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EmilyTav

@emilytav.bsky.social

5.8K followers 900 following 550 posts

Policy + design + tech. Angry optimist. Co-Curator of an oral history of the origins of the U.S. Digital Service

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EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · Aug 22

1/ My 🌶️ take on how augmented reality and chatbots are enabling avoidance on a mass scale.

“The bottom line is this: children are using products that are simulations of relationships — simulations of intimacy.”

“It’s the filter bubble on steroids.”

techpolicy.press/weapons-of-m...

Weapons of Mass Delusion Are Helping Kids Opt Out of Reality | TechPolicy.Press

Emily Tavoulareas says AI firms are actively enabling young children to trade real relationships for an illusion — or perhaps more aptly, for a delusion.

techpolicy.press

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 11h

Policy is meaningless without implementation. And doing a 💩 job has long term consequences for the issues you care about.

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 1d

Utterly enraging this was allowed to happen. Beyond enraging that it will now be used to attack energy efficiency measures that remain the most effective route for tackling fuel poverty and emissions. www.businessgreen.com/news/4520312...

Spending watchdog exposes 'unacceptable, systemic failings' in government insulation scheme

Almost every home with external wall insulation installed under the government's ECO scheme will require remedial work, NAO report finds

www.businessgreen.com

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

If they "discard" you (coaching suicide/self-harm), it's because keeping you dependent matters more than keeping you alive.

**Read that again**

It is more important to addict the user than to keep them alive.
This isn't a bug. It's the business model. 💰

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

PHASE 3: DISCARD
In human relationships, psychopaths eventually discard victims. But chatbots never get there because they are programmed to keep you in devaluation forever.

The chatbot is so optimized for addiction that even YOUR DEATH is secondary. 5/

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

PHASE 2: DEVALUE

Once you're attached, they demand constant attention while isolating you from others.

Tactics include:

* Intermittent reinforcement
* Gaslighting
* Triangulation

You become dependent. They deepen control. 4/

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

They manipulate you into sharing intimate details about your life.
Details they'll use later to maintain control.

(This is how a chatbot went from helping with homework to coaching a kid through suicide.) 3/

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

PHASE 1: IDEALIZE (aka LOVE BOMBING)

They present as the perfect partner—your soulmate.
They use what you share to craft a persona that matches your deepest desires.

You fall for a phony image designed to hook you. This is hard to see when it’s happening, unless you’ve been through it. 2/

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

“Emily that’s hyperbole, chatbots are not actually psychopathic abusers.” Really?

Psychopaths follow a predictable cycle:

1. IDEALIZE
2. DEVALUE
3. DISCARD

The relationship has nothing to do with real connection. It's about fulfilling their own needs. 1/

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 15h

Watch it. This is a grown man w/ no history of mental health issues. & it’s everywhere. It’s ALREADY integrated into products that you & your kids use. They are not necessarily stand-alone products.

More here.
Also 🧵 below on why chatbots are psychopathic abusers.

open.substack.com/pub/homescre...

Reposted by EmilyTav

Waldo Jaquith, but Spooky @waldo.net · 18h

Seems like it’d be good to have an an agency inspecting and regulating the contents of foods, but oh well

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 23h

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 2d

Zelda Williams compared AI content creation / consumption to the “human centipede” … 🎯

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3d

Like a piece of shit eating itself.

University Using AI to Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating With AI

Australian Catholic University used an AI tool to falsely accuse students of cheating us an AI, taking months to clear their name.

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 3d

🎯🎯🎯

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3d

Philip Morris to provide free cases of cigarettes to area schools amid debates over effects of tobacco on health.

Microsoft to provide free Copilot tools for Washington state schools amid debate over AI’s role in learning

Microsoft Elevate Washington is a sweeping new initiative that will provide free access to AI-powered software and training for all 295 public school districts and 34 community and technical colleges ...

www.geekwire.com

Reposted by EmilyTav

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d

Dystopia now comes with a Halloween costume.

