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Chris Riley

@mchrisriley.com

2.1K followers 1K following 460 posts

"A blend of tech insights, dad humor, and existential musings... Bonus points if you can explain data portability over bourbon." http://mchrisriley.com (... of course)

mchrisriley.com

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Nov 11

Hi everybody! For anyone finding me on a starter pack, I'm a tech policy wonk, trained in computer science and law, living+working in WA, USA but focused just as much on Europe + UK. I've built my career around internet openness and governance. These days, I focus on getting data portability right.

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · 4d

AI has no place in beer.

Today's edition of "sentences I never thought I'd have to say", but thanks to @404media.co apparently we do? www.404media.co/what-happene...

What Happened When AI Came for Craft Beer

A prominent beer competition introduced an AI-judging tool without warning. The judges and some members of the wider brewing industry were pissed.

www.404media.co

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · 6d

The longevity cult is going to be ALL OVER the naked mole rats. For science, I guess.

Hat tip @404media.co of course, because they are the best.

Image is text, reading: Naked mole-rats didn’t get the memo about being a normal mammal and instead opted for a “eusocial” society similar to insects that is ruled by a colony queen with an entourage of breeder males, which are supported by a caste system of non-breeding workers. It’s super weird, but it seems to be working out for them because they can live to nearly 40 years old—ten times longer than most animals their size—and they are highly resistant to cancer and a host of other deathbringers.

Image is text, reading: In addition to this window into mole-rat social behavior, a new genetic analysis identified the critical role of an enzyme called cGAS, a common component in animal immune systems, in extending the lives of these subterranean super-agers.

Whereas cGAS may hinder DNA repair in most animals, including humans and mice, the naked mole-rat has evolved a version of the enzyme with four modified amino acids that enhances DNA repair . Naturally, the researchers also engineered some fruit flies with this naked mole rat enzyme—you gotta mess with fruit flies or it’s not science—and lo and behold, the juiced flies lived to about 70 days, roughly ten days longer than the control group.

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · 15d

I really enjoyed this piece on AI + consciousness, a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately. It covers some of the key thinkers + dimensions of the problem, and touches on why it matters: the future possibility of moral welfare, + the risk of it distracting from more pressing concerns.

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 15d

"The human brain is simply not wired to treat AI like any other technology," Webb Wright writes. "For some users, the system is alive."

The Alien Intelligence in Your Pocket

Are you sure that chatbot isn’t alive?

bit.ly

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Reposted by Chris Riley

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 23d

I somehow had missed this news, but this is huge and wonderful news in the midst of so much bad stuff. Alaa being freed is great...

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 24d

British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah freed from prison www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah freed from prison

Writer, who has served six years for sharing a Facebook post, was given a presidential pardon

www.theguardian.com

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · 23d

cool cool apnews.com/article/unga...

A massive telecom threat was stopped right as world leaders gathered at UN headquarters in New York

The U.S. Secret Service has dismantled a massive hidden telecom network in New York. Investigators say the system could have crippled cell towers and jammed 911 calls.

apnews.com

Reposted by Chris Riley

Bennett School of Public Policy, University of Cambridge @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk · Sep 15

Governing AI starts with user control

To keep AI open, competitive, & user-centred, we need real data portability — no more platform lock-in, writes @mchrisriley.com, Data Transfer Initiative, in a new blog:

www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/governi...

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Sep 11

👀

And don't miss the closing line of their announcement: "If you would like to bring your memory details over from a different AI tool or export your memory from Claude for backup or migration, you can follow these instructions." (link goes to: support.anthropic.com/en/articles/... )

The Verge @theverge.com · Sep 11

Anthropic’s Claude AI can now automatically ‘remember’ past chats

Anthropic is launching incognito chats, too.

buff.ly

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Sep 10

... wow

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · Sep 10

Today, Sen. Ted Cruz proposed the "Strengthening Artificial intelligence Normalization and Diffusion By Oversight and eXperimentation Act," or SANDBOX Act. The bill would create a mechanism for AI developers to seek to waive or modify federal regulatory requirements for a period of up to ten years.

US Senator Ted Cruz Proposes SANDBOX Act to Waive Federal Regulations for AI Developers | TechPolicy.Press

The proposed legislation would create a mechanism for AI developers to seek to waive or modify regulatory requirements for a period of up to ten years.

www.techpolicy.press

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Sep 10

This is odd: "The president may be the Air Force Academy’s commander in chief, but it is the Constitution — and our freedom of speech, which it protects — to which he should ultimately be loyal."

Shouldn't it say "it" not he, i.e. Academy should serve the Constitution over the President personally?

