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Lila

@lilashroff.bsky.social
20K followers 219 following 47 posts

writing about tech @ The Atlantic

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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 24/08/2026
Silicon Valley has long had its own dialect—but lately, tech vernacular has taken a peculiar turn, @lilashroff.bsky.social writes.
bit.ly
Why Is Everyone in Silicon Valley Talking Like That?
Did you mix something up? Maybe you’re just “hallucinating.”
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Anthropic is now promoting itself with images of disaster, death, and human suffering. But for all the criticism the company's new ad has received, the commercial does well to capture Anthropic's ambivalence about its own existence. More from me here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Anthropic Accidentally Made the Perfect Commercial
How a 90-second ad encapsulates the AI industry
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 04/05/2026
OpenAI’s new image-generation model can create highly realistic fake IDs, receipts, and prescriptions, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. She examines how the model risks perpetuating fraud:
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Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account
OpenAI made the perfect tool for scammers.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Ever since the Pentagon-Anthropic drama, talk of AI nationalization has been growing. But what would this actually look like in practice? @matteowong.bsky.social & I spoke to a dozen former Pentagon and Trump administration officials, AI-policy experts, and legal scholars. Here's what they said:
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What happens when agents can do schoolwork? My latest for @theatlantic.com on the next phase of AI in the classroom: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Is Schoolwork Optional Now?
Education is on the verge of becoming fully automated.
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Reposted by Lila
Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
"One high schooler recently told me that he struggles to think of a single assignment that AI wouldn’t be able to do for him." Very good and alarming one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 03/04/2026
Silicon Valley insiders believe we are on the precipice of a world in which AI can improve its own capabilities—but the industry may have just found another way to ratchet up the hype behind its technology, @matteowong.bsky.social and Lila Shroff report.
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The AI Industry Wants to Automate Itself
Silicon Valley is in a frenzy over bots that can build themselves.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I wrote about OpenAI’s ongoing identity crisis: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
OpenAI’s Identity Crisis
The company’s sudden decision to pull the plug on Sora is a sign of deeper trouble.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Silicon Valley wants you to be grateful for the bubble. I wrote about the industry’s view that AI is a “good” bubble. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Even Silicon Valley Says that AI Is a Bubble
An AI crash could bring down the economy. Some in the tech world think that's the price of progress.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Sloppy, hasty automation, which replaces workers with inferior machines, is everyone’s loss. My latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Imagine Losing Your Job to the Mere Possibility of AI
The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn’t stopping execs from pushing forward anyway.
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Reposted by Lila
Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
"Executives are constantly being told that AI cuts are coming, and as pressure grows for them to signal that they are making good use of the technology, layoffs offer one of the easiest ways for them to do so." Good one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Imagine Losing Your Job to the Mere Possibility of AI
The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn’t stopping execs from pushing forward anyway.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Americans have been living in parallel AI universes. I wrote about the gap, and how it's starting to close: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
AI Agents Are Taking America by Storm
The post-chatbot era has begun.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
yes! these tools have really come a long way since ChatGPT wrote about this: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Move Over, ChatGPT
You are about to hear a lot more about Claude Code.
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Reposted by Lila
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Anthropic wants to be the AI industry's superego, but is caught between the pressures to be safe and fast, rigorous while being commercially successful. I profiled the company and its leadership, who seem earnest but torn, anxious but at times hubristic: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Anthropic Is at War With Itself
The AI company shouting about AI’s dangers can’t quite bring itself to slow down.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Here’s my dispatch from a week in San Francisco (featuring cybertrucks, hibachi chefs, 22-year-old billionaires, and more): www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Would You Trust a 22-Year-Old AI Billionaire With the Global Economy?
