the best tech solutions are community-first, straight forward, and designed to bring people offline. trustforciviclife.org/wp-content/u...

An infographic titled "Digital Spectrum: Identifying the Gaps Between Community Needs and Funder Goals." A horizontal spectrum line spans from "Established Tech" on the left (with bullet points: Websites, CRMs, Online surveys, Social channels) to "Emergent Tech" on the right (with bullet points: AI, Decentralized infrastructure, Advanced deliberation tools, Influencer operations). A label on the left reads "Communities tend to be on this side" and on the right "Funder attention tends to be on this side," with a downward arrow between them.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 23/06/2026

There’s so much momentum in the open social web and ways to gather with the builders and dreamers actively pursuing alternatives to Big Tech social media. If you can, check out DWeb Camp in Berlin (July 8-12)!

dwebcamp.org

DWeb Camp: Root Systems

We invite you to join us at DWeb Camp!

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 23/06/2026

This is Tyler Fischer, the solo builder behind Sill, Excellence Award Winner of the #OpenSocialAwards 🏆 We really do use Sill everyday for finding widely-shared links from Bluesky and Mastodon. It’s an incredibly useful tool that defies the algorithms, ads, and feeds of traditional social media.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 22/06/2026

It’s Tiny Award season! ⭐🏆 Celebrate the spirit of the Indie Web by nominating hand-crafted websites to this year’s awards and perusing some of the previous winners. tinyawards.net

A light lavender background with dark purple text and design elements. In the upper left, the words "Tiny Awards" are written in a cursive serif font inside a thin oval outline. In the upper right, there is a small asterisk-like starburst symbol. Below, two paragraphs of text read: "This is the home of the Tiny Awards, which, since 2023, has celebrated the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web." and "The Tiny Awards exist because we thought it was important to shine a spotlight on the sorts of personal web projects that tend to get overlooked by more traditional, larger or more commercial awards."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/06/2026

@masnick.com, considers the AI age and the future of the internet, finding solutions in the burgeoning open social web: “Do we let the next generation of tools get built around chokepoints, or do we insist on architecture that distributes power instead of concentrating it?”

liberalism.org

Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet

It’s not about whether technology is inherently good or bad, liberating or oppressive. Architecture shapes incentives; incentives shape outcomes.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/06/2026

Social media platforms tend to ban and severely punish rule breakers. But research shows that oftentimes people don’t know the rules or need a reminder that a real person is reading their words. We’re trying something different on Roundabout, our local community app: prosocial pre-moderation tools.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/06/2026

Here’s @rude1.blacksky.team, Founder and CEO of @blackskyweb.xyz and Excellence Award Winner of the #OpenSocialAwards. Blacksky is a beacon of choice, community, and agency in a bleak social media landscape. They’re building the tools they need and sharing them with everyone.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/06/2026

🤝 Trust is the main metric you should pay attention to (10min) 💬 Ask a neighbor! Don’t always default to AI for answers (16:30) ⚠️ Don’t go back to a toxic platform just because “everyone is already there.” See if you can build something hyperlocal and specific to your community’s needs (36:30)

untangled.substack.com

We Don't Have to Build the Filter Bubble of One

Listen now | My conversation with Angelica Quicksey, Managing Director of New_Public

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 15/06/2026

AI is changing the internet. Not soon. Now. @maxtani.bsky.social: When do you think my morning routine will look substantially different? @eli.bsky.social: Even in a year there will be substantial parts of this that we will be starting to rely on.

semafor.com

Introducing the Mixed Signals podcast

The truth about modern media — from inside the machine.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 12/06/2026

@angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, finds inspiration in @ericries.bsky.social's new book Incorruptible: can we push these AI companies in a more public-spirited, prosocial direction and away from the gravitational pull of extractive business models?

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 11/06/2026

We had so many amazing applicants to the #OpenSocialAwards that the jury asked that we acknowledge some of the amazing honorable mentions. First up: @stream.place brings a familiar Twitch/YouTube-style video experience to the open social web.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 10/06/2026

Google’s AI integration, combined with a growing desire to get off of US-based Big Tech platforms, might be the final straw for folks who have used Google Search for decades.

internet.exchangepoint.tech

Search After Google

If we replace Google, will it be with one thing? Or many?

