Neal Stephenson at the SXSW conference, March 2022. | Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW The science fiction pioneer on making a template for Mark Zuckerberg, not making movies, and a worrisome climate change scenario. Every science fiction author tries to imagine the future. But very few get what Neal Stephenson is experiencing: Some of the world’s most powerful companies are actively trying to create the future he sketched out three decades ago. That would be in Snow Crash, the 1992 dystopia/parody he wrote about people who escape the physical world by strapping on goggles and disappearing i ..read more

Vox For something that’s defined by change, the world of technology feels extra disruptive lately. Artificial intelligence is making headlines on a regular basis. Electric vehicles are taking over the roads. Microchips are made in America again. For the techno-optimists out there, we’re finally living in a version of the science fiction-inspired future we were promised. But our present is more complicated than that. The tech industry is facing a series of crossroads. The businesses that once seemed like unstoppable profit machines are starting to sputter, slowing the meteoric growth of tech gi ..read more

Malte Mueller/Getty Images Generative AI is here. Let’s hope we’re ready. The world’s first generative AI-powered search engine is here, and it’s in love with you. Or it thinks you’re kind of like Hitler. Or it’s gaslighting you into thinking it’s still 2022, a more innocent time when generative AI seemed more like a cool party trick than a powerful technology about to be unleashed on a world that might not be ready for it. If you feel like you’ve been hearing a lot about generative AI, you’re not wrong. After a generative AI tool called ChatGPT went viral a few months ago, it seems everyone i ..read more

A TikTok ban would surely upset many of the nation’s teens. | iStockphoto/Getty Images So you heard TikTok’s being banned. Here’s what’s actually happening. Since its introduction to the US in 2018, TikTok has been fighting for its right to exist. First, the company struggled to convince the public that it wasn’t just for pre-teens making cringey memes; then it had to make the case that it wasn’t responsible for the platform’s rampant misinformation (or cultural appropriation … or pro-anorexia content … or potentially deadly trends … or general creepiness, etc). But mostly, and especially over ..read more

TikTok’s younger users will now be told when they’ve been watching for a while. | Westend61/Getty Images Teens can still click right on through the new screen time limit. Amid growing concerns (and lawsuits) about social media’s impact on the mental health of children, TikTok announced on Wednesday that it’s setting a 60-minute time limit on screen time for users under 18 and adding some new parental controls. Those “limits,” however, are really more like suggestions. There are ways young users can continue to use the app even after the screen time limits have passed. The news comes amid a lar ..read more

The Supreme Court is considering two cases that could change the internet as we know it. | Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images The pillar of internet free speech seems to be everyone’s target. You may have never heard of it, but Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the legal backbone of the internet. The law was created almost 30 years ago to protect internet platforms from liability for many of the things third parties say or do on them. Decades later, it’s never been more controversial. People from both political parties and all three branches of government have threatened to ref ..read more

Sandra Hunke, a plumber who is one of the most popular craft influencers in Germany with 120,000 Instagram followers and now also works part-time as a model, poses for a photo in her workshop in North Rhine-Westphalia. | Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images You used to pay for social media with your eyeballs. Now Meta and Twitter want your money, too. “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” has long been a common refrain about the business of social media. The saying implies that you, the user, aren’t paying for apps like Instagram and Twitter because you’re givi ..read more

Twitter’s quality has suffered at the hands of Musk’s leadership. | Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images The broken Twitter everyone warned us about is finally here. If you were accustomed to a time when Twitter — while far from perfect — was a place where you could dependably digest a wide range of breaking news, politics, celebrity gossip, or personal musings, it’s time to accept a new reality. Twitter is becoming a degraded product. In the four months since Elon Musk took over the company, the app has experienced major glitches — such as when, last week, users around the world couldn’t po ..read more

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, at the 2019 Code Conference. | Asa Mathat for Vox Media One of the most prominent women in tech — and one of Google’s earliest employees — is leaving the company. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who has led the world’s largest video site for the last nine years, is stepping down from her role. She’ll be replaced by Neal Mohan, her longtime lieutenant. In a letter sent to YouTube’s employees, Wojcicki said she was leaving in order to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects I’m passionate about.” During her tenure, YouTube became increasing ..read more

Sens. Lindsey Graham, left, and Richard Blumenthal are behind EARN IT, one of several recent online safety bills for children. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images The latest salvo in reining in tech platforms: Laws to protect children from them. It looks like the big bipartisan push against Big Tech in the new Congress will be about protecting kids. While antitrust and privacy efforts seem to be languishing for now, several child-focused online safety bills are being introduced this session. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly signaled that passing them is a priority for him. President ..read more