# Twtxt is an open, distributed microblogging platform that # uses human-readable text files, common transport protocols, # and free software. # # Learn more about twtxt at https://github.com/buckket/twtxt # # This is an automated Yarn.social feed running feeds v0.1.0@72e53a9 # Learn more about Yarn.social at https://yarn.social # # nick = ed-zitrons-wheres-your-ed-at # url = https://feeds.twtxt.net/ed-zitrons-wheres-your-ed-at/twtxt.txt # type = rss # source = https://www.wheresyoured.at/rss # avatar = https://feeds.twtxt.net/ed-zitrons-wheres-your-ed-at/avatar.png#gqxdrlwt2wfxn2ybcvhbojbkcdnzoxliyn3dzarcbip7hbnpkysq # description = The Words of Ed Zitron, a PR person and writer. # updated_at = 2024-10-02T17:21:10Z # 2024-05-13T17:29:07Z **Expectations Versus Reality**
A few months ago, OpenAI showed off “Sora,” a product that can generate videos based on a short prompt, much like ChatGPT does for text or DALL-E does for images, [and I asked myself a pretty simple question](https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-fried/#:~:text=While%20Sora%20is,stuff%20deeply%20offensive.):

> _"...how can someone actually make something useful out of_ ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/expectations-versus-reality/) 2024-05-06T15:52:05Z **Rabbit Holed**
> [_Thank you to Emily Shepherd for her hard work reporting parts of this story_](https://x.com/emilylshepherd/status/1786037498507853852?s=46&ref=wheresyoured.at) _, as well as her assistance clarifying details related to GAMA and finding company documents related to Rabbit and Cyber Manufacture._

In November 2021, a company called Cyber Manufacture Co raised $6 million for ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/rabbit-holed/) 2024-04-29T17:45:01Z **Managing Up**
Over the [last](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-great-looting-of-the-internet/) [two](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/) newsletters (three, if you include [my reply to Google’s “rebuttal” of the Prabhakar Raghavan newsletter](https://www.wheresyoured.at/in-response-to-google/)), I’ve made the case that while rot economics are responsible for making technology products manifestly worse, this transformation was only possible thanks to the interventions ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/managing-up/) 2024-04-25T23:36:43Z **In Response To Google**
[Google has chosen to send a response to my article to Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable](https://www.seroundtable.com/how-man-killed-google-search-report-37281.html?ref=wheresyoured.at). Here is my response.

**_(1) On the March 2019 core update claim in the piece: This is baseless speculation. The March 2019 core update was designed to improve the quality of our search_** ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/in-response-to-google/) 2024-04-23T16:24:21Z **The Man Who Killed Google Search**
_Wanna listen to this story instead? Check out this week's Better Offline podcast, "The Man That Destroyed Google Search," available on_ [_Apple Podcasts_](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-man-that-destroyed-google-search/id1730587238?i=1000653621646&ref=wheresyoured.at), [_Spotify_](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fbYsijKu9EdC20JWv4ahv?ref=wheresyoured.at) _,_ [_and anywhere else you get your podcasts_](https://linktr.ee/betteroffline?ref=wheresyoured.at) _._

This is ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/) 2024-04-15T18:57:36Z **They're Looting The Internet**
Last week, Meta revealed (in a motion trying to dismiss [an FTC anti-monopoly lawsuit](https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/24121968/meta-motion-for-summary-judgment-ftc-monopoly-lawsuit?ref=wheresyoured.at)) that Instagram made [an astonishing $32.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2021](https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/5/24122541/instagram-ad-revenue-youtube-meta-ftc-monopoly?ref=wheresyoured.at). That figure becomes even more shocking when you consider Google's YouTube made $2 ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-great-looting-of-the-internet/) 2024-04-04T17:24:05Z **Bubble Trouble**
[As I previously warned](https://www.wheresyoured.at/are-we-watching-the-internet-die/#:~:text=After%20the%20world%27s,by%20human%20beings.), artificial intelligence companies are running out of data. [A Wall Street Journal piece from this week](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-training-data-synthetic-openai-anthropic-9230f8d8?ref=wheresyoured.at) has sounded the alarm that some believe AI models will run out of "high-quality text-based data" within the next two years in what an AI researcher called " ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/bubble-trouble/) 2024-03-28T16:35:19Z **The Descent of Elon Musk**
Money can't buy happiness, but it can get you pretty damn close. [As the second richest man alive](https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/?ref=wheresyoured.at#5831676c3d78),  Elon Musk should be rolling electric coal down Rodeo Drive in a cybertruck, smugly aware of the fact that, despite what the haters say, he's kind of ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the/) 2024-03-20T17:35:31Z **One Month of Better Offline**
Hello!

