Mike Malecki
@malecki.bsky.social
🏳️🌈🤷💁🤦
recovering academic (political science/ statistics), tech adjacent (yougov/ crunch), «“‘ai’”» cassandra
recovering academic (political science/ statistics), tech adjacent (yougov/ crunch), «“‘ai’”» cassandra
Reposted by Mike Malecki
if someone says their business relies on catapults being built on the moon i dont think we should have to take them seriously or subsidize their business with government contracts anymore
February 11, 2026 at 2:02 PM
if someone says their business relies on catapults being built on the moon i dont think we should have to take them seriously or subsidize their business with government contracts anymore
Reposted by Mike Malecki
More people should listen to @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
When people say AI is inevitable, let them know the future isn’t settled.
When people say AI is inevitable, let them know the future isn’t settled.
February 11, 2026 at 2:35 PM
More people should listen to @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
When people say AI is inevitable, let them know the future isn’t settled.
When people say AI is inevitable, let them know the future isn’t settled.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
Reposted by Mike Malecki
It is. The Jewish Musuem in Prague has a collection of children's drawings from the Terezin ghetto. It was the worst thing I've seen in my life.
“Collection of Handwritten Letters from Children in Detention Center” sounds like an exhibit in the Holocaust Museum.
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 8:12 PM
It is. The Jewish Musuem in Prague has a collection of children's drawings from the Terezin ghetto. It was the worst thing I've seen in my life.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
An LLM is language without intelligence. Turns out, language severed from a mind is remarkably powerful. The trick is that this text is just a user's text, but obscured. It takes your text, blows it up, and calibrates the debris to land nearby. Then the interface says, "Here, I wrote this for you."
The Illusion of AGI, or What Language Models Can Do Without Thought
It is not simple stubbornness that LLMs are not “intelligent,” much less a form of “general” intelligence, writes Eryk Salvaggio.
www.techpolicy.press
February 9, 2026 at 8:33 PM
An LLM is language without intelligence. Turns out, language severed from a mind is remarkably powerful. The trick is that this text is just a user's text, but obscured. It takes your text, blows it up, and calibrates the debris to land nearby. Then the interface says, "Here, I wrote this for you."
Reposted by Mike Malecki
I have Complex Thoughts about the show silicon valley but that bit where the hooli ceo screams "I don't want to live in a world where other people make the world a better place better than we do" was one of yer more dead-on moments
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tried to be a good sport, calling the ads funny, but clearly they struck a nerve. He called the ads “deceptive,” accused Anthropic of “doublespeak,” and said it was an “authoritarian company” that was heading down a “dark path.”
sherwood.news/tech/openais...
sherwood.news/tech/openais...
OpenAI’s Altman calls Anthropic an “authoritarian company” and says its Super Bowl ad is “deceptive”
After Anthropic pledged an ad-free Claude in a Super Bowl ad that is a thinly veiled poke at OpenAI, Sam Altman accused the company of “doublespeak”...
sherwood.news
February 5, 2026 at 6:57 PM
I have Complex Thoughts about the show silicon valley but that bit where the hooli ceo screams "I don't want to live in a world where other people make the world a better place better than we do" was one of yer more dead-on moments
Reposted by Mike Malecki
This made me weepy
February 4, 2026 at 1:38 AM
This made me weepy
Reposted by Mike Malecki
This woman has shown more courage than the nominal leaders of the Democratic Party.
Martinez: "[I] sat in federal court and watched from 20 feet away as the border patrol agent who attempted to kill me testified at a hearing. Agent Charles Exum—Charles Exum, my attempted executioner was Charles Exum—I hope the government does not consider my use of his name here to be...doxxing."
February 3, 2026 at 10:38 PM
This woman has shown more courage than the nominal leaders of the Democratic Party.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
ten years ago today no one clapped
February 2, 2026 at 12:57 PM
ten years ago today no one clapped
Reposted by Mike Malecki
If only there was a Congress - or something, y’know? - that had power to do something about this
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington will close for roughly two years to allow for extensive renovations, President Donald Trump said. https://cnn.it/3LLBKTp
February 2, 2026 at 12:28 AM
If only there was a Congress - or something, y’know? - that had power to do something about this
Reposted by Mike Malecki
i don't know if i've ever seen a chotining where chotiner gives up in the middle and goes "ok buddy. here's your petard." www.newyorker.com/culture/q-an...
What a “Melania” Cinematographer Hoped to Accomplish
Dante Spinotti has had a legendary Hollywood career. Why is he making propaganda for the Trump family?
www.newyorker.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:32 AM
i don't know if i've ever seen a chotining where chotiner gives up in the middle and goes "ok buddy. here's your petard." www.newyorker.com/culture/q-an...
Reposted by Mike Malecki
As these teens describe, AI can diminish human relationships; devalue art; threaten the environment; lead to laziness; give unreliable results; pose privacy concerns; and be misused.
So, please, stop with the narratives of inevitability and let's embrace a pedagogy and politics of refusal.
So, please, stop with the narratives of inevitability and let's embrace a pedagogy and politics of refusal.
7 Reasons Teens Say No to AI
Some young people only turn to artificial-intelligence chatbots as a last resort, citing concerns about relationships, creativity, the environment and more.
www.wsj.com
February 1, 2026 at 10:24 PM
As these teens describe, AI can diminish human relationships; devalue art; threaten the environment; lead to laziness; give unreliable results; pose privacy concerns; and be misused.
