Brian Fishman

I appreciate journalists trying to cover the general trend here. But I suspect a misinformed public here is a function of the proliferation of media sources & coverage coupled w/ very old ‘if it bleeds it leads’ media dynamics. Hard to beat plethora of legit anecdotes w a few data-driven stories.

This undermines U.S. national security. I taught in SOSH & was always proud of USMA's willingness to stand up to political pressure. The institution protected our independence and thereby the quality of the education we provided cadets. Politicizing education and our military is garbage.

I don’t know if @jmberger.com will be right or wrong, but he’s thought about this as much as anyone.

Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia A previously unreported order by Elon Musk to cut satellite communications over a portion of Ukraine disrupted a counteroffensive by Kyiv in the autumn of 2022. Reuters investigated the billionaire's order and its implications for countries increasingly reliant on his Starlink internet service.

This is a critical story, with implications far beyond Ukraine.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Volunteers Begin Delivering Disaster Relief for Texas Floods Veteran-led nonprofit Team Rubicon has begun deploying Greyshirts to Kerr and Tom Green counties for disaster relief for Texas floods.

In the wake of the Texas floods, some self-described veterans have seemingly lost their minds and are attacking weather radars. But a reminder that there are far more veterans continuing their service in this moment.

teamrubiconusa.org/news-and-sto...

Monarchies are authoritarian states with better branding.

Turns out AI Safety matters. Cinder's customers - you've heard of them - use our product to do stuff like: remove CSAM, identify nation-states, prevent customer service chatbots from going nazi on diverse customer bases, comply with sanctions law. Almost like its just good, basic business practice.

I have questions.

Also, are you sure you're going to have enough to talk about?

This better be good, Afshon.

Anyway, I think that’s the context here. And, fwiw, I give the model developers credit for highlighting risks. Sure, some of it is disaster porn that generates clicks. But it’s also a much better effort than social media in its early days. Perfect? No. But positive trend. 8/8

Think this model is too favorable to foundation model developers? Of course the model developers are going to come up w/ a vision of responsibility that aligns to their business interests. But I do think they are laying out that vision and I don’t hear a lot of thoughtful examination. 7/n

Fwiw, I’m not necessarily endorsing this breakdown of responsibility, though I agree that the foundation models have to address the catastrophic risks. But I do think this allocation of responsibility is the first key issue. 6/n

The app developers also don’t really have the focus or means (in many cases) to manage the security issues. But because they are close to the usecase and the user end users they do have relevant info that the model developers don’t necessarily have. 5/n

That doesn’t mean they aren’t working on other AI safety issues. They are. But it does mean that they are most aggressively accepting responsibility for the catastrophic risks. The issue here is that app developers do not really understand this breakdown of responsibility. 4/n

It’s not the cost of content moderation that they worry about most; it’s about honing a model that’s unlikely to produce harm but that is still applicable to a wide range of usecases. Might sound easy, but it isn’t. So you see companies focusing on catastrophic risks, like bioweapons. 3/n

This will push more responsibility on app developers to manage lesser (but more common and still highly problematic) risks. It’s fair to say that foundation model companies see this as financially useful, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong. 2/n

The broader context here matters. Society writ large. Has not yet established who is ultimately responsible for mitigating different types of AI risk. Foundation model developers are offering an answer - that largely (but not completely) focuses on catastrophic risks. 1/n

This is a really important point.

Politicians and other political leaders have an obvious responsibility to reduce tension and maintain peace and order. Trafficking in disinformation does the opposite. Sending national guard otroops into a clear law enforcement situation does the opposite. 2/2

The Los Angeles situation creates a prime opportunity for disinformation designed to increase tension and both incite and justify, violence. These messages will likely target both supporters and opponents of ICE raids and Trump. Beware your own confirmation bias; it will be used against you. 1/2

Trump / Elon split is entertaining I guess, but the entire thing reflects a travesty for our democracy and society more generally. It reifies undermining the rule-of-law and the notion that individuals rather than predictable systems drive value, contracting, and democracy. Watch, but don't cheer.

Bill Braniff is a dedicated public servant dedicated to preventing terrorism with means-tested tools that respect and protect the liberties of all Americans. He built a program that has delivered real results.

I don't know anything about Fugate, but I know he could have learned a lot from Bill.

Good read, tho imo @jacobware.bsky.social & Zolyniak understate Mangione's intent to catalyze support for violence. May not meet "coerce" standard & perhaps reinforces that it is counterproductive to prosecute as terrorism, but places the attack in the frame under traditional terrorism definitions.

Yikes.

We're doing okay, under the circumstances

This is a journalism fail more than an AI fail.

You have to think about AI as a smart 8th grader - capable of doing many useful things, but also prone to really bad decisions. Use, don't trust, and verify.

1 Dead as Bomb Damages Palm Springs Fertility Clinic, Mayor Says

Bomb in Palm Springs.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/u...

Exclusive | Donors Promised ‘VIP Experience’ at Military Events With Trump Top donors to a committee supporting events celebrating America’s 250th birthday will receive special access to a military parade and other festivities.

Giving political donors “dedicated VIP experiences” with the US military is not only corrupt, it will damagingly make Americans think of our military as partisan. Congress should prevent this.

Makes me want to go back to school.