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"content": "\n\u003cp>Bay Area activists joined a nationwide walkout on Tuesday to demand a pause on the development of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a>, so that the public — and Congress — can set development and use guardrails for the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About two dozen protesters held signs that read “We Didn’t Elect Big Tech” and “Water For People, Not Data Centers” outside of OpenAI’s office in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They joined activists across 50 U.S. cities and college campuses, including in Los Angeles, New York and Florida, where rallies had been organized by the nonprofit organization Irreplaceable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Irreplaceable, founded by several climate activists, leaders of civil rights organizations and national labor unions, launched in August with the goal to “give voice to anxiety and anger about AI” and spur federal legislation regulating the technology.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Max Blair, an organizer with Stop the AI Race, speaks during a rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco during a walkout on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jeremy Ornstein, an organizer with Irreplaceable, spoke to the protesters outside OpenAI’s office. “The world is about to change,” he said. “AI is being advanced so quickly, [and] the people building it know that catastrophes, critical catastrophes, are going to hit everyday people as soon as next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But there’s another kind of change that’s coming too,” he continued. “There’s thousands of people who are demanding … a freeze on AI until it can be under public control and benefit us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Irreplaceable’s \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/\">website\u003c/a> makes the case that people are “irreplaceable by AI.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Phil Aroneanu, previously co-founded \u003ca href=\"http://350.org\">350.org\u003c/a>, a grassroots climate movement pushing for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re building a movement to Freeze AI Now. It’s time for the people to determine the future of AI, not big tech CEOs,” Irreplaceable’s website reads. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organization has laid out a \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/our-plan\">three-year plan:\u003c/a> To coalesce a base of Americans angry and concerned about AI development in 2026, develop a “shared federal agenda on AI” in 2027 and launch a pressure campaign on politicians in 2028, the year of the next presidential election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t given details about what regulations and legislation it hopes to see those politicians pass. \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em> in August \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/08/irreplaceable-climate-activists-ai-backlash/688404/\">reported\u003c/a> that another climate activist behind the project, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence, said a concrete agenda would come later. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But there doesn’t seem to be consensus yet on what that plan will look like.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even sisters Junia and Gwen Martens, who came to the San Francisco protest from Berkeley High School, have different opinions on how far regulation should go. Gwen, 14, thinks “AI should be stopped,” but Junia, 16, wants to see regulation and education about the technology in schools.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105421\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gwendolyn (center), 14, protests during a walkout and rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105424\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105424\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Junia, 16, speaks during a rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco during a walkout on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I kind of disagree with my sister. I think that AI can be helpful in a lot of different situations,” Junia told KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Junia and a classmate are co-presidents of a club at Berkeley High, called AI Effects and Consequences, which talks to elementary and middle school students about AI and its effects.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That “lets the students form their own opinions,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The sisters are in agreement, though, about cutting back on AI use in schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t use generative AI,” Gwen said. “It really stops you from thinking, which is how you learn. That is my worst fear. I would never want to dim down my education.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said “few” of her other classmates agree.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Irreplaceable’s \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/\">website\u003c/a> makes the case that people are “irreplaceable by AI.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re building a movement to Freeze AI Now. It’s time for the people to determine the future of AI, not big tech CEOs,” Irreplaceable’s website reads. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The organization has laid out a \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/our-plan\">three-year plan:\u003c/a> To coalesce a base of Americans angry and concerned about AI development in 2026, develop a “shared federal agenda on AI” in 2027 and launch a pressure campaign on politicians in 2028, the year of the next presidential election.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t given details about what regulations and legislation it hopes to see those politicians pass. \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em> in August \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/08/irreplaceable-climate-activists-ai-backlash/688404/\">reported\u003c/a> that another climate activist behind the project, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence, said a concrete agenda would come later. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I kind of disagree with my sister. I think that AI can be helpful in a lot of different situations,” Junia told KQED. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I don’t use generative AI,” Gwen said. “It really stops you from thinking, which is how you learn. That is my worst fear. I would never want to dim down my education.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Bay Area activists joined a nationwide walkout on Tuesday to demand a pause on the development of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a>, so that the public — and Congress — can set development and use guardrails for the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About two dozen protesters held signs that read “We Didn’t Elect Big Tech” and “Water For People, Not Data Centers” outside of OpenAI’s office in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They joined activists across 50 U.S. cities and college campuses, including in Los Angeles, New York and Florida, where rallies had been organized by the nonprofit organization Irreplaceable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Irreplaceable, founded by several climate activists, leaders of civil rights organizations and national labor unions, launched in August with the goal to “give voice to anxiety and anger about AI” and spur federal legislation regulating the technology.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-02-BL-KQED-31c358f5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Max Blair, an organizer with Stop the AI Race, speaks during a rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco during a walkout on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jeremy Ornstein, an organizer with Irreplaceable, spoke to the protesters outside OpenAI’s office. “The world is about to change,” he said. “AI is being advanced so quickly, [and] the people building it know that catastrophes, critical catastrophes, are going to hit everyday people as soon as next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But there’s another kind of change that’s coming too,” he continued. “There’s thousands of people who are demanding … a freeze on AI until it can be under public control and benefit us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Irreplaceable’s \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/\">website\u003c/a> makes the case that people are “irreplaceable by AI.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Phil Aroneanu, previously co-founded \u003ca href=\"http://350.org\">350.org\u003c/a>, a grassroots climate movement pushing for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re building a movement to Freeze AI Now. It’s time for the people to determine the future of AI, not big tech CEOs,” Irreplaceable’s website reads. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organization has laid out a \u003ca href=\"https://irreplaceable.org/our-plan\">three-year plan:\u003c/a> To coalesce a base of Americans angry and concerned about AI development in 2026, develop a “shared federal agenda on AI” in 2027 and launch a pressure campaign on politicians in 2028, the year of the next presidential election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t given details about what regulations and legislation it hopes to see those politicians pass. \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em> in August \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/08/irreplaceable-climate-activists-ai-backlash/688404/\">reported\u003c/a> that another climate activist behind the project, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence, said a concrete agenda would come later. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But there doesn’t seem to be consensus yet on what that plan will look like.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even sisters Junia and Gwen Martens, who came to the San Francisco protest from Berkeley High School, have different opinions on how far regulation should go. Gwen, 14, thinks “AI should be stopped,” but Junia, 16, wants to see regulation and education about the technology in schools.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105421\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-04-BL-KQED-a8c952db-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gwendolyn (center), 14, protests during a walkout and rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105424\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105424\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261020-OPENAIPROTEST-09-BL-KQED-8416bf38-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Junia, 16, speaks during a rally calling for a freeze on artificial intelligence development outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco during a walkout on Oct. 20, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I kind of disagree with my sister. I think that AI can be helpful in a lot of different situations,” Junia told KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Junia and a classmate are co-presidents of a club at Berkeley High, called AI Effects and Consequences, which talks to elementary and middle school students about AI and its effects.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That “lets the students form their own opinions,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The sisters are in agreement, though, about cutting back on AI use in schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t use generative AI,” Gwen said. “It really stops you from thinking, which is how you learn. That is my worst fear. I would never want to dim down my education.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said “few” of her other classmates agree.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-judge-denies-bail-to-engineer-accused-of-bugging-openai-hq",
"title": "San Francisco Judge Denies Bail to Engineer Accused of Bugging OpenAI HQ",
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"headTitle": "San Francisco Judge Denies Bail to Engineer Accused of Bugging OpenAI HQ | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI\u003c/a> engineer who was accused last week of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/technology/openai-worker-arrested-bugging.html\">planting a secret recording device\u003c/a> at the company’s San Francisco offices was ordered detained without bail pending trial Monday. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said there is a “significant” risk he would flee, according to CNBC.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s order came at a San Francisco court hearing where he questioned an offer by the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles to back the full bond for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse reportedly said he found that offer “problematic,” and asked what confidence he should have that the Saudi government would protect the interests of the U.S. government.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors argued that Alfozan was “mere days away from leaving the United States for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested.” Prosecutors also cited his Bay Area earnings, at least two Saudi bank accounts, and “what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government” with no U.S. extradition treaty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We respectfully disagree with the decision and will continue to fight for his release,” Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, wrote to KQED on Tuesday. “Mr. Alfozan is a lawful permanent resident of the United States with years of significant contributions and ties to his community, as well as science and technology. I believe firmly that perception of who he is will change once full facts come out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees gather at the OpenAI DevDay 2026 conference, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If he really was an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn’t he just abscond right away?” Pernik said, according to the Times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said in their filing Sunday that Alfozan had been in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who tried to recruit him to a new Saudi artificial intelligence initiative. In one message, prosecutors said, the Saudi royal family member wrote to Alfozan that “Saudi needs you more” than the US. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan’s response, according to prosecutors: “100.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Alfozan said he would not leave OpenAI until his stock vested. His new-hire equity grant was worth $2.2 million, according to the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to a 2019 case in the same court, in which a Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia left the U.S. the day after the company confronted him — a departure the U.S government says was coordinated with the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles. He has never returned to face charges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The government’s filing cited the fact that Alfozan’s wife and their 3-month-old baby flew to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest on a business-class ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official. His wife now lives in Saudi Arabia, per the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Abdulrahman Alfozan, accused of hiding a recording device in a San Francisco conference room, will stay in jail until trial after a U.S. judge found the Saudi national posed a significant flight risk. \n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI\u003c/a> engineer who was accused last week of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/technology/openai-worker-arrested-bugging.html\">planting a secret recording device\u003c/a> at the company’s San Francisco offices was ordered detained without bail pending trial Monday. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said there is a “significant” risk he would flee, according to CNBC.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s order came at a San Francisco court hearing where he questioned an offer by the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles to back the full bond for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse reportedly said he found that offer “problematic,” and asked what confidence he should have that the Saudi government would protect the interests of the U.S. government.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors argued that Alfozan was “mere days away from leaving the United States for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested.” Prosecutors also cited his Bay Area earnings, at least two Saudi bank accounts, and “what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government” with no U.S. extradition treaty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We respectfully disagree with the decision and will continue to fight for his release,” Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, wrote to KQED on Tuesday. “Mr. Alfozan is a lawful permanent resident of the United States with years of significant contributions and ties to his community, as well as science and technology. I believe firmly that perception of who he is will change once full facts come out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees gather at the OpenAI DevDay 2026 conference, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If he really was an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn’t he just abscond right away?” Pernik said, according to the Times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said in their filing Sunday that Alfozan had been in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who tried to recruit him to a new Saudi artificial intelligence initiative. In one message, prosecutors said, the Saudi royal family member wrote to Alfozan that “Saudi needs you more” than the US. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan’s response, according to prosecutors: “100.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Alfozan said he would not leave OpenAI until his stock vested. His new-hire equity grant was worth $2.2 million, according to the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to a 2019 case in the same court, in which a Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia left the U.S. the day after the company confronted him — a departure the U.S government says was coordinated with the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles. He has never returned to face charges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The government’s filing cited the fact that Alfozan’s wife and their 3-month-old baby flew to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest on a business-class ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official. His wife now lives in Saudi Arabia, per the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>As Bay Area cities set stricter guardrails or break up entirely with automated license plate reader tools like Flock in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096106/anti-flock-organizers-ramp-up-bay-area-protests-urging-cities-to-cut-ties-with-company\">intense criticism from constituents\u003c/a>, many elected officials in San Francisco are doubling down on their support for the surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>From Mayor Daniel Lurie to supervisors like Matt Dorsey and other local Democratic Party leaders, they say the cameras have aided law enforcement and reduced crime. Critics say they are a gross invasion of privacy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tensions over the city’s use of Flock have fueled protests and fiery public comment as San Francisco prepares to reconsider its contract with the controversial Atlanta-based company next February and as the election next month spurs widespread debate about artificial intelligence and surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe being watched. There’s definitely nothing related to surveillance that is going to help me feel safer,” said Zachary Schwartz, a 16-year-old junior at Lowell High School, who started the local DeFlock SF chapter to organize against what he said is increasing mass surveillance in the city where he’s growing up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco announced in 2024 that it would begin rolling out a network of about \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/sf-takes-historic-step-to-solve-crime-with-400-lpr-cameras\">400 cameras\u003c/a> mounted on streetlights around the city. Today, San Francisco ranks toward the top of U.S. cities when it comes to the number of cameras per road mile, according to geographic data from DeFlock, a national organization seeking to remove automated license plate reader technology from cities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Manny speaks at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supporters say the license plate reader technology can quickly help solve crimes, like smash-and-grab car burglaries, which have plummeted in the city since 2023. By mapping out images collected by the cameras, police officers can reconstruct a vehicle’s route and location. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This technology helps us keep workers, small business owners and families safe, because we will not go back to a time when people could break into cars, rob businesses or commit serious crime without consequences,” Lurie said at a recent press conference. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But critics say automated license plate readers, drones and other mounted cameras have created mass surveillance systems that operate with no opportunity to opt out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This type of technology is still being used in unconstitutional ways to watch all of our movements all the time,” said Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on civil liberties in the digital age. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the roughly two years since San Francisco began mounting hundreds of cameras, stories of data misuse and concerns around mass surveillance have taken off around the country, setting off new pressure to take the technology down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2295252662-scaled-e1791310942675.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103099\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">DeFlock privacy advocacy sticker warns of a nearby Flock Safety AI-enabled automated license plate reader tracking vehicles, San Francisco, California, Sept. 9, 2026. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We kept hearing from our community members about their fears of constantly being on camera and what can happen if their data gets in the wrong hands,” said Kimberly Woo, a Bay Area-based community organizer for the Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network, which works with immigrant and refugee communities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In June, SFPD announced that its Flock data had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\">inappropriately searched\u003c/a> hundreds of times by federal and other out-of-state agencies. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the improper searches did not violate the city’s sanctuary policy, but called for new guardrails to protect people from future mishandling of data. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even as they’ve insisted the technology is worthwhile, local officials have made some changes in response to reports of misuse and pushback. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following public protests by residents concerned about the way Flock data is collected and shared with police, Lurie announced last month that the city would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101844/san-francisco-keeps-its-flock-cameras-with-new-restrictions\">restrict the number of days\u003c/a> that San Francisco Police officers can access license plate reader data from one year to 30 days after it is captured. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The public should never be expected to sacrifice privacy for safety, and the SFPD has always used technology like ALPR for law enforcement purposes only,” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The announcement brought San Francisco in line with many other metro areas. But the city is still not meeting Flock’s own privacy recommendations for how long the data should be retained, which it recently brought down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-guardrails-address-lpr-privacy-concerns-and-police-transparency\">just seven days\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Abuse of Flock technology, at any level, is unacceptable,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in an announcement of the company’s standards change and other new privacy features. “These changes reflect years of work and deliberation. They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, Lurie, who made increasing public safety a cornerstone of his campaign for mayor, touted the city’s move to the 30-day retention policy, saying it was in the interest of both protecting privacy and allowing police to use what they deem an essential tool for quickly responding to crimes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans expect us to keep them safe and protect their privacy,” he said. “Today, we are putting tighter limits on the data collected by public safety cameras — strengthening the trust between law enforcement and communities that has been critical to our city’s public safety progress.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nationwide, opinions on Flock skew negative. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-likes-flock-ai-cameras-reutersipsos-polled-1000-americans-find-out-2026-09-11/\">September 2026 poll from Reuters\u003c/a> found that 47% of American adults do not want the cameras in their communities, while 38% support them. Younger Americans were more likely to oppose Flock cameras compared to older adults, and Republicans were also more likely to support the technology than Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Public opinion is more mixed in San Francisco. A \u003ca href=\"https://growsf.org/pulse/growsf-pulse-july-2026/?share=police-cameras-and-drones#police-cameras-and-drones\">poll by GrowSF\u003c/a>, a tech-backed political group, found that 64% of poll responders said they support allowing police to monitor live footage from cameras, specifically in areas like the Tenderloin and the Mission, to deter crime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This technology has been a game changer in strengthening our ability to hold people who commit crimes in our city accountable,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who also supports a state legislative proposal to increase penalties for people who misuse license plate reader data. “We cannot allow concerns about misuse to prevent us from using the tools we need to protect our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators wear Flock cameras made of cardboard on their heads at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which allowed police to use drones for active investigations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the two years since then, many Bay Area cities have scaled back their relationships with Flock. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100732/richmond-could-be-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-leave-flock-safety\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/el-cerrito-flock-cameras-to-be-removed/4122158/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/los-altos-hills-to-remove-alpr-cameras/article_59f90aa8-14c1-4309-9f7f-12d16c649d9e.html\">Los Altos Hills\u003c/a> have all pulled back or canceled their Flock contracts over concerns about privacy and data-sharing, as have several cities in \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/santa-clara-county-stop-using-flock-safety-cameras-several-cities-privacy-concerns/18646060/\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. Some cities that have broken up with Flock have turned to other automated license plate reader vendors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1211/284\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, a wealthy suburb in the South Bay, ended use of automatic license plate technology entirely, a move that Woo of SIREN called a “north star victory.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year in San José, another major metro area that embraced the technology, a police officer used the technology to find the vehicle of a woman who accused his cousin of domestic violence. Woo’s organization, SIREN, sued the city of San José over its Flock camera use. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan later \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/23/san-jose-pushes-tighter-controls-on-flock-camera-database-after-officer-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">called for stronger safeguards\u003c/a> against misuse of the technology. The city still has nearly 500 cameras. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104423\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">Berkeley\u003c/a> voted to continue its relationship with Flock, but did not pass a proposed expansion of the technology. In Oakland, the City Council voted in December to renew and expand its Flock network. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in San Francisco, several politicians who have publicly supported the city’s Flock program have faced criticism over conflicts of interest and funding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, for example, has two members who are employed by Flock. This fall, when committee member Gordon Mar attempted to pass a resolution calling for stricter guardrails for the technology, the proposal was met with opposition and a competing resolution reaffirming the party’s support for the technology. Mar’s resolution failed to pass.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It reinforced my concern about the level of influence that wealthy tech interests, including those that have been championing AI-enabled mass surveillance technologies like Flock, have over our Democratic Party and the political establishment in San Francisco currently,” Mar told KQED. He later resigned from the committee, citing disappointment in the party’s direction and leadership under Chair Nancy Tung, who attended a Flock conference weeks before the vote, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/28/sf-dem-party-chair-who-blocked-key-flock-vote-got-10-000-donation-billionaire/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the same meeting, a group of protesters staged a demonstration calling out the party for its ties to Flock. Schwartz of DeFlock SF was among them. He said the city’s recent policy change for its Flock data is welcome, but he’d like the city to move away from the technology entirely, including other companies that offer the same service. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104416\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Flock camera display outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In late August, activists protested outside of cryptocurrency billionaire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">Chris Larsen\u003c/a>’s San Francisco mansion, turning out immigrant rights advocates, climate activists and other groups opposing the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Larsen, a major political donor in San Francisco politics and public safety efforts, has contributed millions of dollars to create the city’s Real Time Investigation Center, a facility that uses drones and surveillance cameras to respond to crime reports and to the expansion of license plate reader technology.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Larsen now shares some of his critics’ concerns, which he recently told KQED’s Political Breakdown are “legitimate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They’re right to be protesting because of what’s going on kind of nationally,” he said, noting that public distrust in government and technology is high, especially due to federal immigration enforcement and AI safety risks. “It’s a shame because at the same time, these tools, if they’re targeted and very, very focused like they are in San Francisco, they’re incredibly effective.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In today’s digital age, devices capture data constantly. But Woo said that ALPR technology is particularly concerning, compared to social media, for example, because there isn’t an ability to opt out or avoid the cameras, and the government immediately has access to that personal data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A demonstrator wears a Flock camera made of cardboard on their head at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have phones in our hands, but in order for the government to access that data, that requires a valid judicial warrant,” Woo said. “With these ALPR cameras, however, these are tracking anyone who gets within their purview without a warrant and without a consent on a mass dragnet scale.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwartz said he’d rather have the city he was raised in invest resources toward reducing poverty and improving access to education, to address crime. Even though the city has responded to pushback by curtailing its Flock data somewhat, he and other concerned residents aren’t satisfied. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Protests have not slowed down after Lurie’s announcement that the city would restrict data retention. Last week, a group of anti-surveillance protesters gathered outside the TechCrunch conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, calling for an end to the technology across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco will consider renewing its contract with Flock in February 2027. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These policies are a step in the right direction, but they’re not a solution to the problem,” Schwartz said. “We’re still going to keep fighting this.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>From Mayor Daniel Lurie to supervisors like Matt Dorsey and other local Democratic Party leaders, they say the cameras have aided law enforcement and reduced crime. Critics say they are a gross invasion of privacy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>From Mayor Daniel Lurie to supervisors like Matt Dorsey and other local Democratic Party leaders, they say the cameras have aided law enforcement and reduced crime. Critics say they are a gross invasion of privacy. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tensions over the city’s use of Flock have fueled protests and fiery public comment as San Francisco prepares to reconsider its contract with the controversial Atlanta-based company next February and as the election next month spurs widespread debate about artificial intelligence and surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tensions over the city’s use of Flock have fueled protests and fiery public comment as San Francisco prepares to reconsider its contract with the controversial Atlanta-based company next February and as the election next month spurs widespread debate about artificial intelligence and surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe being watched. There’s definitely nothing related to surveillance that is going to help me feel safer,” said Zachary Schwartz, a 16-year-old junior at Lowell High School, who started the local DeFlock SF chapter to organize against what he said is increasing mass surveillance in the city where he’s growing up.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe being watched. There’s definitely nothing related to surveillance that is going to help me feel safer,” said Zachary Schwartz, a 16-year-old junior at Lowell High School, who started the local DeFlock SF chapter to organize against what he said is increasing mass surveillance in the city where he’s growing up.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco announced in 2024 that it would begin rolling out a network of about \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/sf-takes-historic-step-to-solve-crime-with-400-lpr-cameras\">400 cameras\u003c/a> mounted on streetlights around the city. Today, San Francisco ranks toward the top of U.S. cities when it comes to the number of cameras per road mile, according to geographic data from DeFlock, a national organization seeking to remove automated license plate reader technology from cities. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>San Francisco announced in 2024 that it would begin rolling out a network of about \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/sf-takes-historic-step-to-solve-crime-with-400-lpr-cameras\">400 cameras\u003c/a> mounted on streetlights around the city. Today, San Francisco ranks toward the top of U.S. cities when it comes to the number of cameras per road mile, according to geographic data from DeFlock, a national organization seeking to remove automated license plate reader technology from cities. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Manny speaks at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104422\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Manny speaks at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Supporters say the license plate reader technology can quickly help solve crimes, like smash-and-grab car burglaries, which have plummeted in the city since 2023. By mapping out images collected by the cameras, police officers can reconstruct a vehicle’s route and location. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Supporters say the license plate reader technology can quickly help solve crimes, like smash-and-grab car burglaries, which have plummeted in the city since 2023. By mapping out images collected by the cameras, police officers can reconstruct a vehicle’s route and location. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This technology helps us keep workers, small business owners and families safe, because we will not go back to a time when people could break into cars, rob businesses or commit serious crime without consequences,” Lurie said at a recent press conference. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This technology helps us keep workers, small business owners and families safe, because we will not go back to a time when people could break into cars, rob businesses or commit serious crime without consequences,” Lurie said at a recent press conference. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But critics say automated license plate readers, drones and other mounted cameras have created mass surveillance systems that operate with no opportunity to opt out.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This type of technology is still being used in unconstitutional ways to watch all of our movements all the time,” said Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on civil liberties in the digital age. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the roughly two years since San Francisco began mounting hundreds of cameras, stories of data misuse and concerns around mass surveillance have taken off around the country, setting off new pressure to take the technology down. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2295252662-scaled-e1791310942675.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103099\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">DeFlock privacy advocacy sticker warns of a nearby Flock Safety AI-enabled automated license plate reader tracking vehicles, San Francisco, California, Sept. 9, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We kept hearing from our community members about their fears of constantly being on camera and what can happen if their data gets in the wrong hands,” said Kimberly Woo, a Bay Area-based community organizer for the Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network, which works with immigrant and refugee communities. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We kept hearing from our community members about their fears of constantly being on camera and what can happen if their data gets in the wrong hands,” said Kimberly Woo, a Bay Area-based community organizer for the Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network, which works with immigrant and refugee communities. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In June, SFPD announced that its Flock data had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\">inappropriately searched\u003c/a> hundreds of times by federal and other out-of-state agencies. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the improper searches did not violate the city’s sanctuary policy, but called for new guardrails to protect people from future mishandling of data. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In June, SFPD announced that its Flock data had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\">inappropriately searched\u003c/a> hundreds of times by federal and other out-of-state agencies. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the improper searches did not violate the city’s sanctuary policy, but called for new guardrails to protect people from future mishandling of data. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Even as they’ve insisted the technology is worthwhile, local officials have made some changes in response to reports of misuse and pushback. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Even as they’ve insisted the technology is worthwhile, local officials have made some changes in response to reports of misuse and pushback. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Following public protests by residents concerned about the way Flock data is collected and shared with police, Lurie announced last month that the city would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101844/san-francisco-keeps-its-flock-cameras-with-new-restrictions\">restrict the number of days\u003c/a> that San Francisco Police officers can access license plate reader data from one year to 30 days after it is captured. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Following public protests by residents concerned about the way Flock data is collected and shared with police, Lurie announced last month that the city would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101844/san-francisco-keeps-its-flock-cameras-with-new-restrictions\">restrict the number of days\u003c/a> that San Francisco Police officers can access license plate reader data from one year to 30 days after it is captured. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The public should never be expected to sacrifice privacy for safety, and the SFPD has always used technology like ALPR for law enforcement purposes only,” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The public should never be expected to sacrifice privacy for safety, and the SFPD has always used technology like ALPR for law enforcement purposes only,” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The announcement brought San Francisco in line with many other metro areas. But the city is still not meeting Flock’s own privacy recommendations for how long the data should be retained, which it recently brought down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-guardrails-address-lpr-privacy-concerns-and-police-transparency\">just seven days\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The announcement brought San Francisco in line with many other metro areas. But the city is still not meeting Flock’s own privacy recommendations for how long the data should be retained, which it recently brought down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-guardrails-address-lpr-privacy-concerns-and-police-transparency\">just seven days\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Abuse of Flock technology, at any level, is unacceptable,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in an announcement of the company’s standards change and other new privacy features. “These changes reflect years of work and deliberation. They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Abuse of Flock technology, at any level, is unacceptable,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in an announcement of the company’s standards change and other new privacy features. “These changes reflect years of work and deliberation. They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, Lurie, who made increasing public safety a cornerstone of his campaign for mayor, touted the city’s move to the 30-day retention policy, saying it was in the interest of both protecting privacy and allowing police to use what they deem an essential tool for quickly responding to crimes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Still, Lurie, who made increasing public safety a cornerstone of his campaign for mayor, touted the city’s move to the 30-day retention policy, saying it was in the interest of both protecting privacy and allowing police to use what they deem an essential tool for quickly responding to crimes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans expect us to keep them safe and protect their privacy,” he said. “Today, we are putting tighter limits on the data collected by public safety cameras — strengthening the trust between law enforcement and communities that has been critical to our city’s public safety progress.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans expect us to keep them safe and protect their privacy,” he said. “Today, we are putting tighter limits on the data collected by public safety cameras — strengthening the trust between law enforcement and communities that has been critical to our city’s public safety progress.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nationwide, opinions on Flock skew negative. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-likes-flock-ai-cameras-reutersipsos-polled-1000-americans-find-out-2026-09-11/\">September 2026 poll from Reuters\u003c/a> found that 47% of American adults do not want the cameras in their communities, while 38% support them. Younger Americans were more likely to oppose Flock cameras compared to older adults, and Republicans were also more likely to support the technology than Democrats.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nationwide, opinions on Flock skew negative. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-likes-flock-ai-cameras-reutersipsos-polled-1000-americans-find-out-2026-09-11/\">September 2026 poll from Reuters\u003c/a> found that 47% of American adults do not want the cameras in their communities, while 38% support them. Younger Americans were more likely to oppose Flock cameras compared to older adults, and Republicans were also more likely to support the technology than Democrats.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Public opinion is more mixed in San Francisco. A \u003ca href=\"https://growsf.org/pulse/growsf-pulse-july-2026/?share=police-cameras-and-drones#police-cameras-and-drones\">poll by GrowSF\u003c/a>, a tech-backed political group, found that 64% of poll responders said they support allowing police to monitor live footage from cameras, specifically in areas like the Tenderloin and the Mission, to deter crime. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Public opinion is more mixed in San Francisco. A \u003ca href=\"https://growsf.org/pulse/growsf-pulse-july-2026/?share=police-cameras-and-drones#police-cameras-and-drones\">poll by GrowSF\u003c/a>, a tech-backed political group, found that 64% of poll responders said they support allowing police to monitor live footage from cameras, specifically in areas like the Tenderloin and the Mission, to deter crime. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This technology has been a game changer in strengthening our ability to hold people who commit crimes in our city accountable,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who also supports a state legislative proposal to increase penalties for people who misuse license plate reader data. “We cannot allow concerns about misuse to prevent us from using the tools we need to protect our communities.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This technology has been a game changer in strengthening our ability to hold people who commit crimes in our city accountable,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who also supports a state legislative proposal to increase penalties for people who misuse license plate reader data. “We cannot allow concerns about misuse to prevent us from using the tools we need to protect our communities.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators wear Flock cameras made of cardboard on their heads at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104419\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators wear Flock cameras made of cardboard on their heads at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which allowed police to use drones for active investigations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which allowed police to use drones for active investigations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the two years since then, many Bay Area cities have scaled back their relationships with Flock. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the two years since then, many Bay Area cities have scaled back their relationships with Flock. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100732/richmond-could-be-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-leave-flock-safety\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/el-cerrito-flock-cameras-to-be-removed/4122158/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/los-altos-hills-to-remove-alpr-cameras/article_59f90aa8-14c1-4309-9f7f-12d16c649d9e.html\">Los Altos Hills\u003c/a> have all pulled back or canceled their Flock contracts over concerns about privacy and data-sharing, as have several cities in \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/santa-clara-county-stop-using-flock-safety-cameras-several-cities-privacy-concerns/18646060/\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. Some cities that have broken up with Flock have turned to other automated license plate reader vendors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1211/284\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, a wealthy suburb in the South Bay, ended use of automatic license plate technology entirely, a move that Woo of SIREN called a “north star victory.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100732/richmond-could-be-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-leave-flock-safety\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/el-cerrito-flock-cameras-to-be-removed/4122158/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/los-altos-hills-to-remove-alpr-cameras/article_59f90aa8-14c1-4309-9f7f-12d16c649d9e.html\">Los Altos Hills\u003c/a> have all pulled back or canceled their Flock contracts over concerns about privacy and data-sharing, as have several cities in \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/santa-clara-county-stop-using-flock-safety-cameras-several-cities-privacy-concerns/18646060/\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. Some cities that have broken up with Flock have turned to other automated license plate reader vendors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1211/284\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, a wealthy suburb in the South Bay, ended use of automatic license plate technology entirely, a move that Woo of SIREN called a “north star victory.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Earlier this year in San José, another major metro area that embraced the technology, a police officer used the technology to find the vehicle of a woman who accused his cousin of domestic violence. Woo’s organization, SIREN, sued the city of San José over its Flock camera use. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Earlier this year in San José, another major metro area that embraced the technology, a police officer used the technology to find the vehicle of a woman who accused his cousin of domestic violence. Woo’s organization, SIREN, sued the city of San José over its Flock camera use. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan later \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/23/san-jose-pushes-tighter-controls-on-flock-camera-database-after-officer-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">called for stronger safeguards\u003c/a> against misuse of the technology. The city still has nearly 500 cameras. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan later \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/23/san-jose-pushes-tighter-controls-on-flock-camera-database-after-officer-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">called for stronger safeguards\u003c/a> against misuse of the technology. The city still has nearly 500 cameras. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104423\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104423\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">Berkeley\u003c/a> voted to continue its relationship with Flock, but did not pass a proposed expansion of the technology. In Oakland, the City Council voted in December to renew and expand its Flock network. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">Berkeley\u003c/a> voted to continue its relationship with Flock, but did not pass a proposed expansion of the technology. In Oakland, the City Council voted in December to renew and expand its Flock network. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in San Francisco, several politicians who have publicly supported the city’s Flock program have faced criticism over conflicts of interest and funding. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, for example, has two members who are employed by Flock. This fall, when committee member Gordon Mar attempted to pass a resolution calling for stricter guardrails for the technology, the proposal was met with opposition and a competing resolution reaffirming the party’s support for the technology. Mar’s resolution failed to pass.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, for example, has two members who are employed by Flock. This fall, when committee member Gordon Mar attempted to pass a resolution calling for stricter guardrails for the technology, the proposal was met with opposition and a competing resolution reaffirming the party’s support for the technology. Mar’s resolution failed to pass.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It reinforced my concern about the level of influence that wealthy tech interests, including those that have been championing AI-enabled mass surveillance technologies like Flock, have over our Democratic Party and the political establishment in San Francisco currently,” Mar told KQED. He later resigned from the committee, citing disappointment in the party’s direction and leadership under Chair Nancy Tung, who attended a Flock conference weeks before the vote, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/28/sf-dem-party-chair-who-blocked-key-flock-vote-got-10-000-donation-billionaire/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It reinforced my concern about the level of influence that wealthy tech interests, including those that have been championing AI-enabled mass surveillance technologies like Flock, have over our Democratic Party and the political establishment in San Francisco currently,” Mar told KQED. He later resigned from the committee, citing disappointment in the party’s direction and leadership under Chair Nancy Tung, who attended a Flock conference weeks before the vote, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/28/sf-dem-party-chair-who-blocked-key-flock-vote-got-10-000-donation-billionaire/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the same meeting, a group of protesters staged a demonstration calling out the party for its ties to Flock. Schwartz of DeFlock SF was among them. He said the city’s recent policy change for its Flock data is welcome, but he’d like the city to move away from the technology entirely, including other companies that offer the same service. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the same meeting, a group of protesters staged a demonstration calling out the party for its ties to Flock. Schwartz of DeFlock SF was among them. He said the city’s recent policy change for its Flock data is welcome, but he’d like the city to move away from the technology entirely, including other companies that offer the same service. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104416\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Flock camera display outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104416\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Flock camera display outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In late August, activists protested outside of cryptocurrency billionaire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">Chris Larsen\u003c/a>’s San Francisco mansion, turning out immigrant rights advocates, climate activists and other groups opposing the technology. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In late August, activists protested outside of cryptocurrency billionaire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">Chris Larsen\u003c/a>’s San Francisco mansion, turning out immigrant rights advocates, climate activists and other groups opposing the technology. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Larsen, a major political donor in San Francisco politics and public safety efforts, has contributed millions of dollars to create the city’s Real Time Investigation Center, a facility that uses drones and surveillance cameras to respond to crime reports and to the expansion of license plate reader technology.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Larsen, a major political donor in San Francisco politics and public safety efforts, has contributed millions of dollars to create the city’s Real Time Investigation Center, a facility that uses drones and surveillance cameras to respond to crime reports and to the expansion of license plate reader technology.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But Larsen now shares some of his critics’ concerns, which he recently told KQED’s Political Breakdown are “legitimate.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They’re right to be protesting because of what’s going on kind of nationally,” he said, noting that public distrust in government and technology is high, especially due to federal immigration enforcement and AI safety risks. “It’s a shame because at the same time, these tools, if they’re targeted and very, very focused like they are in San Francisco, they’re incredibly effective.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“They’re right to be protesting because of what’s going on kind of nationally,” he said, noting that public distrust in government and technology is high, especially due to federal immigration enforcement and AI safety risks. “It’s a shame because at the same time, these tools, if they’re targeted and very, very focused like they are in San Francisco, they’re incredibly effective.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In today’s digital age, devices capture data constantly. But Woo said that ALPR technology is particularly concerning, compared to social media, for example, because there isn’t an ability to opt out or avoid the cameras, and the government immediately has access to that personal data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In today’s digital age, devices capture data constantly. But Woo said that ALPR technology is particularly concerning, compared to social media, for example, because there isn’t an ability to opt out or avoid the cameras, and the government immediately has access to that personal data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A demonstrator wears a Flock camera made of cardboard on their head at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104421\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A demonstrator wears a Flock camera made of cardboard on their head at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We have phones in our hands, but in order for the government to access that data, that requires a valid judicial warrant,” Woo said. “With these ALPR cameras, however, these are tracking anyone who gets within their purview without a warrant and without a consent on a mass dragnet scale.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We have phones in our hands, but in order for the government to access that data, that requires a valid judicial warrant,” Woo said. “With these ALPR cameras, however, these are tracking anyone who gets within their purview without a warrant and without a consent on a mass dragnet scale.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwartz said he’d rather have the city he was raised in invest resources toward reducing poverty and improving access to education, to address crime. Even though the city has responded to pushback by curtailing its Flock data somewhat, he and other concerned residents aren’t satisfied. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Schwartz said he’d rather have the city he was raised in invest resources toward reducing poverty and improving access to education, to address crime. Even though the city has responded to pushback by curtailing its Flock data somewhat, he and other concerned residents aren’t satisfied. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Protests have not slowed down after Lurie’s announcement that the city would restrict data retention. Last week, a group of anti-surveillance protesters gathered outside the TechCrunch conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, calling for an end to the technology across the country. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Protests have not slowed down after Lurie’s announcement that the city would restrict data retention. Last week, a group of anti-surveillance protesters gathered outside the TechCrunch conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, calling for an end to the technology across the country. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco will consider renewing its contract with Flock in February 2027. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These policies are a step in the right direction, but they’re not a solution to the problem,” Schwartz said. “We’re still going to keep fighting this.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Tensions around police surveillance technology are boiling over as Flock’s contract with San Francisco faces renewal in February 2027.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>As Bay Area cities set stricter guardrails or break up entirely with automated license plate reader tools like Flock in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096106/anti-flock-organizers-ramp-up-bay-area-protests-urging-cities-to-cut-ties-with-company\">intense criticism from constituents\u003c/a>, many elected officials in San Francisco are doubling down on their support for the surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>From Mayor Daniel Lurie to supervisors like Matt Dorsey and other local Democratic Party leaders, they say the cameras have aided law enforcement and reduced crime. Critics say they are a gross invasion of privacy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tensions over the city’s use of Flock have fueled protests and fiery public comment as San Francisco prepares to reconsider its contract with the controversial Atlanta-based company next February and as the election next month spurs widespread debate about artificial intelligence and surveillance technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t feel safe being watched. There’s definitely nothing related to surveillance that is going to help me feel safer,” said Zachary Schwartz, a 16-year-old junior at Lowell High School, who started the local DeFlock SF chapter to organize against what he said is increasing mass surveillance in the city where he’s growing up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco announced in 2024 that it would begin rolling out a network of about \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/sf-takes-historic-step-to-solve-crime-with-400-lpr-cameras\">400 cameras\u003c/a> mounted on streetlights around the city. Today, San Francisco ranks toward the top of U.S. cities when it comes to the number of cameras per road mile, according to geographic data from DeFlock, a national organization seeking to remove automated license plate reader technology from cities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-33-KQED-c5d20ac1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Manny speaks at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supporters say the license plate reader technology can quickly help solve crimes, like smash-and-grab car burglaries, which have plummeted in the city since 2023. By mapping out images collected by the cameras, police officers can reconstruct a vehicle’s route and location. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This technology helps us keep workers, small business owners and families safe, because we will not go back to a time when people could break into cars, rob businesses or commit serious crime without consequences,” Lurie said at a recent press conference. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But critics say automated license plate readers, drones and other mounted cameras have created mass surveillance systems that operate with no opportunity to opt out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This type of technology is still being used in unconstitutional ways to watch all of our movements all the time,” said Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on civil liberties in the digital age. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the roughly two years since San Francisco began mounting hundreds of cameras, stories of data misuse and concerns around mass surveillance have taken off around the country, setting off new pressure to take the technology down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2295252662-scaled-e1791310942675.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103099\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">DeFlock privacy advocacy sticker warns of a nearby Flock Safety AI-enabled automated license plate reader tracking vehicles, San Francisco, California, Sept. 9, 2026. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We kept hearing from our community members about their fears of constantly being on camera and what can happen if their data gets in the wrong hands,” said Kimberly Woo, a Bay Area-based community organizer for the Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network, which works with immigrant and refugee communities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In June, SFPD announced that its Flock data had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088076/san-francisco-police-audit-shows-feds-accessed-license-plate-data-hundreds-of-times\">inappropriately searched\u003c/a> hundreds of times by federal and other out-of-state agencies. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that the improper searches did not violate the city’s sanctuary policy, but called for new guardrails to protect people from future mishandling of data. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even as they’ve insisted the technology is worthwhile, local officials have made some changes in response to reports of misuse and pushback. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following public protests by residents concerned about the way Flock data is collected and shared with police, Lurie announced last month that the city would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101844/san-francisco-keeps-its-flock-cameras-with-new-restrictions\">restrict the number of days\u003c/a> that San Francisco Police officers can access license plate reader data from one year to 30 days after it is captured. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The public should never be expected to sacrifice privacy for safety, and the SFPD has always used technology like ALPR for law enforcement purposes only,” SFPD Chief Derrick Lew said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The announcement brought San Francisco in line with many other metro areas. But the city is still not meeting Flock’s own privacy recommendations for how long the data should be retained, which it recently brought down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-guardrails-address-lpr-privacy-concerns-and-police-transparency\">just seven days\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Abuse of Flock technology, at any level, is unacceptable,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in an announcement of the company’s standards change and other new privacy features. “These changes reflect years of work and deliberation. They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, Lurie, who made increasing public safety a cornerstone of his campaign for mayor, touted the city’s move to the 30-day retention policy, saying it was in the interest of both protecting privacy and allowing police to use what they deem an essential tool for quickly responding to crimes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans expect us to keep them safe and protect their privacy,” he said. “Today, we are putting tighter limits on the data collected by public safety cameras — strengthening the trust between law enforcement and communities that has been critical to our city’s public safety progress.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nationwide, opinions on Flock skew negative. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-likes-flock-ai-cameras-reutersipsos-polled-1000-americans-find-out-2026-09-11/\">September 2026 poll from Reuters\u003c/a> found that 47% of American adults do not want the cameras in their communities, while 38% support them. Younger Americans were more likely to oppose Flock cameras compared to older adults, and Republicans were also more likely to support the technology than Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Public opinion is more mixed in San Francisco. A \u003ca href=\"https://growsf.org/pulse/growsf-pulse-july-2026/?share=police-cameras-and-drones#police-cameras-and-drones\">poll by GrowSF\u003c/a>, a tech-backed political group, found that 64% of poll responders said they support allowing police to monitor live footage from cameras, specifically in areas like the Tenderloin and the Mission, to deter crime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This technology has been a game changer in strengthening our ability to hold people who commit crimes in our city accountable,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who also supports a state legislative proposal to increase penalties for people who misuse license plate reader data. “We cannot allow concerns about misuse to prevent us from using the tools we need to protect our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-28-KQED-6725326d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators wear Flock cameras made of cardboard on their heads at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which allowed police to use drones for active investigations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the two years since then, many Bay Area cities have scaled back their relationships with Flock. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100732/richmond-could-be-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-leave-flock-safety\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/el-cerrito-flock-cameras-to-be-removed/4122158/\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/los-altos-hills-to-remove-alpr-cameras/article_59f90aa8-14c1-4309-9f7f-12d16c649d9e.html\">Los Altos Hills\u003c/a> have all pulled back or canceled their Flock contracts over concerns about privacy and data-sharing, as have several cities in \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/santa-clara-county-stop-using-flock-safety-cameras-several-cities-privacy-concerns/18646060/\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. Some cities that have broken up with Flock have turned to other automated license plate reader vendors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mountainview.gov/Home/Components/News/News/1211/284\">Mountain View\u003c/a>, a wealthy suburb in the South Bay, ended use of automatic license plate technology entirely, a move that Woo of SIREN called a “north star victory.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year in San José, another major metro area that embraced the technology, a police officer used the technology to find the vehicle of a woman who accused his cousin of domestic violence. Woo’s organization, SIREN, sued the city of San José over its Flock camera use. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan later \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/23/san-jose-pushes-tighter-controls-on-flock-camera-database-after-officer-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">called for stronger safeguards\u003c/a> against misuse of the technology. The city still has nearly 500 cameras. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104423\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-36-KQED-93970c72-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Demonstrators protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082887/berkeley-extends-surveillance-contract-with-flock-safety-but-rejects-major-expansion\">Berkeley\u003c/a> voted to continue its relationship with Flock, but did not pass a proposed expansion of the technology. In Oakland, the City Council voted in December to renew and expand its Flock network. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in San Francisco, several politicians who have publicly supported the city’s Flock program have faced criticism over conflicts of interest and funding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, for example, has two members who are employed by Flock. This fall, when committee member Gordon Mar attempted to pass a resolution calling for stricter guardrails for the technology, the proposal was met with opposition and a competing resolution reaffirming the party’s support for the technology. Mar’s resolution failed to pass.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It reinforced my concern about the level of influence that wealthy tech interests, including those that have been championing AI-enabled mass surveillance technologies like Flock, have over our Democratic Party and the political establishment in San Francisco currently,” Mar told KQED. He later resigned from the committee, citing disappointment in the party’s direction and leadership under Chair Nancy Tung, who attended a Flock conference weeks before the vote, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/28/sf-dem-party-chair-who-blocked-key-flock-vote-got-10-000-donation-billionaire/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the same meeting, a group of protesters staged a demonstration calling out the party for its ties to Flock. Schwartz of DeFlock SF was among them. He said the city’s recent policy change for its Flock data is welcome, but he’d like the city to move away from the technology entirely, including other companies that offer the same service. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104416\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-4-KQED-3e58826b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Flock camera display outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In late August, activists protested outside of cryptocurrency billionaire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">Chris Larsen\u003c/a>’s San Francisco mansion, turning out immigrant rights advocates, climate activists and other groups opposing the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Larsen, a major political donor in San Francisco politics and public safety efforts, has contributed millions of dollars to create the city’s Real Time Investigation Center, a facility that uses drones and surveillance cameras to respond to crime reports and to the expansion of license plate reader technology.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Larsen now shares some of his critics’ concerns, which he recently told KQED’s Political Breakdown are “legitimate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They’re right to be protesting because of what’s going on kind of nationally,” he said, noting that public distrust in government and technology is high, especially due to federal immigration enforcement and AI safety risks. “It’s a shame because at the same time, these tools, if they’re targeted and very, very focused like they are in San Francisco, they’re incredibly effective.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In today’s digital age, devices capture data constantly. But Woo said that ALPR technology is particularly concerning, compared to social media, for example, because there isn’t an ability to opt out or avoid the cameras, and the government immediately has access to that personal data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-SFFLOCK-NG-30-KQED-169ae6ae-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A demonstrator wears a Flock camera made of cardboard on their head at a protest against Flock cameras outside the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco where Flock CEO Garrett Langley spoke on Oct. 14, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have phones in our hands, but in order for the government to access that data, that requires a valid judicial warrant,” Woo said. “With these ALPR cameras, however, these are tracking anyone who gets within their purview without a warrant and without a consent on a mass dragnet scale.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwartz said he’d rather have the city he was raised in invest resources toward reducing poverty and improving access to education, to address crime. Even though the city has responded to pushback by curtailing its Flock data somewhat, he and other concerned residents aren’t satisfied. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Protests have not slowed down after Lurie’s announcement that the city would restrict data retention. Last week, a group of anti-surveillance protesters gathered outside the TechCrunch conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, calling for an end to the technology across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco will consider renewing its contract with Flock in February 2027. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These policies are a step in the right direction, but they’re not a solution to the problem,” Schwartz said. “We’re still going to keep fighting this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "after-sleeping-tesla-driver-crashes-into-patrol-car-chp-investigates",
"title": "After Sleeping Tesla Driver Crashes Into Patrol Car, CHP Investigates",
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"headTitle": "After Sleeping Tesla Driver Crashes Into Patrol Car, CHP Investigates | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol officer drives on State Route 52 on Sept. 28, 2024. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "The 22-year-old man from Sacramento told authorities that he had fallen asleep at the wheel while his Tesla was in self-driving mode.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol officer drives on State Route 52 on Sept. 28, 2024. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "as-san-jose-tries-to-regulate-data-centers-residents-want-to-ban-them",
"title": "As San José Tries to Regulate Data Centers, Residents Want to Ban Them",