I have been deliberately not dropping every episode of my new show iHeartRadio/ [Cool Zone Media](https://www.coolzonemedia.com/?ref=wheresyoured.at) show [Better Offline](http://linktr.ee/betteroffline?ref=wheresyoured.at) onto the newsletter feed, as I don't want to start sending you two emails a week, or make you feel like you're being spammed. I am ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/one-month-of-better-offline/) 2024-03-18T18:31:20Z **Have We Reached Peak AI?**
Last week, [the Wall Street Journal published a 10-minute-long interview with OpenAI CTO Mira Murati](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAUpxN-EIgU&ref=wheresyoured.at), with journalist Joanna Stern asking a series of thoughtful yet straightforward questions that Murati failed to satisfactorily answer. When asked about what data was used to train Sora, OpenAI's app for generating video ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/) 2024-03-11T17:00:01Z **Are We Watching The Internet Die?**
Sometime this month, [Reddit will go public at a valuation of $6.5bn](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/reddit-seeking-a-valuation-of-up-to-6point5-billion-in-ipo.html?ref=wheresyoured.at). [Select Redditors were offered the chance to buy stock at the initial listing price](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/tech/reddit-ipo-users-can-buy-shares/index.html?ref=wheresyoured.at), which it hasn’t announced yet but is [expected to be in the range of $31-34 per share](https://www.ft.c ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/are-we-watching-the-internet-die/) 2024-02-27T14:31:01Z **Software Has Eaten The Media**
As I wrote a year ago in [The Rot Economy](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-rot-economy/) (and as I argued on the first episode of [my podcast Better Offline](https://linktr.ee/betteroffline?ref=wheresyoured.at)), I believe that both public and private markets have become decoupled from the concept of "good business," ruled instead by a hunger for the eternal ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-anti-economy/) 2024-02-21T18:15:32Z **Introducing: Better Offline**
Episodes 1 and 2 Out Now

Hello everybody! A short newsletter today to announce the launch of my new podcast Better Offline - my new tech show from [iHeartRadio](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-better-offline-150284547/?ref=wheresyoured.at) and Cool Zone Media.

It's a weekly exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/introducing-better-offline/) 2024-02-19T17:24:09Z **Subprime Intelligence**
**_Please scroll to the bottom for news on my next big project, Better Offline, coming this Wednesday!_**

