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Jacob Ward

@byjacobward.bsky.social

Journalist at TheRipCurrent.com covering AI, surveillance, disinformation, platforms, the whole shebang. My book "The Loop" about AI mania is out in paperback. Former NBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, PBS.

1,753 Followers  |  0 Following  |  83 Posts  |  Joined: 03.05.2023
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Posts by Jacob Ward (@byjacobward.bsky.social)

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Israel built AI targeting systems in Gaza — approved kills in 20 seconds, 10% error rate accepted. Now those same systems are running over Iran and being exported all over the world. I’m calling this “lethal beta,” and there’s an arms industry IPO-ing off the back of it. Full breakdown at

04.03.2026 00:45 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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I don’t want to trigger the designers here, but this is the phrase that has always worked for me. #collaboration #creative #relationships #ripcurrent

Full episodes and analysis → YT

01.03.2026 21:36 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The President banned an AI company from the entire government because it wouldn't let the Pentagon use it for mass surveillance. But Anthropic walked into this. They partnered with Palantir to get into classified systems. They took the $200M contract. And now every other AI company has to decide if

28.02.2026 03:37 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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The Pentagon just tried to bully an AI company into removing its safety guardrails. So I looked into what those guardrails are actually holding back.

Seven real, documented, sourced AI capabilities that most people have no idea exist yet.

The full piece is for paid subscribers.

TheRipCurrent.com

26.02.2026 21:19 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks for listening!

26.02.2026 18:05 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks for being there! The first of many I hope!

20.02.2026 20:55 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Big News: The Rip Current is Changing After a year of building The Rip Current, I’m making a shift in how this newsletter works — and I want to be straight with you about what’s changing and why.

After a week like this one, it felt like the right time to announce: The Rip Current is going paid. Here's what that means.

open.substack.com/pub/theripcu...

20.02.2026 20:55 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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In 1964, Nikolai Kardashev thought he'd discovered alien life. What he actually found changed how we think about humanity's place in the universe — and makes clear that we're wasting our one shot at existence. The closest potentially habitable planet is 200,000 years away. We're already living on

03.02.2026 07:37 — 👍 11    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Don’t believe the hype. NO TWO HUMANS CAN AGREE on shared values. #ai #artificialintelligence #ethics #ripcurrent #tech

Full episodes and analysis → YT

29.01.2026 02:38 — 👍 11    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Thank you Scholar for having me! See you tonight, Monday, Jan 12, at Mad Oak in Oakland at 6:30pm!

12.01.2026 18:38 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Every oil empire says this time will be different. History says: absolutely not. From Iraq to Suez to Algeria to Nigeria — oil doesn’t make empires rich. It bankrupts them. Venezuela won’t be the exception. Read and watch the whole thing on my channel and at TheRipCurrent.com. #OilPolitics

05.01.2026 20:38 — 👍 10    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Nailed it!

04.01.2026 18:31 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I’ll try! Thank you!

04.01.2026 18:31 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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It’s a preview of what’s to come, folks. What happened at the Kolkata stadium wasn’t really about soccer. It was about expectation, exclusion, and betrayal. People paid real money to be promised proximity — to something global, elite, and Western — and then watched it vanish behind velvet ropes.

03.01.2026 01:38 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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One episode of Graham Norton Show would have convinced Paul to steer clear of Joshua #boxing #jakepaul

Subscribe to the podcast and newsletter for free at TheRipCurrent.com!

20.12.2025 18:38 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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A new paper at the top AI conference shows that all the big AI models — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, the whole gang — collapse our ideas into the same narrow middle lane. Different models. Same answers. That’s not “assistive.” That’s a hive mind. No, really: The paper is entitled “Artificial Hive Mind:

04.12.2025 02:38 — 👍 124    🔁 47    💬 5    📌 5
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“Emotional connection” is the strategy of any product company, but never has an industry been able to generate a distortion field around its products like the AI industry. Catch the whole thing on YT! #OpenAI #ChatGPT #SamAltman #GoogleGemini #AI

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03.12.2025 18:38 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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OpenAI just declared CODE RED 🚨 Sam Altman told employees to drop everything — advertising, AI agents, a personal assistant called Pulse — ALL of it paused. The mission? Make ChatGPT feel more PERSONAL. Smarter, sure. Faster, yes. But more personal, definitely. Google Gemini went from 450M to 650M

02.12.2025 20:38 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Seafood! Pork ribs! But not the dry bird. Why eat something no one has any practice at making? #turkey #thanksgiving

Subscribe to the podcast and newsletter for free at TheRipCurrent.com!

02.12.2025 14:38 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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👀 Trump’s leaked plan to kill state A.I. laws is quietly being pushed into a must-pass defense bill. The FTC lost its big antitrust case against Meta. TSMC is talking about moving more chipmaking outside Taiwan. And the A.I. priesthood is gathering at

02.12.2025 02:37 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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People are treating AIs like gurus, soulmates, even therapists — and the fallout is getting dark. Teen bans. Lawsuits. Delusions. Even OpenAI’s own data shows millions of users showing signs of suicidal intent, emotional dependence, or psychosis every week. We’re entering a new era where our

25.11.2025 22:38 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Three major insurers just asked regulators to let them exclude A.I.-related losses entirely. They say the risks are “unpriceable.” When the risk people want no part of you, that’s trouble. #AI #TechUpdate #AIBubble #InsuranceCrisis #TechPolicy #ArtificialIntelligence #JacobWard

25.11.2025 03:38 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
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Meta’s A.I. scientist just quit the LLM arms race… politely. Yann LeCun is out, starting his own company, and openly saying LLMs will never reach superintelligence. Translation: The A.I. era just cracked down the middle.

21.11.2025 19:37 — 👍 6    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Trump’s leaked AI order would BAN all state AI laws — the only real protections we have. California, Colorado, Illinois… gone. And 80% of Americans actually want regulation. This isn’t about innovation — it’s about removing the last democratic guardrails we have. Full breakdown in today’s episode

21.11.2025 16:37 — 👍 10    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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A huge turnout of incredibly smart and engaged folks from all corners of tech, academia, and the law on Monday night for my talk on the rise of AI psychosis. Give Scholar a follow so you can attend the next one! #ai #artificialintelligence #tech

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13.11.2025 16:37 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The Wall Street Journal‘s latest expose reveals that what I wrote about back in 2018 for The New York Times magazine has now turned into a full-fledged industr. Silicon Valley billionaires are seeking to genetically edit babies, not just to avoid disease but to choose the embryos most likely to be

13.11.2025 00:38 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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You WANT the surprise, believe me. #citylife #travel

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11.11.2025 15:37 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The cultural allergy to AI’s effect on the brain - and the lawsuits that will follow - are the first steps in pushing back effectively. #ai #llm #chatgpt #claude #technology

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11.11.2025 06:36 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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There’s an art and strategy to holding out effectively, and unfortunately doing it wrong and giving up early erases the value you’ve created up to that point. That’s what the Dems seem to have done here. #democrats #politics

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10.11.2025 20:36 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Shutdown air travel tips! Don’t fly if you don’t have to, fly on a Wednesday or Saturday, and snack up HARD before you get on board. #airport #travel #shutdown #airplane

Subscribe to the podcast and newsletter for free at TheRipCurrent.com!

08.11.2025 22:36 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0