"publishDate": 1792180322,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "As San José Tries to Regulate Data Centers, Residents Want to Ban Them | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>As San José officials rolled out new proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099195/full-on-backlash-against-data-centers-occurring-as-san-jose-courts-them\">data center development standards\u003c/a>, moving one step closer to enshrining them, residents and environmental advocates staged rallies and packed City Hall demanding an outright moratorium on the power-hungry facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During a community meeting on Thursday night, high-ranking city staff members proffered new rules and requirements for future data centers such as requiring recycled water use, aesthetic design enhancements, sound dampeners, limits on backup generator runtime for testing and maintenance, and developer fees for affordable housing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the city garnered commendations for its proposals from business groups and union laborers who build data centers, community groups and residents from around San José called for a pause on all data center approvals and applications, saying the standards don’t do enough to protect people from risks of air and water pollution, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/30/climate/data-centers-are-having-an-underrported\">increased local temperatures\u003c/a> and constant noise. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The very least that we could expect is that our government, which is funded by our tax dollars and led by people who we elected to serve us, does not blindly follow corporations and billionaires into the unknown,” Kylie Clark, policy director at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, said during a rally before the meeting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104842\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kylie Clark of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits speaks during a rally ahead of a community meeting about data centers at San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“These decisions are not reversible. They will define our city for generations to come. So our question is, what is the rush? Why in the world wouldn’t we take our time, understand the impacts, and get it right?” Clark said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While other Bay Area cities including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099583/san-francisco-supervisors-push-for-moratorium-on-new-data-centers\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097506/oakland-residents-continue-push-against-data-centers\">Oakland\u003c/a>, Richmond, Gilroy and Oakley have passed temporary moratoriums on data centers out of concern about health and environmental impacts, and to give city officials time to plan out codes and regulations, San José has continued a policy of courting data center developers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan, who attended part of Thursday evening’s meeting, has said previously the city should lead the way in helping shape how such significant investments benefit municipalities, and has likened an outright ban on data center development to burying “our heads in the sand.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pledged in an interview last month that the city would set some of the “highest, strictest standards in every category of concern we’ve heard” from residents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>City officials, including Deputy City Manager Manuel Pineda, who oversees the city’s energy and environmental services work, reiterated Thursday that the City Council has not directed staff to work toward a moratorium, despite public calls to do so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead, the city is pushing ahead with a process that began in August to hold community meetings and accept feedback from residents to help craft new rules around data center development, monitoring and requirements for ensuring such projects help support affordable housing fees. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Long before responding to concerns from residents by ramping up this public input process, however, San José had established dedicated staffing to attract data centers, inked a power reliability \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049830/san-jose-and-pge-strike-deal-to-attract-data-centers-to-south-bay\">agreement with PG&E\u003c/a>, and offered “concierge-style support” to data center developers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are still listening as we continue to develop those standards, to make them the best standards possible,” Pineda said Thursday at the meeting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city’s proposed standards include requirements that data centers use recycled water for cooling the intensive heat put off by racks of processors and servers, or use low-water systems that use air or “closed-loop” design. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Data centers would need to use completely carbon-neutral electricity, limit the time their backup generators are run for testing or maintenance to only 25 hours per year, as opposed to state rules of 50 hours annually, and must regularly report their water and electricity usage to the city, with third-party verification every five years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104840\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan watches a community meeting about data center development standards inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>San José’s proposed standards also could require sewer discharge and noise monitoring, and would expand the radius for who receives mailed notification cards about a possible data center project to 1,500 feet, from the current maximum of 1,000 feet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the meeting, and at rallies before and after outside City Hall, residents expressed outright distrust of city leadership and staff, saying the public engagement process has felt rushed and has resulted in proposed standards that some characterized as weak or a giveaway to AI data center developers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some residents also asked for a moratorium because the limited regulatory reach of the city will not be able to encompass broader concerns stemming from data center development, like the unknown cumulative impacts of having too many in one area, the risk of groundwater pollution from harsh chemicals used in some cooling processes, and even the potential for security risk, citing Ukraine and Russia ramping up attacks on each other’s data centers this week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ted Smith, a longtime resident of San José, helped lead the charge for a right-to-know ordinance in the 1980s after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11630861/how-silicon-valley-industry-polluted-the-sylvan-california-dream\">semiconductor industry’s\u003c/a> unrestrained growth led to mass pollution in the county due to mismanaged solvents used in chipmaking, all while leaders of companies like Fairchild and Intel said their industry was a clean one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104844\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A man holds up signs during a rally by people demanding a halt to data center development outside of San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104839\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees listen during a community meeting about data center development standards inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104838\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thurston Brevett, of San José, speaks to city officials about his concerns with data centers during a community meeting inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, at the time, said she was horn-swoggled by the fact that they didn’t understand what was going on. I’m afraid we’re walking right back into that same trap,” Smith told city officials. “I see your standards here; I think you could drive a truck through a lot of those in terms of what they can put over on you.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shaf Khan, another resident, agreed, saying they were worried history would repeat itself. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I live in an area with three data centers already. I’d like to know the impacts of those over a long period of time, especially on young and developing children and expecting parents before we move on with making more,” Khan said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bob Staedler, a longtime San José land use consultant, said in an interview that the city is being too “chummy” with data center developers, and has tools at its disposal if it wanted to more closely restrict how many are allowed in any one area, such as how it recently put a moratorium on all new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063060/san-jose-is-cracking-down-on-smoke-shops-and-sales-of-nitrous-oxide-whip-its\">smoke shops\u003c/a> through late 2027 due to concerns about overconcentration. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104843\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Misrayn Mendoza of community group Amigos de Guadalupe speaks during a rally calling for a data center moratorium outside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“This just seems to just be ignoring the huge issues of our time, where you’ve got things like cumulative concentration,” Staedler said of the proposed data center standards. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We spend more time worrying about weed shops and alcohol and smoke shops than we are going to do with data centers,” Staedler said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the city’s standards would regulate how often diesel or natural gas backup generators can be run for testing and maintenance, they would not apply during a power outage, one of the primary concerns from residents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What happens when there’s a heat wave, as we are constantly experiencing year after year,” Ellina Yin, who closely tracks data center development in the city, said at a rally she helped organize before the meeting. “What happens when the power goes out and all of the generators kick on?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During a community meeting on Thursday night, high-ranking city staff members proffered new rules and requirements for future data centers such as requiring recycled water use, aesthetic design enhancements, sound dampeners, limits on backup generator runtime for testing and maintenance, and developer fees for affordable housing. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While the city garnered commendations for its proposals from business groups and union laborers who build data centers, community groups and residents from around San José called for a pause on all data center approvals and applications, saying the standards don’t do enough to protect people from risks of air and water pollution, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/30/climate/data-centers-are-having-an-underrported\">increased local temperatures\u003c/a> and constant noise. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While the city garnered commendations for its proposals from business groups and union laborers who build data centers, community groups and residents from around San José called for a pause on all data center approvals and applications, saying the standards don’t do enough to protect people from risks of air and water pollution, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/30/climate/data-centers-are-having-an-underrported\">increased local temperatures\u003c/a> and constant noise. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The very least that we could expect is that our government, which is funded by our tax dollars and led by people who we elected to serve us, does not blindly follow corporations and billionaires into the unknown,” Kylie Clark, policy director at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, said during a rally before the meeting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan, who attended part of Thursday evening’s meeting, has said previously the city should lead the way in helping shape how such significant investments benefit municipalities, and has likened an outright ban on data center development to burying “our heads in the sand.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>City officials, including Deputy City Manager Manuel Pineda, who oversees the city’s energy and environmental services work, reiterated Thursday that the City Council has not directed staff to work toward a moratorium, despite public calls to do so.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Instead, the city is pushing ahead with a process that began in August to hold community meetings and accept feedback from residents to help craft new rules around data center development, monitoring and requirements for ensuring such projects help support affordable housing fees. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Long before responding to concerns from residents by ramping up this public input process, however, San José had established dedicated staffing to attract data centers, inked a power reliability \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049830/san-jose-and-pge-strike-deal-to-attract-data-centers-to-south-bay\">agreement with PG&E\u003c/a>, and offered “concierge-style support” to data center developers. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are still listening as we continue to develop those standards, to make them the best standards possible,” Pineda said Thursday at the meeting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The city’s proposed standards include requirements that data centers use recycled water for cooling the intensive heat put off by racks of processors and servers, or use low-water systems that use air or “closed-loop” design. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The city’s proposed standards include requirements that data centers use recycled water for cooling the intensive heat put off by racks of processors and servers, or use low-water systems that use air or “closed-loop” design. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Data centers would need to use completely carbon-neutral electricity, limit the time their backup generators are run for testing or maintenance to only 25 hours per year, as opposed to state rules of 50 hours annually, and must regularly report their water and electricity usage to the city, with third-party verification every five years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104840\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan watches a community meeting about data center development standards inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San José’s proposed standards also could require sewer discharge and noise monitoring, and would expand the radius for who receives mailed notification cards about a possible data center project to 1,500 feet, from the current maximum of 1,000 feet. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During the meeting, and at rallies before and after outside City Hall, residents expressed outright distrust of city leadership and staff, saying the public engagement process has felt rushed and has resulted in proposed standards that some characterized as weak or a giveaway to AI data center developers. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some residents also asked for a moratorium because the limited regulatory reach of the city will not be able to encompass broader concerns stemming from data center development, like the unknown cumulative impacts of having too many in one area, the risk of groundwater pollution from harsh chemicals used in some cooling processes, and even the potential for security risk, citing Ukraine and Russia ramping up attacks on each other’s data centers this week. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ted Smith, a longtime resident of San José, helped lead the charge for a right-to-know ordinance in the 1980s after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11630861/how-silicon-valley-industry-polluted-the-sylvan-california-dream\">semiconductor industry’s\u003c/a> unrestrained growth led to mass pollution in the county due to mismanaged solvents used in chipmaking, all while leaders of companies like Fairchild and Intel said their industry was a clean one. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104838\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thurston Brevett, of San José, speaks to city officials about his concerns with data centers during a community meeting inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104838\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thurston Brevett, of San José, speaks to city officials about his concerns with data centers during a community meeting inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, at the time, said she was horn-swoggled by the fact that they didn’t understand what was going on. I’m afraid we’re walking right back into that same trap,” Smith told city officials. “I see your standards here; I think you could drive a truck through a lot of those in terms of what they can put over on you.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shaf Khan, another resident, agreed, saying they were worried history would repeat itself. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I live in an area with three data centers already. I’d like to know the impacts of those over a long period of time, especially on young and developing children and expecting parents before we move on with making more,” Khan said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bob Staedler, a longtime San José land use consultant, said in an interview that the city is being too “chummy” with data center developers, and has tools at its disposal if it wanted to more closely restrict how many are allowed in any one area, such as how it recently put a moratorium on all new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063060/san-jose-is-cracking-down-on-smoke-shops-and-sales-of-nitrous-oxide-whip-its\">smoke shops\u003c/a> through late 2027 due to concerns about overconcentration. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bob Staedler, a longtime San José land use consultant, said in an interview that the city is being too “chummy” with data center developers, and has tools at its disposal if it wanted to more closely restrict how many are allowed in any one area, such as how it recently put a moratorium on all new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063060/san-jose-is-cracking-down-on-smoke-shops-and-sales-of-nitrous-oxide-whip-its\">smoke shops\u003c/a> through late 2027 due to concerns about overconcentration. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104843\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Misrayn Mendoza of community group Amigos de Guadalupe speaks during a rally calling for a data center moratorium outside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This just seems to just be ignoring the huge issues of our time, where you’ve got things like cumulative concentration,” Staedler said of the proposed data center standards. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We spend more time worrying about weed shops and alcohol and smoke shops than we are going to do with data centers,” Staedler said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While the city’s standards would regulate how often diesel or natural gas backup generators can be run for testing and maintenance, they would not apply during a power outage, one of the primary concerns from residents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What happens when there’s a heat wave, as we are constantly experiencing year after year,” Ellina Yin, who closely tracks data center development in the city, said at a rally she helped organize before the meeting. “What happens when the power goes out and all of the generators kick on?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>As San José officials rolled out new proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099195/full-on-backlash-against-data-centers-occurring-as-san-jose-courts-them\">data center development standards\u003c/a>, moving one step closer to enshrining them, residents and environmental advocates staged rallies and packed City Hall demanding an outright moratorium on the power-hungry facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During a community meeting on Thursday night, high-ranking city staff members proffered new rules and requirements for future data centers such as requiring recycled water use, aesthetic design enhancements, sound dampeners, limits on backup generator runtime for testing and maintenance, and developer fees for affordable housing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the city garnered commendations for its proposals from business groups and union laborers who build data centers, community groups and residents from around San José called for a pause on all data center approvals and applications, saying the standards don’t do enough to protect people from risks of air and water pollution, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/30/climate/data-centers-are-having-an-underrported\">increased local temperatures\u003c/a> and constant noise. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The very least that we could expect is that our government, which is funded by our tax dollars and led by people who we elected to serve us, does not blindly follow corporations and billionaires into the unknown,” Kylie Clark, policy director at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, said during a rally before the meeting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104842\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-7-KQED-e20fe58e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kylie Clark of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits speaks during a rally ahead of a community meeting about data centers at San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“These decisions are not reversible. They will define our city for generations to come. So our question is, what is the rush? Why in the world wouldn’t we take our time, understand the impacts, and get it right?” Clark said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While other Bay Area cities including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099583/san-francisco-supervisors-push-for-moratorium-on-new-data-centers\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097506/oakland-residents-continue-push-against-data-centers\">Oakland\u003c/a>, Richmond, Gilroy and Oakley have passed temporary moratoriums on data centers out of concern about health and environmental impacts, and to give city officials time to plan out codes and regulations, San José has continued a policy of courting data center developers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan, who attended part of Thursday evening’s meeting, has said previously the city should lead the way in helping shape how such significant investments benefit municipalities, and has likened an outright ban on data center development to burying “our heads in the sand.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pledged in an interview last month that the city would set some of the “highest, strictest standards in every category of concern we’ve heard” from residents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>City officials, including Deputy City Manager Manuel Pineda, who oversees the city’s energy and environmental services work, reiterated Thursday that the City Council has not directed staff to work toward a moratorium, despite public calls to do so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead, the city is pushing ahead with a process that began in August to hold community meetings and accept feedback from residents to help craft new rules around data center development, monitoring and requirements for ensuring such projects help support affordable housing fees. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Long before responding to concerns from residents by ramping up this public input process, however, San José had established dedicated staffing to attract data centers, inked a power reliability \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049830/san-jose-and-pge-strike-deal-to-attract-data-centers-to-south-bay\">agreement with PG&E\u003c/a>, and offered “concierge-style support” to data center developers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are still listening as we continue to develop those standards, to make them the best standards possible,” Pineda said Thursday at the meeting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city’s proposed standards include requirements that data centers use recycled water for cooling the intensive heat put off by racks of processors and servers, or use low-water systems that use air or “closed-loop” design. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Data centers would need to use completely carbon-neutral electricity, limit the time their backup generators are run for testing or maintenance to only 25 hours per year, as opposed to state rules of 50 hours annually, and must regularly report their water and electricity usage to the city, with third-party verification every five years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104840\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-3-KQED-760c7631-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan watches a community meeting about data center development standards inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>San José’s proposed standards also could require sewer discharge and noise monitoring, and would expand the radius for who receives mailed notification cards about a possible data center project to 1,500 feet, from the current maximum of 1,000 feet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the meeting, and at rallies before and after outside City Hall, residents expressed outright distrust of city leadership and staff, saying the public engagement process has felt rushed and has resulted in proposed standards that some characterized as weak or a giveaway to AI data center developers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some residents also asked for a moratorium because the limited regulatory reach of the city will not be able to encompass broader concerns stemming from data center development, like the unknown cumulative impacts of having too many in one area, the risk of groundwater pollution from harsh chemicals used in some cooling processes, and even the potential for security risk, citing Ukraine and Russia ramping up attacks on each other’s data centers this week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ted Smith, a longtime resident of San José, helped lead the charge for a right-to-know ordinance in the 1980s after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11630861/how-silicon-valley-industry-polluted-the-sylvan-california-dream\">semiconductor industry’s\u003c/a> unrestrained growth led to mass pollution in the county due to mismanaged solvents used in chipmaking, all while leaders of companies like Fairchild and Intel said their industry was a clean one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104844\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-9-KQED-6d4d94e2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A man holds up signs during a rally by people demanding a halt to data center development outside of San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104839\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-2-KQED-6a0c332c-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees listen during a community meeting about data center development standards inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104838\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-1-KQED-4189affe-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thurston Brevett, of San José, speaks to city officials about his concerns with data centers during a community meeting inside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, at the time, said she was horn-swoggled by the fact that they didn’t understand what was going on. I’m afraid we’re walking right back into that same trap,” Smith told city officials. “I see your standards here; I think you could drive a truck through a lot of those in terms of what they can put over on you.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shaf Khan, another resident, agreed, saying they were worried history would repeat itself. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I live in an area with three data centers already. I’d like to know the impacts of those over a long period of time, especially on young and developing children and expecting parents before we move on with making more,” Khan said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bob Staedler, a longtime San José land use consultant, said in an interview that the city is being too “chummy” with data center developers, and has tools at its disposal if it wanted to more closely restrict how many are allowed in any one area, such as how it recently put a moratorium on all new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063060/san-jose-is-cracking-down-on-smoke-shops-and-sales-of-nitrous-oxide-whip-its\">smoke shops\u003c/a> through late 2027 due to concerns about overconcentration. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104843\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-DATACENTERMEET-JG-8-KQED-66ac0646-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Misrayn Mendoza of community group Amigos de Guadalupe speaks during a rally calling for a data center moratorium outside San José City Hall on Oct. 15, 2026. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“This just seems to just be ignoring the huge issues of our time, where you’ve got things like cumulative concentration,” Staedler said of the proposed data center standards. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We spend more time worrying about weed shops and alcohol and smoke shops than we are going to do with data centers,” Staedler said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the city’s standards would regulate how often diesel or natural gas backup generators can be run for testing and maintenance, they would not apply during a power outage, one of the primary concerns from residents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What happens when there’s a heat wave, as we are constantly experiencing year after year,” Ellina Yin, who closely tracks data center development in the city, said at a rally she helped organize before the meeting. “What happens when the power goes out and all of the generators kick on?”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "in-this-north-bay-assembly-race-big-tech-and-labor-battle-it-out",
"title": "In This North Bay Assembly Race, Big Tech and Labor Battle It Out",
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"headTitle": "In This North Bay Assembly Race, Big Tech and Labor Battle It Out | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>On a recent Saturday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/state-assembly-12th-district\">Jackie Elward\u003c/a> stood in a park facing dozens of volunteer canvassers, most of them union members, from sheet metal workers to school support staff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They grabbed coffee and campaign flyers, preparing to knock on doors and persuade voters to elect Elward to the state Assembly to represent this North Bay district. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before they fanned out, Elward reminded them what was at stake. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said the race is about workers versus corporations. “We know that they are coming to steal our job[s], to make sure that people are out of jobs,” she said. “But guess what? We are not going to allow a billionaire to take over what we have built for so many years.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Elward, 47, is a labor organizer, educator and member of the Rohnert Park City Council who became the first Black woman elected to the council in 2020. She raised three children in the district with her husband after immigrating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104725\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Lucan, candidate running for California Assembly District 12, poses for a portrait in San Rafael on Oct. 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Her pitch to voters is straightforward: She’s the labor candidate fighting for working families, running against steep spending by tech special interests. Her opponent, Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan, is the main beneficiary of that money in this race. Both are Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We know that the crypto billionaires’ … priority [is] to elect [a] candidate that they can bring to Sacramento in order to push their agenda,” Elward said. “One of the crystal-clear examples is my race.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across California, tech special interests are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">pouring money into legislative races\u003c/a> at levels far above past elections, political analysts say. Two super PACs, Grow California and California Leads, have spent more than $34 million on downballot competitions this year. Grow California is financed by billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of the crypto firm Ripple, and billionaire Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and bitcoin investor. California Leads is funded mostly by Meta and Google.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the North Bay’s Assembly District 12, Grow California has spent nearly $3 million so far opposing Elward and supporting Lucan. Elsewhere, the two super PACs are backing mostly moderate, business-friendly candidates in 16 other legislative races, the bulk of them in Southern California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Political analysts see it as part of a broader fight for power in Sacramento between business and labor interests, which traditionally spend millions every cycle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What you are seeing is an attempt to moderate on the margins many of the potential members that could come into the Assembly and the Senate that would be perceived as too far one way or another,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “They’re pushing these large [independent expenditure] campaigns that are essentially blowing off the doors of any previous level of finance.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Larsen rejected the idea that this can be boiled down to a business-versus-labor struggle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re looking for problem solvers,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">told KQED’s Political Breakdown\u003c/a> on Thursday. “I don’t even like to use the word ‘moderate.’ That just sounds like you’re doing too much.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rather, Larsen said, the millions of dollars in political spending this year aim to bring a different perspective to Sacramento, which he said has been dominated by unions that are not focusing on key issues such as housing, energy, the insurance crisis and education.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re not trying to propose any sort of tech-specific things or crypto,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While labor and tech face off in the independent expenditure arena, both sides see a vital opening to maximize their influence in California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature: Given that the Trump administration has signaled a resistance to regulating artificial intelligence, the state is in a clear position to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12093427/california-leads-us-with-new-ai-transparency-law\">set the standards\u003c/a> for the nation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the 2026 campaign’s final weeks, that outside spending battle is coming to a head in District 12 for a few reasons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103666\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district includes all of Marin County and almost half of Sonoma County, which have among the highest rates of voter turnout in the state. Winning over an engaged electorate is a better test for outside groups’ messaging. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district is also seen as a bellwether for Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This district receives a lot more attention from outside groups because it’s seen as an important barometer of where the Legislature is going,” McCuan said. “It has often been a poster child of whether labor is pushing hard or whether more moderate interests are pushing hard.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But against the backdrop of widespread discontent on tech over AI, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103316/santa-clara-californias-capital-of-data-centers-weighs-more-regulations\">data centers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103950/flock-is-catching-flak-experts-say-other-police-surveillance-tools-are-more-worrisome\">Flock cameras\u003c/a>, McCuan said voters have grown more suspicious of the industry’s political spending than of spending by traditional business groups.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Big Tech has joined Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Oil as one of those big bad boogeymen,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the District 12 primary, business groups including the California Association of Realtors sent out \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EverFloresForCTA/posts/pfbid02845XVD6S1bKeRtT15EabWZJNiLPz3wo74DsPjTh7UMEoXGmg6UUu7XmVsjcjf9qhl?mibextid=wwXIfr\">a mailer\u003c/a> with a cartoon depicting Elward with a drink in her hand, posing next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad accused her of using taxpayer money for travel and hotels, a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980720/delegation-from-disaster-laden-sonoma-county-a-test-kitchen-for-climate-innovation-attends-cop27\">a 2022 U.N. climate conference\u003c/a> in Egypt that she attended as part of a Sonoma County delegation while serving as Rohnert Park’s mayor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have outside money trying to influence my constituents’ votes by lying to them, purposely lying to them, twisting the truth,” Elward said. “When they thought that wasn’t enough, they went full-on racist.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McCuan said the negative attacks may have actually boosted Elward into second place in the June primary. Lucan finished first with 28.3% of the vote, ahead of Elward’s 22.6%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“General business interests are often caged in a more moderate tone in terms of the language that they’re using and the messages they’re using, and that has a different effect on the electorate,” McCuan said. “There was a bit of a backlash, and she ekes through and moves forward in a primary where otherwise you would not have forecast that at all.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The attack ads, including \u003ca href=\"https://platform.adimpact.com/viewer/84f30677-5400-4af9-a02c-467e0e1ae750\">others funded by Grow California\u003c/a>, may have also drawn more labor money into the race. Union-backed PACs sharply increased their spending for Elward after the negative ads began.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Californians United for Progress, a super PAC funded by heavy hitters including the California Labor Federation, SEIU California and the California Teachers Association, spent roughly $240,000 in the primary. Since then, it has spent $1.1 million. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“White-collar and blue-collar labor are sometimes at odds,” McCuan said. “But in this particular race, they’re pushing back, united against those interests that are really driven on the negative IE side by crypto.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, years in Marin politics provide Lucan, 45, with name recognition and connections that give him an edge in the race. He grew up in Marin and is now raising his three kids there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person puts a yellow ballot envelope in a ballot drop box.\" class=\"wp-image-12012711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A voter drops off their mail-in ballot at a drop box outside of Novato City Hall on Nov. 2, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was a registered Republican in college but became a Democrat in 2011 after his election to the Novato City Council. He served there, including three terms as mayor, until winning a seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 2022. He and his wife own a fitness studio in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like Larsen, Lucan said the race is not about labor versus business interests, pointing to his endorsements from the California Federation of Teachers and the California Nurses Association — both of which also endorsed Elward. He also has the backing of U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman and California YIMBY, along with chambers of commerce in Novato, San Rafael and Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Elward is less well known in Marin but won more of Sonoma County’s vote in the primary. She also has the endorsement of the district’s incumbent Assemblymember Damon Connolly, who is termed out and running for state Senate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For his part, Lucan disavowed all outside special interests. State law bars candidates from coordinating with independent expenditure committees, so he can’t control how they spend. He did, however, release a statement calling on PACs on both sides — whether they’re funded by “oligarchs, tech billionaires, trial lawyers, crypto, AI, labor groups, developers” — to stop spending in the race.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mill Valley City Hall on July 13, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When it is completely dwarfing what candidates have built over a 16-month period of time, and especially when it starts going negative, our democracy and our district deserves better,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response to all the tech spending this cycle, an Oakland nonprofit called TechEquity Action launched a $1 million ad campaign to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">spotlight the influence of Big Tech money\u003c/a>. It’s targeting four districts, including Assembly District 12, where it expects tech to focus its cash in the final stretch before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We think it’s an emergency that they not be allowed to fly under the radar,” said Catherine Bracy, founder of TechEquity Action. “If they’re going to spend this money to influence legislation … the public should know about it.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On voters’ doorsteps, though, outside spending rarely comes up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As Lucan knocks on doors in Mill Valley, he focuses his message on affordability. That lands with residents like Cathy Danzeisan, who said her biggest concern right now is affording an electric water heater to replace her gas one as the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2001900/what-will-it-take-for-california-to-meet-its-100-green-energy-goal\">pushes homeowners to electrify\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need subsidies for low-income homeowners,” she said. “Nobody seems to be coming forward to help us. I can’t even afford to change the breaker box.