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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Capital

Climate

Margin Of Error

Policing

The Machines

Politics

Albert Burneko

A mugger approaches two victims, holding out his hat, ostensibly to beg, but carrying a large club in his other hand, circa 1790. The image is captioned: 'Honest friend, I'll borrow a little silver of you. He who hath gold hath fear. He who hath none hath sorrow'.

This Is So Stupid

Not Enough People Are Taking The Wallet Inspector Seriously

Ali Domrongchai

An illustration of a fake social media page depicting uncanny vegetables being sliced by a hand with too many fingers

Glossy, Gunky And Ready In Minutes: AI Meal Recipes Are Overrunning The Internet

Alan Kluegel

The actor Matthew McConaughey looking slightly deranged while sitting at an outdoor restaurant table, in the dark, under a torrential downpour.

Salesforce Is Using A Hallucination To Sell AI

Kelsey McKinney

An artistic interpretation of artificial intelligence, showing a stack of books surrounding a laptop with a pixelated face on it

There’s No Shortcut To Publishing A Book

Barry Petchesky

Dubliners line the sidewalks waiting for a Halloween parade that will never begin.

Thousands Turn Out For Nonexistent Halloween Parade Promoted By AI Listing

Rachelle Hampton

Portrait of professional road racing cyclist David Millar taken on May 16, 2011. (Photo by Joby Sessions/Procycling Magazine via Getty Images)

Arts And Culture

Writing Is An Act, Not An Aesthetic

Luis Paez-Pumar

Presentation by two secretaries of the typing robot at the exhibition 'Happiness in the office', in Paris, France, on October 13, 1960.

ESPN Masks Cynical AI Pivot As Benevolent Coverage Of “Underserved” Sports

Argentina, Patagonia, Rio Pinturas, Cueva de las Manos

Whatever AI Looks Like, It’s Not

<p>Justin McHenry is an archivist and historian from West Virginia, and the author of <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/lemuria-the-true-story-of-a-fake-place/19663689">Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place</a> </i>and the upcoming book, <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/raising-philadelphia-the-making-of-america-s-first-great-city-1750-1775-justin-mchenry/20390701?ean=9781955041201">Raising Philadelphia: The Making of America&#8217;s First Great City</a>.</i></p>


Justin McHenry

MILL CREEK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 6: Smoke shrouds Mt. Shasta as the Park Fire burns on August 6, 2024 in Mill Creek, California. (Photo by Ethan Swope/Getty Images)

History

How AI Copyright Law Is Being Guided By Spirits From Atlantis

Patrick Redford

Gambling

‘ESPN Bet’ Is A Black Hole

Lauren Theisen

Youtube logo with a stop symbol instead of a play button

This YouTube Trend Is Getting Increasingly More Annoying

A drone flies over a forest with a tree house.

Olympics

No, Canada!

jacked man with midlength hair sittting at a laptop

Why is AI Jesus So Fucking Jacked?

David Roth

Al Michaels looks at an iPhone prior to the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau on November 17, 2022.

Media Meltdowns

AI Is Now Advanced Enough To Blow Al Michaels’s Mind

A Tesla Cybertruck parked on the street in New York.

I Would Like To Put Lunchmeat On The Cybertruck

<p>Heather Chen is a former Defector intern and the managing editor at the <em>Columbia Daily Spectator</em>. She loves hockey, photography, and the good ol’ state of Michigan.</p>


Heather Wei-Xi Chen

Elon Musk, with blue bar stating "Your likes are private. Only you can see them." over his eyes

Please Let Me See Your Twitter Likes

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
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Tom Scocca

19th October 1964: A robot designed by Claus Scholz of Vienna answers the phone, unfortunately he can't speak.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

Conner O'Malley performing in his latest stand-up special

Conner O’Malley’s New Special Exposes The Dark Heart Of Techno-Optimism

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the Stanford Business, Government, and Society Forum at Stanford University in April of 2024.

Google’s Got Nothing But Wrong Answers

Paramount Plus Is Ruining My Life, And It Is Time For Jeff Probst To Do Something About It

"Motoman" robots from Japan's largest industrial robot maker Yasukawa Electric, beats a drum during a demonstration at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, 29 November 2007.

If Kevin Roose Was ChatGPT With A Spray-On Beard, Could Anyone Tell?

Justin Ellis

A man sitting in an Apple Store in Los Angeles demos the Apple Vision Pro with his hands held wide apart in a very silly way.

The Problem With The Goggles Of The Future Is Today

Finally, A Grocery Cart That Can Save Me From The Horror Of An Ad-Free Moment Of Existence

Passengers wait in the TSA screening line

The TSA Has Thwarted My Anti-Groping Strategy

GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MARCH 22: Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022 near Gruenheide, Germany. The new plant, officially called the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, is producing the Model Y as well as electric car batteries. (Photo by Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images)