Inside the Age of AI Anxiety

Thinking, feeling, and creating our way towards a politics that values life.

This newsletter was originally published on Substack. Read and subscribe here.

We’re trying something new for you today: a visual exploration of the political and personal consequences of the dawning “age of AI.” Let us know in the comments if you like this approach to storytelling. It was made by a human, so all experimentation, imperfection, and emotion is my own. (For visually impaired readers, voiceover is available on our Substack.)

Sources:

Provocative San Francisco billboards raise questions about AI eliminating human jobs
Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
White House Posts Ghoulish AI Cartoon Showing Woman’s Deportation
“Insult To Life Itself”: Ghibli Founder Hayao Miyazaki On AI-Generated Art
Google axes its promise not to use AI for weapons or surveillance just weeks into the Trump presidency
Exclusive: Musk’s DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say
Deadly and Imminent: The Pentagon’s Mad Dash for Silicon Valley’s AI Weapons
US government is using AI for unprecedented social media surveillance
AI tutors are already changing higher ed
Bill Gates Says AI Will Replace Doctors, Teachers and More in Next 10 Years, Making Humans Unnecessary ‘for Most Things’
Elon Musk’s xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer
Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas
Merlin Bird ID

Images:

​​Thermal images in Memphis by Steve Jones/Flight by Southwings for Southern Environmental Law Center
Earthrise – Wikipedia
Donald Trump takes the oath of office (2025) – Wikimedia Commons
OLIGARCHY Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
Or otherwise taken by the author