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 64-year-old lives on Social Security, keeping her one-bedroom home cold in the winter to save on gas bills. For voters like her, the question isn’t who’s spending in this race. It’s about who can bring prices down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the outside influence from Silicon Valley may eventually become hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Even when we account for inflation, and we have apples-to-apples in terms of campaign spending, it is way more than what we have seen in the past,” McCuan said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Win or lose this November, Larsen plans to continue spending in California’s legislative races. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to stay at it,” he said. “Why is SEIU so successful? And I mean that with respect to them. It’s because they show up over and over.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That could make 2026 a test run, with even greater spending to come in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mlagos\">\u003cem>Marisa Lagos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oct. 16: An earlier version of this story said Grow California funded a mailer with a cartoon depicting Jackie Elward next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad was funded by business groups, including the California Association of Realtors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She said the race is about workers versus corporations. “We know that they are coming to steal our job[s], to make sure that people are out of jobs,” she said. “But guess what? We are not going to allow a billionaire to take over what we have built for so many years.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Elward, 47, is a labor organizer, educator and member of the Rohnert Park City Council who became the first Black woman elected to the council in 2020. She raised three children in the district with her husband after immigrating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Elward, 47, is a labor organizer, educator and member of the Rohnert Park City Council who became the first Black woman elected to the council in 2020. She raised three children in the district with her husband after immigrating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104725\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Lucan, candidate running for California Assembly District 12, poses for a portrait in San Rafael on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Her pitch to voters is straightforward: She’s the labor candidate fighting for working families, running against steep spending by tech special interests. Her opponent, Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan, is the main beneficiary of that money in this race. Both are Democrats.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We know that the crypto billionaires’ … priority [is] to elect [a] candidate that they can bring to Sacramento in order to push their agenda,” Elward said. “One of the crystal-clear examples is my race.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Across California, tech special interests are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">pouring money into legislative races\u003c/a> at levels far above past elections, political analysts say. Two super PACs, Grow California and California Leads, have spent more than $34 million on downballot competitions this year. Grow California is financed by billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of the crypto firm Ripple, and billionaire Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and bitcoin investor. California Leads is funded mostly by Meta and Google.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Across California, tech special interests are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">pouring money into legislative races\u003c/a> at levels far above past elections, political analysts say. Two super PACs, Grow California and California Leads, have spent more than $34 million on downballot competitions this year. Grow California is financed by billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of the crypto firm Ripple, and billionaire Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and bitcoin investor. California Leads is funded mostly by Meta and Google.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the North Bay’s Assembly District 12, Grow California has spent nearly $3 million so far opposing Elward and supporting Lucan. Elsewhere, the two super PACs are backing mostly moderate, business-friendly candidates in 16 other legislative races, the bulk of them in Southern California. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the North Bay’s Assembly District 12, Grow California has spent nearly $3 million so far opposing Elward and supporting Lucan. Elsewhere, the two super PACs are backing mostly moderate, business-friendly candidates in 16 other legislative races, the bulk of them in Southern California. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Political analysts see it as part of a broader fight for power in Sacramento between business and labor interests, which traditionally spend millions every cycle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What you are seeing is an attempt to moderate on the margins many of the potential members that could come into the Assembly and the Senate that would be perceived as too far one way or another,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “They’re pushing these large [independent expenditure] campaigns that are essentially blowing off the doors of any previous level of finance.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What you are seeing is an attempt to moderate on the margins many of the potential members that could come into the Assembly and the Senate that would be perceived as too far one way or another,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “They’re pushing these large [independent expenditure] campaigns that are essentially blowing off the doors of any previous level of finance.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Larsen rejected the idea that this can be boiled down to a business-versus-labor struggle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re looking for problem solvers,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">told KQED’s Political Breakdown\u003c/a> on Thursday. “I don’t even like to use the word ‘moderate.’ That just sounds like you’re doing too much.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re looking for problem solvers,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">told KQED’s Political Breakdown\u003c/a> on Thursday. “I don’t even like to use the word ‘moderate.’ That just sounds like you’re doing too much.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rather, Larsen said, the millions of dollars in political spending this year aim to bring a different perspective to Sacramento, which he said has been dominated by unions that are not focusing on key issues such as housing, energy, the insurance crisis and education.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rather, Larsen said, the millions of dollars in political spending this year aim to bring a different perspective to Sacramento, which he said has been dominated by unions that are not focusing on key issues such as housing, energy, the insurance crisis and education.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re not trying to propose any sort of tech-specific things or crypto,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While labor and tech face off in the independent expenditure arena, both sides see a vital opening to maximize their influence in California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature: Given that the Trump administration has signaled a resistance to regulating artificial intelligence, the state is in a clear position to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12093427/california-leads-us-with-new-ai-transparency-law\">set the standards\u003c/a> for the nation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While labor and tech face off in the independent expenditure arena, both sides see a vital opening to maximize their influence in California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature: Given that the Trump administration has signaled a resistance to regulating artificial intelligence, the state is in a clear position to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12093427/california-leads-us-with-new-ai-transparency-law\">set the standards\u003c/a> for the nation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the 2026 campaign’s final weeks, that outside spending battle is coming to a head in District 12 for a few reasons. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the 2026 campaign’s final weeks, that outside spending battle is coming to a head in District 12 for a few reasons. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103666\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The district includes all of Marin County and almost half of Sonoma County, which have among the highest rates of voter turnout in the state. Winning over an engaged electorate is a better test for outside groups’ messaging. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The district is also seen as a bellwether for Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This district receives a lot more attention from outside groups because it’s seen as an important barometer of where the Legislature is going,” McCuan said. “It has often been a poster child of whether labor is pushing hard or whether more moderate interests are pushing hard.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This district receives a lot more attention from outside groups because it’s seen as an important barometer of where the Legislature is going,” McCuan said. “It has often been a poster child of whether labor is pushing hard or whether more moderate interests are pushing hard.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But against the backdrop of widespread discontent on tech over AI, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103316/santa-clara-californias-capital-of-data-centers-weighs-more-regulations\">data centers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103950/flock-is-catching-flak-experts-say-other-police-surveillance-tools-are-more-worrisome\">Flock cameras\u003c/a>, McCuan said voters have grown more suspicious of the industry’s political spending than of spending by traditional business groups.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But against the backdrop of widespread discontent on tech over AI, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103316/santa-clara-californias-capital-of-data-centers-weighs-more-regulations\">data centers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103950/flock-is-catching-flak-experts-say-other-police-surveillance-tools-are-more-worrisome\">Flock cameras\u003c/a>, McCuan said voters have grown more suspicious of the industry’s political spending than of spending by traditional business groups.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Big Tech has joined Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Oil as one of those big bad boogeymen,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During the District 12 primary, business groups including the California Association of Realtors sent out \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EverFloresForCTA/posts/pfbid02845XVD6S1bKeRtT15EabWZJNiLPz3wo74DsPjTh7UMEoXGmg6UUu7XmVsjcjf9qhl?mibextid=wwXIfr\">a mailer\u003c/a> with a cartoon depicting Elward with a drink in her hand, posing next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad accused her of using taxpayer money for travel and hotels, a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980720/delegation-from-disaster-laden-sonoma-county-a-test-kitchen-for-climate-innovation-attends-cop27\">a 2022 U.N. climate conference\u003c/a> in Egypt that she attended as part of a Sonoma County delegation while serving as Rohnert Park’s mayor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During the District 12 primary, business groups including the California Association of Realtors sent out \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EverFloresForCTA/posts/pfbid02845XVD6S1bKeRtT15EabWZJNiLPz3wo74DsPjTh7UMEoXGmg6UUu7XmVsjcjf9qhl?mibextid=wwXIfr\">a mailer\u003c/a> with a cartoon depicting Elward with a drink in her hand, posing next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad accused her of using taxpayer money for travel and hotels, a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980720/delegation-from-disaster-laden-sonoma-county-a-test-kitchen-for-climate-innovation-attends-cop27\">a 2022 U.N. climate conference\u003c/a> in Egypt that she attended as part of a Sonoma County delegation while serving as Rohnert Park’s mayor.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We have outside money trying to influence my constituents’ votes by lying to them, purposely lying to them, twisting the truth,” Elward said. “When they thought that wasn’t enough, they went full-on racist.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We have outside money trying to influence my constituents’ votes by lying to them, purposely lying to them, twisting the truth,” Elward said. “When they thought that wasn’t enough, they went full-on racist.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>McCuan said the negative attacks may have actually boosted Elward into second place in the June primary. Lucan finished first with 28.3% of the vote, ahead of Elward’s 22.6%.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>McCuan said the negative attacks may have actually boosted Elward into second place in the June primary. Lucan finished first with 28.3% of the vote, ahead of Elward’s 22.6%.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“General business interests are often caged in a more moderate tone in terms of the language that they’re using and the messages they’re using, and that has a different effect on the electorate,” McCuan said. “There was a bit of a backlash, and she ekes through and moves forward in a primary where otherwise you would not have forecast that at all.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“General business interests are often caged in a more moderate tone in terms of the language that they’re using and the messages they’re using, and that has a different effect on the electorate,” McCuan said. “There was a bit of a backlash, and she ekes through and moves forward in a primary where otherwise you would not have forecast that at all.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The attack ads, including \u003ca href=\"https://platform.adimpact.com/viewer/84f30677-5400-4af9-a02c-467e0e1ae750\">others funded by Grow California\u003c/a>, may have also drawn more labor money into the race. Union-backed PACs sharply increased their spending for Elward after the negative ads began.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The attack ads, including \u003ca href=\"https://platform.adimpact.com/viewer/84f30677-5400-4af9-a02c-467e0e1ae750\">others funded by Grow California\u003c/a>, may have also drawn more labor money into the race. Union-backed PACs sharply increased their spending for Elward after the negative ads began.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Californians United for Progress, a super PAC funded by heavy hitters including the California Labor Federation, SEIU California and the California Teachers Association, spent roughly $240,000 in the primary. Since then, it has spent $1.1 million. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Californians United for Progress, a super PAC funded by heavy hitters including the California Labor Federation, SEIU California and the California Teachers Association, spent roughly $240,000 in the primary. Since then, it has spent $1.1 million. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“White-collar and blue-collar labor are sometimes at odds,” McCuan said. “But in this particular race, they’re pushing back, united against those interests that are really driven on the negative IE side by crypto.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“White-collar and blue-collar labor are sometimes at odds,” McCuan said. “But in this particular race, they’re pushing back, united against those interests that are really driven on the negative IE side by crypto.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, years in Marin politics provide Lucan, 45, with name recognition and connections that give him an edge in the race. He grew up in Marin and is now raising his three kids there. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Still, years in Marin politics provide Lucan, 45, with name recognition and connections that give him an edge in the race. He grew up in Marin and is now raising his three kids there. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person puts a yellow ballot envelope in a ballot drop box.\" class=\"wp-image-12012711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A voter drops off their mail-in ballot at a drop box outside of Novato City Hall on Nov. 2, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He was a registered Republican in college but became a Democrat in 2011 after his election to the Novato City Council. He served there, including three terms as mayor, until winning a seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 2022. He and his wife own a fitness studio in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Like Larsen, Lucan said the race is not about labor versus business interests, pointing to his endorsements from the California Federation of Teachers and the California Nurses Association — both of which also endorsed Elward. He also has the backing of U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman and California YIMBY, along with chambers of commerce in Novato, San Rafael and Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Like Larsen, Lucan said the race is not about labor versus business interests, pointing to his endorsements from the California Federation of Teachers and the California Nurses Association — both of which also endorsed Elward. He also has the backing of U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman and California YIMBY, along with chambers of commerce in Novato, San Rafael and Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Elward is less well known in Marin but won more of Sonoma County’s vote in the primary. She also has the endorsement of the district’s incumbent Assemblymember Damon Connolly, who is termed out and running for state Senate. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Elward is less well known in Marin but won more of Sonoma County’s vote in the primary. She also has the endorsement of the district’s incumbent Assemblymember Damon Connolly, who is termed out and running for state Senate. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For his part, Lucan disavowed all outside special interests. State law bars candidates from coordinating with independent expenditure committees, so he can’t control how they spend. He did, however, release a statement calling on PACs on both sides — whether they’re funded by “oligarchs, tech billionaires, trial lawyers, crypto, AI, labor groups, developers” — to stop spending in the race.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For his part, Lucan disavowed all outside special interests. State law bars candidates from coordinating with independent expenditure committees, so he can’t control how they spend. He did, however, release a statement calling on PACs on both sides — whether they’re funded by “oligarchs, tech billionaires, trial lawyers, crypto, AI, labor groups, developers” — to stop spending in the race.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“When it is completely dwarfing what candidates have built over a 16-month period of time, and especially when it starts going negative, our democracy and our district deserves better,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“When it is completely dwarfing what candidates have built over a 16-month period of time, and especially when it starts going negative, our democracy and our district deserves better,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In response to all the tech spending this cycle, an Oakland nonprofit called TechEquity Action launched a $1 million ad campaign to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">spotlight the influence of Big Tech money\u003c/a>. It’s targeting four districts, including Assembly District 12, where it expects tech to focus its cash in the final stretch before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In response to all the tech spending this cycle, an Oakland nonprofit called TechEquity Action launched a $1 million ad campaign to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">spotlight the influence of Big Tech money\u003c/a>. It’s targeting four districts, including Assembly District 12, where it expects tech to focus its cash in the final stretch before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We think it’s an emergency that they not be allowed to fly under the radar,” said Catherine Bracy, founder of TechEquity Action. “If they’re going to spend this money to influence legislation … the public should know about it.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We think it’s an emergency that they not be allowed to fly under the radar,” said Catherine Bracy, founder of TechEquity Action. “If they’re going to spend this money to influence legislation … the public should know about it.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On voters’ doorsteps, though, outside spending rarely comes up. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As Lucan knocks on doors in Mill Valley, he focuses his message on affordability. That lands with residents like Cathy Danzeisan, who said her biggest concern right now is affording an electric water heater to replace her gas one as the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2001900/what-will-it-take-for-california-to-meet-its-100-green-energy-goal\">pushes homeowners to electrify\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As Lucan knocks on doors in Mill Valley, he focuses his message on affordability. That lands with residents like Cathy Danzeisan, who said her biggest concern right now is affording an electric water heater to replace her gas one as the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2001900/what-will-it-take-for-california-to-meet-its-100-green-energy-goal\">pushes homeowners to electrify\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We need subsidies for low-income homeowners,” she said. “Nobody seems to be coming forward to help us. I can’t even afford to change the breaker box.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The 64-year-old lives on Social Security, keeping her one-bedroom home cold in the winter to save on gas bills. For voters like her, the question isn’t who’s spending in this race. It’s about who can bring prices down. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The 64-year-old lives on Social Security, keeping her one-bedroom home cold in the winter to save on gas bills. For voters like her, the question isn’t who’s spending in this race. It’s about who can bring prices down. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the outside influence from Silicon Valley may eventually become hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But the outside influence from Silicon Valley may eventually become hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Even when we account for inflation, and we have apples-to-apples in terms of campaign spending, it is way more than what we have seen in the past,” McCuan said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Even when we account for inflation, and we have apples-to-apples in terms of campaign spending, it is way more than what we have seen in the past,” McCuan said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Win or lose this November, Larsen plans to continue spending in California’s legislative races. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Win or lose this November, Larsen plans to continue spending in California’s legislative races. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to stay at it,” he said. “Why is SEIU so successful? And I mean that with respect to them. It’s because they show up over and over.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to stay at it,” he said. “Why is SEIU so successful? And I mean that with respect to them. It’s because they show up over and over.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That could make 2026 a test run, with even greater spending to come in 2028.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mlagos\">\u003cem>Marisa Lagos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mlagos\">\u003cem>Marisa Lagos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oct. 16: An earlier version of this story said Grow California funded a mailer with a cartoon depicting Jackie Elward next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad was funded by business groups, including the California Association of Realtors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oct. 16: An earlier version of this story said Grow California funded a mailer with a cartoon depicting Jackie Elward next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad was funded by business groups, including the California Association of Realtors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Tech interests are spending tens of millions in California’s state legislative races this election cycle. But for many voters, Big Tech is joining the ranks of the “big bad boogeymen,” one political analyst says.",
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"title": "In This North Bay Assembly Race, Big Tech and Labor Battle It Out | KQED",
"description": "Tech interests are spending tens of millions in California’s state legislative races this election cycle. But for many voters, Big Tech is joining the ranks of the “big bad boogeymen,” one political analyst says.",
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"headline": "In This North Bay Assembly Race, Big Tech and Labor Battle It Out",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>On a recent Saturday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/state-assembly-12th-district\">Jackie Elward\u003c/a> stood in a park facing dozens of volunteer canvassers, most of them union members, from sheet metal workers to school support staff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They grabbed coffee and campaign flyers, preparing to knock on doors and persuade voters to elect Elward to the state Assembly to represent this North Bay district. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before they fanned out, Elward reminded them what was at stake. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said the race is about workers versus corporations. “We know that they are coming to steal our job[s], to make sure that people are out of jobs,” she said. “But guess what? We are not going to allow a billionaire to take over what we have built for so many years.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Elward, 47, is a labor organizer, educator and member of the Rohnert Park City Council who became the first Black woman elected to the council in 2020. She raised three children in the district with her husband after immigrating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104725\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/20261015_ADTECHFUNDINGPT2_GC-8-KQED-48d8eca1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eric Lucan, candidate running for California Assembly District 12, poses for a portrait in San Rafael on Oct. 15, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Her pitch to voters is straightforward: She’s the labor candidate fighting for working families, running against steep spending by tech special interests. Her opponent, Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan, is the main beneficiary of that money in this race. Both are Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We know that the crypto billionaires’ … priority [is] to elect [a] candidate that they can bring to Sacramento in order to push their agenda,” Elward said. “One of the crystal-clear examples is my race.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across California, tech special interests are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">pouring money into legislative races\u003c/a> at levels far above past elections, political analysts say. Two super PACs, Grow California and California Leads, have spent more than $34 million on downballot competitions this year. Grow California is financed by billionaire Chris Larsen, co-founder of the crypto firm Ripple, and billionaire Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and bitcoin investor. California Leads is funded mostly by Meta and Google.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the North Bay’s Assembly District 12, Grow California has spent nearly $3 million so far opposing Elward and supporting Lucan. Elsewhere, the two super PACs are backing mostly moderate, business-friendly candidates in 16 other legislative races, the bulk of them in Southern California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Political analysts see it as part of a broader fight for power in Sacramento between business and labor interests, which traditionally spend millions every cycle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What you are seeing is an attempt to moderate on the margins many of the potential members that could come into the Assembly and the Senate that would be perceived as too far one way or another,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “They’re pushing these large [independent expenditure] campaigns that are essentially blowing off the doors of any previous level of finance.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Larsen rejected the idea that this can be boiled down to a business-versus-labor struggle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re looking for problem solvers,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104645/sf-billionaire-chris-larsen-on-ai-this-is-an-incredibly-dangerous-moment\">told KQED’s Political Breakdown\u003c/a> on Thursday. “I don’t even like to use the word ‘moderate.’ That just sounds like you’re doing too much.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rather, Larsen said, the millions of dollars in political spending this year aim to bring a different perspective to Sacramento, which he said has been dominated by unions that are not focusing on key issues such as housing, energy, the insurance crisis and education.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re not trying to propose any sort of tech-specific things or crypto,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While labor and tech face off in the independent expenditure arena, both sides see a vital opening to maximize their influence in California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature: Given that the Trump administration has signaled a resistance to regulating artificial intelligence, the state is in a clear position to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12093427/california-leads-us-with-new-ai-transparency-law\">set the standards\u003c/a> for the nation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the 2026 campaign’s final weeks, that outside spending battle is coming to a head in District 12 for a few reasons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103666\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-04-BL-KQED-e5df03d2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district includes all of Marin County and almost half of Sonoma County, which have among the highest rates of voter turnout in the state. Winning over an engaged electorate is a better test for outside groups’ messaging. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district is also seen as a bellwether for Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This district receives a lot more attention from outside groups because it’s seen as an important barometer of where the Legislature is going,” McCuan said. “It has often been a poster child of whether labor is pushing hard or whether more moderate interests are pushing hard.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But against the backdrop of widespread discontent on tech over AI, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103316/santa-clara-californias-capital-of-data-centers-weighs-more-regulations\">data centers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103950/flock-is-catching-flak-experts-say-other-police-surveillance-tools-are-more-worrisome\">Flock cameras\u003c/a>, McCuan said voters have grown more suspicious of the industry’s political spending than of spending by traditional business groups.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Big Tech has joined Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Oil as one of those big bad boogeymen,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the District 12 primary, business groups including the California Association of Realtors sent out \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EverFloresForCTA/posts/pfbid02845XVD6S1bKeRtT15EabWZJNiLPz3wo74DsPjTh7UMEoXGmg6UUu7XmVsjcjf9qhl?mibextid=wwXIfr\">a mailer\u003c/a> with a cartoon depicting Elward with a drink in her hand, posing next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad accused her of using taxpayer money for travel and hotels, a reference to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980720/delegation-from-disaster-laden-sonoma-county-a-test-kitchen-for-climate-innovation-attends-cop27\">a 2022 U.N. climate conference\u003c/a> in Egypt that she attended as part of a Sonoma County delegation while serving as Rohnert Park’s mayor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have outside money trying to influence my constituents’ votes by lying to them, purposely lying to them, twisting the truth,” Elward said. “When they thought that wasn’t enough, they went full-on racist.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McCuan said the negative attacks may have actually boosted Elward into second place in the June primary. Lucan finished first with 28.3% of the vote, ahead of Elward’s 22.6%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“General business interests are often caged in a more moderate tone in terms of the language that they’re using and the messages they’re using, and that has a different effect on the electorate,” McCuan said. “There was a bit of a backlash, and she ekes through and moves forward in a primary where otherwise you would not have forecast that at all.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The attack ads, including \u003ca href=\"https://platform.adimpact.com/viewer/84f30677-5400-4af9-a02c-467e0e1ae750\">others funded by Grow California\u003c/a>, may have also drawn more labor money into the race. Union-backed PACs sharply increased their spending for Elward after the negative ads began.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Californians United for Progress, a super PAC funded by heavy hitters including the California Labor Federation, SEIU California and the California Teachers Association, spent roughly $240,000 in the primary. Since then, it has spent $1.1 million. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“White-collar and blue-collar labor are sometimes at odds,” McCuan said. “But in this particular race, they’re pushing back, united against those interests that are really driven on the negative IE side by crypto.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, years in Marin politics provide Lucan, 45, with name recognition and connections that give him an edge in the race. He grew up in Marin and is now raising his three kids there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person puts a yellow ballot envelope in a ballot drop box.\" class=\"wp-image-12012711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241102_EARLYVOTINGMARIN_GC-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A voter drops off their mail-in ballot at a drop box outside of Novato City Hall on Nov. 2, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was a registered Republican in college but became a Democrat in 2011 after his election to the Novato City Council. He served there, including three terms as mayor, until winning a seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 2022. He and his wife own a fitness studio in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like Larsen, Lucan said the race is not about labor versus business interests, pointing to his endorsements from the California Federation of Teachers and the California Nurses Association — both of which also endorsed Elward. He also has the backing of U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman and California YIMBY, along with chambers of commerce in Novato, San Rafael and Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Elward is less well known in Marin but won more of Sonoma County’s vote in the primary. She also has the endorsement of the district’s incumbent Assemblymember Damon Connolly, who is termed out and running for state Senate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For his part, Lucan disavowed all outside special interests. State law bars candidates from coordinating with independent expenditure committees, so he can’t control how they spend. He did, however, release a statement calling on PACs on both sides — whether they’re funded by “oligarchs, tech billionaires, trial lawyers, crypto, AI, labor groups, developers” — to stop spending in the race.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/071326-SausalitoMillValleyPDCityHall-NG-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mill Valley City Hall on July 13, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When it is completely dwarfing what candidates have built over a 16-month period of time, and especially when it starts going negative, our democracy and our district deserves better,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response to all the tech spending this cycle, an Oakland nonprofit called TechEquity Action launched a $1 million ad campaign to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102105/tech-is-spending-big-on-california-races-this-bay-area-group-wants-you-to-know\">spotlight the influence of Big Tech money\u003c/a>. It’s targeting four districts, including Assembly District 12, where it expects tech to focus its cash in the final stretch before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We think it’s an emergency that they not be allowed to fly under the radar,” said Catherine Bracy, founder of TechEquity Action. “If they’re going to spend this money to influence legislation … the public should know about it.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On voters’ doorsteps, though, outside spending rarely comes up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As Lucan knocks on doors in Mill Valley, he focuses his message on affordability. That lands with residents like Cathy Danzeisan, who said her biggest concern right now is affording an electric water heater to replace her gas one as the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2001900/what-will-it-take-for-california-to-meet-its-100-green-energy-goal\">pushes homeowners to electrify\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need subsidies for low-income homeowners,” she said. “Nobody seems to be coming forward to help us. I can’t even afford to change the breaker box.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 64-year-old lives on Social Security, keeping her one-bedroom home cold in the winter to save on gas bills. For voters like her, the question isn’t who’s spending in this race. It’s about who can bring prices down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the outside influence from Silicon Valley may eventually become hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Even when we account for inflation, and we have apples-to-apples in terms of campaign spending, it is way more than what we have seen in the past,” McCuan said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Win or lose this November, Larsen plans to continue spending in California’s legislative races. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to stay at it,” he said. “Why is SEIU so successful? And I mean that with respect to them. It’s because they show up over and over.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That could make 2026 a test run, with even greater spending to come in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mlagos\">\u003cem>Marisa Lagos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oct. 16: An earlier version of this story said Grow California funded a mailer with a cartoon depicting Jackie Elward next to a camel and the pyramids of Giza. The ad was funded by business groups, including the California Association of Realtors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "San Francisco Is Ground Zero for AI. How Would Congressional Candidates Push for Regulation?",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>At the center of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> boom, candidates looking to represent San Francisco in Washington appear aligned on a common goal: AI must be regulated. But how to do that is where the debate really heats up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan are vying for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress as the former House speaker prepares to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retire\u003c/a> after nearly four decades. They’re competing for votes at a time when concerns are rising around AI, from mass job loss to automated data privacy hacks and computer-driven nuclear war. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Consumers have not seen such rapid change with any new technology. I mean, you could look to the internet, you could to railroads, you can go all the way back and look at industrialization in the 1800s, but we’ve just never seen this sort of rapid development,” said Michele Neitz, a professor of law, technology and social transformation at the University of San Francisco School of Law. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Currently, there is no comprehensive federal framework regulating AI, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">experts following AI\u003c/a> development closely say it’s time for lawmakers in Washington to set up guardrails even as President Donald Trump has suggested \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103983/ai-founders-cheer-trumps-calls-for-the-industry-to-police-itself-on-safety\">AI companies will regulate themselves\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-1-copy-2-scaled-e1790958307792.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102554\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">State Sen. Scott Wiener during a debate with San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That rapid development is happening more quickly than our political system can keep up,” Neitz said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener has long been vocal about the need to regulate and increase transparency around AI, and authored the country’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058013/newsom-signs-california-ai-transparency-bill-tailored-to-meet-tech-industry-tastes\">AI transparency bill\u003c/a>, which California passed in 2025. His first attempt at an AI safety bill included a “kill-switch” for disastrous scenarios and other safeguards; however, that bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill that did pass, SB 53, has since been adapted around the country, including by New York City, and other places like Connecticut have gone on to add even more comprehensive AI legislation focused on areas like education and workforce mandates. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Along the campaign trail, Wiener has leaned into that legislative experience and touted being an early advocate for AI safety. His vision for Congress is to create a federal regulatory body to oversee AI security, increase guardrails and protect whistleblowers, and expand unemployment to brace for waves of job displacement. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video advertisement, Wiener tells viewers that “AI is getting more powerful by the day, and the risks are very real.” He said that in Washington, he would continue to seek the kill-switch approach, along with more legal liability and safety standards and cooperation with other countries on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener has also said that AI data centers should pick up the tab for their environmental costs, and he supports transitioning data centers towards greener energy, rather than a full ban on new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan meanwhile has taken what Neitz said is the more “populist” approach, calling for a full moratorium on data centers and giving unions and AI workers a voice in regulation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In her own video on the topic, Chan pointed to a $3.9 billion tax break that Meta received last year to build data centers. “We’re going to regulate artificial intelligence to make sure we can protect our workforce and prioritize safety for the American people,” she said. “No more tax breaks for these billionaires and tech corporations.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She’s also criticized her opponent’s AI safety bill, calling it “watered down” and influenced by big tech interests. The bill also did not prevent major cyberattacks this year, where AI models \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092162/how-openais-models-escaped-their-sandbox-and-slipped-past-californias-ai-law\">hacked into other platforms\u003c/a> and breached government websites. Chan said the companies overseeing the models, OpenAI and Anthropic, should “absolutely” be held liable for the attacks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Instead of waiting for something catastrophic to happen and to have a so-called kill switch, it is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology,” Chan said at a debate this week hosted by \u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>. “Can we trust the AI industries to police and regulate themselves? And can we trust any politicians who are bankrolled by the AI industry? I say no.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The advocacy group Public First Action, which is pushing for more AI regulation and has received money from the AI company Anthropic, has poured $3 million into Abundant Future, an independent expenditure committee supporting Wiener, Punchbowl News first reported. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-3-scaled-e1790958264709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102556\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan during her debate with state Sen. Scott Wiener at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener, in the debate this week, said, “That PAC supports candidates who are pro-AI regulation, and because I have actually regulated AI and will lead in regulating AI in Congress, that is my understanding of why that PAC is supporting me.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He went on to defend his record, saying he “went to war with big tech to pass AI regulation in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In September, tech titans including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, both leading San Francisco-based companies, made headlines for sounding the alarm about potentially devastating impacts of AI on humanity and called for regulations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But AI CEOs are not all in agreement on the issue. Others are advocating for self-regulation in order not to hinder development of the technology or risk falling behind China’s AI advancements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1618\" height=\"1078\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103984\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000.jpg 1618w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1618px) 100vw, 1618px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump, center, next to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and Elon Musk, right, speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 29, 2026, surrounded by top executives of AI firms including, from top left, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI, House Speaker Mike Johnson, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Palo Alto Networks Chief Executive Nikesh Arora and David Sacks. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has pushed back against regulatory guardrails for AI, previously calling doomsday threats a “hoax.” In September, he signed a document with executives at Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia and SpaceX that calls for “robust internal processes and controls to ensure that their technology behaves as intended.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both Chan and Wiener don’t trust the idea. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We must not allow the tech companies to write their own self-regulation,” Wiener said. “We need Congress to step up and regulate tech to make sure technology is serving the public and not harming the public, and that will be a priority for me.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Slowing down AI development has become the biggest political issue for many in the Bay Area. Wynd Kaufman, a retired former engineering teacher at City College of San Francisco, was one of several protesters arrested outside of the OpenAI headquarters last year, months before its CEO came out warning about the technology’s potential downsides. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Politicians are realizing that people do not want AI. We don’t want our environment degradation. We don’t want our rivers to run dry. We want our humanity and our privacy,” she said at an anti-AI protest on Thursday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local politicians are weighing, too. In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099583/san-francisco-supervisors-push-for-moratorium-on-new-data-centers\">passed a 45-day moratorium\u003c/a> on allowing new data centers, which use tremendous amounts of energy to train and run AI models. The board’s decision followed nationwide trends where communities have pushed back on opening up new data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But negative sentiment around AI has put San Francisco leaders in a bind, particularly business-friendly leaders who are banking on the AI industry to revive the city’s local economy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Bay Area region has added more than 20,000 AI jobs over the past year, even amid massive waves of layoffs and overall contraction of the tech industry, according to CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The concentration of talent, venture capital, leading universities and innovative companies continues to make the Bay Area the premier destination for AI development and investment,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE Tech Insights.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For whichever candidate wins, the questions around AI safety are not likely going away soon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to Neitz, “2027 is going to be a big year in AI legislation regardless of the outcome of the midterms because the people are clamoring for it and Congress will need to respond.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan are vying for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress as the former House speaker prepares to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retire\u003c/a> after nearly four decades. They’re competing for votes at a time when concerns are rising around AI, from mass job loss to automated data privacy hacks and computer-driven nuclear war. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Consumers have not seen such rapid change with any new technology. I mean, you could look to the internet, you could to railroads, you can go all the way back and look at industrialization in the 1800s, but we’ve just never seen this sort of rapid development,” said Michele Neitz, a professor of law, technology and social transformation at the University of San Francisco School of Law. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Currently, there is no comprehensive federal framework regulating AI, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">experts following AI\u003c/a> development closely say it’s time for lawmakers in Washington to set up guardrails even as President Donald Trump has suggested \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103983/ai-founders-cheer-trumps-calls-for-the-industry-to-police-itself-on-safety\">AI companies will regulate themselves\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-1-copy-2-scaled-e1790958307792.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102554\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">State Sen. Scott Wiener during a debate with San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That rapid development is happening more quickly than our political system can keep up,” Neitz said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wiener has long been vocal about the need to regulate and increase transparency around AI, and authored the country’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058013/newsom-signs-california-ai-transparency-bill-tailored-to-meet-tech-industry-tastes\">AI transparency bill\u003c/a>, which California passed in 2025. His first attempt at an AI safety bill included a “kill-switch” for disastrous scenarios and other safeguards; however, that bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wiener has long been vocal about the need to regulate and increase transparency around AI, and authored the country’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058013/newsom-signs-california-ai-transparency-bill-tailored-to-meet-tech-industry-tastes\">AI transparency bill\u003c/a>, which California passed in 2025. His first attempt at an AI safety bill included a “kill-switch” for disastrous scenarios and other safeguards; however, that bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The bill that did pass, SB 53, has since been adapted around the country, including by New York City, and other places like Connecticut have gone on to add even more comprehensive AI legislation focused on areas like education and workforce mandates. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The bill that did pass, SB 53, has since been adapted around the country, including by New York City, and other places like Connecticut have gone on to add even more comprehensive AI legislation focused on areas like education and workforce mandates. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Along the campaign trail, Wiener has leaned into that legislative experience and touted being an early advocate for AI safety. His vision for Congress is to create a federal regulatory body to oversee AI security, increase guardrails and protect whistleblowers, and expand unemployment to brace for waves of job displacement. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a video advertisement, Wiener tells viewers that “AI is getting more powerful by the day, and the risks are very real.” He said that in Washington, he would continue to seek the kill-switch approach, along with more legal liability and safety standards and cooperation with other countries on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wiener has also said that AI data centers should pick up the tab for their environmental costs, and he supports transitioning data centers towards greener energy, rather than a full ban on new facilities.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In her own video on the topic, Chan pointed to a $3.9 billion tax break that Meta received last year to build data centers. “We’re going to regulate artificial intelligence to make sure we can protect our workforce and prioritize safety for the American people,” she said. “No more tax breaks for these billionaires and tech corporations.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She’s also criticized her opponent’s AI safety bill, calling it “watered down” and influenced by big tech interests. The bill also did not prevent major cyberattacks this year, where AI models \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092162/how-openais-models-escaped-their-sandbox-and-slipped-past-californias-ai-law\">hacked into other platforms\u003c/a> and breached government websites. Chan said the companies overseeing the models, OpenAI and Anthropic, should “absolutely” be held liable for the attacks. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Instead of waiting for something catastrophic to happen and to have a so-called kill switch, it is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology,” Chan said at a debate this week hosted by \u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>. “Can we trust the AI industries to police and regulate themselves? And can we trust any politicians who are bankrolled by the AI industry? I say no.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The advocacy group Public First Action, which is pushing for more AI regulation and has received money from the AI company Anthropic, has poured $3 million into Abundant Future, an independent expenditure committee supporting Wiener, Punchbowl News first reported. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-3-scaled-e1790958264709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102556\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan during her debate with state Sen. Scott Wiener at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wiener, in the debate this week, said, “That PAC supports candidates who are pro-AI regulation, and because I have actually regulated AI and will lead in regulating AI in Congress, that is my understanding of why that PAC is supporting me.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He went on to defend his record, saying he “went to war with big tech to pass AI regulation in California.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In September, tech titans including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, both leading San Francisco-based companies, made headlines for sounding the alarm about potentially devastating impacts of AI on humanity and called for regulations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In September, tech titans including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, both leading San Francisco-based companies, made headlines for sounding the alarm about potentially devastating impacts of AI on humanity and called for regulations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But AI CEOs are not all in agreement on the issue. Others are advocating for self-regulation in order not to hinder development of the technology or risk falling behind China’s AI advancements. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But AI CEOs are not all in agreement on the issue. Others are advocating for self-regulation in order not to hinder development of the technology or risk falling behind China’s AI advancements. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has pushed back against regulatory guardrails for AI, previously calling doomsday threats a “hoax.” In September, he signed a document with executives at Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia and SpaceX that calls for “robust internal processes and controls to ensure that their technology behaves as intended.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has pushed back against regulatory guardrails for AI, previously calling doomsday threats a “hoax.” In September, he signed a document with executives at Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia and SpaceX that calls for “robust internal processes and controls to ensure that their technology behaves as intended.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both Chan and Wiener don’t trust the idea. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We must not allow the tech companies to write their own self-regulation,” Wiener said. “We need Congress to step up and regulate tech to make sure technology is serving the public and not harming the public, and that will be a priority for me.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Slowing down AI development has become the biggest political issue for many in the Bay Area. Wynd Kaufman, a retired former engineering teacher at City College of San Francisco, was one of several protesters arrested outside of the OpenAI headquarters last year, months before its CEO came out warning about the technology’s potential downsides. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Politicians are realizing that people do not want AI. We don’t want our environment degradation. We don’t want our rivers to run dry. We want our humanity and our privacy,” she said at an anti-AI protest on Thursday. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Local politicians are weighing, too. In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099583/san-francisco-supervisors-push-for-moratorium-on-new-data-centers\">passed a 45-day moratorium\u003c/a> on allowing new data centers, which use tremendous amounts of energy to train and run AI models. The board’s decision followed nationwide trends where communities have pushed back on opening up new data centers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But negative sentiment around AI has put San Francisco leaders in a bind, particularly business-friendly leaders who are banking on the AI industry to revive the city’s local economy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Bay Area region has added more than 20,000 AI jobs over the past year, even amid massive waves of layoffs and overall contraction of the tech industry, according to CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The concentration of talent, venture capital, leading universities and innovative companies continues to make the Bay Area the premier destination for AI development and investment,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE Tech Insights.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For whichever candidate wins, the questions around AI safety are not likely going away soon. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to Neitz, “2027 is going to be a big year in AI legislation regardless of the outcome of the midterms because the people are clamoring for it and Congress will need to respond.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "San Francisco Is Ground Zero for AI. How Would Congressional Candidates Push for Regulation? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>At the center of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> boom, candidates looking to represent San Francisco in Washington appear aligned on a common goal: AI must be regulated. But how to do that is where the debate really heats up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan are vying for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress as the former House speaker prepares to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retire\u003c/a> after nearly four decades. They’re competing for votes at a time when concerns are rising around AI, from mass job loss to automated data privacy hacks and computer-driven nuclear war. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Consumers have not seen such rapid change with any new technology. I mean, you could look to the internet, you could to railroads, you can go all the way back and look at industrialization in the 1800s, but we’ve just never seen this sort of rapid development,” said Michele Neitz, a professor of law, technology and social transformation at the University of San Francisco School of Law. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Currently, there is no comprehensive federal framework regulating AI, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">experts following AI\u003c/a> development closely say it’s time for lawmakers in Washington to set up guardrails even as President Donald Trump has suggested \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103983/ai-founders-cheer-trumps-calls-for-the-industry-to-police-itself-on-safety\">AI companies will regulate themselves\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-1-copy-2-scaled-e1790958307792.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102554\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">State Sen. Scott Wiener during a debate with San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That rapid development is happening more quickly than our political system can keep up,” Neitz said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener has long been vocal about the need to regulate and increase transparency around AI, and authored the country’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058013/newsom-signs-california-ai-transparency-bill-tailored-to-meet-tech-industry-tastes\">AI transparency bill\u003c/a>, which California passed in 2025. His first attempt at an AI safety bill included a “kill-switch” for disastrous scenarios and other safeguards; however, that bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill that did pass, SB 53, has since been adapted around the country, including by New York City, and other places like Connecticut have gone on to add even more comprehensive AI legislation focused on areas like education and workforce mandates. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Along the campaign trail, Wiener has leaned into that legislative experience and touted being an early advocate for AI safety. His vision for Congress is to create a federal regulatory body to oversee AI security, increase guardrails and protect whistleblowers, and expand unemployment to brace for waves of job displacement. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video advertisement, Wiener tells viewers that “AI is getting more powerful by the day, and the risks are very real.” He said that in Washington, he would continue to seek the kill-switch approach, along with more legal liability and safety standards and cooperation with other countries on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener has also said that AI data centers should pick up the tab for their environmental costs, and he supports transitioning data centers towards greener energy, rather than a full ban on new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan meanwhile has taken what Neitz said is the more “populist” approach, calling for a full moratorium on data centers and giving unions and AI workers a voice in regulation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In her own video on the topic, Chan pointed to a $3.9 billion tax break that Meta received last year to build data centers. “We’re going to regulate artificial intelligence to make sure we can protect our workforce and prioritize safety for the American people,” she said. “No more tax breaks for these billionaires and tech corporations.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She’s also criticized her opponent’s AI safety bill, calling it “watered down” and influenced by big tech interests. The bill also did not prevent major cyberattacks this year, where AI models \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092162/how-openais-models-escaped-their-sandbox-and-slipped-past-californias-ai-law\">hacked into other platforms\u003c/a> and breached government websites. Chan said the companies overseeing the models, OpenAI and Anthropic, should “absolutely” be held liable for the attacks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Instead of waiting for something catastrophic to happen and to have a so-called kill switch, it is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology,” Chan said at a debate this week hosted by \u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>. “Can we trust the AI industries to police and regulate themselves? And can we trust any politicians who are bankrolled by the AI industry? I say no.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The advocacy group Public First Action, which is pushing for more AI regulation and has received money from the AI company Anthropic, has poured $3 million into Abundant Future, an independent expenditure committee supporting Wiener, Punchbowl News first reported. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/kqed-debate-3-scaled-e1790958264709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102556\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan during her debate with state Sen. Scott Wiener at KQED in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The two Democrats are running for California’s 11th District, a seat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is leaving. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle co-hosted the debate. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle/Pool)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener, in the debate this week, said, “That PAC supports candidates who are pro-AI regulation, and because I have actually regulated AI and will lead in regulating AI in Congress, that is my understanding of why that PAC is supporting me.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He went on to defend his record, saying he “went to war with big tech to pass AI regulation in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In September, tech titans including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, both leading San Francisco-based companies, made headlines for sounding the alarm about potentially devastating impacts of AI on humanity and called for regulations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But AI CEOs are not all in agreement on the issue. Others are advocating for self-regulation in order not to hinder development of the technology or risk falling behind China’s AI advancements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1618\" height=\"1078\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103984\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000.jpg 1618w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26272702876598-c2e61000-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1618px) 100vw, 1618px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump, center, next to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and Elon Musk, right, speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 29, 2026, surrounded by top executives of AI firms including, from top left, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI, House Speaker Mike Johnson, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Palo Alto Networks Chief Executive Nikesh Arora and David Sacks. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has pushed back against regulatory guardrails for AI, previously calling doomsday threats a “hoax.” In September, he signed a document with executives at Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia and SpaceX that calls for “robust internal processes and controls to ensure that their technology behaves as intended.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both Chan and Wiener don’t trust the idea. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We must not allow the tech companies to write their own self-regulation,” Wiener said. “We need Congress to step up and regulate tech to make sure technology is serving the public and not harming the public, and that will be a priority for me.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Slowing down AI development has become the biggest political issue for many in the Bay Area. Wynd Kaufman, a retired former engineering teacher at City College of San Francisco, was one of several protesters arrested outside of the OpenAI headquarters last year, months before its CEO came out warning about the technology’s potential downsides. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Politicians are realizing that people do not want AI. We don’t want our environment degradation. We don’t want our rivers to run dry. We want our humanity and our privacy,” she said at an anti-AI protest on Thursday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local politicians are weighing, too. In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12099583/san-francisco-supervisors-push-for-moratorium-on-new-data-centers\">passed a 45-day moratorium\u003c/a> on allowing new data centers, which use tremendous amounts of energy to train and run AI models. The board’s decision followed nationwide trends where communities have pushed back on opening up new data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But negative sentiment around AI has put San Francisco leaders in a bind, particularly business-friendly leaders who are banking on the AI industry to revive the city’s local economy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Bay Area region has added more than 20,000 AI jobs over the past year, even amid massive waves of layoffs and overall contraction of the tech industry, according to CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The concentration of talent, venture capital, leading universities and innovative companies continues to make the Bay Area the premier destination for AI development and investment,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE Tech Insights.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For whichever candidate wins, the questions around AI safety are not likely going away soon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to Neitz, “2027 is going to be a big year in AI legislation regardless of the outcome of the midterms because the people are clamoring for it and Congress will need to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Your Chatbot Just Went Bankrupt. What Happens Now to Your User Data?",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Redwood City-based Character Technologies, maker of one of the best-known AI companion chatbots, \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai/\">Character.AI\u003c/a>, has faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034490/ai-companions-seductive-risk-teens-senators-want-more-guardrails\">lawsuits from families\u003c/a> who alleged its chatbots contributed to their children’s suicides and self-harm. It’s also been the target of regulators pushing for age verification tech because of its popularity with kids. Character.AI’s CEO told the court that 46 states and territories are investigating the company.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This week, the company filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. In a \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28809489/18.pdf\">sworn declaration\u003c/a>, CEO Colin Adams cited the company’s high legal costs, struggle to become profitable, and potential investors’ concern over litigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Disney, which sent Character.AI a \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/2025/09/30/disney-characterai-cease-desist\">cease-and-desist letter\u003c/a> last year over unauthorized use of its characters, has offered $20 million to license some of the company’s technology. That deal leaves out users’ data and chats, so any sale of the chats would be to a different buyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So what happens next for the roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who, according to the company’s legal filings, spend about two hours a day on the platform?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">With Character Technologies, the company behind the AI chatbot app Character.ai, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, what happens next as far as the data for roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who spend about two hours a day on the platform? (Robert Way/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038154/kids-talking-ai-companion-chatbots-stanford-researchers-say-thats-bad-idea\">kids’ data\u003c/a> that is in the Character AI system and is potentially for sale now,” Robbie Torney, Head of AI & Digital Assessments at Common Sense Media, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think of chatbots, and they think of ChatGPT, or Claude, or Gemini, which are these multi-use chatbots that can be used for all kinds of different things. Character AI is maybe one of the best-known examples of a class of AI chatbots that are designed to simulate relationships. They could pretend to be your best friend, your neighbor, a character from a video game or a book. They could pretend to be anything.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys general from 39 states and the District of Columbia, including California, filed a notice in the case detailing nine conditions they want any buyer to meet, according to the digital advertising trade publication \u003ca href=\"https://ppc.land/character-ai-faces-40-attorneys-general-over-who-can-buy-its-users-chats/\">PPC Land\u003c/a>, which reviewed the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They include real age verification, removing chatbots that pose as therapists, doctors or lawyers; limits on using chats to train AI, and the chance for every user to delete their data before a sale. The states said they may ask the court to appoint a consumer privacy ombudsman, an independent official to advise the judge on the privacy consequences of a sale.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And on Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he joined attorneys general from 22 other states to file notice with the bankruptcy court — calling for privacy and safety protections, especially for kids, to be written into any sale of the company.\u003cbr> \u003cbr>In a statement, Bonta referenced an investigation launched by his office and a bipartisan coalition of states into Character.AI, following a 2024 lawsuit alleging that its chatbots fostered an emotionally and sexually exploitative relationship with a child — reinforcing his suicidal thoughts, and contributing to his death by suicide. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our investigation identified potential consumer protection and privacy violations,” Bonta said. “Following Character.AI’s bankruptcy announcement, we ask the court to address privacy and safety concerns in any sale or transfer of the company’s business or assets.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 23 states filing notice also said that Character.AI’s voluntary controls could be reversed by a new owner.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our most sensitive personal information is not an asset to be bought and sold, especially during a fire sale after bankruptcy,” Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Mario Trujillo wrote KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103409\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks with KQED politics reporters Marisa Lagos and Scott Shafer for Political Breakdown at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Nov. 7, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Torney said this particular case demonstrates the dangers of allowing a private company to hold a huge amount of sensitive, personal data. “You can export your data, and you can delete it, but that may not mean that that data is gone from model training or from models that have been derived from that data,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032768/whats-next-23andme-bankruptcy-filing-raises-questions-data-security\">23andMe\u003c/a>, whose customers’ genetic data was sold in bankruptcy last year to a nonprofit led by the company’s co-founder, despite lawsuits from more than two dozen states.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torney’s advice to \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s users: “Delete your account now and download your chats first if you want to keep them.” \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s help center said data exports can take three to four weeks, and the download link expires after seven days, so users should request the export, wait for the email, then delete. An export requested now should arrive before the sale’s Dec. 17 closing deadline. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked whether users’ chats are among the assets for sale, a Character.AI spokesperson referred KQED to an online \u003ca href=\"https://blog.character.ai/an-update-on-character-ai/\">FAQ\u003c/a>, which said users’ information “continues to be protected” under the company’s privacy policy and that users can delete their accounts or export their data. The company did not say whether chats are part of the sale or whether that policy would bind a buyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everyone clicked through and agreed to the privacy policy,” said Torney. “But I don’t know if there was, especially for teenagers, a real understanding that, down the line, in the future, the contents of these chats might become public or be sold to another company for uses that users were not originally intending.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So what happens next for the roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who, according to the company’s legal filings, spend about two hours a day on the platform?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">With Character Technologies, the company behind the AI chatbot app Character.ai, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, what happens next as far as the data for roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who spend about two hours a day on the platform?\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Robert Way/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think of chatbots, and they think of ChatGPT, or Claude, or Gemini, which are these multi-use chatbots that can be used for all kinds of different things. Character AI is maybe one of the best-known examples of a class of AI chatbots that are designed to simulate relationships. They could pretend to be your best friend, your neighbor, a character from a video game or a book. They could pretend to be anything.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They include real age verification, removing chatbots that pose as therapists, doctors or lawyers; limits on using chats to train AI, and the chance for every user to delete their data before a sale. The states said they may ask the court to appoint a consumer privacy ombudsman, an independent official to advise the judge on the privacy consequences of a sale.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And on Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he joined attorneys general from 22 other states to file notice with the bankruptcy court — calling for privacy and safety protections, especially for kids, to be written into any sale of the company.\u003cbr> \u003cbr>In a statement, Bonta referenced an investigation launched by his office and a bipartisan coalition of states into Character.AI, following a 2024 lawsuit alleging that its chatbots fostered an emotionally and sexually exploitative relationship with a child — reinforcing his suicidal thoughts, and contributing to his death by suicide. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And on Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he joined attorneys general from 22 other states to file notice with the bankruptcy court — calling for privacy and safety protections, especially for kids, to be written into any sale of the company.\u003cbr> \u003cbr>In a statement, Bonta referenced an investigation launched by his office and a bipartisan coalition of states into Character.AI, following a 2024 lawsuit alleging that its chatbots fostered an emotionally and sexually exploitative relationship with a child — reinforcing his suicidal thoughts, and contributing to his death by suicide. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our investigation identified potential consumer protection and privacy violations,” Bonta said. “Following Character.AI’s bankruptcy announcement, we ask the court to address privacy and safety concerns in any sale or transfer of the company’s business or assets.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The 23 states filing notice also said that Character.AI’s voluntary controls could be reversed by a new owner.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our most sensitive personal information is not an asset to be bought and sold, especially during a fire sale after bankruptcy,” Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Mario Trujillo wrote KQED. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But Torney said this particular case demonstrates the dangers of allowing a private company to hold a huge amount of sensitive, personal data. “You can export your data, and you can delete it, but that may not mean that that data is gone from model training or from models that have been derived from that data,” he said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032768/whats-next-23andme-bankruptcy-filing-raises-questions-data-security\">23andMe\u003c/a>, whose customers’ genetic data was sold in bankruptcy last year to a nonprofit led by the company’s co-founder, despite lawsuits from more than two dozen states.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Torney’s advice to \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s users: “Delete your account now and download your chats first if you want to keep them.” \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s help center said data exports can take three to four weeks, and the download link expires after seven days, so users should request the export, wait for the email, then delete. An export requested now should arrive before the sale’s Dec. 17 closing deadline. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Torney’s advice to \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s users: “Delete your account now and download your chats first if you want to keep them.” \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s help center said data exports can take three to four weeks, and the download link expires after seven days, so users should request the export, wait for the email, then delete. An export requested now should arrive before the sale’s Dec. 17 closing deadline. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Asked whether users’ chats are among the assets for sale, a Character.AI spokesperson referred KQED to an online \u003ca href=\"https://blog.character.ai/an-update-on-character-ai/\">FAQ\u003c/a>, which said users’ information “continues to be protected” under the company’s privacy policy and that users can delete their accounts or export their data. The company did not say whether chats are part of the sale or whether that policy would bind a buyer.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Everyone clicked through and agreed to the privacy policy,” said Torney. “But I don’t know if there was, especially for teenagers, a real understanding that, down the line, in the future, the contents of these chats might become public or be sold to another company for uses that users were not originally intending.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Character Technologies, the company behind the AI chatbot app Character.ai, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, raising questions about what happens to millions of users’ private conversations.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Redwood City-based Character Technologies, maker of one of the best-known AI companion chatbots, \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai/\">Character.AI\u003c/a>, has faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034490/ai-companions-seductive-risk-teens-senators-want-more-guardrails\">lawsuits from families\u003c/a> who alleged its chatbots contributed to their children’s suicides and self-harm. It’s also been the target of regulators pushing for age verification tech because of its popularity with kids. Character.AI’s CEO told the court that 46 states and territories are investigating the company.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This week, the company filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. In a \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28809489/18.pdf\">sworn declaration\u003c/a>, CEO Colin Adams cited the company’s high legal costs, struggle to become profitable, and potential investors’ concern over litigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Disney, which sent Character.AI a \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/2025/09/30/disney-characterai-cease-desist\">cease-and-desist letter\u003c/a> last year over unauthorized use of its characters, has offered $20 million to license some of the company’s technology. That deal leaves out users’ data and chats, so any sale of the chats would be to a different buyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So what happens next for the roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who, according to the company’s legal filings, spend about two hours a day on the platform?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Character.AIGetty-1478578f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">With Character Technologies, the company behind the AI chatbot app Character.ai, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, what happens next as far as the data for roughly 12 million monthly users, including at least 2 million kids who spend about two hours a day on the platform? (Robert Way/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038154/kids-talking-ai-companion-chatbots-stanford-researchers-say-thats-bad-idea\">kids’ data\u003c/a> that is in the Character AI system and is potentially for sale now,” Robbie Torney, Head of AI & Digital Assessments at Common Sense Media, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think of chatbots, and they think of ChatGPT, or Claude, or Gemini, which are these multi-use chatbots that can be used for all kinds of different things. Character AI is maybe one of the best-known examples of a class of AI chatbots that are designed to simulate relationships. They could pretend to be your best friend, your neighbor, a character from a video game or a book. They could pretend to be anything.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys general from 39 states and the District of Columbia, including California, filed a notice in the case detailing nine conditions they want any buyer to meet, according to the digital advertising trade publication \u003ca href=\"https://ppc.land/character-ai-faces-40-attorneys-general-over-who-can-buy-its-users-chats/\">PPC Land\u003c/a>, which reviewed the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They include real age verification, removing chatbots that pose as therapists, doctors or lawyers; limits on using chats to train AI, and the chance for every user to delete their data before a sale. The states said they may ask the court to appoint a consumer privacy ombudsman, an independent official to advise the judge on the privacy consequences of a sale.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And on Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he joined attorneys general from 22 other states to file notice with the bankruptcy court — calling for privacy and safety protections, especially for kids, to be written into any sale of the company.\u003cbr> \u003cbr>In a statement, Bonta referenced an investigation launched by his office and a bipartisan coalition of states into Character.AI, following a 2024 lawsuit alleging that its chatbots fostered an emotionally and sexually exploitative relationship with a child — reinforcing his suicidal thoughts, and contributing to his death by suicide. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our investigation identified potential consumer protection and privacy violations,” Bonta said. “Following Character.AI’s bankruptcy announcement, we ask the court to address privacy and safety concerns in any sale or transfer of the company’s business or assets.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 23 states filing notice also said that Character.AI’s voluntary controls could be reversed by a new owner.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our most sensitive personal information is not an asset to be bought and sold, especially during a fire sale after bankruptcy,” Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Mario Trujillo wrote KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103409\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241107-AttorneyGeneralBonta-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks with KQED politics reporters Marisa Lagos and Scott Shafer for Political Breakdown at the KQED offices in San Francisco on Nov. 7, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Torney said this particular case demonstrates the dangers of allowing a private company to hold a huge amount of sensitive, personal data. “You can export your data, and you can delete it, but that may not mean that that data is gone from model training or from models that have been derived from that data,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032768/whats-next-23andme-bankruptcy-filing-raises-questions-data-security\">23andMe\u003c/a>, whose customers’ genetic data was sold in bankruptcy last year to a nonprofit led by the company’s co-founder, despite lawsuits from more than two dozen states.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torney’s advice to \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s users: “Delete your account now and download your chats first if you want to keep them.” \u003ca href=\"http://character.ai\">Character.AI\u003c/a>’s help center said data exports can take three to four weeks, and the download link expires after seven days, so users should request the export, wait for the email, then delete. An export requested now should arrive before the sale’s Dec. 17 closing deadline. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked whether users’ chats are among the assets for sale, a Character.AI spokesperson referred KQED to an online \u003ca href=\"https://blog.character.ai/an-update-on-character-ai/\">FAQ\u003c/a>, which said users’ information “continues to be protected” under the company’s privacy policy and that users can delete their accounts or export their data. The company did not say whether chats are part of the sale or whether that policy would bind a buyer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everyone clicked through and agreed to the privacy policy,” said Torney. “But I don’t know if there was, especially for teenagers, a real understanding that, down the line, in the future, the contents of these chats might become public or be sold to another company for uses that users were not originally intending.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Your Phone Might Get an Earthquake Test Alert Thursday (and What to Do)",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Your phone might get a loud \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/earthquake\">earthquake\u003c/a> test alert on Thursday morning. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At least, it will if you’re one of over 4.5 million Californians who have the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/24/californias-earthquake-warning-system-notified-over-one-million-people-ahead-of-northern-california-quake/\">MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded\u003c/a> on your phone. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The MyShake test alert for app users will be part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakeout.org/\">Annual Great ShakeOut\u003c/a> quake preparedness drill that takes place across the globe. And the purpose of this particular test alert is to bring home the importance of a warning even a few seconds before an earthquake strikes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MyShake was developed in the Bay Area at \u003ca href=\"https://earthquakes.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s Seismology Lab\u003c/a> and is funded by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/\">California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)\u003c/a>. It’s powered by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/media-kit/\">U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, which uses a network of seismic sensors to detect earthquakes in real time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once an event is detected, and if the quake is \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#troubleshooting\">estimated to be magnitude 4.5 or greater\u003c/a>, MyShake will send an alert to phones in the affected area, giving them anywhere from a few seconds to half a minute to react and instructing users to take life-saving actions — “drop, cover and hold on” — before the ground starts moving.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#drop-cover\">Why experts say ‘drop, cover and hold on’ is more likely to save your life than standing in a door frame\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here’s what you need to know about this latest test alert on Thursday and what you should actually do in the event of an earthquake warning — plus more ways to get these earthquake warnings for real.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When will the MyShake earthquake test alert happen?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Thursday morning, this phone alert will only be received by people with the MyShake app who live in California, Oregon and Washington.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977213/heres-where-to-download-californias-earthquake-early-warning-app\">MyShake app\u003c/a> will send the test alert to Bay Area users at 10:14 a.m. Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12059706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-160x105.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-1536x1009.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">If you’re one of the over 4 million Californians who have the MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded, you might get a loud alert on Thursday morning. This test will be part of the Annual Great ShakeOut quake preparedness drill, taking place across the globe. (Courtesy of Suresh Raman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>People in the greater Los Angeles area who have MyShake downloaded to their phone will get their alert at 10:15 a.m. The rest of the state — plus Washington and Oregon — will receive the alert at 10:16 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What will the MyShake alert sound like?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#shakeout2\">MyShake test alert\u003c/a> audio will say “Earthquake drill. Earthquake drill. When you hear this message, practice: Drop, cover and hold on. Practice: Drop, cover and hold on.” It’ll be accompanied by a visual alert signifying that this is a test drill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout2026-q3\">preview how the alert will sound \u003c/a>on the MyShake website.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"drop-cover\">What does ‘Drop, cover and hold on’ really mean in practice?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>First, you “drop” to the ground, on the spot — because it’s unlikely you’ll even be able to \u003cem>stay \u003c/em>standing during the shaking from a real earthquake, said Jose Lara, branch chief for seismic hazards with the California governor’s office of emergency services. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This kind of shaking and rolling “truly does rock people’s world, and not in a good way,” he said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Some of the larger earthquakes could go on for minutes, depending on the magnitude. And so after a while, you’re going to find yourself on the ground one way or another.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many injuries during an earthquake happen due to people falling, Lara said — so resist the urge to run.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> “You cannot run through this. You don’t want to. Not in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, you “cover” your head — because many other injuries happen when objects fall \u003cem>onto \u003c/em>you, he said. As you do that, “hold on” to anything sturdy: for example, a table. “We know from years of research that this is the safest thing that you can do during strong shaking,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>What about guidance you may have heard in the past to stand in a door frame? That advice is actually outdated now, explained Lara, because it “has a lot to do with some of the former building codes and other material that was used to build houses and buildings.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But we know now, with all the research, that the most important thing that you can do during strong shaking is to drop, cover and hold on on the spot,” Lara said. “Building codes in California are really much more advanced, and we know that buildings and homes will survive an earthquake — and so you will be able to walk out of there.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I want this MyShake alert — how can I make sure I get it?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have an iPhone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myshake/id1467058529\">download the MyShake app from the Apple App Store\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have an Android phone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.berkeley.bsl.myshake&pli=1\">download MyShake from the Google Play Store\u003c/a> — but Android phones will also get these alerts automatically through the Android operating system (more on this below).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I have the app, but what if I don’t get the test alert?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have the MyShake app and you still don’t get the alert on your phone on Thursday, don’t worry: It might be due to a few reasons.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Your alerts and notifications might be disabled for the MyShake app, or MyShake may not have permission to run in your phone’s background. Since the alert will be sent to phones in California, Oregon and Washington, the app will rely on your location data in order to send you the test alert.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1088\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095098\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-1536x836.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 2.5 miles north of San Leandro in August 2026, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. (Courtesy of USGS)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This means that if you have your location services turned off, you might not be able to receive the alert. You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">contact MyShake suppor\u003c/a>t if you think you’ve encountered a problem with the app.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>(If you did install MyShake in the past on your iPhone but you still don’t receive the alert, check that you don’t have the “Offload Unused Apps” feature turned on. This feature could have automatically uninstalled MyShake to save storage space if you haven’t used it in a while.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If my phone is off or on airplane mode, will I receive the alert?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Just like a normal alert, MyShake is unable to send test alerts to phones that are off or in airplane mode.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For people who have the MyShake app and prefer not to receive the alerts on Thursday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout\">MyShake advises people to turn off notifications on their phones\u003c/a> from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on that day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>For iOS, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” and turn off “Allow Notifications and Critical Alerts”.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>For Android, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” under “App notifications,” then turn MyShake off. \u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Don’t forget to turn your MyShake notifications back on after the drill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#science\">Find more frequently asked questions about MyShake here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are other ways than MyShake to get an alert if a real earthquake hits?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System (EEW) from USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sends \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-i-sign-shakealertr-earthquake-early-warning-system\">earthquake alerts to people’s phones in multiple ways.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The most widespread way is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which sends loud alerts to all cellphones. If an earthquake is expected to be magnitude 5 or greater, \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.ca.gov/wireless-emergency-alerts/#:~:text=WEA%20alerts%20will%20be%20sent,5.0%20with%20shaking%20intensity%204.\">USGS and FEMA will send a WEA to all capable devices.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999988\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The nation’s first statewide Earthquake Early Warning System, also known as the MyShake app, developed by professor Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, is displayed in Oakland, California, on Oct. 17, 2019. (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>ShakeAlert also powers other systems like MyShake alerts and \u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/SDEmergencyApp/\">the ShakeReadySD app for San Diego residents.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968352/android-phones-will-now-automatically-receive-california-earthquake-warnings\">Android phones have also been capable of receiving earthquake early warning alerts\u003c/a> through Google’s Android operating system — though users should still check their settings to make sure that earthquake alerts are enabled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MyShake differs from other alert delivery tools in that it collects user experience reports for earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 and uses motion data captured by phones for research purposes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The MyShake test alert for app users will be part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakeout.org/\">Annual Great ShakeOut\u003c/a> quake preparedness drill that takes place across the globe. And the purpose of this particular test alert is to bring home the importance of a warning even a few seconds before an earthquake strikes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The MyShake test alert for app users will be part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakeout.org/\">Annual Great ShakeOut\u003c/a> quake preparedness drill that takes place across the globe. And the purpose of this particular test alert is to bring home the importance of a warning even a few seconds before an earthquake strikes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>MyShake was developed in the Bay Area at \u003ca href=\"https://earthquakes.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s Seismology Lab\u003c/a> and is funded by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/\">California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)\u003c/a>. It’s powered by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/media-kit/\">U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, which uses a network of seismic sensors to detect earthquakes in real time. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>MyShake was developed in the Bay Area at \u003ca href=\"https://earthquakes.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s Seismology Lab\u003c/a> and is funded by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/\">California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)\u003c/a>. It’s powered by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/media-kit/\">U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, which uses a network of seismic sensors to detect earthquakes in real time. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Once an event is detected, and if the quake is \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#troubleshooting\">estimated to be magnitude 4.5 or greater\u003c/a>, MyShake will send an alert to phones in the affected area, giving them anywhere from a few seconds to half a minute to react and instructing users to take life-saving actions — “drop, cover and hold on” — before the ground starts moving.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Once an event is detected, and if the quake is \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#troubleshooting\">estimated to be magnitude 4.5 or greater\u003c/a>, MyShake will send an alert to phones in the affected area, giving them anywhere from a few seconds to half a minute to react and instructing users to take life-saving actions — “drop, cover and hold on” — before the ground starts moving.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Here’s what you need to know about this latest test alert on Thursday and what you should actually do in the event of an earthquake warning — plus more ways to get these earthquake warnings for real.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Thursday morning, this phone alert will only be received by people with the MyShake app who live in California, Oregon and Washington.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977213/heres-where-to-download-californias-earthquake-early-warning-app\">MyShake app\u003c/a> will send the test alert to Bay Area users at 10:14 a.m. Thursday.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977213/heres-where-to-download-californias-earthquake-early-warning-app\">MyShake app\u003c/a> will send the test alert to Bay Area users at 10:14 a.m. Thursday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12059706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-160x105.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-1536x1009.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">If you’re one of the over 4 million Californians who have the MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded, you might get a loud alert on Thursday morning. This test will be part of the Annual Great ShakeOut quake preparedness drill, taking place across the globe.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Suresh Raman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12059706\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">If you’re one of the over 4 million Californians who have the MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded, you might get a loud alert on Thursday morning. This test will be part of the Annual Great ShakeOut quake preparedness drill, taking place across the globe.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Suresh Raman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>People in the greater Los Angeles area who have MyShake downloaded to their phone will get their alert at 10:15 a.m. The rest of the state — plus Washington and Oregon — will receive the alert at 10:16 a.m.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#shakeout2\">MyShake test alert\u003c/a> audio will say “Earthquake drill. Earthquake drill. When you hear this message, practice: Drop, cover and hold on. Practice: Drop, cover and hold on.” It’ll be accompanied by a visual alert signifying that this is a test drill.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#shakeout2\">MyShake test alert\u003c/a> audio will say “Earthquake drill. Earthquake drill. When you hear this message, practice: Drop, cover and hold on. Practice: Drop, cover and hold on.” It’ll be accompanied by a visual alert signifying that this is a test drill.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout2026-q3\">preview how the alert will sound \u003c/a>on the MyShake website.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout2026-q3\">preview how the alert will sound \u003c/a>on the MyShake website.\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "What does ‘Drop, cover and hold on’ really mean in practice?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>First, you “drop” to the ground, on the spot — because it’s unlikely you’ll even be able to \u003cem>stay \u003c/em>standing during the shaking from a real earthquake, said Jose Lara, branch chief for seismic hazards with the California governor’s office of emergency services. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>First, you “drop” to the ground, on the spot — because it’s unlikely you’ll even be able to \u003cem>stay \u003c/em>standing during the shaking from a real earthquake, said Jose Lara, branch chief for seismic hazards with the California governor’s office of emergency services. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This kind of shaking and rolling “truly does rock people’s world, and not in a good way,” he said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Some of the larger earthquakes could go on for minutes, depending on the magnitude. And so after a while, you’re going to find yourself on the ground one way or another.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This kind of shaking and rolling “truly does rock people’s world, and not in a good way,” he said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Some of the larger earthquakes could go on for minutes, depending on the magnitude. And so after a while, you’re going to find yourself on the ground one way or another.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Many injuries during an earthquake happen due to people falling, Lara said — so resist the urge to run.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Many injuries during an earthquake happen due to people falling, Lara said — so resist the urge to run.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp> “You cannot run through this. You don’t want to. Not in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp> “You cannot run through this. You don’t want to. Not in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then, you “cover” your head — because many other injuries happen when objects fall \u003cem>onto \u003c/em>you, he said. As you do that, “hold on” to anything sturdy: for example, a table. “We know from years of research that this is the safest thing that you can do during strong shaking,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Then, you “cover” your head — because many other injuries happen when objects fall \u003cem>onto \u003c/em>you, he said. As you do that, “hold on” to anything sturdy: for example, a table. “We know from years of research that this is the safest thing that you can do during strong shaking,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>What about guidance you may have heard in the past to stand in a door frame? That advice is actually outdated now, explained Lara, because it “has a lot to do with some of the former building codes and other material that was used to build houses and buildings.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>What about guidance you may have heard in the past to stand in a door frame? That advice is actually outdated now, explained Lara, because it “has a lot to do with some of the former building codes and other material that was used to build houses and buildings.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“But we know now, with all the research, that the most important thing that you can do during strong shaking is to drop, cover and hold on on the spot,” Lara said. “Building codes in California are really much more advanced, and we know that buildings and homes will survive an earthquake — and so you will be able to walk out of there.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“But we know now, with all the research, that the most important thing that you can do during strong shaking is to drop, cover and hold on on the spot,” Lara said. “Building codes in California are really much more advanced, and we know that buildings and homes will survive an earthquake — and so you will be able to walk out of there.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "I want this MyShake alert — how can I make sure I get it?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I want this MyShake alert — how can I make sure I get it?\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If you have an iPhone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myshake/id1467058529\">download the MyShake app from the Apple App Store\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>If you have an iPhone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myshake/id1467058529\">download the MyShake app from the Apple App Store\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If you have an Android phone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.berkeley.bsl.myshake&pli=1\">download MyShake from the Google Play Store\u003c/a> — but Android phones will also get these alerts automatically through the Android operating system (more on this below).\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>If you have an Android phone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.berkeley.bsl.myshake&pli=1\">download MyShake from the Google Play Store\u003c/a> — but Android phones will also get these alerts automatically through the Android operating system (more on this below).\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "I have the app, but what if I don’t get the test alert?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I have the app, but what if I don’t get the test alert?\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If you have the MyShake app and you still don’t get the alert on your phone on Thursday, don’t worry: It might be due to a few reasons.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>If you have the MyShake app and you still don’t get the alert on your phone on Thursday, don’t worry: It might be due to a few reasons.\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/paragraph",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Your alerts and notifications might be disabled for the MyShake app, or MyShake may not have permission to run in your phone’s background. Since the alert will be sent to phones in California, Oregon and Washington, the app will rely on your location data in order to send you the test alert.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Your alerts and notifications might be disabled for the MyShake app, or MyShake may not have permission to run in your phone’s background. Since the alert will be sent to phones in California, Oregon and Washington, the app will rely on your location data in order to send you the test alert.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-1536x836.jpg 1536w",
"sizes": "(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095098\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-1536x836.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 2.5 miles north of San Leandro in August 2026, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095098\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 2.5 miles north of San Leandro in August 2026, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This means that if you have your location services turned off, you might not be able to receive the alert. You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">contact MyShake suppor\u003c/a>t if you think you’ve encountered a problem with the app.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This means that if you have your location services turned off, you might not be able to receive the alert. You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">contact MyShake suppor\u003c/a>t if you think you’ve encountered a problem with the app.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>(If you did install MyShake in the past on your iPhone but you still don’t receive the alert, check that you don’t have the “Offload Unused Apps” feature turned on. This feature could have automatically uninstalled MyShake to save storage space if you haven’t used it in a while.)\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>(If you did install MyShake in the past on your iPhone but you still don’t receive the alert, check that you don’t have the “Offload Unused Apps” feature turned on. This feature could have automatically uninstalled MyShake to save storage space if you haven’t used it in a while.)\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "If my phone is off or on airplane mode, will I receive the alert?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If my phone is off or on airplane mode, will I receive the alert?\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Just like a normal alert, MyShake is unable to send test alerts to phones that are off or in airplane mode.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Just like a normal alert, MyShake is unable to send test alerts to phones that are off or in airplane mode.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For people who have the MyShake app and prefer not to receive the alerts on Thursday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout\">MyShake advises people to turn off notifications on their phones\u003c/a> from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on that day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For people who have the MyShake app and prefer not to receive the alerts on Thursday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout\">MyShake advises people to turn off notifications on their phones\u003c/a> from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on that day. \u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cli>For iOS, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” and turn off “Allow Notifications and Critical Alerts”.\u003c/li>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>For Android, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” under “App notifications,” then turn MyShake off. \u003c/li>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cli>For Android, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” under “App notifications,” then turn MyShake off. \u003c/li>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Don’t forget to turn your MyShake notifications back on after the drill.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Don’t forget to turn your MyShake notifications back on after the drill.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#science\">Find more frequently asked questions about MyShake here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#science\">Find more frequently asked questions about MyShake here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "What are other ways than MyShake to get an alert if a real earthquake hits?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System (EEW) from USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sends \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-i-sign-shakealertr-earthquake-early-warning-system\">earthquake alerts to people’s phones in multiple ways.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System (EEW) from USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sends \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-i-sign-shakealertr-earthquake-early-warning-system\">earthquake alerts to people’s phones in multiple ways.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The most widespread way is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which sends loud alerts to all cellphones. If an earthquake is expected to be magnitude 5 or greater, \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.ca.gov/wireless-emergency-alerts/#:~:text=WEA%20alerts%20will%20be%20sent,5.0%20with%20shaking%20intensity%204.\">USGS and FEMA will send a WEA to all capable devices.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The most widespread way is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which sends loud alerts to all cellphones. If an earthquake is expected to be magnitude 5 or greater, \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.ca.gov/wireless-emergency-alerts/#:~:text=WEA%20alerts%20will%20be%20sent,5.0%20with%20shaking%20intensity%204.\">USGS and FEMA will send a WEA to all capable devices.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999988\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The nation’s first statewide Earthquake Early Warning System, also known as the MyShake app, developed by professor Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, is displayed in Oakland, California, on Oct. 17, 2019.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999988\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The nation’s first statewide Earthquake Early Warning System, also known as the MyShake app, developed by professor Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, is displayed in Oakland, California, on Oct. 17, 2019.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>ShakeAlert also powers other systems like MyShake alerts and \u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/SDEmergencyApp/\">the ShakeReadySD app for San Diego residents.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>ShakeAlert also powers other systems like MyShake alerts and \u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/SDEmergencyApp/\">the ShakeReadySD app for San Diego residents.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968352/android-phones-will-now-automatically-receive-california-earthquake-warnings\">Android phones have also been capable of receiving earthquake early warning alerts\u003c/a> through Google’s Android operating system — though users should still check their settings to make sure that earthquake alerts are enabled.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Since 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968352/android-phones-will-now-automatically-receive-california-earthquake-warnings\">Android phones have also been capable of receiving earthquake early warning alerts\u003c/a> through Google’s Android operating system — though users should still check their settings to make sure that earthquake alerts are enabled.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>MyShake differs from other alert delivery tools in that it collects user experience reports for earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 and uses motion data captured by phones for research purposes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>MyShake differs from other alert delivery tools in that it collects user experience reports for earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 and uses motion data captured by phones for research purposes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Find out how California’s MyShake earthquake app works, what to expect from emergency test alerts and how to set up your phone for more early earthquake warnings.",