* * *

Last week, [Sam Altman debuted OpenAI's "Sora," a text-to-video AI model that turns strings of text into full-blown videos](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/openai-sora-video-artificial-intelligence-unveiled-rcna139065?ref=wheresyoured.at), much like how [OpenAI's DALL-E](https://openai.com/dall-e-2?ref=wheresyoured.at) turns text into ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-fried/) 2024-02-12T18:19:25Z **The Apple Vision Pro: A Review**
I’ve spent a lot of time with the Vision Pro, turning my experience into both the newsletter you’re reading and one of the first two episodes of my upcoming iHeartRadio podcast [Better Offline](http://www.betteroffline.com/?ref=wheresyoured.at). I wrote the majority of this newsletter on the Vision Pro itself, though ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-apple-vision-pro-a-review/) 2024-05-20T16:34:03Z **The People Deliberately Killing Facebook**
Over the last decade, few platforms have declined quite as rapidly and visibly as Facebook and Instagram. What used to be apps for catching up with your friends and family are now algorithmic nightmares that constantly interrupt you with suggested content and advertisements that consistently outweigh the content of people ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/killingfacebook/) 2024-05-21T16:43:47Z **Sam Altman Is Full Of Shit**
> Note: In [my last newsletter](https://www.wheresyoured.at/killingfacebook/), I said that my next post would be the second part of my Facebook autopsy. Don’t worry, that’s still coming, but given the recent drama between Sam Altman, OpenAI, and Scarlett Johansson, I felt the need to write something. Don’ ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-is-full-of-shit/) 2024-05-28T17:10:00Z **We're Watching Facebook Die**
[In the first quarter of 2024](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/meta-meta-q1-2024-earnings-.html?ref=wheresyoured.at), Meta made $36.45 billion dollars - $12.37 billion dollars of which was pure profit. Though the company no longer reports daily active users, it now uses another metric: “family daily active people.” This number refers to “registered and logged-in ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/were-watching-facebook-die/) 2024-06-03T17:50:51Z **The Rot-Com Bubble**
_If you enjoy this post, why not subscribe to my podcast_ [_Better Offline_](http://linktr.ee/betteroffline?ref=wheresyoured.at) _? This week's a two parter that further expands on the Rot-Com Bubble, coming out Wednesday and Friday._

* * *

The noxious growth-at-all-costs mindset of [the Rot Economy](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-rot-economy/) sits at the core of every issue that I' ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/rotcombubble/) 2024-06-11T16:41:05Z **Silicon Valley's False Prophet**
The tech industry has craved a messiah since the death of Steve Jobs, but in OpenAI CEO Sam Altman they’ve discovered more of a false prophet — a seedy grifter that uses his remarkable ability to impress and manipulate Silicon Valley’s elite to mask a total ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/false-prophet/) 2024-06-17T16:41:38Z **Let Tim Cook**
Last week, Apple announced “ [Apple Intelligence](https://apple.com/apple-intelligence/?cid=wwa-us-kwgo-features-slid--Brand-AppleIntellligence-Announce-&mtid=20925e1t39169&aosid=p238&mnid=s9u8gRtQ9-dc_mtid_20925e1t39169_pcrid_702087801545_pgrid_168674639212_pntwk_g_pchan__pexid__&ref=wheresyoured.at),” a suite of features coming to iOS 18 (the next version of the iPhone’s software) in a presentation that FastCompany called “ [uninspired](https://www.fastcompany.com/91139153/apple-ai-killing-creativity?ref=wheresyour ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/untitled/) 2024-07-01T17:09:57Z **The Shareholder Supremacy**
I promise you, everything that's happening makes sense. It all feels so chaotic, so utterly, offensively stupid, so disconnected from reality that it's hard to understand how Meta can [run a terrible company with decaying services that's also wildly profitable](https://www.wheresyoured.at/were-watching-facebook-die/), or how Meta, Microsoft ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/tss/) 2024-07-08T17:12:49Z **Pop Culture**
A week and a half ago, [Goldman Sachs put out a 31-page-report](https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/gs-research/gen-ai-too-much-spend-too-little-benefit/report.pdf?ref=wheresyoured.at) (titled "Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?”) that includes some of the most damning literature on generative AI I've ever seen. And yes, that sound you hear is the slow deflation of ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/pop-culture/) 2024-07-16T20:26:39Z **Put Up Or Shut Up**
I feel like the tech industry is currently in the midst of the most bizarre cognitive dissonance I've ever seen — [more so than the metaverse, even](https://www.wheresyoured.at/mark-zuckerberg-is-a-liar-and-hes/)— as company after company simply _lies_ about their intentions and the power of AI.

