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Saahil Desai

@saahildesai.bsky.social
22K followers 240 following 102 posts

Senior Editor at The Atlantic. Please listen closely as our menu options have changed.

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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 21/09/2026
AI cheating is rampant. AI detectors have gotten surprisingly good. I wrote about why colleges are deeply conflicted about using them: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The Pangram Backlash Unfolding on College Campuses
Professors are tearing their hair out over AI detectors.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
really good one by @willoremus.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"When AI agents have access to your email inbox and credit-card information, all sorts of strange things can go wrong." Great one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
It’s All Fun and Games Until You Give AI Your Credit Card
AI personal assistants are now acting on people’s behalf in the real world—and all sorts of strange things are going wrong.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Apple has begun to feel like a late-stage tech giant, squeezing residual value from markets it has long since saturated" - @willoremus.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Okay, Sure, a Folding iPhone
Apple needs to learn to take risks again.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 08/09/2026
The Xteink—a small e-reader attachable to the back of a phone—could be seen as just another cheap gimmick, but it shows how some Chinese brands now deliver a sense of joy that Silicon Valley never could, @saahildesai.bsky.social argues:
bit.ly
This Tiny E-Reader Is the Single Best Piece of Technology in Years
The $70 Xteink X3 puts Silicon Valley to shame.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
An e-reader the size of a credit card has completely changed my relationship to books. I wrote about the $70 gadget that is putting Silicon Valley to shame www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 06/09/2026
ALL HAIL THE XTEINK
theatlantic.com
This Tiny E-Reader Is the Single Best Piece of Technology in Years
The $70 Xteink X3 puts Silicon Valley to shame.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 06/09/2026
The Xteink—a small e-reader attachable to the back of a phone—could be seen as just another cheap gimmick, but it shows how some Chinese brands now deliver a sense of joy that Silicon Valley never could, @saahildesai.bsky.social argues:
bit.ly
This Tiny E-Reader Is the Single Best Piece of Technology in Years
The $70 Xteink X3 puts Silicon Valley to shame.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
An e-reader the size of a credit card has completely changed my relationship to books. I wrote about the $70 gadget that is putting Silicon Valley to shame www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 27/08/2026
The Wall Street Journal's opinion page has embraced AI-written op-eds. In the spirit of the First Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics, I propose that they make this abundantly clear to their subscribers and let the market speak. My latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Is This the End of AI Shame?
The Wall Street Journal is defending an op-ed written by a chatbot.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 25/08/2026
The average American now spends 48 minutes a day logging into things. OK I just made that up but it does feel like a lot! My story on why we're living in password hell (gift link): www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Logging In Was Never Supposed to Be This Complicated
Please not another two-factor authentication code.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"With great connectivity comes great responsibility" www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
A 'Spider-Man' Ad Beamed Directly to Your Car
The luxury automaker is beaming a Spider-Man ad into its cars.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The fact that this got shipped in the first place is legitimately stunning. @matteowong.bsky.social’s latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Google Just Ruined One of Its Most Important Tools
Google Earth was a boon for researchers—and then came the deepfakes.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
“It’s like hiring Lionel Messi as project manager" www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
OpenAI Just Hired One of the World’s Best Mathematicians
Last week, Jacob Tsimerman won a top math prize. The same day, he announced a surprising career shift.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 29/07/2026
I wrote about the new "Apple Upgrade" program, which plans to entice people into *leasing* new devices—perhaps devices they can't truly afford—leading them to stay on a perpetual cycle of monthly payments and upgrades, filtering their most personal data through property that isn't truly theirs. 🎁:
theatlantic.com
The New iPhone Underclass
Apple’s rental program is a trap.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 28/07/2026
AI-assisted fiction is already here, tons of people are reading it, very few of them realize it, and no one wants to talk about it. Gift link to my latest: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Is This What Comes After AI Slop?
Daggermouth could be the first best-selling novel partly written by a chatbot.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
"If a book as beloved as Daggermouth were written with a chatbot, it would raise an awkward question: Could AI fiction be getting … good?" Fascinating one by @willoremus.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Is This What Comes After AI Slop?
Daggermouth could be the first best-selling novel partly written by a chatbot.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Good one by @tlevin.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Tesla Is Failing Upward
Elon Musk’s company is quietly becoming even more important to the future of electric cars in America.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
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 Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 12/07/2026
I set out to understand why AIs love negative parallelism. The answer wasn't just surprising—it was illuminating. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The Most Famous AI Writing Tic Is Also the Most Mysterious
Why chatbots love “it’s not X, it’s Y”
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Pareto Optimizer @paretooptimizer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I know this guy has a Bluesky account.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
"Imagine if the vaccine companies involved with Operation Warp Speed were also engineering more sophisticated viruses." A banger by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
A New Phase of the AI-Jobs Panic
Silicon Valley is making a show of helping prepare the country for AI layoffs.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
A good-enough and far cheaper Chinese AI model couldn't come at a worst time for OpenAI and Anthropic. This could be the DeepSeek moment for agents (ie on GLM-5.2) www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
China’s Answer to AI Sticker Shock
Corporate America is starting to balk at the cost of AI agents. A cheap alternative from China looks more tempting than ever.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
New in The Atlantic this morning: an extraordinary cover story by @rosehorowitch.bsky.social. If you’re generally only reading tweets, emails, texts, and machine-generated sentences, you should really, really read this story (and after that, a novel!): www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Age of Reading Is Over
Can civilization survive the postliterate era?
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
The barcode .... all-time great American invention imo www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The Barcode Engineered Its Own Downfall
For decades, the tiny symbol has been the plumbing of global capitalism. It might finally be replaced.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 03/07/2026
Jamir Nazir was accused of using AI to write "The Serpent in the Grove," a short story that was named a regional winner of the Commonwealth Prize. This week, he won the overall prize after an investigation concluded he didn't use AI. I talked with him about it: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Thoughts on AI, From a Prizewinning Writer Accused of Using AI