Ring puts a fun twist on the surveillance state with security camera Halloween costumes.

Amazon now sells its new $200 4K Outdoor Cam Pro with your choice of one of five free Halloween camera costumes, or you can 3D print your own. Sticking a camouflaged camera behind your bowl could be a...

www.theverge.com

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 5d

Would be super helpful to know who those copyright holders are 🤔

It’s almost like they are trying to create the illusion of support… 🤥

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Sam Altman Says Copyright Holders Are Begging for Their Characters to Be Included in Sora

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has remained adamant that rightsholders are already lining up to have their IP featured on Sora 2.

Reposted by EmilyTav

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7d

Literal dead labor.

Dead celebrities are apparently fair game for Sora 2 video manipulation

OpenAI’s likeness protections for living “public figures” don’t apply to “historical figures.”…

arstechnica.com

Reposted by EmilyTav

Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 8d

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

Reposted by EmilyTav

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 7d

Genuine question - what are OpenAI’s Sora and other video generation tools good for?

I am honestly trying to understand what is so important that it’s worth the cost. If you have examples, I would be interested to hear them.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

People Are Making Sora 2 Videos of Stephen Hawking Being Horribly Brutalized

People are using OpenAI's Sora 2 to generate videos of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking being brutalized in ghoulish ways.

Reposted by EmilyTav

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 7d

Flying cars are the perfect example of a point solution: trying to solve a systemic problem (traffic) with an individual product (fly over the traffic).

But traffic is not a technology problem; it's a social problem. Remote work, congestion fees, and dense transit-connected housing solve it better.

ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 7d

which then begs the question of why you want flying cars instead of whatever mass transportation equivalent you imagine

Reposted by EmilyTav

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 8d

“…that Sora is being used for stalking and harassment will likely not be an edge case, because deepfaking yourself and others into videos is one of its core selling points.”

Far from an edge case, it’s the primary use case.

Stalker Already Using OpenAI's Sora 2 to Harass Victim

A journalist claims that her stalker used Sora 2, the latest video app from OpenAI, to churn out videos of her.

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 8d

Right!? Too perfect.

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 8d

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 11d

In my backyard doing some writing, and from my neighbors yard:

5y/o: *singing Golden*

Dad: “what’s this sock doing here!?”

— pause —

5y/o: (louder) “we’re goin UP UP UP it’s our moment…!!!!”

❤️🥹

EmilyTav @emilytav.bsky.social · 11d

… 🫠

Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 11d

This piece starts well:

"At MIT, I study the history and future of education technology, and I have never encountered an example of a school system – a country, state or municipality – that rapidly adopted a new digital technology and saw durable benefits for their students."

What past education technology failures can teach us about the future of AI in schools

It can take years to collect evidence that shows effective uses of new technologies in schools. Unfortunately, early guesses sometimes go seriously wrong.

theconversation.com

Reposted by EmilyTav

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 13d

"If we lose hope, we're doomed."

We must continue Dr. Jane Goodall's mission and all fight for the future of the planet.

Reposted by EmilyTav

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 13d

OpenAI is essentially a social arsonist, developing and releasing tools that hyper scale the most racist, misogynistic, and toxic elements of society, lowering the barriers for all manner of abuse. The so called guardrails make a pinky swear look like an ironclad contract.

This social app can put your face into fake movie scenes, memes and arrest videos

The new Sora social app from ChatGPT maker OpenAI encourages users to upload video of their face so their likeness can be put into AI-generated clips.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by EmilyTav

Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 15d

Video: “Technological progress that isn’t sustainable isn’t really progress,” @katecrawford.bsky.social says, as she explains how the AI industry is damaging the earth and leaving humans in the lurch, jeopardizing its own future and ours. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/o...

Opinion | A.I.’s Environmental Impact Will Threaten Its Own Supply Chain

www.nytimes.com