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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.

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Defector

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3

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Kelsey McKinney

An Adventure Story? Miss Betty Davis tries out her sales talk on the robot invented by Eark Kent, (left), of Carthage, Missouri, in the May Company Store in Los Angeles. The 21-year-old inventor claims that "John" walks, smokes cigarettes, spits fire, and gets generally "het up" when he doesn't receive attention.

Eark Kent and Robot

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

Gossiping With A Robot Is A Real Pain In The Ass

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Alan Kluegel

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

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The Machines

Salesforce Is Using A Hallucination To Sell AI

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David Roth

An Ai Me robot from Chinese company TCL is displayed during the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas.

U.S.-LAS VEGAS-CES-ROBOTS

Capital

The Future Is Too Easy

An Enchanted Tools robot called the Mirokai is displayed during the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas.

Podcasts

The Future Feels Like The Raiders, With Ed Zitron

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.

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Drew Magary

LAS VEGAS, USA - JANUARY 06: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, showcasing the company's latest innovations in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on January 6, 2025. At the event, Huang unveiled advanced AI for training robots and cars, enhanced gaming chips, and Nvidia's first desktop computer, while also detailing how the company was expanding its data center AI technology to consumer PCs and laptops.

Nvidia Unveils Robot Training Tech, New Gaming Chips, and Toyota Deal

Funbag

AI Learned It By Watching You

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

AI Chat Illustration Photos

There’s No Shortcut To Publishing A Book

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Barry Petchesky

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

dublin halloween parade

Thousands Turn Out For Nonexistent Halloween Parade Promoted By AI Listing

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

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Typing

Sabrina Imbler

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

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Life's Rich Pageant

Who Lives At The Rainforest Cafe?

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Rachelle Hampton

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

David Millar Portrait Shoot

Arts And Culture

Writing Is An Act, Not An Aesthetic

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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.

Le robot Facit

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

Argentina, Patagonia, Rio Pinturas, Cueva de las Manos

Argentina, Patagonia, Rio Pinturas, Cueva de las Manos, cave paintings

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>.

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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)

Park Fire Grows In Size Sparking New Evacuation Orders

History

How AI Copyright Law Is Being Guided By Spirits From Atlantis

jacked man with midlength hair sittting at a laptop

Screenshot 2024-06-30 at 9.57.06 AM

Why is AI Jesus So Fucking Jacked?

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.

Tennessee Titans v Green Bay Packers

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)

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AI Isn’t Intelligent Until You And I Say So

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

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

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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.

Fed Chair Powell And Google CEO Sundar Pichai Speak At Stanford University

Google’s Got Nothing But Wrong Answers

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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)

A Year In TIME

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

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Lauren Theisen

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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.

Mayor Eric Adams attends a joint press briefing with

Does It Matter That AI Doesn’t Work?

artistic rendering of color palates using flowers

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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.

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

Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.

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Dan McQuade

The logo for Wondery's THE LEAD: STARTING FIVE

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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."

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Scorn Illustrated