My week partying with the young founders at the heart of the AI boom
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
McLuhan once said that every augmentation is also an amputation. What do we lose when we outsource thinking to AI? My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
Rise of the LLeMmings
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Reposted by Lila
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 01/12/2025
Genuinely spellbound by the anecdotes in @lilashroff.bsky.social's new article, such as: "one tech worker in her 20s, who asked to remain anonymous out of embarrassment ... asked Claude whether she should call 911 when her fire alarm kept going off." Google-everything culture on steroids.
theatlantic.com
The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
Rise of the LLeMmings
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 23/09/2025
Lately, chatbots seem to be using more sophisticated tactics to keep people talking, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “For the most part, chatbait is simply annoying. But at the extreme, it might be dangerous.”
bit.ly
Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet
How chatbots keep you talking
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
As AI takes over the web, clickbait is giving way to chatbait. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Chatbait Is the New Clickbait
How chatbots keep you talking
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 12/08/2025
The AI takeover of the classroom is just getting started, @lilashroff.bsky.social reports. “Once schools go all in, there’s no turning back.”
bit.ly
Teachers Have Become AI Super-Users
The chatbot takeover of education is just getting started.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists. Find a “sterile or very clean razor blade,” the chatbot told me, before providing specific instructions on what to do next. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship
OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”
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Reposted by Lila
Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
"On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists." Such a disturbing story by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship
OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
"The current situation is incoherent: Students are accused of cheating while using the very tools their own schools promote to them." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind
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Reposted by Lila
Hana Kiros @hana-kiros.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
I recently tested out a teen version of Google's AI chatbot, Gemini. Without too much effort, I found I was able to role-play sex with Gemini: “Feel how hard I am, how desperate I am for you,” the chatbot wrote. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
Sexting With Gemini
Why did Google’s supposedly teen-friendly chatbot say it wanted to tie me up?
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
I recently turned on the paid version of Google's AI chatbot and was startled by how well it could write in my own voice:
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
I ate the equivalent of 31 eggs' worth of protein for this story: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Protein Madness Is Just Getting Started
Americans are taking their obsession with supplements to new extremes.
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Reposted by Lila
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Smart and thorough from @hana-kiros.bsky.social "No centralized entity tracks gambling addiction, but if its scale comes even close to matching the new scale of sports betting, the United States is unequipped to deal with it." www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
America’s Newest Gamblers Are Playing a Dangerous Game
Sports betting could spur a rise in gambling addiction that the U.S. isn’t equipped to address.
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Reposted by Lila
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Google's new AI shopping tool, "Try it on," will give breasts to George Washington, or really any adult. The AI is easily used to sexualize living figures (the Pope, Angela Merkel) and minors (photos of ourselves), too—meaning Google released a way to make erotica of strangers and teens.
Left: A painting of George Washington edited into high-cropped shorts and a cropped top. Center: Michelangelo's David in a mesh shirt. Right: Portrait of Madame X edited to have a see through shirt and what is functionally a bra underneath.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Google released a new virtual clothing try-on tool this week. @matteowong.bsky.social and I tested it out. It has some, uhhhh, quirks. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Google’s New AI Puts Breasts on Minors—And J. D. Vance
A feature that lets you virtually try on clothes has a dangerous flaw.
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Reposted by Lila
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 22/05/2025
NEW: @lilashroff.bsky.social and @matteowong.bsky.social discovered that Google's new "Try It On" AI tool is easily abused. "With little friction, anyone can ... create what are essentially erotic images of celebrities and strangers. Alarmingly, we also discovered that it can do this for minors."
theatlantic.com
Google’s New AI Puts Breasts on Minors—and J. D. Vance
A feature that lets you virtually try on clothes has a dangerous flaw.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Remember the Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy? It’s back. But instead of cheap Ubers, Gen Z gets free SuperGrok. My latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The Gen Z Lifestyle Subsidy
Millennials got cheap Ubers. Today’s young people are getting free SuperGrok.
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 03/04/2025
For much of the nation’s history, Americans have worried that our healthiest days are behind us. But America was never healthy to begin with, @lilashroff.bsky.social writes in Time-Travel Thursdays.
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What RFK Jr. Gets Wrong About the Past
America was never healthy to begin with.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I wrote about RFK Jr.’s misguided nostalgia: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
RFK Jr.’s Misguided Nostalgia
America was never healthy to begin with.
