Neil Turkewitz
@neilturkewitz.bsky.social
I write mostly about the intersection of tech & art/culture which these days means I spend nearly all my time trying to address the exploitation underlying current AI models. A secular humanist interrogating modern religions.
Pinned
Rebuilding the World: Innovating for a Better Future
By Neil Turkewitz
This year’s World IP Day is focused on “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future.” I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate, or timely…
medium.com
“The ‘information age’ has facilitated the weaponization of information & the erosion of an understanding of our fundamental interdependence.
This stems, at least in part, from a willingness to treat art and culture as fungible parts of an information ecosystem.”
medium.com/@nturkewitz_...
This stems, at least in part, from a willingness to treat art and culture as fungible parts of an information ecosystem.”
medium.com/@nturkewitz_...
Hallelujah!
Workers from journalism to tech and beyond are standing up to fight back against management’s drive to use ai to sloppify our work and degrade our labor. head to www.newsnotslop.org/ to support journalists and workersdecide.tech to get tools to join the fight in your workplace too. #newsnotslop
December 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Hallelujah!
Reposted by Neil Turkewitz
Sabrina Carpenter slams the White House for using her song ‘Juno’ for a pro-ICE video:
“this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
“this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
December 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Sabrina Carpenter slams the White House for using her song ‘Juno’ for a pro-ICE video:
“this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
“this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
“National defense is a geographic, economic, intellectual, cultural, technological & political consideration in which the greatest strength is also the greatest weakness—that it can only truly be eroded from within.”
@davidnewhoff.bsky.social
@davidnewhoff.bsky.social
Americans Won’t Thank Washington for Protecting Big Tech in the NDAA - The Illusion of More
Big Tech's effort to attach a moratorium on state regulation of AI to the NDAA is politically naive and bad for Americans.
illusionofmore.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM
“National defense is a geographic, economic, intellectual, cultural, technological & political consideration in which the greatest strength is also the greatest weakness—that it can only truly be eroded from within.”
@davidnewhoff.bsky.social
@davidnewhoff.bsky.social
good morning 🌞
December 3, 2025 at 12:31 PM
good morning 🌞
Thought for the day…
Indeed. Aside from the exploitation of labor and environmental hazards posed by generative AI, it is imperative to observe that AI use enriches & empowers the worst people on the planet. By design, it drowns truth in irrelevance, as foreshadowed by Steve Bannon’s call to flood the zone with shit!
December 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Thought for the day…
But information wants to be free…
hahahahahaha
Some might say that the existence and expansion of the billionaire class is antithetical to the maintenance, flourishing, and survival of our planet and people, but NOT STEWART BRAND!
Some might say that the existence and expansion of the billionaire class is antithetical to the maintenance, flourishing, and survival of our planet and people, but NOT STEWART BRAND!
December 1, 2025 at 9:48 PM
But information wants to be free…
“This ruling is a clear affirmation that AI cannot be deployed as a shortcut around union rights, ethical journalism, or human judgment.”
@pen-guild.bsky.social
@pen-guild.bsky.social
Exciting news: my union @pen-guild.bsky.social won our fight to hold management accountable for rolling out AI tools with no notice & for failing to hold the bots to the same standards all of us humans must follow — in violation of the contract they agreed to. A neutral arbiter said we were right!
PEN Guild wins landmark arbitration on AI protections - Washington-Baltimore News Guild
This marks one of the first major labor-arbitration rulings on the impact of AI on journalism, setting an important precedent for the U.S. news industry.
wbng.org
December 1, 2025 at 5:03 PM
“This ruling is a clear affirmation that AI cannot be deployed as a shortcut around union rights, ethical journalism, or human judgment.”
@pen-guild.bsky.social
@pen-guild.bsky.social
“It was not our job
to notice the rain
no longer fell,
we were busy tracking who was logging in and logging out
of the current war
while new faces of God made their appearances
behind our backs
as always.”
@joriegraham.bsky.social
to notice the rain
no longer fell,
we were busy tracking who was logging in and logging out
of the current war
while new faces of God made their appearances
behind our backs
as always.”
@joriegraham.bsky.social
“The prime minister was watching a disaster movie / when we found him. We are the /
media we cried. Run.”
Read “The Eloquence,” a poem by Jorie Graham.
media we cried. Run.”
Read “The Eloquence,” a poem by Jorie Graham.
The Eloquence
A poem by Jorie Graham
bit.ly
December 1, 2025 at 3:02 PM
“It was not our job
to notice the rain
no longer fell,
we were busy tracking who was logging in and logging out
of the current war
while new faces of God made their appearances
behind our backs
as always.”
@joriegraham.bsky.social
to notice the rain
no longer fell,
we were busy tracking who was logging in and logging out
of the current war
while new faces of God made their appearances
behind our backs
as always.”
@joriegraham.bsky.social
This piece by Lila Shroff is a useful reminder that the harms associated with reliance on AI/chatbots isn’t just a feature of their unreliability & lack of relationship to truth, but to their abilities too. Indeed, perhaps AI gets more perilous to our well-being as it improves.
@theatlantic.com
@theatlantic.com
The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
Rise of the LLeMmings
www.theatlantic.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:30 PM
This piece by Lila Shroff is a useful reminder that the harms associated with reliance on AI/chatbots isn’t just a feature of their unreliability & lack of relationship to truth, but to their abilities too. Indeed, perhaps AI gets more perilous to our well-being as it improves.
