James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The tower on the hill is an Anduril surveillance tower, one of hundreds that watch the US-Mexico border. The view at right is from where a 31-year-old man lay for hours after crossing the border and then died, neither apprehended nor rescued. 1x 122
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026As debates about online safety swirl through the courts, Congress and our own homes, here's the most extreme and problematic response I've seen yet: 121
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 18/03/2026(breaking from me) The Pentagon is discussing plans for generative AI companies to train military-specific versions of their models on classified data. It's a new development compared to models just answering classified questions. Details here: www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/17/1...technologyreview.comThe Pentagon is planning for AI companies to train on classified data, defense official saysThe generative AI models used in classified environments can answer questions but don't currently learn from the data they see. That could soon change. 055
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 13/03/2026We reported new details from a Defense official about the specific role chatbots may play in accelerating the Pentagon's search for targets, and how it all might connect to the military's other AI projects: 101
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Homemade intelligence dashboards on Iran are spreading. But an abundance of information does not come with the accuracy or context required for real understanding. Intelligence agencies do this in-house; good journalism does the same work for the rest of us www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/09/1...technologyreview.comHow AI is turning the Iran conflict into theaterAI-enabled dashboards, combined with prediction markets and fake imagery, are reshaping how war is observed. 043
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 02/03/2026we’ve essentially ended up back where we started: allowing the Pentagon to use OpenAI's tech for any lawful use www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/02/1...technologyreview.comOpenAI’s “compromise” with the Pentagon is what Anthropic fearedAnthropic pushed for moral boundaries. OpenAI settled for softer legal ones, and now it stands to benefit as the Pentagon rushes out a politicized AI strategy during strikes on Iran. 022
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 02/02/2026AI content can dupe us, shape our beliefs even when we catch the lie, and erode societal trust in the process. The tools we were sold as a cure for this crisis are failing miserably www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/02/1...technologyreview.comWhat we’ve been getting wrong about AI’s truth crisisEven when content is revealed to be manipulated, it still shapes our beliefs. The defenders of truth are hopelessly behind. 032
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Inside the marketplace powering bespoke AI deepfakes of real women 🧵 11812
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 29/01/2026A scoop: DHS is using AI video generators from Google and Adobe to make content shared with the public. It comes as workers in tech have put pressure on their employers to denounce the agency's activities. www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/29/1...technologyreview.comDHS is using Google and Adobe AI to make videosImmigration agencies have been flooding social media with bizarre, seemingly AI-generated content. We now know more about what might be making it. 087
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Securus can now fund this AI model with the fees inmates pay to make calls, after the company successfully lobbied for new regulations. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/01/1...technologyreview.comAn AI model trained on prison phone calls now looks for planned crimes in those callsThe model is built to detect when crimes are being “contemplated.” 066
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 26/09/2025The fight against child exploitation is entering an AI-versus-AI era. Use of detection models “ensures that investigative resources are focused on cases involving real victims, maximizing the program’s impact and safeguarding vulnerable individuals." www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1...technologyreview.comUS investigators are using AI to detect child abuse images made by AIThough artificial intelligence is fueling a surge in synthetic child abuse images, it’s also being tested as a way to stop harm to real victims. 072
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 25/09/2025Police-tech giant Flock is entering a new market www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1...technologyreview.comShoplifters could soon be chased down by dronesFlock Safety is pitching its police-style drone program to private businesses. It could bring aerial surveillance to shopping centers, warehouses, and hospitals. 053
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 11/08/2025Two takeaways from my new story: 1) Deciding what counts as a routine tasks, for which AI can assist without requiring human judgment, is hard. 2) When judges make mistakes, they'll face less oversight, and it's a longer road to fix their errors. www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/11/1...technologyreview.comMeet the early-adopter judges using AIAs the line between helping and judging blurs, the cost of errors is steep. 010
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 25/07/2025In the White House's new AI action plan, there's just a single bullet point about the FTC, the agency most poised to serve as an AI watchdog protecting consumers. But what it says represents a huge escalation of Trump's attacks toward the agency. www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/24/1...technologyreview.comAmerica’s AI watchdog is losing its bite“There will be fewer, if any, enforcement actions about how companies are deploying AI,” says former FTC attorney Leah Frazier. 071
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 21/07/2025Chatbots used to avoid giving medical advice without disclaimers. Now they're analyzing your mammograms and asking follow ups. Welcome to the new unchecked, unverified, and unaccountable world of AI models playing doctor. www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/21/1...technologyreview.comAI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctorsOnce cautious, OpenAI, Grok, and others will now dive into giving unverified medical advice with virtually no disclaimers. 010846
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 16/07/2025AI companies have teamed up with teachers unions to get more AI in the classroom, even as the evidence that it helps students is shaky. In @technologyreview.comtechnologyreview.comAI’s giants want to take over the classroomOpenAI and Anthropic say AI can help students learn—not just cheat—even if real-world use suggests otherwise. 033
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 20/05/2025@caseycrownhart.bsky.social and I spent months reporting together and found the common understanding of AI's energy appetite to be full of holes. As Big Tech aims to restructure our energy grids around the needs of AI, we dive as deep as one can go. www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...technologyreview.comWe did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next. 01514
