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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

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

Drew Magary

Funbag

A Pre-Election Dog Story For You, The Dog Fan

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a giant red-eyed tree frog sculpture at the rainforest cafe

Life's Rich Pageant

Who Lives At The Rainforest Cafe?

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.

The Machines

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

Barry Petchesky

Argentina, Patagonia, Rio Pinturas, Cueva de las Manos

Whatever AI Looks Like, It’s Not

Justin McHenry is an archivist and historian from West Virginia, and the author of <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> and the upcoming book, <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>.

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

Kelsey McKinney

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 robot using artificial intelligence is displayed at a stand during the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on May 30, 2024. Humanity is in a race against time to harness the colossal emerging power of artificial intelligence for the good of all, while averting dire risks, a top UN official said. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

AI Isn’t Intelligent Until You And I Say So

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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

Patrick Redford

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 12: Sam Altman speaks onstage during A Year In TIME at The Plaza Hotel on December 12, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for TIME)

Capital

Sam Altman’s Scarlett Johansson Whoopsie Is The True Future Of AI

Lauren Theisen

Announcements

Defector Media Promotes Devin The Dugong To Chief AI Officer, Unveils First AI-Generated Blog

New York City Mayor Eric Adams smiles and gives a thumbs-up at an MTA event in January of 2023.

Does It Matter That AI Doesn’t Work?

artistic rendering of color palates using flowers

Only You Can Find Your Best Color

A screenshot of one of the scammy AI-generated listings on Amazon; the product's name is just the boilerplate apology text created by OpenAI when it's asked to do something it can't do.

The Future Of E-Commerce Is A Product Whose Name Is A Boilerplate AI-Generated Apology

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

The logo for Wondery's THE LEAD: STARTING FIVE

Journalismism

Wondery Sports Podcast Now Has An AI Host Named Striker

A coffee table with some Vogue magazines on it, and a Sports Illustrated on top. It's the famous "Why the University of Miami should drop football" cover but it's been edited to say "Why it's hard to play volleyball without a volleyball."

Scorn Illustrated

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 11: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, speaks to the media as he arrives at the Sun Valley Lodge for the Allen &amp; Company Sun Valley Conference on July 11, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

What The Shit Is Happening With OpenAI And Sam Altman? An Explainer

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

A Color Star logo over the phrase, "We Provide Entertainment To Our Customers"

Color Star Is Circling The Color Drain

Samer Kalaf

A screenshot of Gizmodo Bot's author page, with one bad Star Wars blog

G/O Media’s Bot-Written Blogs May Be Unreadable, But At Least They’re Incorrect

Eight basketball players looking at the Last Supper but it's a basketball backboard

This Is So Stupid

My Pointless Quest To Double The Number Of Apostles At The Last Supper

Alex Pareene

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 02: People picket outside of FOX Studios on the first day of the Hollywood writers strike on May 2, 2023 in Los Angeles. Scripted TV series, late-night talk shows, film and streaming productions are being interrupted by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. In 2007 and 2008, a WGA strike shut down Hollywood productions for 100 days, costing the local economy between $2 billion and $3 billion.

The Computers Are Coming For The Wrong Jobs

Tom Ley

Illustration: ChatGPT, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, China, 12 April 2023. ChatGPT stocks fell as a group, with Microsoft down more than 5 percent, Amazon down more than 2 percent, Nvidia (NVDA.US) and Baidu down more than 1 percent. Amid concerns over AI security, companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Nvidia gathered to discuss standards for the development and use of AI technology.