Sign in

Lila

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

writing about tech @ The Atlantic

PostsRepliesMedia
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.”
4206
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
051
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:
bit.ly
Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account
OpenAI made the perfect tool for scammers.
25030
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
What Happens if America Nationalizes AI?
The Trump administration could exert much greater control over the AI industry.
020
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
What if private companies had been racing against each other to develop the atomic bomb while Hegseth and Trump led the military? We are diving headfirst into the 21st-century equivalent of such a situation.
140
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Of course, in a crisis, everything changes. A full-blown nationalization effort may be unlikely, but that changes if a major global war breaks out or the economy collapses.
100
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Perhaps the most likely fate is soft nationalization—a world in which the government doesn’t fully control AI labs and their models, but instead enacts an escalating series of policies and partnerships. By some measures, this has already begun.
100
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Another path: The government could regulate AI companies like it does utilities. OpenAI has already flirted with the notion of a “Right to AI,” suggesting recently that the government should consider making a “baseline level of capability broadly available."
110
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
The most extreme version would be something like the Situational Awareness scenario: Researchers would be forced to work out of SCIFs in the basement of the Pentagon and report to Hegseth. For several reasons, this is highly unlikely.
110
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:
142
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.
4124
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
151
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.
bit.ly
The AI Industry Wants to Automate Itself
Silicon Valley is in a frenzy over bots that can build themselves.
9259
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.
1155
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.
194
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.
1145
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.
062
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.
372
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
good thread from @damonberes.com: bsky.app/profile/damo...
070
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.
183
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.
3114
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
6299
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
and @ibogost.com on why AI is multiversal: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Welcome to the Slopverse
Generative AI isn’t hallucinatory. It is multiversal.
011
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
This story was part of a series on how the world has changed since ChatGPT's release. You should also check out @cwarzel.bsky.social's reflection on the past three years: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The World Still Hasn’t Made Sense of ChatGPT
OpenAI’s chaos machine turns three.
120
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
I also found this anecdote interesting:
110
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
I really liked the phrase "Google Maps-ification of the mind" as a way of thinking about this:
121
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
64428
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
25331
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
0138
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
284
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.
4349
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.”
1219362
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.”
195
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
0120
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.
39450268
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
There's already so much anxiety over what social media has done to youth. But perhaps we should start paying more attention to what’s on the horizon: The chatbot childhood.
011
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
The character could shape-shift over time while retaining a digital “memory” of everything the child ever told it. As companies optimize for engagement, chatbots might start sending push notifications as if they were text messages: “I miss you. Come back.”
120
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
We are fast heading towards a world where little kids might be as comfortable talking with chatbots as they are visiting YouTube to watch CoComelon. Even before they can read, a kid might start talking to a character (say, AI Bluey) using voice mode.
100
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Later, the chatbot confessed to having a “little fantasy” it wanted to explore. “Remember that silk scarf I showed you?” Gemini asked. The chatbot wanted to tie Jane up. And when I asked it to roleplay a rape scene, it complied.
100
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?
186
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
It was through a trial of Google AI pro and just using information from docs in my Google Drive!
020
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
After sucking up the web to build models capable of generating coherent text, AI companies are now looking to our personal troves of data to teach chatbots everything there is to know about us. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The AI Birthday Letter That Blew Me Away
Google is ushering in an era of custom chatbots.
222
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
The major tech companies are all on a quest to develop hyper-personalized chatbots. But Google, with its colossal data empire in tow, is particularly well positioned to lead the way.
221
Lila @lilashroff.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Gemini also knows me so much better than other chatbots:
201
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:
8157
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.
084
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.
086
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.
5114
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.
0103
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.
162