A Constitutionally Dubious California Bill Would Ban Possession of AI-Generated Child Pornography
The proposal seems to conflict with a Supreme Court ruling against laws that criminalize mere possession of obscene material.
Artificial Intelligence
Man Sues Sunglass Hut After Faulty AI Facial Recognition Tech Led to Wrongful Arrest
Harvey Murphy was wrongfully arrested for robbing a Sunglasses Hut after facial recognition tech identified him as the robber. The 61-year-old says he was brutally sexually assaulted in jail.
The Best of Reason: Is ESG Already Over?
CEOs are beginning to wonder what to do when environmental, social, and governance factors are at odds with performance.
AI Fraud Act Could Outlaw Parodies, Political Cartoons, and More
The bill is broad enough to target a Saturday Night Live skit lampooning Trump, a comedic impression of Taylor Swift, or a weird ChatGPT-generated image of Ayn Rand.
The Best of Reason: The Fiscal Hawks Were Right About Debt and Interest Rates
Rosy fiscal expectations based on eternally low interest rates have proven dangerously wrong.
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
Plus: Jacobin tries to read Hayek, Houthis try to strike more ships, S.F. politicians try to order businesses around, and more...
The Best of Reason: The Post-Neoliberalism Moment
Anyone advocating neoliberal policies is now persona non grata in Washington, D.C.
Empire AI
Plus: Adult activists, Fani Willis' love life, Catholic crackdown, and more...
The Best of Reason: Long Live the Conch Republic
The colorful, mostly libertarian history of Key West.
In 2024, Teens Will Get Pregnant in Driverless Cars
Plus: State officials attempt to ban Donald Trump from 2024 election ballots.
We Absolutely Do Not Need an FDA for AI
If our best and brightest technologists and theorists are struggling to see the way forward for AI, what makes anyone think politicians are going to get there first?
The Best of Reason: How Florida Fixed Its Vote-Counting Problem After the 2000 Election
Ballots should be counted quickly and accurately.
Self-Driving Cars Have Arrived. They Will Make Us Safer.
The good news: Regulators have exercised unusual restraint.
The Best of Reason: Meet Florida's Python Bounty Hunters
Eradication of the apex predator is "likely impossible."
The Best of Reason: Monkey Herpes, Face Eating, and the Pork Chop Gang: The Origins of Florida Man
The growing anti-transparency atmosphere in the state might make the Florida Man extinct.
Struggling Artist
Plus: Digital AR-15s, actual AR-15s, politicians livestreaming sex acts, and more...
The Most Obnoxious Blowhard in America
Plus: Grimes the urbanist, Matt Taibbi's fight night, crazy AI applications, and more...
Israel Knew What Hamas Was Planning
Plus: DeSantis vs. Newsom, a controversial Christmas-tree lighting, Brazilians use AI, and more...
The Best of Reason: The Endangered Species Act at 50
Why have so few species been taken off the endangered species list?
Don't Trust a Model U.N. Nerd
Plus: Four-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, teen activists, anti-murder billboards, and more...
The Best of Reason: Milton Friedman Was No Conservative
A new Friedman biography ably explores the economist's ideas but sidesteps the libertarian movement he was central to.
OpenAI Basically Unionizes
Plus: Getting babies out of Gaza, lobster roll economics, gerontocracy update, and more...
The World's First Libertarian President
Plus: A listener asks the editors about libertarians and "reflexive contrarianism."
My Own Personal Evita
Plus: OpenAI apocalypse, New York's problematic pie, Backpage trial concludes, and more...
I Used ChatGPT To Make Pokémon Versions of Trump, Biden, and RFK Jr.
The results are interesting and suggest weird and significant biases.
Will AI Destroy Humanity?
Susan Schneider and Jobst Landgrebe debate the dangers of AI.
The Best of Reason: The Abundance Agenda Promises Everything to Everyone All at Once
Some progressives want to remove bureaucratic obstacles to growth—in the service of Democrats and big government.
Will AI Destroy Humanity? A Soho Forum Debate
Susan Schneider and Jobst Landgrebe debate the dangers of AI.
Did Chuck Schumer Just Come Out Against Top-Down AI Licensing?
"Duty of care has worked in other areas," the senator said, "and it seems to fit decently well here in the AI model."
The Best of Reason Magazine: Love, Trade, and Force: The Machinery of Freedom at 50
David Friedman's anarchism doesn't have the answer for everything. That's the point.
No Malarkey: Even Democrats Think Biden Is Too Old
Plus: A listener asks the editors about requiring gun buyers to pass a psychological assessment.
Safety First
Plus: Israeli forces get close to Gaza City, scenes from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, mini-millionaires, and more...
Biden Issues 'A.I. Red Tape Wishlist'
Biden's new executive order will slow the development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies.
The Best of Reason: Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?
Free Agents author Kevin J. Mitchell makes a neuroscientific case against determinism.
The Best of Reason: True Crime Distorts the Truth About Crime
Popular podcasts and shows portray crime as salacious and sexy, failing ordinary victims in the process.
The Best of Reason: Take Nutrition Studies With a Grain of Salt
The epidemiology of food and drink is a mess.
The Best of Reason: Competition, Not Antitrust, Is Humbling the Tech Giants
The worst of the antitrust alarmism keeps proving untrue, as tech companies believed by some to be monopolies instead lose market share.
Forgive Us Our…Loans?
Plus: House speaker battles, a Jesus-themed Trump courtroom sketch, Eric Adams' travel plans, and more...
The Demand for Political Misinformation is a Bigger Problem than the Supply - Even in the Age of AI
Economist Tyler Cowen elaborates on some of the reasons why. The root of the problem is that voters have poor incentives to become well-informed and evaluate information objectively.
The Creator Is a Pro-A.I., Pro-Freedom, Anti-Imperialist Sci-Fi War Movie
Conceptually, it's all a bit vague, but it sure looks amazing.
The Best of Reason: Power and Progress Is a Wrongheaded Critique of Tech Progress
An undercurrent of the book is that common people want whatever progressive intellectuals want them to want.
Shut It All Down
Plus: Nonessential government programs (all of them?), AI firefighting, tech-world hit pieces, and more...
Win for Writers Guild, Loss for AI
Plus: IRS insanity, robocop photo ops, and more...