Jamir Nazir, the controversial winner of a prestigious literary award, tells his side of the story.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
If San Francisco is the center of the AI boom, then the city's hacker house ecosystem is the heart. These homes and their residents are ambitious, goofy, confoundingly earnest—and key to understanding the ethos of the AI boom. I lived in a hacker house for a week and recount it in The Atlantic:
theatlantic.com
The New (And Slightly Smelly) Center of the AI Boom
San Francisco’s brightest minds are stuffing themselves into hacker houses.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"That first day, as I put some yogurt away in a communal fridge, a faint sour smell wafted out." Amazing feature by @matteowong.bsky.social on the week he spent living in a hacker house www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The New (And Slightly Smelly) Center of the AI Boom
San Francisco’s brightest minds are stuffing themselves into hacker houses.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 25/06/2026
Saahil wearing the Palantir chore coat to his shift at the Park Slope food co-op … it’s the most beautiful expression of who this great man is. @saahildesai.bsky.social
theatlantic.com
My New Life With the Palantir Chore Coat
I bought the most confusing jacket in America.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
In which @saahildesai.bsky.social obtains his very own Palantir chore coat: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
My New Life With the Palantir Chore Coat
I bought the most confusing jacket in America.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
In the name of journalism, I bought the Palantir chore coat. It is *so* much weirder than you think www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
My New Life With the Palantir Chore Coat
I bought the most confusing jacket in America.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 17/06/2026
I wrote about Freddy from Germany, the wide-eyed "Swedish soccer fan" who adores fire trucks and ranch dressing, and the World Cup of Clout Chasing
theatlantic.com
The World Cup Tourists Are Genuinely Fascinated by America, Right?
Some of the people celebrating American excess are not what they seem.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The videos of viral World Cup fans "have been covered in the media as a refreshing antidote to our polarized political moment ... It’s a nice thought. But not all of the videos, or the people behind them, are quite what they seem." - @willoremus.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The World Cup Tourists Are Genuinely Fascinated by America, Right?
Some of the people celebrating American excess are not what they seem.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
"Late last month, I began to consider withdrawing some money from my savings account to buy gold ... For all of the firewalls and two-factor-authentication codes, the safety of the internet is starting to falter." - @matteowong.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Nothing on the Internet Is Secure Anymore
AI is enabling a deluge of cyberattacks the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
"The Trump administration wants to stay ahead of Chinese AI but has clamped down on one of the few U.S. companies that stands a real chance of doing so." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
This Is How America Loses the AI Race
The White House is escalating its war against Anthropic.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Shopify has published at least 60 rankings of the best e-commerce sites—all of which have Shopify as the top pick. Why? It's seemingly an attempt to game AI search tools. Great one by @willoremus.com on the dark arts of search engine sloptimization www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Your Search Results Are Getting Sloptimized
How companies are gaming the chatbot internet
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Andrew Moseman @andrewmoseman.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
There's an absurd reason why America's headlights are too bright, which I explain today in @theatlantic.com. Finally, help is on the way. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Driving in America Is Headlight Hell
Car bulbs don’t have to be this blinding.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
"By weaving itself into the finances of most businesses and households in America, the AI industry is quickly making itself too big to fail." Really good one by @matteowong.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
You Might Soon Own a Piece of SpaceX
Whether you want to or not
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
This, by @lilashroff.bsky.social, is so interesting www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
On the executive order and more, with @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Does Donald Trump Love or Hate AI?
Yes.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
"We’re on the precipice of a new era when learning to develop software will be easier than ever, opening the door to students who might not otherwise have chosen to study computing." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
There’s Never Been a Better Time to Study Computer Science
Even as AI progresses, coders aren’t doomed.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 23/05/2026
I talked to the author of the "Future of Truth" book that turned out to have AI hallucinations. He told me he feels "seduced and betrayed" by ChatGPT, at one point suggesting it might have undermined him on purpose. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The Second Reckoning Over AI Writing
What counts as an acceptable use of AI has never been fuzzier.
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Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
In which Sam Altman won’t say if he’s an honest person, Elon Musk is unable to take a consistent position on anything, Musk’s lawyers mislead the jury, and everybody is upsettingly wealthy. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
Elon Musk Gets a Reality Check
The Altman-Musk trial was a waste of everyone’s time.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 16/05/2026
My first story for @theatlantic.com is about how ed tech slop is taking over American classrooms. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
My Son’s Math Homework Is Essentially Just Pokémon
Education games are taking over American classrooms.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Oh hey it’s @willoremus.com in The Atlantic! www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
My Son’s Math Homework Is Essentially Just Pokémon
Education games are taking over American classrooms.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This, by @rtsugar.bsky.social, is hilarious www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
"When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he’d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
Kash Patel’s Personalized Bourbon Stash
The FBI director has been leaving an unusual calling card.
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Reposted by Saahil Desai
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 04/05/2026
Spirit Airlines was notorious for its bad service and hidden costs—but consider what America is losing now that it’s gone, @saahildesai.bsky.social writes.
bit.ly
You Are Going to Miss Spirit Airlines
Spirit was awful. But a world without it is worse.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Spirit Airlines was good, actually. Wrote about why you'll miss America's most hated airline: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
You Are Going to Miss Spirit Airlines
Spirit was awful. But a world without it is worse.
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Saahil Desai @saahildesai.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
@lilashroff.bsky.social on OpenAI's new image tool: "With little effort, I was able to create more than 100 fraudulent images, including prescriptions for opioids and ADHD medication, bank alerts, social-media posts, fake IDs, and passports" www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
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