@theatlantic.com
@theatlantic.com
good morning 🌞
November 30, 2025 at 12:19 PM
good morning 🌞
good morning 🌞
November 29, 2025 at 11:14 AM
good morning 🌞
“Volume became visibility. Visibility became perceived certainty. Certainty hardened into belief. This is how repetition builds the illusion of truth.”
1/8
The Right Wing fascists did not just react to the DC shooting. They built a manufactured consensus around it. Identical posts. Identical blame lines. Identical emotional cues. Repetition was the strategy, not the byproduct.#Voices4Victory #DV1 #Voices4Victory #USDemocracy #ProudBlue 11/27/25 PM
The Right Wing fascists did not just react to the DC shooting. They built a manufactured consensus around it. Identical posts. Identical blame lines. Identical emotional cues. Repetition was the strategy, not the byproduct.#Voices4Victory #DV1 #Voices4Victory #USDemocracy #ProudBlue 11/27/25 PM
November 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
“Volume became visibility. Visibility became perceived certainty. Certainty hardened into belief. This is how repetition builds the illusion of truth.”
“It should come as no surprise that billionaires would come up with a way to make money from war."
'National disgrace': Former US ambassador blasts Trump’s foreign policy www.alternet.org/trump-foreig...
'National disgrace': Former US ambassador blasts Trump’s foreign policy
Dennis Jett, former American ambassador to Mozambique and Peru, excoriates President Donald Trump's foreign policy in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and says there are massive problems with the presid...
www.alternet.org
November 28, 2025 at 12:31 PM
“It should come as no surprise that billionaires would come up with a way to make money from war."
good morning 🌞
November 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
good morning 🌞
Happy Thanksgiving (to all them that celebrate)
November 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Happy Thanksgiving (to all them that celebrate)
“If the first 10 months of the second Trump administration showed [a willingness] to use the criminal-justice system against their perceived enemies, the pursuit of Kelly extends that retribution campaign to the machinery of military justice in a potentially destructive way.”
Potentially? 🤦🏻
Potentially? 🤦🏻
‘An Example MUST BE SET’
The pursuit of Mark Kelly in the military-justice system sends a clear message to service members and veterans.
www.theatlantic.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
“If the first 10 months of the second Trump administration showed [a willingness] to use the criminal-justice system against their perceived enemies, the pursuit of Kelly extends that retribution campaign to the machinery of military justice in a potentially destructive way.”
Potentially? 🤦🏻
Potentially? 🤦🏻
“Digital minstrels like the bot accounts & AI influencers are not only profiting from this content, but are granted anonymity by using digital blackface while rage-baiting & reinforcing stereotypes about Black communities online.”
AI co’s would have you believe this is the path to ending cancer! 🤬
AI co’s would have you believe this is the path to ending cancer! 🤬
The Viral ‘DoorDash Girl’ Saga Unearthed a Nightmare for Black Creators
A delivery driver posted a TikTok alleging she had been sexually assaulted by a customer. The deepfakes that followed reveal a growing digital blackface problem.
www.wired.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
“Digital minstrels like the bot accounts & AI influencers are not only profiting from this content, but are granted anonymity by using digital blackface while rage-baiting & reinforcing stereotypes about Black communities online.”
AI co’s would have you believe this is the path to ending cancer! 🤬
AI co’s would have you believe this is the path to ending cancer! 🤬
good morning 🌞
November 26, 2025 at 11:29 AM
good morning 🌞
I still have lots of Q’s, but hopefully the notion that AI companies can just use whatever they want w/o consent & claim “fair use” is receding further & further in the rear-view mirror of an outrageously exploitative past.
@ednewtonrex.bsky.social @humanartistry.bsky.social @afm-union.bsky.social
@ednewtonrex.bsky.social @humanartistry.bsky.social @afm-union.bsky.social
WMG says artists and songwriters will have full control over whether and how their names, images, likenesses, voices, and compositions are used in new AI-generated music.
Warner Music signs deal with AI music startup Suno, settles lawsuit | TechCrunch
WMG says artists and songwriters will have full control over whether and how their names, images, likenesses, voices, and compositions are used in new AI-generated music.
techcrunch.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
I still have lots of Q’s, but hopefully the notion that AI companies can just use whatever they want w/o consent & claim “fair use” is receding further & further in the rear-view mirror of an outrageously exploitative past.
@ednewtonrex.bsky.social @humanartistry.bsky.social @afm-union.bsky.social
@ednewtonrex.bsky.social @humanartistry.bsky.social @afm-union.bsky.social
good morning 🌞
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
good morning 🌞
Reposted by Neil Turkewitz
I find these kind of funding calls baffling. www.mozillafoundation.org/en/what-we-d... Why do you have to use AI? It ends up encouraging loads of grifty applications, in which AI is inserted into a good idea, or an AI product is bent to align with social purpose
Democracy x AI Cohort | Mozilla Foundation
Democracy stands at a crossroads. Around the globe, citizens are losing faith in institutions while media polarization fractures our shared understanding of truth. Political systems buckle under the p...
www.mozillafoundation.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I find these kind of funding calls baffling. www.mozillafoundation.org/en/what-we-d... Why do you have to use AI? It ends up encouraging loads of grifty applications, in which AI is inserted into a good idea, or an AI product is bent to align with social purpose