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Blake Montgomery

@montgomery.bsky.social
4.8K followers 348 following 333 posts

Tech editor at the Guardian US, science fiction writer, and a tale told by an idiot. Email me: blake.montgomery@theguardian.com

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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
In a sign the US' datacenter backlash might be overheating, a town where zoning prohibited datacenters banned them anyway, all before receiving a single permit application www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘This is not an anti-tech town’: backlash to datacenter in city once home to IBM
Fight in East Fishkill, New York, part of a growing divide over whether AI benefits outweigh enormous downsides
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Refugee gig workers for tech companies don’t know how much they’ll be paid – if AI hasn’t already taken their jobs www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
theguardian.com
‘Someone else will do it for less’: refugees in Kenya are powering tech for dwindling pay
Refugee gig workers for tech companies don’t know how much they’ll be paid – if AI hasn’t already taken their jobs
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Who owns ‘brain rot’?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved AI-generated dancing drum named Tung Tung Tung Sahur, aka Triple T www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Who owns ‘brain rot’?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved meme
Copyright law in the US only applies to human-made creations, but AI characters like Tung Tung Tung Sahur are challenging that
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Thorne 🌸 @ens0.me · 30/09/2026
Found a chart that goes through 2025. This problem has plateaued and isn't returning to pre-pandemic levels.
time spent at home chart
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Meta’s AI agent Muse gives out user’s home address without permission, sending buyer to his house www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
‘What does money from a Super PAC actually buy?’: our reporters are answering your election questions now www.theguardian.com/community/li...
theguardian.com
‘What does money from a Super PAC actually buy?’: our reporters are answering your election questions now
Who are the groups backing candidates in the midterms – and why? In our second live discussion ahead of the elections, Joseph Gedeon, Dara Kerr and Chris Stein are live now
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The world freaked out about AI doomsday. Now what? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Why this AI doomsday warning from former Anthropic researcher broke through www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
theguardian.com
Why this AI doomsday warning from former Anthropic researcher broke through
Last week, researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic, stating that AI ‘could kill us all by the end of the decade’
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What bad economy? Not for Mr Bloomberg and Mr Murdoch
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
AI researchers predict human extinction; look, a new phone!
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Apple Watch measuring my "Health Age"??
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Exclusive: Documents show officers from Maine to California worry Meta’s camera-equipped glasses will be used either to secretly record them or aid acts of terrorism www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
US police fear Meta smart glasses could be used to secretly record them
Exclusive: Documents show officers from Maine to California worry Meta’s camera-equipped glasses will be used either to secretly record them or aid acts of terrorism
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
My first piece for The Guardian is up! This one's about the backlash against Flock cameras
theguardian.com
Cut the cameras: Flock surveillance cameras spur rare bipartisan backlash
Politicians on the right and left are pushing back against Flock as more Americans voice opposition to the tech
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Jacob Weindling @jakeweindling.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I do think a big part of the AI fights on this site is that they largely are between folks who are using it and folks who tried it once in the past, it sucked, they abandoned it, and so it just reads as a lot of people talking past each other.
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Freelancers are making more money fixing AI slop than creating original work www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’
As more companies turn to AI, they’re hiring freelancers to cleanup its mistakes rather than create original work
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The Guardian's tech team is starting a regular advice column as part of our yearlong series on AI and work. What do you want to know about AI and your job? Ask us! Email techscape.us@theguardian.com with your questions, and we’ll answer them in future editions of the newsletter
theguardian.com
Conservatives split from Silicon Valley allies as datacenter backlash grows
Tech companies have underestimated the opposition to energy-hungry datacenters – and experts predict the pushback will intensify
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Tim Cook leaves behind complicated legacy on privacy www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Apple’s Tim Cook leaves behind complicated legacy on privacy
Outgoing CEO took stood up for users in battle with FBI but concessions abroad undermine claims of protecting ‘fundamental right’
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The datacenter backlash is bringing the entire political spectrum together – against big tech billionaires www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
The datacenter backlash is bringing the entire political spectrum together – against big tech billionaires
The movement against datacenters is uniting Americans because they perfectly illustrate how a few individuals hold all the power to control decisions that affect our lives
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Changes Meta agreed to today may be powerful enough to alter teens’ behavior and curb social media’s worst ills, they may not, but attorney generals did what Congress never has: compel a social media company to change its operations to protect children. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
How the Meta settlement may change social media forever
Instagram and Facebook’s parent company agreed to sweeping alterations and a payment of upto $18bn to settle a landmark trial
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Why did Meta's big American accountability moment happen in court? www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
theguardian.com
Meta goes on trial as Silicon Valley faces a growing backlash
Also: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his surprising sympathy over the construction of datacenters across the country
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Tell us: do you think AI has made Google search better or worse? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Tell us: do you think AI has made Google search better or worse?