So, please, stop with the narratives of inevitability and let's embrace a pedagogy and politics of refusal.
So, please, stop with the narratives of inevitability and let's embrace a pedagogy and politics of refusal.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
ICE agents tried to quietly get Mexican food in Minneapolis, local neighbors and protesters found out and shamed then out of the neighborhood!
February 1, 2026 at 10:47 PM
ICE agents tried to quietly get Mexican food in Minneapolis, local neighbors and protesters found out and shamed then out of the neighborhood!
Reposted by Mike Malecki
you are not an algorithm
you are not the software
you are an animal
you cannot be removed from this body
because this body is what you are
I'm sorry
and, congratulations
you are not the software
you are an animal
you cannot be removed from this body
because this body is what you are
I'm sorry
and, congratulations
I'm just so fucking sick of people who don't treat people like people treating math like people because they think they're math because they are too busy being the worst people on the planet to ever experience what it means to be a body
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
okay. the thing about "it's a social network for bots" is that, unless you tell it to, a bot has no reason to care about an "upvote". it does not desire human connection. it does not desire attention. it does not desire at all. you are maximizing a function
that's literally the entirety of it
that's literally the entirety of it
January 31, 2026 at 2:56 PM
you are not an algorithm
you are not the software
you are an animal
you cannot be removed from this body
because this body is what you are
I'm sorry
and, congratulations
you are not the software
you are an animal
you cannot be removed from this body
because this body is what you are
I'm sorry
and, congratulations
Reposted by Mike Malecki
I'm just so fucking sick of people who don't treat people like people treating math like people because they think they're math because they are too busy being the worst people on the planet to ever experience what it means to be a body
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
okay. the thing about "it's a social network for bots" is that, unless you tell it to, a bot has no reason to care about an "upvote". it does not desire human connection. it does not desire attention. it does not desire at all. you are maximizing a function
that's literally the entirety of it
that's literally the entirety of it
January 31, 2026 at 2:49 PM
I'm just so fucking sick of people who don't treat people like people treating math like people because they think they're math because they are too busy being the worst people on the planet to ever experience what it means to be a body
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
look at the fucking ocean and tell me a webcam can do the same
Reposted by Mike Malecki
Quilicura, Chile, one of the communities I wrote about in EMPIRE OF AI, has launched a brilliant initiative to inspire more responsible AI prompting. Today, don't use AI; ask the townspeople instead: quili.ai. So heartened to see this creative act of resistance.
January 31, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Quilicura, Chile, one of the communities I wrote about in EMPIRE OF AI, has launched a brilliant initiative to inspire more responsible AI prompting. Today, don't use AI; ask the townspeople instead: quili.ai. So heartened to see this creative act of resistance.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
Just a reminder, the greatest living American historian filmmaker, Ken Burns, released a 720 min exploration of every facet of the American revolution using zero generative AI and paying for all of its assets instead of cobbling it from stolen data, then he gave it away for free on PBS this year.
First trailer for Darren Aranofsky's new AI animated series 'On This Day... 1776'
• Tells short narrative stories about the Revolutionary War
• Uses Gen AI tools, including tech made by Google DeepMind
• Has SAG voice actors
• Tells short narrative stories about the Revolutionary War
• Uses Gen AI tools, including tech made by Google DeepMind
• Has SAG voice actors
January 29, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Just a reminder, the greatest living American historian filmmaker, Ken Burns, released a 720 min exploration of every facet of the American revolution using zero generative AI and paying for all of its assets instead of cobbling it from stolen data, then he gave it away for free on PBS this year.
The Challenger explosion is my earliest searing dated memory — home from preschool watching on tv (a thing then). Countdown— liftoff— silence. IDK if my mom, a science teacher and union rep like McAuliffe, had applied, but she led school trips to Kennedy Space Center for the rest of her career.
January 28, 2026 at 10:56 PM
The Challenger explosion is my earliest searing dated memory — home from preschool watching on tv (a thing then). Countdown— liftoff— silence. IDK if my mom, a science teacher and union rep like McAuliffe, had applied, but she led school trips to Kennedy Space Center for the rest of her career.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
January 27, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Reposted by Mike Malecki
we’re right about ai too
January 27, 2026 at 2:23 PM
we’re right about ai too
Reposted by Mike Malecki
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
January 27, 2026 at 12:22 AM
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
Reposted by Mike Malecki
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
January 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
Reposted by Mike Malecki
Ta-Nehisi Coates: With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, "Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact—the culture war is an actual war"
“The Homeland” Is War on America: The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism That Killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti
In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: the culture war is an actual war.
www.vanityfair.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Ta-Nehisi Coates: With the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, "Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact—the culture war is an actual war"
Reposted by Mike Malecki
And what a failure you’ve made of that life, Mike. An opportunity to make the world better, completely squandered.
Mike Johnson: "I was the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy exactly one year before Roe. A lot of people tried to convince my very young parents that they should just take care of that problem. But I am eternally grateful that they allowed me the chance at life."
January 23, 2026 at 7:09 PM
And what a failure you’ve made of that life, Mike. An opportunity to make the world better, completely squandered.