Chinese AI Enters the Chat
Plus: Federal employees offered buyouts, immigration crackdown continues, and more...
Artificial Intelligence
The Best of Reason: Cutting Off Trade Will Make the U.S. Poorer and China More Totalitarian
Politicians in both major parties see the People's Republic as an economic and military threat. But the real threat is an isolated China.
How a Chinese AI Company Found a Way Around America's Export Controls
DeepSeek made a more efficient product that the rules wouldn't hinder.
Is This New Chinese AI a 'Sputnik Moment'?
DeepSeek has released a cheap, open-source artificial intelligence. Does it challenge American AI supremacy?
Stargate: Artificial Superintelligence in 4 Years?
The dawn of a new golden age?
The Best of Reason: 'The Constitution Is Not a Suicide Pact'
How a 1949 Supreme Court dissent gave birth to a meme that subverts free speech and civil liberties.
"Regulation of Algorithms" Panel at Federalist Society Faculty Conference,
featuring Prof. Saurabh Vishnubhakat (Yeshiva), Profs. Gregory Dickinson (Nebraska), Prof. Christina Mulligan (Brooklyn), Dhruva Krishna (Kirkland & Ellis), and me.
The Best of Reason: The Improbable Rise of MAGA-Musk
Is Elon Musk a reactionary with a defective bullshit meter or the best part of the second Trump administration?
The Best of Reason: Bidenomics Goes Out With a Whimper
There's a good reason Biden eventually stopped saying Bidenomics. Americans didn't like the results of his economic policies.
2024's Most Undercovered Stories
Surely 2025 will be a freewheeling romp, right?…Right? Happy New Year!
Can Nativists and Dynamists Coexist Within Trump's MAGA Coalition?
An ongoing online debate over visas for highly skilled foreign workers is revealing a fissure that might define Trump's second term.
Byrne Hobart: What happened to progress?
Finance and tech writer Byrne Hobart discusses how bubbles are a good thing, overcoming stagnation, and the religiosity of space exploration.
Guillaume Verdon: Should We Have a 'Second Amendment for AI'?
Based Beff Jezos, co-founder of Extropic, discusses AI safety, decentralization, and going analog.
The Best of Reason: The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction
American history is often a story of people leaving to try to build their voluntary utopias.
Which Way, FCC—Build or Stagnate?
Marc Andreessen’s call to build clashed with Washington’s regulatory mindset.
The Best of Reason: Everybody Hates Prices
How much should a Wendy's Baconator cost? Elizabeth Warren thinks the government should help decide.
Does Spying on Laptops Really Prevent High School Suicides?
Administrators say AI surveillance tech helps struggling students get care. But false alarms are common.
Donate Because Reason Is Consistent in the Chaos
Saturday is a great day to give to the magazine of free minds and free markets—and double your dollars!
China Goes Tit for Tat Over U.S. Chip Bans
Semiconductor protectionism is a downward spiral that makes both parties poorer.
The Best of Reason: The 2024 Campaign Was an Embarrassment for Elite Media
Journalists increasingly see their job as protecting their preferred candidates, not asking tough questions.
The Best of Reason: Abolish the DEA, ICE, and the Small Business Administration
In the Abolish Everything issue, Reason writers make the case for ending the DEA, ICE, the SBA, and everything else.
Deepfake Crackdowns Threaten Free Speech
From criminal penalties to bounty hunters, state laws targeting election-related synthetic media raise serious First Amendment concerns.
The Best of Reason: Abolish Amtrak, the FDA, and the TSA
In the Abolish Everything issue, Reason writers make the case for ending Amtrak, the FDA, the TSA, and everything else.
The Best of Reason: Is Being a Mom Bad for Your Career?
A recent study shows that women experience a short-term "motherhood penalty," but their earnings rebound within a decade.
Regulations Are Making It Harder To Meet the Nation's Power Demands
Federal regulators have rejected a proposal to increase electricity generation from a nuclear power plant to a large data center in Pennsylvania.
Judge Dismisses Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI
Copying information is not the same as copying content.
The Best of Reason: How the Political Spectrum Turned Inside Out
From 9/11 to the COVID-19 pandemic, crisis moments keep reshaping the political landscape.
What the Past Can Teach Us About Our AI Fears
Regulating AI could threaten free speech, just as earlier proposed regulations of other media once did.
The Best of Reason: Big Pot vs. Big Government in Florida
Mom-and-pop marijuana operations do not exist in Florida. That's by design.
Glasses Equipped with Facial Recognition Are in Our Future
Two Harvard undergrads give us a glimpse of the surveillance future.
The Best of Reason Magazine: How Did Immigration Politics Get So Toxic?
Changing migration patterns, outdated policy tools, and growing presidential power made it inevitable.
Review: A Murder Mystery After the Apocalypse
The Last Murder at the End of the World explores the dangers of absolute power.
The Best of Reason: Kamala Harris' Freedom Flip-Flop
Harris is running away from her far-left past.
Judge Blocks California Law Restricting "Materially Deceptive" Election-Related Deepfakes
The judge concluded that the law, AB 2839, likely violates the First Amendment, and therefore issued a preliminary injunction blocking it from going into effect.
Minnesota 'Acting as a Ministry of Truth' With Anti-Deep Fake Law, Says Lawsuit
The broad ban on AI-generated political content is clearly an affront to the First Amendment.
The Best of Reason: Can This Psychedelic Help Cure Opioid Addiction?
This Kentucky Republican won't stop until he finds a state willing to make legal room for ibogaine, a drug he calls "God's medicine."
Three Mile Island Nearly Killed Nuclear. Now It's Coming Back.
Microsoft has agreed to purchase Three Mile Island's energy to power its AI data centers for the next 20 years. It's the first time a U.S. nuclear reactor will come out of retirement.
The Best of Reason: These Pro-Lifers Don't Love Abortion Bans
Reason talked with pro-life Americans who are uncomfortable with the post–Roe v. Wade abortion policy landscape.
The Owner of Three Mile Island Is Turning the Nuclear Power Plant Back on to Fuel Microsoft's AI Operations
In this latest skirmish between the future and its enemies, the future won.
California Lawmakers Think They Can Outsmart AI
Politicians are always trying to control what they can't understand.