As people grow used to AI chatbots, we’d like to hear your views about Google’s search engine
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If you want to understand Josh Shapiro's about-face to implement restrictions on data centers in Pennsylvania, read this prescient feature story from June www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
How the fight over US datacenters is scrambling this state’s politics: ‘We don’t want it’
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, squares off with state lawmakers over the facilities powering an AI boom
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Despite policy victories over Flock, Americans are finding themselves under similar monitoring by a new company – or unable to remove the original cameras www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Their cities dropped Flock surveillance cameras. They’re still being watched
Despite policy victories over Flock, Americans are finding themselves under similar monitoring by a new company – or unable to remove the original cameras
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’
Wynd Kaufmyn, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Google Earth’s potential disinformation nightmare www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...
theguardian.com
Google Earth’s potential disinformation nightmare
A new feature briefly allowed Google Earth users to overlay AI-generated images on locations of their choosing
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Meta's reckoning over child safety is getting expensive www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta faces expensive child safety reckoning
Also: Google executives jump ship in race for AI dominance
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 23/07/2026
‘Ratepayer Protection Pledge’ president has touted is non-binding as people continue to struggle with rising bills
theguardian.com
Trump says nearly 200 firms have signed pledge to protect Americans from costs arising from datacenters
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
China’s recent releases have thrown the politics of AI in the US into chaos, which in the present moment reads as the bigger win than any future undercutting of US frontier labs' business models www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Headaches for Silicon Valley as China chips away at the US’s lead in the AI race
Google’s AI struggles scream trouble as new Chinese models (again) throw US tech dominance into question
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Newsletter: The UK wants to catch up in the global AI race – but is too wary to go all-in; OpenAI’s difficulties are mounting and threatening its stock market debut; tech journalism is less online in the age of AI www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
The UK wants to catch up in the global AI race – but is too wary to go all-in
UK fears a ‘triple whammy’: oversized investment in AI stocks, slower adoption of AI than predicted and the breakneck pace of AI’s development
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
The New York Post has called Hunter Biden many things, but “attention-seeking” is a new one to me… Ms Post, wasn’t it you that gave him so much attention when he didn’t want it???
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The net-zero pledges of big tech are slipping out of reach because of the AI boom www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Big tech’s lofty climate goals wrecked by energy-hungry AI
Net-zero pledges of Google and Amazon slip out of reach, and struggling Meta makes frantic moves
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The markets are souring on artificial intelligence, but is this the bubble bursting? Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom's embrace of a federal wealth tax aligns with a notable leftward shift in the political landscape. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Rocky week for AI as shares slump but no sign of crash – yet
The markets are souring on artificial intelligence, but is this the bubble being burst? Meanwhile, California proposes a tax on billionaires
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I’m talking Spacex’s IPO, data centers in space, and trillionaires on The Guardian’s new podcast open.spotify.com/episode/6hNf...
open.spotify.com
Elon Musk is a trillionaire now. Is that bad for the economy?