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Catherine Tait @cjtait.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

New_ Public is proud to sign on to the European Social Stack. We need a thriving ecosystem of social media and social networking apps that are completely free from the destructive control of Big Tech. This is an important step in that direction. european.social

An open declaration

The European
Social Stack
Open Social Platforms and Private Messaging

Sign the declaration

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 04/06/2026

Working on climate projects using immersive media — or have a strong concept and want support getting there? @weareagog.bsky.social is offering $25K–$200K grants for innovators, artists, organizers, researchers, impact-focused orgs, and more. No XR experience required. Applications close June 12!

agog.org

Agog Open Call - Agog

Agog is committing up to $1 million in grants to support innovators, technologists, artists, organizers, researchers, organizations, studios, and creative teams using immersive media to engage people ...

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 04/06/2026

Is there anything in the middle between parasitic, dehumanizing AI and stopping all AI development completely? What we need, says our co-director, @eli.bsky.social, is prosocial AI that reinforces human connection over profit-driven engagement.

newpublic.substack.com

✨💬🇻🇦 What Eli said at the Vatican about AI

Sharing about prosocial AI as Pope Leo changes Catholic doctrine

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 03/06/2026

Here’s what the model makers don’t understand yet: these AI tools require your trust. They rely on you connecting your sensitive apps and accounts.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 02/06/2026

Online moderators and community stewards have one of the toughest jobs on the internet: making digital spaces feel more human. Recognizing the value of stewardship, and the lack of resources available, we created a guide, “Creating a Flourishing Digital Public Space for Your Local Area.”

newpublic.notion.site

Creating a Flourishing Digital Public Space for Your Local Area | Notion

A how-to guide for admins and moderators of inclusive, uplifting, and public-spirited local Facebook groups, Discord servers, subreddits, and more...

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 02/06/2026

This is for the small-scale builders making useful alternatives to Big Tech social media 👏 @angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, explains why we need the Open Social Awards, which are being awarded this Friday, June 5.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 01/06/2026

What can we learn about technology from fiction, including popular movies like The Drama? 🤖✏️ One of our community members, Jack-Lucas Chang, is seeking great writers and editors to collaboratively interrogate social tech!!

In his writing, Jack-Lucas uses fiction to explore how AI systems shape behavior and relationships. For example, he looked at the recent film “The Drama” to examine how AI models handle morally ambiguous situations. Here’s his request:

I’m looking to connect with editors familiar with social tech who can help sharpen my framing, or researchers interested in co-writing something at the intersection of responsible AI and platform design. If that sounds like you, reach out. I’m also taking movie suggestions!

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 01/06/2026

Is AI inherently parasitic? newpublic.substack.com/p/what-eli-s...

But here’s what I want to emphasize: AI is capable of supporting human connection or eroding it. There’s nothing inherent in the technology that says which of these directions we will head. In fact, some of these problems emerge at the very end of the process of making AI models.

Take sycophancy. Labs spend billions of dollars and extraordinary amounts of computing power training, baking these models. And when that’s done, the models are not particularly sycophantic. As Kashmir and others have reported, sycophancy is not primarily a result of the baking, it’s the frosting on the cake – it mostly comes in post-training, when the companies are fine-tuning their models to ensure that they are maximally engaging to users.

To me, this is good news. If AI was rotten to the core of its technology – if its worst consequences were built in – that would be one thing. But there’s another path available to us.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 28/05/2026

Engaged California is using virtual town halls to encourage Californians to share their thoughts on the impacts of AI with their local government. For any Californian who’s found a typical town hall inaccessible, now is the time to make your voice heard! 💬 join.engaged.ca.gov/en/projects/...

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 28/05/2026

Big Tech social media isn't really social anymore. We scroll more than we post, and we consume content more than we connect with others. Research from @zephoria.bsky.social suggests we should call it what it really is: parasocial media. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Social media stopped being primarily about connecting socially a long time ago. People still use a range of technologies to connect to friends and build relationships, but we don’t call those technologies – like texting and group chats – “social media.” Media shared on platforms may support social connections by creating a common culture, just as media shared via TV or magazines did historically (Meyrowitz, 1986). But that is not the same as creating a digital space for sociality.
It is easy to look back and argue that we were naïve, but I don’t think that is fair. It was not inevitable that social media platforms would become the dumpster fire that they did become. But I do think that we made a mistake when we collectively agreed to call this phenomenon “social media.” That linguistic frame biased how we normatively interpreted the practices on these platforms.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 27/05/2026

The AI future we imagined in our research on hyper-personalized, agentic interfaces just got a lot less speculative — Google said they are moving away from Search as we know it, in favor of “longer, more conversational queries,” writes @sarahp.bsky.social at @techcrunch.com.

techcrunch.com

Google Search as you know it is over | TechCrunch

Google is transforming Search from a list of links into an AI-powered experience filled with conversational answers, autonomous agents, and interactive interfaces — a shift that could further reduce t...

