Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

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Anthropic just announced that Claude and all its AI tools will now watermark every piece of text a user generates, even if it's scientific research or computer code. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Neil Chilson, former FTC Chief Technologist, to break down exactly what AI watermarking is, how the EU AI Act transparency code is forcing this change worldwide, and why this could threaten your privacy and free speech.
We explain how probabilistic text watermarking works by subtly altering word choices in AI-generated content, why this creates serious problems for legal documents scientific research and creative writing, and how Anthropic's decision to apply these watermarks globally affects US users who never consented to this tracking. 
Neil also breaks down the cybersecurity risks, the potential for government overreach, and why open-weight AI models might be the only escape hatch from extraterritorial regulation.
 
If you use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any AI writing tool, (or even if you don't!) you need to understand how the EU AI Act transparency requirements are reshaping AI output behind the scenes. We discuss the dangers of compelled speech on digital platforms and what watermarking means for the future of anonymous online expression.
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Zuckerberg Wants AI to Know Everything About You 
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Mark Zuckerberg just published a massive 6,500-word manifesto laying out an aggressive vision for the future of AI. But is this really about democratizing technology, or is it a desperate PR move to catch up with OpenAI and Anthropic? 
I sat down with New York Times technology reporter Mike Isaac, who has covered Zuckerberg and Meta for more than a decade, to unpack what Zuckerberg is really proposing and why Meta is making such an aggressive push into AI right now.
We discuss Meta's battle with OpenAI and Anthropic, Zuckerberg's renewed embrace of open models, the company's massive data center buildout, the backlash against AI infrastructure, and why Meta may be trying to position itself as the alternative to the AI safety movement.
We also get into the biggest problem with Zuckerberg's vision, and Mike explains why Zuckerberg is suddenly talking to the media again, how far behind Meta really is in the AI race, what the company's next generation of AI agents could look like, and what to watch for at Meta Connect. 
 
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What happens when startups straight up stop hiring human creators and start leveraging industrial-scale bot farms powered by AI? In this bonus episode of Power User, I sit down with New York Magazine's Rebecca Jennings to discuss her investigation into Doublespeed, a massively viral new venture-backed startup founded by 21-year-old entrepreneur Zuhair Lakhani that aims to replace human influencers with an army of AI-generated personas. They've already raised over $1 million from Andreessen Horowitz. 
From sneaker botting and manufactured restaurant waitlists to operating thousands of cold Android phones from a desktop computer, Rebecca and I unpack the dark mechanics and patterns behind these bot armies running on phone farms in LA. We also discuss the total atrophy of the internet as we know it.  
We break down how AI bot farms work, why brands are turning to AI instead of human influencers, and how Silicon Valley is turning manufactured virality into a business. We also discuss the explosion of AI slop, the future of the influencer industry, the death of online authenticity, AI advertising, political manipulation, human verification and what happens when bots become indistinguishable from real people.

Inside the Case That Could Change Protesting Forever
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This week on Free Speech Friday, I sat down with independent investigative journalist Andrew Fedorov, whose bombshell Mother Jones piece reveals the horrors of the Prairieland case, which was one of the harshest protest sentencing outcomes in modern U.S. history. 
Activists who gathered outside a Texas ICE detention center on July 4th are now facing sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years, with combined sentencing for the group reaching over 580 years.
 Andrew sat in the courtroom for the entire trial, interviewed the defendants' friends and families, and pieced together a detailed timeline of what actually happened that night. We break down the real story of how these activists were persecuted and how the government built its case using Signal chats and iCloud backups.
 
We break down:
Who the Prairieland activists actually are and how they got involved

What really happened outside the ICE facility on July 4th

How the government used signal chats, iCloud data, and TikTok activity as evidence

Why one man is facing 30 years and deportation for moving a box of zines

What these sentences mean for the future of protest and free speech in America

Why big tech companies are complying with government subpoenas targeting anti-ICE accounts

This is a case everyone should understand because prosecutors are already calling it a successful blueprint, and similar cases are emerging in Minnesota, Washington, and beyond.
Read Andrew Fedorov's full investigation, "How Anti-ICE Protesters Became Prisoners in Trump's War on Antifa," linked below.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/prairieland-texas-antifa-trial-ice-protesters-terrorism-conspiracy/

The Wild Rise and Fall of Leopold Aschenbrenner
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Until a week ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner was hailed as the "Nostradamus of AI". A 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher whose 165-page manifesto, Situational Awareness, convinced Silicon Valley and Wall Street that superintelligence was coming faster than anyone expected, his hedge fund ballooned to over $20 billion. Then, it came crashing down. 
In this episode of Power User, WSJ reporter Berber Jin joins me to break down the meteoric rise and fall of Leopold Aschenbrenner, from his early days in the effective altruism movement and FTX's Future Fund, to his controversial exit from OpenAI, to the margin calls, Citadel bailout, and chaos that unfolded the very same week he got married
 We discuss what Aschenbrenner's spectacular blowup tells us about Silicon Valley, AI hype, and the rush to bet billions on AI.
Follow Berber Jin (Wall Street Journal): https://twitter.com/berber_jin 
Read Berber's story: https://www.wsj.com/finance/leopold-aschenbrenner-situational-awareness-ai-fund-597633d3