Stateside with Kai and Carter · Episode
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
All signs point to Trump pushing AI growth
Also: Anthropic advocates for a ‘pause’ on AI advancement – days after filing to go public on the US stock market
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Color me skeptical of Anthropic's safety-first branding
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If you thought Trump might regulate AI, he’s discussing buying stock instead www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
All signs point to Trump pushing AI growth
Also: Anthropic advocates for a ‘pause’ on AI advancement – days after filing to go public on the US stock market
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Recent grads on booing their pro-AI commencement speakers: “You pulled the rug out from underneath us, and said: ‘Oh, you know those four years you spent learning how to do very specific things, you don’t need to do it any more.'" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
US students on why they booed their pro-AI graduation speakers: ‘They’re not reading the room’
Recent college grads are not very fond of commencement speakers hyping up a technology they see as a threat to their career prospects
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
‘Transfers aren’t optional’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta is rapidly reorganizing its workers’ jobs around AI: ‘Transfers aren’t optional’
Some employees will be moved to new teams focused on AI agents and cloud infrastructure
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
This week's TechScape newsletter: Trump spreads the gospel of American tech in China while emulating Xi on AI AI’s evil avatar emerges: an autonomous, always-attacking hacker www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Trump heads to China to spread the gospel of American tech
Tim Cook and Elon Musk, among other tech CEOS, will accompany the US president on a trip to Beijing
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
For being America’s most populous city, New York City’s cell service is terrible
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · 30/04/2026
Elon Musk Will Earn a Company Bonus if He Drops a Million Colonists on Mars gizmodo.com/elon-musk-will-earn-a-c…
gizmodo.com
Elon Musk Will Earn a Company Bonus if He Drops a Million Colonists on Mars
Either SpaceX's board members are just as delulu, or they're confident this goal is unachievable so they won't have to dole out the pay package.
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
The Maybe @themaybe.org · 29/04/2026
This week, @alixdunn.com spoke to @theguardian.com U.S. Tech Editor @montgomery.bsky.social about the bizarre stack of companies that constitute SpaceX, and how Musk wants to IPO to become a trillionaire. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMK_...
youtube.com
How Elon Musk Plans to Get Even Richer - Tech Story of the Week
YouTube video by The Maybe
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Talking Tim Cook's legacy and Apple's new direction open.spotify.com/episode/6fmv...
open.spotify.com
Siri, where does Apple go next?
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court fight could have been a major moment for AI safety. Instead, it’s a fight dominated by personal pettiness and specific bitterness, motivated by money and personal grievance. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
The personal pettiness of the Elon Musk v OpenAI trial
In theory, Musk and Altman’s court fight could pose key questions about AI safety – in reality, it’s motivated by money and personal grievance
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Privacy. That’s iPhone? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Apple’s Tim Cook leaves behind complicated legacy on privacy
Outgoing CEO took stood up for users in battle with FBI but concessions abroad undermine claims of protecting ‘fundamental right’
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Tim Cook new job is Apple's elder statesman www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Diplomatic duties for Tim Cook after stepping down as Apple CEO
John Ternus ascends the throne – but Cook will stay on to manage tech giant’s foreign policy as executive chair
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I find myself awash in hype, adrift www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
AI companies make powerful tech – but they’re also savvy marketers
Anthropic’s Claude Mythos AI is said to be frighteningly capable, but we shouldn’t get carried away by the hype
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Reposted by Blake Montgomery
Rachel Leingang @rachelleingang.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Little Joy, a coffee shop in Northfield, MN, created a raspberry danish latte. They made a video about how to make it for a "DIY or buy" series, which went viral. Then they encouraged other coffee shops to copy the recipe - and hundreds worldwide did. www.theguardian.com/food/2026/ap...
theguardian.com
The US small town coffee shop that created a viral drink: ‘I still don’t understand how it went so far’
The raspberry danish latte is making its way around the world after its inventors decided to share the recipe
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The face of the Pentagon's punishment of Anthropic held xAI stock and sold it for millions www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US defense official overseeing AI reaped millions selling xAI stock after Pentagon entered agreement with company
Expert said federal law bars officials from taking actions in their jobs that benefit their own financial interests
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Nobody: The ads on the Drudge Report:
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