Chris Riley
@mchrisriley.com
"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)
http://mchrisriley.com (... of course)
Pinned
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.
Where will things progress now? Will law enforcement in NYC face thrown slices of pizza? Hot dogs in Chicago? Sushi in LA or SF? Teriyaki in Seattle? Only time will tell.
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Where will things progress now? Will law enforcement in NYC face thrown slices of pizza? Hot dogs in Chicago? Sushi in LA or SF? Teriyaki in Seattle? Only time will tell.
I'm going to say it: I like working with an AI copyeditor. Generally, I hate independent editing, because all of my words are precious butterflies and how dare you (even when you're right). But with AI, I have absolutely zero compunction to say "Ha ha, fuck you, NO" and put the original back in.
October 27, 2025 at 4:15 AM
I'm going to say it: I like working with an AI copyeditor. Generally, I hate independent editing, because all of my words are precious butterflies and how dare you (even when you're right). But with AI, I have absolutely zero compunction to say "Ha ha, fuck you, NO" and put the original back in.
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...
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
October 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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...
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...
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.
Hat tip @404media.co of course, because they are the best.
October 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
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.
Hat tip @404media.co of course, because they are the best.
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 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
October 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
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.
Reposted by Chris Riley
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...
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
September 24, 2025 at 4:01 AM
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...
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
September 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM
cool cool apnews.com/article/unga...
Reposted by Chris Riley
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...
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...
September 15, 2025 at 7:44 AM
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...
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...
👀
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/... )
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/... )
Anthropic’s Claude AI can now automatically ‘remember’ past chats
Anthropic’s Claude AI can now automatically ‘remember’ past chats
Anthropic is launching incognito chats, too.
buff.ly
September 11, 2025 at 9:59 PM
👀
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/... )
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/... )
... wow
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
September 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
... wow
Reposted by Chris Riley
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
August 18, 2025 at 1:16 PM
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.
"think harder" not smarter apparently...
August 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
"think harder" not smarter apparently...
just this headline is disturbing me. maybe i should go back to bed...
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
August 7, 2025 at 3:34 PM
just this headline is disturbing me. maybe i should go back to bed...
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.
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.
August 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
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.
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.
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.
“The president cut your health care so he could build himself a golden ballroom” is a pretty easy message to sell
August 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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.
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.
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).
August 1, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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.
This feels like an Onion article.
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
July 31, 2025 at 5:02 PM
This feels like an Onion article.
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
July 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
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-...)
I know approximately one million. Paul is good people, for those who spot this.
Hello legal bluesky. Do I know any copyright lawyers?
July 20, 2025 at 3:44 AM
I know approximately one million. Paul is good people, for those who spot this.
"vibe physics" lol gizmodo.com/billionaires...
Billionaires Convince Themselves AI Chatbots Are Close to Making New Scientific Discoveries
gizmodo.com
July 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
"vibe physics" lol gizmodo.com/billionaires...
Reposted by Chris Riley
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...
“The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work”
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
July 15, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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...
“The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work”
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
This is only the beginning. And I don't know what to do about it. (... which makes it exactly the sort of problem that interests me ... who wants to chat?) www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials
An imposter using AI to pose as Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress, according to a State Department cable.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
This is only the beginning. And I don't know what to do about it. (... which makes it exactly the sort of problem that interests me ... who wants to chat?) www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Chris Riley
Lately I feel like the internet was a mistake.
Here are some cool websites to help you find joy on the internet. It's much harder to find cool stuff these days. Here's some stuff I've discovered lately. Please feel free to share more in the thread.
Mac OS 9 emulator: macos9.app
Here are some cool websites to help you find joy on the internet. It's much harder to find cool stuff these days. Here's some stuff I've discovered lately. Please feel free to share more in the thread.
Mac OS 9 emulator: macos9.app
Infinite Mac
A classic Mac loaded with everything you'd want.
macos9.app
July 8, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Lately I feel like the internet was a mistake.
Here are some cool websites to help you find joy on the internet. It's much harder to find cool stuff these days. Here's some stuff I've discovered lately. Please feel free to share more in the thread.
Mac OS 9 emulator: macos9.app
Here are some cool websites to help you find joy on the internet. It's much harder to find cool stuff these days. Here's some stuff I've discovered lately. Please feel free to share more in the thread.
Mac OS 9 emulator: macos9.app