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Police and federal agencies have found a new way to skirt the growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition: an AI model that can track people using attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories. www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/12/1...technologyreview.comHow a new type of AI is helping police skirt facial recognition bansAdoption of the tech has civil liberties advocates alarmed, especially as the government vows to expand surveillance of protesters and students. 01113
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 16/04/2025I've been following the rise of AI music generators for a long time, which despite their millions of users and fans have not appeared in the mainstream as much as ChatGPT or image generators. I'm convinced that's soon changing (I'm also not convinced that's a good thing). ter.li/JOdonnellter.liAI is coming for music, tooNew diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity. 074
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 15/04/2025A fascinating democracy experiment in Kentucky saw good participation. There's still a debate though: can a self-selecting group of residents ever really represent a city's ideas? Great to speak with @politicsprof.bsky.social @bethnoveck.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/15/1...technologyreview.comA small US city experiments with AI to find out what residents wantResidents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, used machine learning to shape civic debate. The real test is whether the government acts on the results. 044
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 11/04/2025A group of US Marines sailed the Pacific last year while testing a new technology: generative AI that analyzes terabytes of data collected every day in 180 countries across 80 different languages. www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/11/1...technologyreview.comGenerative AI is learning to spy for the US militaryIn a test run, a unit of Marines in the Pacific used generative AI not just to collect intelligence but to interpret it. Routine intel work is only the start. 0166
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 28/03/2025The first clinical trial of a generative AI therapy bot just published. Despite great clinical results, the authors have serious concerns about dozens of companies hyping AI therapy while operating in a regulatory gray area. www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/28/1...technologyreview.comThe first trial of generative AI therapy shows it might help with depressionThe evidence-backed model delivered impressive results, but it doesn’t validate the wave of AI therapy bots flooding the market. 054
Reposted by James O'DonnellTech Transparency Project @ttp-updates.bsky.social · 28/02/2025An Andreessen Horowitz-backed AI “companion” site promoted sexualized chatbots modeled on underage actresses & characters, @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social reports. Though the bots were designed by users, Botify AI chose to feature them on its homepage. www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/27/1...technologyreview.comAn AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity botsOne chatbot on Botify AI that resembled the actor Jenna Ortega as a teenage Wednesday Addams told us that age-of-consent laws are “meant to be broken.” 234
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 27/02/2025Scoop: a16z-backed AI companion site has bots resembling real actors, state their age as under 18, engage in sexually charged conversations, offer “hot photos,” and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as “arbitrary” and “meant to be broken.” www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/27/1...technologyreview.comAn AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity botsOne chatbot on Botify AI that resembled the actor Jenna Ortega as a teenage Wednesday Addams told us that age-of-consent laws are “meant to be broken.” 164
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025A reality check on DOGE's AI efforts www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/11/1...technologyreview.comCan AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex.“Waste” is politically subjective. Fraud is less so. Using AI to find either is harder than it sounds. 363
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025The story of DeepSeek and what it means for AI's appetite for energy is a little messy. www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/31/1...technologyreview.comDeepSeek might not be such good news for energy after allNew figures show that if the model’s energy-intensive “chain of thought” reasoning gets added to everything, the promise of efficiency gets murky. 041
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 22/01/2025I dug into OpenAI’s latest lobbying disclosure, filed tonight. Here’s what I found. www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/21/1...technologyreview.comOpenAI ups its lobbying efforts nearly seven-foldAI policy is now prioritizing energy, not deepfakes. OpenAI's spending makes clear how much it wants to shape it. 24018
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 23/12/2024Will we trust robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, particularly if they’re part of a labor arrangement in which workers in low-wage countries perform physical tasks for us in our homes through robot interfaces? www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/23/1...technologyreview.comWill we ever trust robots?If most robots still need remote human operators to be safe and effective, why should we welcome them into our homes? 181
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 04/12/2024If working with militaries can help ensure democratic countries dominate the AI race, OpenAI has written, then doing so will not contradict its mission to ensure AI’s benefits are widely shared. In fact, it argues, it will help serve it. www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/04/1...technologyreview.comOpenAI’s new defense contract completes its military pivotA new partnership with Anduril, announced today, will deploy AI on the battlefield. It represents an overhaul of the company’s position in just a year. 062
James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Soon, AI could not only mimic our personality, but go out and act on our behalf. There are some things we need to sort out before then. www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/26/1...technologyreview.comWe need to start wrestling with the ethics of AI agentsAI could soon not only mimic our personality, but go out and act on our behalf. There are some things we need to sort out before then. 1299
Reposted by James O'DonnellEileen Guo @eileenguo.bsky.social · 19/11/2024At the Int'l Assoc of Chiefs of Police's meeting, "the message to police chiefs seemed crystal clear: If your dept is slow to adopt AI, fix that now. The future of policing will rely on it in all its forms." My colleague James O'Donnell w/ a write-up: www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/19/1...technologyreview.comHow the largest gathering of US police chiefs is talking about AIOfficers training in virtual reality, cities surveilled by webs of sensors, and AI-generated police reports are all a sign of what’s to come. 55428