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 26/05/2026

How do we ensure that the gatekeepers of tomorrow earn and keep our trust? If they’re really coming (and we think they probably are), how do we shape them to support us rather than shape us? More on what happens to social technology “After the Feed” here: newpublic.org/afterthefeed

Light background with teal "The New New Gatekeepers" label. Text reads "These agentic interfaces are becoming the medium for social life and information online" (with teal text for "medium for social life and information online"). Below states "They respond with everything you need to know, curated for you, in the format you prefer" (with teal text for "curated for you").

Two boxes comparing eras. "Platform Era" box: Optimizing for human attention, Surfacing unaltered human-posted content, Posting on very human timeline, AI ranking and recommending in background. "Agentic Interface Era" box: Content/data/systems optimized for agent attention, Content and conversation summarized or transformed by AI, AI creating content at inhuman speed and scale, AI in foreground summarizing/remixing/sharing.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 26/05/2026

For more than 150 years, editors were the gatekeepers and decided what we saw in the media. Social media algorithms automated that gatekeeping. Now, AI-powered interfaces that know you, talk to you, and decide what you see and what you don’t.

Light background with teal "The New New Gatekeepers" label. Large text reads "We're experiencing a changing of the guard: A set of new new gatekeepers will control what the public sees online" (with teal text for "new new gatekeepers")

Light background with teal "The New New Gatekeepers" label. Three arrow-shaped stages stacked vertically: "01 Old Gatekeepers" (Institutions: Newspaper editors, TV network anchors, 1850-2010), arrow labeled "This was the Filter Bubble era," "New Gatekeepers" (Platforms & Algorithms: Facebook, Google, Twitter feeds, 2010-2025), "03 New New Gatekeepers" (Agentic interfaces: LLM-powered interfaces tuned to you, 2025-Present).

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 26/05/2026

This Thursday at 3:30pm ET / 12:30 PT: we’re going live with New_ Public’s @angelquicksey.bsky.social to talk about how AI is changing the internet and what that means for your social media, your communities, and your everyday life. We’ll be taking your questions! open.substack.com/live-stream/...

open.substack.com

LIVE SOON: After the Feed AMA

Starting May 28 at 3:30 PM EDT

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 22/05/2026

The internet you grew up on isn't dying, but a commercial veneer glued on top of it is. @terrygodier.com’s interactive essay goes through the “boring internet” — the ugly, old protocols that build the foundations of the internet — and the venture-backed “platforms layer” that's being monopolized.

terrygodier.com

The Boring Internet

The internet you grew up on isn't dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is. A visual essay about what actually persists.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 21/05/2026

💬 The agentic layer: How we act. AI agents will soon research, draft, and lobby on your behalf — mediating the relationship between individuals and the institutions that govern them. → We need ways to evaluate whether AI agents faithfully represent their users.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 21/05/2026

“AI is changing what it means to be a democratic citizen.” Andrew Sorota and @jhendler.bsky.social, who lead work on AI and democracy at the Office of Eric Schmidt, share the three layers of AI’s influence on governance – and how we can design something better 🧵:

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/05/2026

“We safety-test kids’ PJs. Why not their AI?” 💯 We absolutely need more consumer advocacy on this new class of products, especially as it becomes more embedded into our everyday lives (and not always by choice…) Excited to follow geoffreyfowler.bsky.social ’s work at the Youth AI Safety Institute!

geoffreyfowler.substack.com

What is AI doing to our kids? I’m going to find out.

After 12 years as a tech columnist, I'm helping launch the new Youth AI Safety Institute to test the AI products shaping childhood.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/05/2026

AI is breaking the social contract that has let the internet thrive for decades. Amidst the disruption, a new reality is emerging: 🫂Connection survives 💸Trust is scarce 🧑‍💻Building is cheap This is a new, specific, unusual combination, and it provides a surprisingly non-apocalyptic opportunity…

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