I get it. Everybody wants ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/put-up-or-shut-up/) 2024-07-19T20:29:05Z **CrowdStruck**
[**_Soundtrack: EL-P - Tasmanian Pain Coaster (feat. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Cedric Bixler-Zavala)_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsKQIuTeXLw&ref=wheresyoured.at)

When I first began writing this newsletter, I didn't really have a goal, or a "theme," or anything that could neatly characterize what I was going to write about other than that I was ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/crowdstruck-2/) 2024-07-24T16:12:44Z **Rot Economics - An Interview With MIT's Daron Acemoglu**
> **_Want to listen to this interview instead? Download the latest episode of Better Offline! You can listen to it on_** [**_Apple Podcasts_**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rot-economics-with-mits-daron-acemoglu/id1730587238?i=1000663157336&ref=wheresyoured.at) **_,_** [**_Spotify_**](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2WvlNk7n92P1UbXwlNgkRq?ref=wheresyoured.at) **_, or_** [**_anywhere else you can insert an RSS feed_**](https ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/rot-economics-an-interview-with-mits-daron-acemoglu/) 2024-07-29T16:03:21Z **How Does OpenAI Survive?**
Throughout the last year I’ve written in detail about the rot in tech — [the spuriousness of charlatans looking to accumulate money and power](https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-is-full-of-shit/), [the desperation of the most powerful executives to maintain control and rapacious growth](https://www.wheresyoured.at/rotcombubble/), [and the speciousness of the latest hype cycle](https://www.wheresyoured.at/pop-culture/) — but at ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/to-serve-altman/) 2024-08-05T17:39:55Z **Burst Damage**
[**_Soundtrack: Masters of Reality - High Noon Amsterdam_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RplG79Rr0hk&ref=wheresyoured.at)

I have said almost everything in this piece in every one of these articles for months. I am not upset, but just stating an obvious truth. The current state of affairs effectively pushes against the boundaries of good sense, logic and reason, ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/) 2024-08-12T20:18:27Z **Monopoly Money**
Last week, in the midst of [the slow, painful collapse of the generative AI hype cycle](https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/), something incredible happened.

On Monday, a Federal Judge delivered a crushing ruling in the multi-year-long antitrust case filed against Google by the Department of Justice. In [300-pages of dense legal text](https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2024/pr24-59-Google.pdf?ref=wheresyoured.at), Judge Amit Mehta ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/monopoly-money/) 2024-08-28T04:12:50Z **Matt Stoller Explains Monopolies**
The latest episode of my podcast [Better Online](http://www.betteroffline.com/?ref=wheresyoured.at) is a conversation with Matt Stoller — America’s leading voice on monopoly and antitrust matters, and a thoughtful and prolific writer. You can find [Matt on Twitter here](https://twitter.com/matthewstoller?ref=wheresyoured.at), and [his newsletter here](https://www.thebignewsletter.com/?ref=wheresyoured.at).

It was a timely conversation. At the ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/stoller/) 2024-09-16T19:40:01Z **The Subprime AI Crisis**
None of what I write in this newsletter is about sewing doubt or "hating," but a sober evaluation of where we are today and where we may end up on the current path. I believe that the artificial intelligence boom — which would be better described as a ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/subprimeai/) 2024-09-26T18:06:13Z **The Other Bubble**
[Buried in the 8000 words I wrote last week](https://www.wheresyoured.at/subprimeai/) was a worrying story — that Microsoft considered drastic measures to free up  capacity in its US-based servers for GPUs to power the AI boom.

In an email shared with me by a source from earlier this year, Microsoft' ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/saaspocalypse-now/) 2024-10-02T17:16:40Z **OpenAI Is A Bad Business**
OpenAI, a non-profit AI company that will lose anywhere from $4 billion to $5 billion this year, [will at some point in the next six or so months convert into a for-profit AI company](https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-remove-non-profit-control-give-sam-altman-equity-sources-say-2024-09-25/?ref=wheresyoured.at), at which point it will continue to lose money in exactly the same way. Shortly after ⌘ [Read more](https://www.wheresyoured.at/oai-business/)