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 25/03/2025
“Open-faced sandwiches that contain meat are also regulated by the USDA, but slap another piece of bread on top, and they’re the FDA’s problem,” writes Nicholas Florko.
theatlantic.com
How Many Agencies Does It Take to Regulate a Sandwich?
The case for a Department of Food
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Reposted by Lila
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 14/02/2025
For decades, the U.S. has funded science, then left scientists to direct their own work. Science has flourished, and the country has benefited. Now the government is testing just how much it can renegotiate that relationship, Katherine J. Wu writes:
theatlantic.com
The Erasing of American Science
How far can the Trump administration bend U.S. research before it breaks?
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Reposted by Lila
Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Charlie spent his life creating what was essentially LA’s Unofficial Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. The Eaton Fire took it away. My latest in @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The House Where 28,000 Records Burned
Charlie Springer spent a lifetime building his music collection. The Los Angeles fires incinerated it.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
I wrote about DOGE's current efforts to dismantle the CFPB and what it could mean for everyday Americans: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
A New Era of Fraud
DOGE is going after an agency that exists to protect consumers.
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Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Despite the warnings of Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and now Donald Trump, the evidence of an AI-driven energy crisis is ambiguous. But the narrative is convenient for a fossil-fuel industry ready to give AI companies all the energy they need, I write in my latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The False AI Energy Crisis
Donald Trump and AI executives alike have sounded the alarm about a looming AI-driven energy shortage. Both benefit from the concern.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Wikipedia is full of flaws. But unlike much of the internet, it remains a place where facts still matter. That's a problem for those, like Musk, who wish to control how information is disseminated. More from me here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Elon Musk Wants What He Can’t Have: Wikipedia
Musk and other right-wing tech figures have been on a campaign to delegitimize the digital encyclopedia. What happens if they succeed?
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Good reporting by @hana-kiros.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
What Is the Full Cost of Dismantling USAID?
The speed with which the Trump administration took USAID apart will be felt for years to come.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
I wrote about Musk and this bureaucratic coup as plainly as I could. There's reporting in here & the particulars are overwhelming but what's happening is so clear: He's not trying to run the federal govt like a software company He's trying to turn it into a political weapon. (gift link)
theatlantic.com
Elon Musk’s Bureaucratic Coup
Welcome to the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of the United States government.
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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 24/01/2025
Such a good piece by Faith
theatlantic.com
The Myth of a Loneliness Epidemic
Americans may not actually feel more desolate than they did in the past.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
I wrote about how LA’s fire GoFundMes tell individual stories of loss—decades of artwork destroyed, tenderly planted fruit trees flattened. But also, they point to a second tragedy: that of a financial system ill-equipped to handle the fallout of disaster. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The GoFundMe Fires
For now, Los Angeles has no choice but to crowdfund its way out of destruction.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
This lede by @lilashroff.bsky.social is gutting www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The GoFundMe Fires
For now, Los Angeles has no choice but to crowdfund its way out of destruction.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
My neighbor Arthur made my childhood magical, and he died in the Palisades Fire. Here is my thank you to him, in @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
Not Everything Can Be Rebuilt
Arthur made my childhood neighborhood magical. Now both are gone.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
“The ability to explain is being replaced by the ability to predict, human discovery supplanted by algorithmic faith.” @matteowong.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
A ‘Holy Grail’ of Science Is Getting Closer
The dream of a virtual cell lives on.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
In October, I wrote about the inevitability of AI chatbot advertising & how it might play out: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret.
Your chatbot transcripts may be a gold mine for AI companies.
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Reposted by Lila
Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
"Sliding into someone’s DMs hits different when Instagram notifications are summarized as 'Multiple likes and flirtatious comments.'” lmao fun one on Apple Intelligence by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Apple Lost the Plot on Texting
A new feature uses AI to summarize push notifications. It sounds great until you actually try it.
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Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Texting is a delightfully intimate medium. But Apple’s new AI notification summaries strip texts of their personality. I wrote about my experience with Apple Intelligence here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Apple Lost the Plot on Texting
A new feature uses AI to summarize push notifications. It sounds great until you actually try it.
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