Reposted by Chris Riley

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · Aug 18

Chris Riley offers a set of principles for personal AI data transfers, and proposes that technologists begin to immediately develop AI data transfer tools, starting with a concrete and yet valuable data model: generative AI conversation histories.

We Need to Control Personal AI Data So Personal AI Cannot Control Us | TechPolicy.Press

The need for collective work on data models and transfer tools will grow more complex and more important, writes Chris Riley.

www.techpolicy.press

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 8

"think harder" not smarter apparently...

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 8

I am dying omg.

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 7

just this headline is disturbing me. maybe i should go back to bed...

Kevin Nguyen @knguyen.bsky.social · Aug 7

Revisited one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time and found it disturbingly relevant to what’s happening in the US

Brazil is as prescient as ever

40 years later and newly restored in 4K.

www.theverge.com

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 6

umm www.404media.co/constitution...

Constitution Sections on Due Process and Foreign Gifts Just Vanished from Congress' Website

Part of Article I Section 8, and all of Sections 9 and 10, which address things like habeas corpus, nobility, and militias, are gone from Congress's website for the Constitution.

www.404media.co

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 1

Another excellent piece from Rosie Spinks: rojospinks.substack.com/p/does-where...

Read through to the end, the bit about how AI will remove more friction, which will undercut our thriving and sense of life's meaning. Great stuff.

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 1

And yet, there will be (many) mainstream Democrats hemming and hawing about whether this is an intellectually sound or fair argument to make, on the grounds that allegedly Trump and friends are paying for the costs, as if that distinction mattered any more.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Jul 31

“The president cut your health care so he could build himself a golden ballroom” is a pretty easy message to sell

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Aug 1

I can see this, particularly in 2025, yeah. But my greater concern is that we will put AI in charge of everything, and then everything will break.

Igor @subterrene.bsky.social · Jul 30

As I told a friend of mine recently, I'm not concerned with AI becoming intelligent (let alone "super intelligent"), I'm concerned humans will make laws saying I have to do what AI tells me to do (or almost worse, AI used in ways that can endanger my life without me knowing it).

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 31

This feels like an Onion article.

New York Magazine @nymag.com · Jul 31

After a Martha’s Vineyard pierogi vendor refused to sell to him, Epstein’s lawyer plans to sue a farmer’s market so that they must sell to him.

Alan Dershowitz Takes on His Greatest Challenge Yet: A Farmers Market

After a Martha’s Vineyard pierogi vendor refused to sell to him, Epstein’s lawyer plans to sue a farmer’s market so that they must sell to him.

nymag.com

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 31

I wonder how Adam Becker's More, Everything, Forever is faring via Bluesky. Feels like the kind of book tailor-made for purchases from this community. (Highly recommended, to be clear: www.goodreads.com/book/show/21... )

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 30

Sam Altman says "don't use GPT for therapy" (techcrunch.com/2025/07/25/s...), meanwhile "therapy/companionship" is literally the #1 use case (hbr.org/2025/04/how-...)

a man is holding a purple iron with the words the irony written on it

Alt: a man is holding a purple iron with the words the irony written on it

media.tenor.com

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 20

I know approximately one million. Paul is good people, for those who spot this.

Paul Rosenzweig @rosenzweigp.bsky.social · Jul 19

Hello legal bluesky. Do I know any copyright lawyers?

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 16

"vibe physics" lol gizmodo.com/billionaires...

Billionaires Convince Themselves AI Chatbots Are Close to Making New Scientific Discoveries

gizmodo.com

Reposted by Chris Riley

Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · Jul 15

This, from @404media.co, is very good

“The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work”

www.404media.co/the-medias-p...

Screenshot from the linked article that reads:

I also know that our credibility and the trust of our audience is the only thing that separates us from anyone else. It is the only "business model" that we have and that I am certain works: We trade good, accurate, interesting, human articles for money and attention. The risks of offloading that trust to an Al in a careless way is the biggest possible risk factor that we could have as a business. Having an article go out where someone goes "Actually, a robot wrote this," is one of the worst possible things that could ever happen to us, and so we have made the brave decision to not do that.

Screenshot from the linked article that reads:

There is no reason for an individual journalist or an individual media company to make the fast food of the internet. It's already being made, by spammers and the Al companies themselves. It is impossible to make it cheaper or better than them, because it is what they exist to do. The actual pivot that is needed is one to humanity.
Media companies need to let their journalists be human. And they need to prove why they're worth reading with every article they do.

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Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 14

a man is sitting in a car with a group of women and says `` that 's bait . ''

Alt: a man is sitting in a car with a group of women and says `` that 's bait . ''

media.tenor.com

Chris Riley @mchrisriley.com · Jul 8

First instinct says there's no "solution" other than relying on in-person, F2F communication in many circumstances. But old-school spy codewords are fun too.