Reposted by Natasha WattsThe New York Times @nytimes.com · 30/09/2026Meta is using its A.I. data centers to exploit a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation, according to an exclusive report by The New York Times. The company’s own accountants recognize that the strategy is on shaky legal ground. nyti.ms/3VlavDw 32429211
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 29/09/2026You got to interview Leslie Jones?? Jealous!! 031
Reposted by Natasha WattsProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵 19596133542
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I tricked myself into reading more nonfic by starting with salacious topics like cults and working from there. 001
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 21/09/2026And Anne of Green Gables! I absolutely believe there's a correlation. I have a lot of half-baked takes about cozy. I also think Project Hail Mary is basically a cozy. 000
Reposted by Natasha WattsDave Willner @dwillner.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Certain kinds of smart people tend to have a "sexy apocalypse" problem when it comes to thinking about risk. E.g. skynet turning everyone in paperclips, while bad, is also *kind of cool and fun* at the same time. Where the reality is that most actual disasters are both stupid and disappointing. 222577323
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Grateful for the alt text because I definitely can't read your handwriting 😭 110
Reposted by Natasha WattsKatie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026"The whole “Oh no, our models went rogue” thing … When a bridge collapses, you don’t analyze whether the bridge was ethical or sentient or why it decided to collapse. You ask, who is the person who built this bridge to be so flimsy?" www.wired.com/story/one-of...wired.comOne of AI’s Fiercest Critics Says All the Doom Talk Is ‘Meant to Distract Us’Timnit Gebru argues that AI companies are stoking fears of extinction to avoid discussing actual harms, like autonomous weapons. 302667906
Reposted by Natasha WattsAdrian Tchaikovsky @aptshadow.bsky.social · 16/09/2026AI scammers have gone mad. Just had an email from Jane Austen who is very impressed by my short story collection. 4148848
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 14/09/2026It's a bit like collaging or scrapbooking's feral cousin. www.reddit.com/r/JunkJournalsreddit.comExpressing your thoughts with Junk and JournalingThis is a space dedicated to junk journaling, scrapbooking, and repurposing! 010
Reposted by Natasha WattsEmily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 13/09/20263. Any press releases & news articles examined for anthropomorphizing language, especially language that locates agency with software rather than people & companies. See: buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch... >>buttondown.comHow to talk about "AI" without adding to the anthropomorphizationEmily M. Bender and Nanna Inie In our op-ed for Tech Policy Press ("We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI'"), we made the case against the... 218831
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 13/09/2026The aesthetic of it reminds me a bit of the recent junk journaling trend. 110
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Ok after reading reviews of this and a few others, it seems like it's a way of feeling community and getting someone else's reaction to the book as you're reading it. Like a buddy read or a book club. It's almost kinda wholesome? Like, stuff like this makes me feel like AI won't replace everything. 120
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Wait this is fascinating! I assumed it would be to fake some kind of homework assignment or to look smart. What's the perceived benefit of paying someone to annotate your romantasy book? 121
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Check out Venba, Wylde Flowers, Cursed Words, The Witness, and Smushi Come Home. 020
Reposted by Natasha WattsCPN @oksettledown.bsky.social · 08/09/2026on star trek's 60th birthday I will repeat that I was ~4 when ST:TNG premiered and I thought it was Real. It came on after the local news and I thought it was Space News. The rest of my life basically flows from that 41006
Reposted by Natasha WattsTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Everything can’t be reduced to a network effect. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I mean we just watched the almost complete fascist capture of data and the internet. Surely that's a reason to reconsider. 235637
Reposted by Natasha WattsTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Place still matters. It’s probably about to matter a whole lot more. 336335
Reposted by Natasha WattsTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I really struggle with the idea that all we need is love and the internet to build community. I don’t know how we failed the next generation so badly on this but yall materiality matters. Very much. 1071299
Reposted by Natasha WattsSky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 03/09/2026WAKE UP, THE INQUISITION JUST DROPPED A NEW SIN www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/09...americamagazine.orgVatican theological commission defines ‘sin against creation and the Creator’ in new documentThe more than 29,000 word text calls for ecological conversion due to “sin against creation and the Creator.” 1636193
Reposted by Natasha WattsDaniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport. 164115643175
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I'm tempted to call them myself just to hear it... 010
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Omg this is such a delightful shot of @maryrobinettekowal.com ☺️ 010
Reposted by Natasha WattsLouise Matsakis @lmatsakis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Amazon is officially shutting down Mechanical Turk next month. It feels like the end of an era. I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers 436998
Reposted by Natasha WattsJohnnie Jae @johnniejae.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Generative AI is technocolonialism and this time they aren't just targeting specific groups, but everyone. Here me out here, I've been teaching about systems of Oppression for a LONG time, especially in regards to anti-Indigeneity. There are 5 tactics that all systems of oppression use cyclically. 313169
Reposted by Natasha WattsRyan (Ry) Warner @ryanhasaquestion.bsky.social · 12/08/2026What do you do with an old surface coal mine? Turn it into a solar farm. When the energy crisis hit, Coors began mining coal. But the brewer moved away from coal and had this Keenesburg property. Electricity produced here will offset 7% of its Golden operations. Native plants attract pollinators. 2406
Reposted by Natasha WattsThat Guy James Ain't Verifyin Shit @jroberts.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Fuck the market place of ideas I want a swap meet of absurdities. 0104
Reposted by Natasha WattsJohn Feminella @jxf.me · 28/07/2026Hypothesis: The "it's not X, it's Y" pattern that LLMs are so fond of outputting can be traced back to a single, very prevalent phrase in the training data: 637153
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 25/07/2026I don't know if I can express how much everyone NEEDS to go see Hadestown while it's in movie theaters.... Goodness gracious! 020
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 21/07/2026I'm glad there is some effort to disincentivize low-effort, repetitive AI YouTube videos, but not sure this goes far enough.techcrunch.comYouTube clarifies policies around AI slop and upsetting videos | TechCrunchYouTube has updated its monetization policies to more clearly define the kinds of AI-generated and low-quality videos that can’t earn ad revenue. 010
Reposted by Natasha WattsErin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 17/07/2026We need 2-3 more writers with a science-y backgrounds to help us turn news chaos into orderly information on @unbreaking.org's infectious disease control, food safety, and medical research funding pages. The commitment is a few hours every couple of weeks. Is this you? 🌱 unbreaking.org/how-to-help/unbreaking.orgHow to help — UnbreakingDocumenting damage and resistance. Unflooding the zone. 5140135
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Etsy, Pinterest, even eBay...they all used to feel personal and creative and fun to shop on/use, and then capitalism/AI made them impersonal and scammy. 000
Reposted by Natasha WattsTom Humberstone @tomhumberstone.com · 16/07/2026The Luddites loved technology. They owned looms at home and would ‘mod’ them to count threads. Their battle was against worker exploitation. The degradation of their rights, safety and wages. They were against a handful of rich businessmen owning the means of production. Sound familiar? 6769372630
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 14/07/2026It's so hot and so smoky every day. I never want to be outside. 😥 110
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 09/07/2026We can't wait to host Nadia for Colorado Gold! If you're a fellow writer who wants to level up your skills, pitch agents, and make a ton of friends, check it out at rmfw.org. 010
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 03/07/2026They were just being really patriotic! That's it! 110
Natasha Watts @natashawattsup.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Nothing too fascinating I've seen too far. Although the juxtaposition of the "We-don't-care" glibness mixed with posts trying to argue with other Christians about their legitimacy is kind of interesting. 110
