We want AI to say no...but only when it *should* say no. A tricky needle to thread, as @writearthur.bsky.social reports. Gift link:
ter.li/ydoxnqeq
@rachelcourtland.comRachel Courtland
@rachelcourtland.com
Editor at MIT Technology Review (@technologyreview.com), commissioning news, features, and essays | Science and technology journalist and forever physics nerd
@rachelcourtland.com@rachelcourtland.comInteresting the math folks scored so low! I guess the more practical the better...
@rachelcourtland.comShe's widely credited with coining the term!
@rachelcourtland.comRIP to the world's first software engineer news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
@richvn.bsky.socialReposted by @rachelcourtland.comSo, no women won Nobel science prizes this year, meaning the number of female winners remains at 26.
How many of them can you name? Take the challenge here
(I've seen one person say they got them all first try, which is very impressive).
@nature.com
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
@stevemullis.netReposted by @rachelcourtland.com[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!
@rachelcourtland.comOoof. I failed the write-in component of this quiz pretty spectacularly.
@rachelcourtland.comI wasn't at the conference myself. If it were just a matching exercise, wouldn't the reconstructed images look identical?
@adambecker.bsky.socialReposted by @rachelcourtland.com165 years ago TODAY, Charles Darwin had a normal one. "I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.— I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids & today I hate them worse than everything…" I think about this letter a lot.
@rachelcourtland.comAnd a big thanks to @robinberghaus.bsky.social, @sarahscoles.bsky.social, and @virginiagewin.bsky.social for organizing. The event is always a highlight of the meeting.
@rachelcourtland.comInspired by all the lovely pitchers at the #SciWri26 pitch slam, here's a very short, very incomplete list of pitching tips—the kinds of things that come up often when I'm reviewing pitches and providing feedback. Let me know what I missed! www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-p...
@rachelcourtland.comI can't get over how great these AI reconstructions of fMRI data are. Admittedly this sampling does not include the failures, but still www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/01/1...
@amymaxmen.bsky.socialReposted by @rachelcourtland.comDo you want to be a science writer? Or just learn more about science writing? This is a fantastic *paid* opportunity to sharpen your skills.
@theopennotebook.bsky.social @siricarpenter.bsky.social
www.theopennotebook.com/early-career...
@rachelcourtland.comApparently Ernest Cline wrote a script? thegeektwins.com/2013/09/buck...
@mathonan.comReposted by @rachelcourtland.com“We’re not going to shoot ourselves in the foot and take ourselves far off the frontier—that’s just a horrible strategy” New from @willdouglasheaven.bsky.social talking to OpenAI chief research officer
@rachelcourtland.comIf you're attending #SciWri26 this weekend and want to find out more about freelancing opportunities at @technologyreview.com, come find me! I'll be moderating a panel on AI ethics on Saturday and will be speaking at the Pitch Slam on Sunday.
@eileenguo.bsky.socialReposted by @rachelcourtland.comDays after we published our story on deaths by border towers, Rep Delia Ramirez announced a plan to terminate CBP's surveillance tower program—and dismantle DHS.
Citing our reporting, she said: "The towers that we have paid a billion $ to just don’t work.”
@rachelcourtland.comIf you're attending #sciwri26 this weekend and have an interest in AI—and the kinds of questions to ask when covering it—I'll be talking with three very smart experts on Saturday about ethics and accountability and where we go from here.
@rachelcourtland.comLooking forward to this one!
@rachelcourtland.comOh if that's true that makes me slightly less annoyed that the first one ended on the ultimate cliffhanger, after advancing the overall plot by maybe a week. Maybe I will stick it out for volume 2.