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"title": "Why Your Phone Might Get an Earthquake Test Alert Thursday (and What to Do) | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Your phone might get a loud \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/earthquake\">earthquake\u003c/a> test alert on Thursday morning. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At least, it will if you’re one of over 4.5 million Californians who have the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/24/californias-earthquake-warning-system-notified-over-one-million-people-ahead-of-northern-california-quake/\">MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded\u003c/a> on your phone. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The MyShake test alert for app users will be part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakeout.org/\">Annual Great ShakeOut\u003c/a> quake preparedness drill that takes place across the globe. And the purpose of this particular test alert is to bring home the importance of a warning even a few seconds before an earthquake strikes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MyShake was developed in the Bay Area at \u003ca href=\"https://earthquakes.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s Seismology Lab\u003c/a> and is funded by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/\">California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)\u003c/a>. It’s powered by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/media-kit/\">U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, which uses a network of seismic sensors to detect earthquakes in real time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once an event is detected, and if the quake is \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#troubleshooting\">estimated to be magnitude 4.5 or greater\u003c/a>, MyShake will send an alert to phones in the affected area, giving them anywhere from a few seconds to half a minute to react and instructing users to take life-saving actions — “drop, cover and hold on” — before the ground starts moving.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#drop-cover\">Why experts say ‘drop, cover and hold on’ is more likely to save your life than standing in a door frame\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here’s what you need to know about this latest test alert on Thursday and what you should actually do in the event of an earthquake warning — plus more ways to get these earthquake warnings for real.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When will the MyShake earthquake test alert happen?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Thursday morning, this phone alert will only be received by people with the MyShake app who live in California, Oregon and Washington.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977213/heres-where-to-download-californias-earthquake-early-warning-app\">MyShake app\u003c/a> will send the test alert to Bay Area users at 10:14 a.m. Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12059706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-160x105.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/MyShake_WP-1536x1009.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">If you’re one of the over 4 million Californians who have the MyShake earthquake warning app downloaded, you might get a loud alert on Thursday morning. This test will be part of the Annual Great ShakeOut quake preparedness drill, taking place across the globe. (Courtesy of Suresh Raman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>People in the greater Los Angeles area who have MyShake downloaded to their phone will get their alert at 10:15 a.m. The rest of the state — plus Washington and Oregon — will receive the alert at 10:16 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What will the MyShake alert sound like?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#shakeout2\">MyShake test alert\u003c/a> audio will say “Earthquake drill. Earthquake drill. When you hear this message, practice: Drop, cover and hold on. Practice: Drop, cover and hold on.” It’ll be accompanied by a visual alert signifying that this is a test drill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout2026-q3\">preview how the alert will sound \u003c/a>on the MyShake website.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"drop-cover\">What does ‘Drop, cover and hold on’ really mean in practice?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>First, you “drop” to the ground, on the spot — because it’s unlikely you’ll even be able to \u003cem>stay \u003c/em>standing during the shaking from a real earthquake, said Jose Lara, branch chief for seismic hazards with the California governor’s office of emergency services. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This kind of shaking and rolling “truly does rock people’s world, and not in a good way,” he said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Some of the larger earthquakes could go on for minutes, depending on the magnitude. And so after a while, you’re going to find yourself on the ground one way or another.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many injuries during an earthquake happen due to people falling, Lara said — so resist the urge to run.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> “You cannot run through this. You don’t want to. Not in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, you “cover” your head — because many other injuries happen when objects fall \u003cem>onto \u003c/em>you, he said. As you do that, “hold on” to anything sturdy: for example, a table. “We know from years of research that this is the safest thing that you can do during strong shaking,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>What about guidance you may have heard in the past to stand in a door frame? That advice is actually outdated now, explained Lara, because it “has a lot to do with some of the former building codes and other material that was used to build houses and buildings.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But we know now, with all the research, that the most important thing that you can do during strong shaking is to drop, cover and hold on on the spot,” Lara said. “Building codes in California are really much more advanced, and we know that buildings and homes will survive an earthquake — and so you will be able to walk out of there.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I want this MyShake alert — how can I make sure I get it?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have an iPhone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myshake/id1467058529\">download the MyShake app from the Apple App Store\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have an Android phone, you can \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.berkeley.bsl.myshake&pli=1\">download MyShake from the Google Play Store\u003c/a> — but Android phones will also get these alerts automatically through the Android operating system (more on this below).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I have the app, but what if I don’t get the test alert?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If you have the MyShake app and you still don’t get the alert on your phone on Thursday, don’t worry: It might be due to a few reasons.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Your alerts and notifications might be disabled for the MyShake app, or MyShake may not have permission to run in your phone’s background. Since the alert will be sent to phones in California, Oregon and Washington, the app will rely on your location data in order to send you the test alert.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1088\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12095098\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/260813-Earthquake-01-1536x836.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 2.5 miles north of San Leandro in August 2026, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. (Courtesy of USGS)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This means that if you have your location services turned off, you might not be able to receive the alert. You can \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">contact MyShake suppor\u003c/a>t if you think you’ve encountered a problem with the app.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>(If you did install MyShake in the past on your iPhone but you still don’t receive the alert, check that you don’t have the “Offload Unused Apps” feature turned on. This feature could have automatically uninstalled MyShake to save storage space if you haven’t used it in a while.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If my phone is off or on airplane mode, will I receive the alert?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Just like a normal alert, MyShake is unable to send test alerts to phones that are off or in airplane mode.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For people who have the MyShake app and prefer not to receive the alerts on Thursday morning, \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/faq.html#shakeout\">MyShake advises people to turn off notifications on their phones\u003c/a> from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on that day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>For iOS, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” and turn off “Allow Notifications and Critical Alerts”.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>For Android, go to Phone Settings then Notifications, find “MyShake” under “App notifications,” then turn MyShake off. \u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Don’t forget to turn your MyShake notifications back on after the drill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/FAQ_en.html#science\">Find more frequently asked questions about MyShake here.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are other ways than MyShake to get an alert if a real earthquake hits?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System (EEW) from USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sends \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-i-sign-shakealertr-earthquake-early-warning-system\">earthquake alerts to people’s phones in multiple ways.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The most widespread way is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which sends loud alerts to all cellphones. If an earthquake is expected to be magnitude 5 or greater, \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.ca.gov/wireless-emergency-alerts/#:~:text=WEA%20alerts%20will%20be%20sent,5.0%20with%20shaking%20intensity%204.\">USGS and FEMA will send a WEA to all capable devices.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999988\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The nation’s first statewide Earthquake Early Warning System, also known as the MyShake app, developed by professor Richard Allen, director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, is displayed in Oakland, California, on Oct. 17, 2019. (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>ShakeAlert also powers other systems like MyShake alerts and \u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/SDEmergencyApp/\">the ShakeReadySD app for San Diego residents.\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968352/android-phones-will-now-automatically-receive-california-earthquake-warnings\">Android phones have also been capable of receiving earthquake early warning alerts\u003c/a> through Google’s Android operating system — though users should still check their settings to make sure that earthquake alerts are enabled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MyShake differs from other alert delivery tools in that it collects user experience reports for earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 and uses motion data captured by phones for research purposes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Modern technology has generally made our lives faster, easier, and more convenient. But in swapping out stick shifts and paper menus for automatic transmissions and QR codes, have we accidentally optimized away many of the rich sensory experiences that make living so pleasurable?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Journalist, academic and award-winning video-game designer Ian Bogost joins host Jess Love to discuss insights from his book \u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life\u003c/a>. He makes the case that we’re losing some of the everyday pleasures of interacting with the world. But if technology has disconnected us from sensory gratification, can it also be part of the solution?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Further Reading and Viewing\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life \u003c/a>– Ian Bogost, Atria Books\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2oV2DQ2dEA\">Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome\u003c/a> – Game/Show, PBS Digital Studios\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Welcome to Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines Every spring and fall during migration season, I head to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary here in Chicago. It’s this gorgeous strip of dunes and hedges and grasses hugging the side of Lake Michigan, a waypoint for hundreds of species of birds, and it’s hugely popular with birders, a lot of whom I’ve noticed walk through the sanctuary with their phones out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They are almost certainly doing something related to birding, using popular apps like Merlin or eBird to ID bird calls or add to their own life lists. Or maybe they’re just taking pictures. I am aware of these possibilities because I, too, have downloaded these apps. I, too, am trying to take pictures. So here we all are on a beautiful, crisp morning with all of Lake Michigan on offer, and we’re staring at our phones.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I’m honestly not sure what to make of that. On the one hand, it’s birding. Whatever gets you out there, right? But on the other, what are we missing by letting technology mediate so much of this experience? I actually have this thought a lot because it’s not just birding. So much of modern life is mediated and warped by technology in ways we don’t always see because we’re just too close to it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I knew I wanted to talk about this with Ian Bogost. Ian recently wrote a book called “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” The book argues that we’re losing a lot of these sensory experiences that used to fill our everyday lives. As in the places we build, the objects we design, the technology we use.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over time, in the name of convenience and efficiency, we’ve stripped them of a lot of texture, sights, sounds, physical sensations, all things that actually bring us a lot of joy. But here’s the thing. In addition to being a media scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and a journalist at The Atlantic, Ian is also a video game designer, hardly a Luddite. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So have we traded some of the simple sensory pleasures of just being in the world for more streamlined bird identification, or is there more to it than that?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a project of Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity distributed by KQED. I’m Jess Love and this is my conversation with Ian Bogost. I began by asking Ian if he could identify a moment when he first realized we’d lost some of the sensory pleasures of actually interacting with the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> The big one, the one that’s easy to identify, is the one that I talk about in the book when I wrote this kinda monster story for The Atlantic about the stick shift, the end of the stick shift. It was a monster story in the sense that a lot of people read it, not that I thought it was gonna be important. I thought it was just a little thing, you know? And the reactions from that, just the volume of them, and the passion of people lamenting and remembering their experience controlling a machine in that way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Ian was struck by the magnitude and variety of these responses. People really missed the stick shift, and it went beyond simple nostalgia. They missed these sensory moments, like the jerkiness of it all, seeing and feeling the gearshift move. Today’s automatic transmissions are more energy efficient than stick shifts ever were. They’re easier to learn. There’s no worrying about your clutch. Logically, there’s not really much to miss, and yet a lot of people still miss it and all the experiences that came along with it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>And I was like, “Oh, okay. I see.” It’s like a family of experiences, and those… It’s not just one thing. It’s not just, like, being a gearhead or, like, wanting to control your vehicle. It’s rather that we’re surrounded by all of this stuff that seems like it’s just noise and that it’s something to get through to get to the big stuff, the good stuff. But no, those experiences matter, and they matter as first-order parts of our day-to-day lives, but then also our lives as a whole. And so it was that… That realization was confusing to me ’cause I didn’t feel like there was a name for it. I mean, I ended up naming it ‘gratification’ or borrowing the word gratification to name it. This thing that describes, like, what I call the sensory enchantment of everyday life. But I had this realization that we had all kind of agreed without agreeing that that stuff was not important, and so discovering that it was important and that it wasn’t just important to me but to everyone, that was really magical and enlightening and, kind of life-changing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Gratification. That’s the term Ian gives to the magical, enlightening, and kind of life-changing sensory stuff that we encounter all day long, or at least that we used to encounter all day long but increasingly maybe aren’t getting quite as much of. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So think about anything you do in your daily life. I mean, you have to go shopping for groceries. And, you know, in the past you’d have to make a list, and maybe you’d write that down on paper, on a piece of scratch paper with a pen that you particularly liked using, and then you’d put it in your pocket, and you’d sort of fold it up, and it would have a certain feel of the paper as it tore off.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And maybe the paper made a sound as you tore it. And then you’d get in your car, which maybe had a stick shift and maybe didn’t, but even if it didn’t, you’d turn the key in the ignition, and you’d press your foot down on the pedal, and you’d turn the knob on the radio physically as you drove to the store.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And you’d get the cart, and the cart wobbled a little bit, but you felt it underneath you and against the cold floor, beneath your feet, and then you’d touch the produce to figure out which ones met your desired level of ripeness and all the rest of it. And, you know, you can kind of fill in all those blanks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So it’s like we automatically got this rich and diverse sensory experience just by doing things that we had to do every day. And we may not have thought of those things as desirable, like, “Ugh, I gotta go do the grocery shopping,” but since you had to go do it, you couldn’t just Instacart your way out of that problem, all this other stuff kind of came along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So what we lost in part wasn’t just all of those sensory encounters I just mentioned, but the very idea that they were being delivered to us continuously, so much so that we almost didn’t notice them happening. And there’s so many other examples of this, right? Like the feel of an old school Western Electric style telephone handset, the heft of it, the kind of intimacy of your voice in your own ear and against your mouth, the ability to smash it down on the hook to hang it up, the sound of the ring, the quality of the sound along the copper line, the feeling of dialing the rotary mechanism or pressing the touch tone buttons.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s like that was just what making a phone call was, you know? And now it’s like, well, I’ve got this phone and the… and this has an app for a phone app on it, and it doesn’t really work well, but, like, that’s… But I, and I hate making phone calls anyway. It’s like, well, maybe what you hate is the experience that phone calls evolved into and the fact that they were so sensorily bereft that you didn’t even wanna pursue them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And then it’s like a digital line, and it’s always dropping, and you can’t hear someone anyway and all, and all the rest of it. So, I found that people love identifying and talking about these, these feelings of sensory life that they remember but have lost. And the big thing, the big collective thing is they just happened automatically. They just happened to you. They were a part of the texture and the background noise of daily life, and then they weren’t. anymore. Like during the pandemic when all of us stopped going places, and we worked from home, and we ordered delivery all the time, and, QR codes for menus became a thing. And now you go to a restaurant, and you still have a QR code maybe for a menu, and you feel in your head and in your heart and in your fingertips, you’re like, “I want a menu,” but that’s not reasonable anymore to want. Even some of it is just like a place to live spatially while you’re looking at it, and to kind of distance yourself from this device you use all the time, and to peruse this artifact that is distinctive for the restaurant you’re in, or to spill salsa on it as you’re waiting to order. Whatever you know, whatever delight happens to you, all of that just happened. It was just right there all the time, and then it wasn’t anymore. So it’s like we didn’t even know what we were losing because we didn’t notice losing it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Listening to Ian speak, I realize how rare it is to hear someone actually describe these sensations, at least outside of a poem. The feel of a paper menu between your thumb and forefinger, the satisfaction of turning a key and feeling a motor roaring to life underneath you, rumbling your seat. It feels so intimate, almost vulgar. Like, wow, Ian, getting a little personal here, aren’t we? But maybe that’s just me. Look at me. I work at a university. I spend most days sitting in front of a computer, reading words, pressing keys, reading more words, and I do this around a lot of other people who are also sitting in front of computers, reading and typing. Am I unusually deprived of these everyday sensory pleasures, like some poor neglected houseplant assuming everyone else is as thirsty as I am? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, the simple answer is this is everywhere. This dematerializing effect is everywhere and affects everyone. It affects us in different ways depending on all matter of factors, socioeconomics, where we live, the kind of job we have, the kind of life we lead, whether you have kids or not…what sort of vehicle you drive or if you don’t. All of these factors play in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian says that, yeah, sure, some jobs lend themselves to more gratifying experiences than others, but technology is changing a lot of these jobs too, generally in ways that make them less gratifying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So we’re all in it together, I think. I think we’re in it differently together. And I think that, you know, but it’s not something where it’s like, “Well, I don’t make enough money to worry about being gratified.” Like, no, do you have a human body and live in the physical world? Then this is something of concern and interest to you. It’s not an indulgence that you only undertake once your Maslow’s needs have been met. It is part of those needs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>We have spent decades designing technology that’s faster, easier, more convenient, culminating in lives that we increasingly spend online with fewer reasons to interact with the physical world at all. And now maybe we’re dealing with some unintended and unwanted side effects. Well, one answer is to spend less time online, less time scrolling, fewer video games. And we do seem to be at a moment where at least some people are stepping back from these things. There’s apparently a 175% uptick in Etsy searches for beginner needlepoint kits. But is that the only way? Is the only answer here to retreat from modern technology? Or can technology provide its own kinds of sensory gratification? And of course, what the heck should we make of these birding apps? I try to get an answer after the break.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I’ve been talking with Ian Bogost about how technology has allowed us to optimize away so many of the physical interactions that used to fill our lives with sensory gratification. But we increasingly live in digital and virtual worlds, and I want to understand whether gratification can be found here too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>A different kind of gratification perhaps, but sensory gratification all the same. And I figure if there’s one place to look, it might be video games. So is gratification one of the things that you think about when you are designing games and virtual worlds? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>It didn’t used to be. In fact, in some ways I wish I had realized this far sooner, that maybe the thing about games in particular… Look, games are purposeless. They don’t need to exist. They seem stupid because they don’t, like, get something. It’s not like an app. It’s like, oh, I’ve got this productivity tool, even if it, like, is kind of questionable in terms of whether it makes you more productive, like groupware like Slack or something. Like, we know that a game doesn’t make you more productive. All it does is distract you or give you something to do with your fingers and your hands while something else is happening. And if you think about some of the most popular, most compelling kinds of digital games, like Candy Crush, say, right? Like, why is it so delightful to just move gems or candies around so that they match and then to watch the little explosions when they take place in front of you? It’s not because that particular kind of artifact has meaning in the way that a novel or a film does, which is the way that some people in the games universe want to think of games as this inherited medium that does for the twenty-first century what cinema did for the twentieth or what the novel did for the nineteenth. But, like, it’s just a thing. It’s just, like, an apparatus that you can manipulate, you know, that you can engage with and interact with. It’s almost like games are this place where we can go to experience, among other things, the pureness of gratifying experience. And it doesn’t even have to be a digital game, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like, I play backgammon many nights with my daughter. We have a backgammon set set up in our house in a kind of permanent way. And like, one reason we love it is just the sound and sight of the dice spinning against the table as they resolve, and the feel of the checkers under our fingertips and as they slide across the surface and of course, the opportunity to look one another in the eye and to be present in that particular way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I think games are like these, these kind of strange mysteries that give us a reason to do that kind of stuff, that gratifying experience, without any outcome. It’s just that they’re very deeply misunderstood as such, including among the communities that play and make games deliberately. Like, for many, many years, my interest and focus as a game developer was about the meaning of games, like the idea that they could be meaningful and serious, and you could make, like, kind of documentarian games or games about politics or about complex social and political and infrastructural issues.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And I made a lot of those games, and I think they were interesting, but maybe I was wrong about what was fundamentally the most interesting thing about games and other kinds of digital experiences was just this opportunity to interact with this alien machine for no reason other than to feel what it’s like to interact with it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Yeah. Why does it feel so satisfying to watch those brightly colored Tetris shapes disappear in satisfying poof when you line them up just right? Sure, there’s the goal-oriented pleasures of solving a puzzle, but there’s also the sensory pleasures of tapping your finger and having your entire visual field just rearrange itself, or hearing that celebratory little jingle. So clearly it is possible to find gratification behind a screen. A lot of gratification. While I was editing this episode, a colleague of mine sent me a YouTube video called “Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?” This video actually breaks down why Mario’s jump feels so awesome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What made the jump for Super Mario Brothers so groundbreaking is that it had its own specific physics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voicover]: \u003c/strong>But I still wonder, when do screens provide this kind of gratification and when do they just distract us from the real world with all of its sensory pleasures? Like, are we better off enjoying Mario’s awesome jumps or just, like, jumping ourselves?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So I’ve always been fascinated by these tech-mediated experiences that change how we actually experience the physical world. So example would be, we take out our phone, you’ve got your Merlin app, and that tells you what bird call you’re hearing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Yeah. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Or maybe you’re just taking out your phone to take a picture of the bird. And on the one hand, this does kind of get us out of that moment, but on the other hand, maybe that’s what got us outdoors in the first place. And to, to put this in the idea of, of games here, I’m sure you’re familiar with Pokemon Go. Sure. So I recently took my eight-year-old to the Field Museum here in Chicago. The place was completely overrun by eight-year-olds all attending a Pokemon exhibit, and there was this virtual game overlaid over the, you know, physical museum. And I just, I was like, are these hybrid experiences, are they giving us, like, a path toward gratification or away from gratification?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> There is a famous photographer, of the 20th century named, named Garry Winogrand, and there’s this, like, quite, quite famous quote from, from Garry Winogrand, who took, like, so many photographs that he didn’t even bother developing them all. There’s, like, rolls and rolls and rolls of undeveloped film found after Garry Winogrand’s death and he took so many almost indiscriminately took pictures. And he has this amazing quote that goes something like, “I take pictures to see what the world looks like photographed.” And what’s so impressive about that idea to me, what’s so clarifying about it, is that it tells you something obvious that nevertheless needed to be said, which is that the world is different from the photograph. And when you look at a scene and you’re seeing it with your eyes and in your body, that’s different from framing it inside the boundaries of a viewfinder or on the emulsion of a film, let alone all of the properties of that film and how it was focused through the particular optical instrument that did so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And the two things are different from one another. So there’s the world, and there’s your photograph of it, and one doesn’t replace the other, and both are equally amazing and delightful in different ways. Now, if you lived your entire life without photography, having known that photography existed, I’m not talking about, like, before photography was invented, you’re – It would be a less rich life; because photographs give you a way of, of looking at not just the world, but objects themselves or images on screens as we use them today. That’s amazing. Now, this idea that we have, that we have to have to give up or trade one for the other, that is so fascinating. Like, oh, I’m only inspired to go into the physical world if I have an incentive in the form of Pokémon that I can search and collect. Like, there’s something weird about that, but there’s also something weird about saying, “Ah, that’s an impure way of experiencing the museum or your neighborhood or whatever,” that you’re only going out into it in order that you can collect these, you know, commercialized rare creatures. We can have it both ways, and the more we accept that we can have it both ways, and even that we must have it both ways, the better off we will be. Now, if you find yourself wanting to live always and fully and entirely in one of those spheres over the other, that’s where I think maybe it’s not that you’re doing something wrong.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I don’t want to make a moral judgment. It’s like you are missing out. If you met someone, and they were like, “Well, I just don’t engage with photography. Photography is not something that I want to partake of,” you’d be like, “I don’t even know what you mean. Like, what does that mean?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian really doesn’t want to offer a moral judgment here. You want to go birding or visit a museum and take your phone out? Go for it. We don’t have to see that experience as but a pale imitation of the one provided by the physical world. We can see it as its own thing and enjoy it on its own terms for what it has to offer. And maybe the best thing to do if we are gonna get all judgy here is try to have both experiences. I hear all this, and in my head, I’m kind of nodding along. But my producer Jesse was listening in and he wasn’t fully buying it. Like really? We really aren’t gonna judge someone for having a big day out and then just staring at their phone? Can’t we just admit that they are objectively missing out? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>I think this is a riff on Jess’s question about the sort of hybrid experiences, the Merlin app, the Pokemon Go. And you know, when you answered it, you sort of declined to make a value judgment, you know, sort of outdoors versus apps, digital spaces. You know, one of the things I do if I have time at the end of my workday, I live near the beach, and so I’ll grab my camera or, sometimes a fishing rod, sometimes a surfboard, and I’ll spend some time by the ocean if I can manage to do that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Amazing. I’m very jealous. It’s wonderful. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>Yeah. I mean, that’s why I live where I live.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost\u003c/strong>: Totally. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>And I will sometimes see people who are enjoying the same space I’m enjoying, and the way they’re doing it is by taking photos of each other or taking selfies and posing and standing in different places, and then kind of experimenting with different lightings and different backdrops and sort of throwing the outfit out so it catches the light in an interesting way. And I feel kind of sad because these people are actually kind of closing themselves off to the experience. You know, I am imagining that they’re optimizing for Instagram or TikTok or something like that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, they probably are. You’re probably right that they are optimizing for social media engagement, which is a kind of goal setting and a kind of accomplishment or a kind of outcome-oriented living. But even your version of it, which is more internal, it’s more in your head, is still kind of goal-oriented, right? Like, I’m gonna go and commune with nature and the beach, and I’m gonna do so in a purer way. And the truth is probably that both of these activities have something new to offer us about the environment, the beach, the weather, whatever it is. Cause, like, think about the … I know what you mean by, you see them throwing their garments or they have an accessory or something and they want it to catch the wind and get that in the photo, and that’s not something you’re doing, right? Like, they’re encountering the light glinting off of the fabric or maybe their shoes or sandals are off and in the sand, and they’re experiencing that sensation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so the thing is always more than the thing, and one of the reasons I’m not, I’m trying to not to make judgment isn’t because I don’t have judgments to make. I think that’s the easiest thing to do. But just to, like, stop and recognize, okay, you know, taking pictures for Instagram involves a different set of sensory experiences, than taking, you know, documentarian photos for the purpose of collecting for an album or whatever.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And that those, like, those offer different delights. That feels not like more measured. It’s not like it’s more Aristotelian, which maybe it is. It’s more just like “Huh, I wonder what it’s like to try the other thing.” Maybe I should, maybe I should be open to it if the, if the opportunity arises, or maybe at the very least, I should admit to myself that every act has a sensory payload, and that sensory payload is what I’m really interested in as the gratifying experience separate from the value or the fact of the outcome it produces.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Every act has a sensory payload separate from the outcome it produces. I like this a lot. Even in our increasingly slick, scentless, dial-less, lever-less, paperless, outcome-focused world, there is still no shortage of gratifying experiences on offer, and we don’t have to throw away our screens to find them. We just have to be a lot more intentional about recognizing them wherever they are, and maybe occasionally seeking out some new ones too, so we aren’t all just getting the same kind of sensory payload all the time. Because it really is about variety, and variety is exactly what we stand to lose when our lives are being streamlined for maximal efficiency.