This week: AI regulation, dark money and data center backlash. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) helps decipher how the Trump Administration actually feels about AI oversight and it seems like a reversal of the hands-off approach they’ve taken so far. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes a dark money influencer campaign — one she was personally recruited for — that's paying creators to push pro-American AI, anti-China messaging on behalf of a Big Tech super PAC. And Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the fast-growing, bipartisan movement fighting data center construction in communities across the country. Plus: Sam Altman's leaked texts, 120,000 tech layoffs, and the GPT-5.5 launch party.

Additional Reading: 
So Long Jeeves and Ask.com, Relics of Yesterday’s Internet 
White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released | The New York Times 
A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat | WIRED 
Inside a growing movement warning AI could turn on humanity | The Washington Post 
‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers | The New York Times 

Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go tohttps://saily.com/techstuff

This week: AI regulation, dark money and data center backlash. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) helps decipher how the Trump Administration actually feels about AI oversight and it seems like a reversal of the hands-off approach they&rsquo;ve taken so far. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes a dark money influencer campaign &mdash; one she was personally recruited for &mdash; that's paying creators to push pro-American AI, anti-China messaging on behalf of a Big Tech super PAC. And Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the fast-growing, bipartisan movement fighting data center construction in communities across the country. Plus: Sam Altman's leaked texts, 120,000 tech layoffs, and the GPT-5.5 launch party.
Additional Reading:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/business/ask-jeeves-shuts-down-internet-search-engine.html">So Long Jeeves and Ask.com, Relics of Yesterday&rsquo;s Internet</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html">White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released | The New York Times</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/super-pac-backed-by-openai-and-palantir-is-paying-tiktok-influencers-to-fear-monger-about-china/#intcid=_wired-verso-hp-trending-bktb_295a9c71-1e1d-4763-a74d-aefc9ccd4e46_cygnus-personalized">A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat | WIRED</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/18/ai-doom-influencers-safety/">Inside a growing movement warning AI could turn on humanity | The Washington Post</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/us/politics/liberals-conservatives-data-centers.html">&lsquo;The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer&rsquo;: Opposition to Data Centers | The New York Times</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff&nbsp; at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to<a href="https://saily.com/creator/?coupon=techstuff&amp;utm_source=12669&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=138&amp;aff_transaction_id=102e6208403cf45b12b357c4a30eb2&amp;aff_offer_id=138&amp;aff_id=12669"> </a><a href="https://saily.com/techstuff">https://saily.com/techstuff</a>

Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley’s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once.

Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning.

Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone’s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.

Get in touch here: techstuffpodcast@gmail.com

Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley&rsquo;s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once.
Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning.
Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone&rsquo;s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.
Get in touch here:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:techstuffpodcast@gmail.com" data-stringify-link="mailto:techstuffpodcast@gmail.com" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu">techstuffpodcast@gmail.com</a>

TechStuff

Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley’s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once.

Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning.

Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone’s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.

Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley&rsquo;s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once.
Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning.
Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone&rsquo;s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.

One Nation United Against Data Centers - Week in Tech

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/40ce52fe-ee79-4c4b-98cc-b444001799c4/transcript