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Just, like, think about the nature of the sensory life that’s really easy and common for you. Like, you know, if you drive to work every day and you’re spending a lot of time in your car, and then you work an office job where you’re moving symbols around, on computers and through networks, then it’s not so much like that you need to get outside or you need to be in nature or something like that, or you need to bike instead of driving. It’s more like, “Where could I find sensory experience that is different?” Or what I call ‘orthogonal’ to that, to that experience. And, you know, maybe that means gardening, but not so that you can grow herbs or so that you can, like, feel good about having a tidy yard, but just so you can feel the wetness of soil under your fingertips and in your fingernails. And that’s kind of the purpose of it, not to do anything but just to spend time with other objects. Crafts or something like this, or hobbies too. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>I mean, I think these are great. I have a daughter who loves throwing rocks. We even built her a little tiny pond in our little Chicago backyard. She loves the sensory sensation of big rock, little rock. And I’m, like, kind of already, like, in this conversation, like, okay, I gotta, like, make some time this afternoon and just, like, sit down and throw rocks with her. But these are, these are all, like, individual things that we can do, and I’m curious if you’ve thought about things that we might be able to do collectively to maybe have more control over our environment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> Sure. Yeah, there is – I think it’s very– Look, there are many cultural, economic, socio-economic, bureaucratic, technological, circumstances we find ourselves in that have contributed to our loss of gratifying sensation, to this process of dematerialization. And if you could remedy those, even in small part, I bet we would feel more gratified. I think one reason, at least in this book, that I tried to put the, like, just pause from worrying so much about systemic solutions isn’t because I don’t believe that systemic solutions are important or that these problems are worthy of those kinds of remedy, but because I think we have a predilection to think, “Well, I can’t do anything about this until the big problems are solved.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If kids could go to the park in the first place because we built parks and we didn’t arrest them when they went there on their bikes on their own, or their parents, then we could talk. And I get it. I empathize with that position. I understand it. I just don’t wanna wait. I mean, I’ve worked on systemic problems and solutions for a big part of my career, and I’m still very interested in them. But for this moment, just like introducing the world to this idea of gratification, warming us up to doing it, I wanted to say, “You know what?” It’s a small stuff solution to a small stuff problem, actually, which doesn’t mean that big solutions wouldn’t help. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong>So I don’t need to, like, solve all the world’s problems before I go sit outside and throw rocks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> That’s the key.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Well, we thought we’d take our own advice and try to make our show credits just a little more gratifying. I’m Jess Love. Life, Automated is a project of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. We’re distributed by KQED. Our show was produced by Jesse Dukes with help from Tom Dixon. Music by Stephen Jackson. Recording help from Will Feeney and George Christensen. Marketing help from Ananya Mallapragada and Lauren Ko. Special thanks to Laura Pavin, Rob Mitchum, and of course, today’s guest, Ian Bogost. His new book is “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” And if you like Life, Automated, consider sharing an episode with a friend. We’re a new show, and we’d love for more people to know about us.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Journalist, academic and award-winning video-game designer Ian Bogost joins host Jess Love to discuss insights from his book \u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life\u003c/a>. He makes the case that we’re losing some of the everyday pleasures of interacting with the world. But if technology has disconnected us from sensory gratification, can it also be part of the solution?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Journalist, academic and award-winning video-game designer Ian Bogost joins host Jess Love to discuss insights from his book \u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life\u003c/a>. He makes the case that we’re losing some of the everyday pleasures of interacting with the world. But if technology has disconnected us from sensory gratification, can it also be part of the solution?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life \u003c/a>– Ian Bogost, Atria Books\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life \u003c/a>– Ian Bogost, Atria Books\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2oV2DQ2dEA\">Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome\u003c/a> – Game/Show, PBS Digital Studios\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2oV2DQ2dEA\">Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome\u003c/a> – Game/Show, PBS Digital Studios\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Welcome to Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines Every spring and fall during migration season, I head to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary here in Chicago. It’s this gorgeous strip of dunes and hedges and grasses hugging the side of Lake Michigan, a waypoint for hundreds of species of birds, and it’s hugely popular with birders, a lot of whom I’ve noticed walk through the sanctuary with their phones out.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Welcome to Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines Every spring and fall during migration season, I head to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary here in Chicago. It’s this gorgeous strip of dunes and hedges and grasses hugging the side of Lake Michigan, a waypoint for hundreds of species of birds, and it’s hugely popular with birders, a lot of whom I’ve noticed walk through the sanctuary with their phones out.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They are almost certainly doing something related to birding, using popular apps like Merlin or eBird to ID bird calls or add to their own life lists. Or maybe they’re just taking pictures. I am aware of these possibilities because I, too, have downloaded these apps. I, too, am trying to take pictures. So here we all are on a beautiful, crisp morning with all of Lake Michigan on offer, and we’re staring at our phones.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>They are almost certainly doing something related to birding, using popular apps like Merlin or eBird to ID bird calls or add to their own life lists. Or maybe they’re just taking pictures. I am aware of these possibilities because I, too, have downloaded these apps. I, too, am trying to take pictures. So here we all are on a beautiful, crisp morning with all of Lake Michigan on offer, and we’re staring at our phones.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I’m honestly not sure what to make of that. On the one hand, it’s birding. Whatever gets you out there, right? But on the other, what are we missing by letting technology mediate so much of this experience? I actually have this thought a lot because it’s not just birding. So much of modern life is mediated and warped by technology in ways we don’t always see because we’re just too close to it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I’m honestly not sure what to make of that. On the one hand, it’s birding. Whatever gets you out there, right? But on the other, what are we missing by letting technology mediate so much of this experience? I actually have this thought a lot because it’s not just birding. So much of modern life is mediated and warped by technology in ways we don’t always see because we’re just too close to it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I knew I wanted to talk about this with Ian Bogost. Ian recently wrote a book called “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” The book argues that we’re losing a lot of these sensory experiences that used to fill our everyday lives. As in the places we build, the objects we design, the technology we use.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I knew I wanted to talk about this with Ian Bogost. Ian recently wrote a book called “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” The book argues that we’re losing a lot of these sensory experiences that used to fill our everyday lives. As in the places we build, the objects we design, the technology we use.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Over time, in the name of convenience and efficiency, we’ve stripped them of a lot of texture, sights, sounds, physical sensations, all things that actually bring us a lot of joy. But here’s the thing. In addition to being a media scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and a journalist at The Atlantic, Ian is also a video game designer, hardly a Luddite. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Over time, in the name of convenience and efficiency, we’ve stripped them of a lot of texture, sights, sounds, physical sensations, all things that actually bring us a lot of joy. But here’s the thing. In addition to being a media scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and a journalist at The Atlantic, Ian is also a video game designer, hardly a Luddite. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So have we traded some of the simple sensory pleasures of just being in the world for more streamlined bird identification, or is there more to it than that?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So have we traded some of the simple sensory pleasures of just being in the world for more streamlined bird identification, or is there more to it than that?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a project of Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity distributed by KQED. I’m Jess Love and this is my conversation with Ian Bogost. I began by asking Ian if he could identify a moment when he first realized we’d lost some of the sensory pleasures of actually interacting with the world.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> The big one, the one that’s easy to identify, is the one that I talk about in the book when I wrote this kinda monster story for The Atlantic about the stick shift, the end of the stick shift. It was a monster story in the sense that a lot of people read it, not that I thought it was gonna be important. I thought it was just a little thing, you know? And the reactions from that, just the volume of them, and the passion of people lamenting and remembering their experience controlling a machine in that way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> The big one, the one that’s easy to identify, is the one that I talk about in the book when I wrote this kinda monster story for The Atlantic about the stick shift, the end of the stick shift. It was a monster story in the sense that a lot of people read it, not that I thought it was gonna be important. I thought it was just a little thing, you know? And the reactions from that, just the volume of them, and the passion of people lamenting and remembering their experience controlling a machine in that way.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Ian was struck by the magnitude and variety of these responses. People really missed the stick shift, and it went beyond simple nostalgia. They missed these sensory moments, like the jerkiness of it all, seeing and feeling the gearshift move. Today’s automatic transmissions are more energy efficient than stick shifts ever were. They’re easier to learn. There’s no worrying about your clutch. Logically, there’s not really much to miss, and yet a lot of people still miss it and all the experiences that came along with it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Ian was struck by the magnitude and variety of these responses. People really missed the stick shift, and it went beyond simple nostalgia. They missed these sensory moments, like the jerkiness of it all, seeing and feeling the gearshift move. Today’s automatic transmissions are more energy efficient than stick shifts ever were. They’re easier to learn. There’s no worrying about your clutch. Logically, there’s not really much to miss, and yet a lot of people still miss it and all the experiences that came along with it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>And I was like, “Oh, okay. I see.” It’s like a family of experiences, and those… It’s not just one thing. It’s not just, like, being a gearhead or, like, wanting to control your vehicle. It’s rather that we’re surrounded by all of this stuff that seems like it’s just noise and that it’s something to get through to get to the big stuff, the good stuff. But no, those experiences matter, and they matter as first-order parts of our day-to-day lives, but then also our lives as a whole. And so it was that… That realization was confusing to me ’cause I didn’t feel like there was a name for it. I mean, I ended up naming it ‘gratification’ or borrowing the word gratification to name it. This thing that describes, like, what I call the sensory enchantment of everyday life. But I had this realization that we had all kind of agreed without agreeing that that stuff was not important, and so discovering that it was important and that it wasn’t just important to me but to everyone, that was really magical and enlightening and, kind of life-changing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>And I was like, “Oh, okay. I see.” It’s like a family of experiences, and those… It’s not just one thing. It’s not just, like, being a gearhead or, like, wanting to control your vehicle. It’s rather that we’re surrounded by all of this stuff that seems like it’s just noise and that it’s something to get through to get to the big stuff, the good stuff. But no, those experiences matter, and they matter as first-order parts of our day-to-day lives, but then also our lives as a whole. And so it was that… That realization was confusing to me ’cause I didn’t feel like there was a name for it. I mean, I ended up naming it ‘gratification’ or borrowing the word gratification to name it. This thing that describes, like, what I call the sensory enchantment of everyday life. But I had this realization that we had all kind of agreed without agreeing that that stuff was not important, and so discovering that it was important and that it wasn’t just important to me but to everyone, that was really magical and enlightening and, kind of life-changing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Gratification. That’s the term Ian gives to the magical, enlightening, and kind of life-changing sensory stuff that we encounter all day long, or at least that we used to encounter all day long but increasingly maybe aren’t getting quite as much of. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Gratification. That’s the term Ian gives to the magical, enlightening, and kind of life-changing sensory stuff that we encounter all day long, or at least that we used to encounter all day long but increasingly maybe aren’t getting quite as much of. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So think about anything you do in your daily life. I mean, you have to go shopping for groceries. And, you know, in the past you’d have to make a list, and maybe you’d write that down on paper, on a piece of scratch paper with a pen that you particularly liked using, and then you’d put it in your pocket, and you’d sort of fold it up, and it would have a certain feel of the paper as it tore off.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So think about anything you do in your daily life. I mean, you have to go shopping for groceries. And, you know, in the past you’d have to make a list, and maybe you’d write that down on paper, on a piece of scratch paper with a pen that you particularly liked using, and then you’d put it in your pocket, and you’d sort of fold it up, and it would have a certain feel of the paper as it tore off.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And maybe the paper made a sound as you tore it. And then you’d get in your car, which maybe had a stick shift and maybe didn’t, but even if it didn’t, you’d turn the key in the ignition, and you’d press your foot down on the pedal, and you’d turn the knob on the radio physically as you drove to the store.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And maybe the paper made a sound as you tore it. And then you’d get in your car, which maybe had a stick shift and maybe didn’t, but even if it didn’t, you’d turn the key in the ignition, and you’d press your foot down on the pedal, and you’d turn the knob on the radio physically as you drove to the store.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And you’d get the cart, and the cart wobbled a little bit, but you felt it underneath you and against the cold floor, beneath your feet, and then you’d touch the produce to figure out which ones met your desired level of ripeness and all the rest of it. And, you know, you can kind of fill in all those blanks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And you’d get the cart, and the cart wobbled a little bit, but you felt it underneath you and against the cold floor, beneath your feet, and then you’d touch the produce to figure out which ones met your desired level of ripeness and all the rest of it. And, you know, you can kind of fill in all those blanks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So it’s like we automatically got this rich and diverse sensory experience just by doing things that we had to do every day. And we may not have thought of those things as desirable, like, “Ugh, I gotta go do the grocery shopping,” but since you had to go do it, you couldn’t just Instacart your way out of that problem, all this other stuff kind of came along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So it’s like we automatically got this rich and diverse sensory experience just by doing things that we had to do every day. And we may not have thought of those things as desirable, like, “Ugh, I gotta go do the grocery shopping,” but since you had to go do it, you couldn’t just Instacart your way out of that problem, all this other stuff kind of came along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So what we lost in part wasn’t just all of those sensory encounters I just mentioned, but the very idea that they were being delivered to us continuously, so much so that we almost didn’t notice them happening. And there’s so many other examples of this, right? Like the feel of an old school Western Electric style telephone handset, the heft of it, the kind of intimacy of your voice in your own ear and against your mouth, the ability to smash it down on the hook to hang it up, the sound of the ring, the quality of the sound along the copper line, the feeling of dialing the rotary mechanism or pressing the touch tone buttons.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So what we lost in part wasn’t just all of those sensory encounters I just mentioned, but the very idea that they were being delivered to us continuously, so much so that we almost didn’t notice them happening. And there’s so many other examples of this, right? Like the feel of an old school Western Electric style telephone handset, the heft of it, the kind of intimacy of your voice in your own ear and against your mouth, the ability to smash it down on the hook to hang it up, the sound of the ring, the quality of the sound along the copper line, the feeling of dialing the rotary mechanism or pressing the touch tone buttons.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s like that was just what making a phone call was, you know? And now it’s like, well, I’ve got this phone and the… and this has an app for a phone app on it, and it doesn’t really work well, but, like, that’s… But I, and I hate making phone calls anyway. It’s like, well, maybe what you hate is the experience that phone calls evolved into and the fact that they were so sensorily bereft that you didn’t even wanna pursue them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s like that was just what making a phone call was, you know? And now it’s like, well, I’ve got this phone and the… and this has an app for a phone app on it, and it doesn’t really work well, but, like, that’s… But I, and I hate making phone calls anyway. It’s like, well, maybe what you hate is the experience that phone calls evolved into and the fact that they were so sensorily bereft that you didn’t even wanna pursue them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And then it’s like a digital line, and it’s always dropping, and you can’t hear someone anyway and all, and all the rest of it. So, I found that people love identifying and talking about these, these feelings of sensory life that they remember but have lost. And the big thing, the big collective thing is they just happened automatically. They just happened to you. They were a part of the texture and the background noise of daily life, and then they weren’t. anymore. Like during the pandemic when all of us stopped going places, and we worked from home, and we ordered delivery all the time, and, QR codes for menus became a thing. And now you go to a restaurant, and you still have a QR code maybe for a menu, and you feel in your head and in your heart and in your fingertips, you’re like, “I want a menu,” but that’s not reasonable anymore to want. Even some of it is just like a place to live spatially while you’re looking at it, and to kind of distance yourself from this device you use all the time, and to peruse this artifact that is distinctive for the restaurant you’re in, or to spill salsa on it as you’re waiting to order. Whatever you know, whatever delight happens to you, all of that just happened. It was just right there all the time, and then it wasn’t anymore. So it’s like we didn’t even know what we were losing because we didn’t notice losing it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And then it’s like a digital line, and it’s always dropping, and you can’t hear someone anyway and all, and all the rest of it. So, I found that people love identifying and talking about these, these feelings of sensory life that they remember but have lost. And the big thing, the big collective thing is they just happened automatically. They just happened to you. They were a part of the texture and the background noise of daily life, and then they weren’t. anymore. Like during the pandemic when all of us stopped going places, and we worked from home, and we ordered delivery all the time, and, QR codes for menus became a thing. And now you go to a restaurant, and you still have a QR code maybe for a menu, and you feel in your head and in your heart and in your fingertips, you’re like, “I want a menu,” but that’s not reasonable anymore to want. Even some of it is just like a place to live spatially while you’re looking at it, and to kind of distance yourself from this device you use all the time, and to peruse this artifact that is distinctive for the restaurant you’re in, or to spill salsa on it as you’re waiting to order. Whatever you know, whatever delight happens to you, all of that just happened. It was just right there all the time, and then it wasn’t anymore. So it’s like we didn’t even know what we were losing because we didn’t notice losing it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Listening to Ian speak, I realize how rare it is to hear someone actually describe these sensations, at least outside of a poem. The feel of a paper menu between your thumb and forefinger, the satisfaction of turning a key and feeling a motor roaring to life underneath you, rumbling your seat. It feels so intimate, almost vulgar. Like, wow, Ian, getting a little personal here, aren’t we? But maybe that’s just me. Look at me. I work at a university. I spend most days sitting in front of a computer, reading words, pressing keys, reading more words, and I do this around a lot of other people who are also sitting in front of computers, reading and typing. Am I unusually deprived of these everyday sensory pleasures, like some poor neglected houseplant assuming everyone else is as thirsty as I am? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Listening to Ian speak, I realize how rare it is to hear someone actually describe these sensations, at least outside of a poem. The feel of a paper menu between your thumb and forefinger, the satisfaction of turning a key and feeling a motor roaring to life underneath you, rumbling your seat. It feels so intimate, almost vulgar. Like, wow, Ian, getting a little personal here, aren’t we? But maybe that’s just me. Look at me. I work at a university. I spend most days sitting in front of a computer, reading words, pressing keys, reading more words, and I do this around a lot of other people who are also sitting in front of computers, reading and typing. Am I unusually deprived of these everyday sensory pleasures, like some poor neglected houseplant assuming everyone else is as thirsty as I am? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, the simple answer is this is everywhere. This dematerializing effect is everywhere and affects everyone. It affects us in different ways depending on all matter of factors, socioeconomics, where we live, the kind of job we have, the kind of life we lead, whether you have kids or not…what sort of vehicle you drive or if you don’t. All of these factors play in. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, the simple answer is this is everywhere. This dematerializing effect is everywhere and affects everyone. It affects us in different ways depending on all matter of factors, socioeconomics, where we live, the kind of job we have, the kind of life we lead, whether you have kids or not…what sort of vehicle you drive or if you don’t. All of these factors play in. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian says that, yeah, sure, some jobs lend themselves to more gratifying experiences than others, but technology is changing a lot of these jobs too, generally in ways that make them less gratifying. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian says that, yeah, sure, some jobs lend themselves to more gratifying experiences than others, but technology is changing a lot of these jobs too, generally in ways that make them less gratifying. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So we’re all in it together, I think. I think we’re in it differently together. And I think that, you know, but it’s not something where it’s like, “Well, I don’t make enough money to worry about being gratified.” Like, no, do you have a human body and live in the physical world? Then this is something of concern and interest to you. It’s not an indulgence that you only undertake once your Maslow’s needs have been met. It is part of those needs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So we’re all in it together, I think. I think we’re in it differently together. And I think that, you know, but it’s not something where it’s like, “Well, I don’t make enough money to worry about being gratified.” Like, no, do you have a human body and live in the physical world? Then this is something of concern and interest to you. It’s not an indulgence that you only undertake once your Maslow’s needs have been met. It is part of those needs.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>We have spent decades designing technology that’s faster, easier, more convenient, culminating in lives that we increasingly spend online with fewer reasons to interact with the physical world at all. And now maybe we’re dealing with some unintended and unwanted side effects. Well, one answer is to spend less time online, less time scrolling, fewer video games. And we do seem to be at a moment where at least some people are stepping back from these things. There’s apparently a 175% uptick in Etsy searches for beginner needlepoint kits. But is that the only way? Is the only answer here to retreat from modern technology? Or can technology provide its own kinds of sensory gratification? And of course, what the heck should we make of these birding apps? I try to get an answer after the break.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>We have spent decades designing technology that’s faster, easier, more convenient, culminating in lives that we increasingly spend online with fewer reasons to interact with the physical world at all. And now maybe we’re dealing with some unintended and unwanted side effects. Well, one answer is to spend less time online, less time scrolling, fewer video games. And we do seem to be at a moment where at least some people are stepping back from these things. There’s apparently a 175% uptick in Etsy searches for beginner needlepoint kits. But is that the only way? Is the only answer here to retreat from modern technology? Or can technology provide its own kinds of sensory gratification? And of course, what the heck should we make of these birding apps? I try to get an answer after the break.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I’ve been talking with Ian Bogost about how technology has allowed us to optimize away so many of the physical interactions that used to fill our lives with sensory gratification. But we increasingly live in digital and virtual worlds, and I want to understand whether gratification can be found here too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I’ve been talking with Ian Bogost about how technology has allowed us to optimize away so many of the physical interactions that used to fill our lives with sensory gratification. But we increasingly live in digital and virtual worlds, and I want to understand whether gratification can be found here too.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>A different kind of gratification perhaps, but sensory gratification all the same. And I figure if there’s one place to look, it might be video games. So is gratification one of the things that you think about when you are designing games and virtual worlds? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>A different kind of gratification perhaps, but sensory gratification all the same. And I figure if there’s one place to look, it might be video games. So is gratification one of the things that you think about when you are designing games and virtual worlds? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>It didn’t used to be. In fact, in some ways I wish I had realized this far sooner, that maybe the thing about games in particular… Look, games are purposeless. They don’t need to exist. They seem stupid because they don’t, like, get something. It’s not like an app. It’s like, oh, I’ve got this productivity tool, even if it, like, is kind of questionable in terms of whether it makes you more productive, like groupware like Slack or something. Like, we know that a game doesn’t make you more productive. All it does is distract you or give you something to do with your fingers and your hands while something else is happening. And if you think about some of the most popular, most compelling kinds of digital games, like Candy Crush, say, right? Like, why is it so delightful to just move gems or candies around so that they match and then to watch the little explosions when they take place in front of you? It’s not because that particular kind of artifact has meaning in the way that a novel or a film does, which is the way that some people in the games universe want to think of games as this inherited medium that does for the twenty-first century what cinema did for the twentieth or what the novel did for the nineteenth. But, like, it’s just a thing. It’s just, like, an apparatus that you can manipulate, you know, that you can engage with and interact with. It’s almost like games are this place where we can go to experience, among other things, the pureness of gratifying experience. And it doesn’t even have to be a digital game, right?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>It didn’t used to be. In fact, in some ways I wish I had realized this far sooner, that maybe the thing about games in particular… Look, games are purposeless. They don’t need to exist. They seem stupid because they don’t, like, get something. It’s not like an app. It’s like, oh, I’ve got this productivity tool, even if it, like, is kind of questionable in terms of whether it makes you more productive, like groupware like Slack or something. Like, we know that a game doesn’t make you more productive. All it does is distract you or give you something to do with your fingers and your hands while something else is happening. And if you think about some of the most popular, most compelling kinds of digital games, like Candy Crush, say, right? Like, why is it so delightful to just move gems or candies around so that they match and then to watch the little explosions when they take place in front of you? It’s not because that particular kind of artifact has meaning in the way that a novel or a film does, which is the way that some people in the games universe want to think of games as this inherited medium that does for the twenty-first century what cinema did for the twentieth or what the novel did for the nineteenth. But, like, it’s just a thing. It’s just, like, an apparatus that you can manipulate, you know, that you can engage with and interact with. It’s almost like games are this place where we can go to experience, among other things, the pureness of gratifying experience. And it doesn’t even have to be a digital game, right?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Like, I play backgammon many nights with my daughter. We have a backgammon set set up in our house in a kind of permanent way. And like, one reason we love it is just the sound and sight of the dice spinning against the table as they resolve, and the feel of the checkers under our fingertips and as they slide across the surface and of course, the opportunity to look one another in the eye and to be present in that particular way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Like, I play backgammon many nights with my daughter. We have a backgammon set set up in our house in a kind of permanent way. And like, one reason we love it is just the sound and sight of the dice spinning against the table as they resolve, and the feel of the checkers under our fingertips and as they slide across the surface and of course, the opportunity to look one another in the eye and to be present in that particular way.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I think games are like these, these kind of strange mysteries that give us a reason to do that kind of stuff, that gratifying experience, without any outcome. It’s just that they’re very deeply misunderstood as such, including among the communities that play and make games deliberately. Like, for many, many years, my interest and focus as a game developer was about the meaning of games, like the idea that they could be meaningful and serious, and you could make, like, kind of documentarian games or games about politics or about complex social and political and infrastructural issues.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I think games are like these, these kind of strange mysteries that give us a reason to do that kind of stuff, that gratifying experience, without any outcome. It’s just that they’re very deeply misunderstood as such, including among the communities that play and make games deliberately. Like, for many, many years, my interest and focus as a game developer was about the meaning of games, like the idea that they could be meaningful and serious, and you could make, like, kind of documentarian games or games about politics or about complex social and political and infrastructural issues.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And I made a lot of those games, and I think they were interesting, but maybe I was wrong about what was fundamentally the most interesting thing about games and other kinds of digital experiences was just this opportunity to interact with this alien machine for no reason other than to feel what it’s like to interact with it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And I made a lot of those games, and I think they were interesting, but maybe I was wrong about what was fundamentally the most interesting thing about games and other kinds of digital experiences was just this opportunity to interact with this alien machine for no reason other than to feel what it’s like to interact with it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Yeah. Why does it feel so satisfying to watch those brightly colored Tetris shapes disappear in satisfying poof when you line them up just right? Sure, there’s the goal-oriented pleasures of solving a puzzle, but there’s also the sensory pleasures of tapping your finger and having your entire visual field just rearrange itself, or hearing that celebratory little jingle. So clearly it is possible to find gratification behind a screen. A lot of gratification. While I was editing this episode, a colleague of mine sent me a YouTube video called “Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?” This video actually breaks down why Mario’s jump feels so awesome. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Yeah. Why does it feel so satisfying to watch those brightly colored Tetris shapes disappear in satisfying poof when you line them up just right? Sure, there’s the goal-oriented pleasures of solving a puzzle, but there’s also the sensory pleasures of tapping your finger and having your entire visual field just rearrange itself, or hearing that celebratory little jingle. So clearly it is possible to find gratification behind a screen. A lot of gratification. While I was editing this episode, a colleague of mine sent me a YouTube video called “Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?” This video actually breaks down why Mario’s jump feels so awesome. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What made the jump for Super Mario Brothers so groundbreaking is that it had its own specific physics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What made the jump for Super Mario Brothers so groundbreaking is that it had its own specific physics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voicover]: \u003c/strong>But I still wonder, when do screens provide this kind of gratification and when do they just distract us from the real world with all of its sensory pleasures? Like, are we better off enjoying Mario’s awesome jumps or just, like, jumping ourselves?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voicover]: \u003c/strong>But I still wonder, when do screens provide this kind of gratification and when do they just distract us from the real world with all of its sensory pleasures? Like, are we better off enjoying Mario’s awesome jumps or just, like, jumping ourselves?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So I’ve always been fascinated by these tech-mediated experiences that change how we actually experience the physical world. So example would be, we take out our phone, you’ve got your Merlin app, and that tells you what bird call you’re hearing. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So I’ve always been fascinated by these tech-mediated experiences that change how we actually experience the physical world. So example would be, we take out our phone, you’ve got your Merlin app, and that tells you what bird call you’re hearing. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Yeah. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Yeah. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Or maybe you’re just taking out your phone to take a picture of the bird. And on the one hand, this does kind of get us out of that moment, but on the other hand, maybe that’s what got us outdoors in the first place. And to, to put this in the idea of, of games here, I’m sure you’re familiar with Pokemon Go. Sure. So I recently took my eight-year-old to the Field Museum here in Chicago. The place was completely overrun by eight-year-olds all attending a Pokemon exhibit, and there was this virtual game overlaid over the, you know, physical museum. And I just, I was like, are these hybrid experiences, are they giving us, like, a path toward gratification or away from gratification?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Or maybe you’re just taking out your phone to take a picture of the bird. And on the one hand, this does kind of get us out of that moment, but on the other hand, maybe that’s what got us outdoors in the first place. And to, to put this in the idea of, of games here, I’m sure you’re familiar with Pokemon Go. Sure. So I recently took my eight-year-old to the Field Museum here in Chicago. The place was completely overrun by eight-year-olds all attending a Pokemon exhibit, and there was this virtual game overlaid over the, you know, physical museum. And I just, I was like, are these hybrid experiences, are they giving us, like, a path toward gratification or away from gratification?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> There is a famous photographer, of the 20th century named, named Garry Winogrand, and there’s this, like, quite, quite famous quote from, from Garry Winogrand, who took, like, so many photographs that he didn’t even bother developing them all. There’s, like, rolls and rolls and rolls of undeveloped film found after Garry Winogrand’s death and he took so many almost indiscriminately took pictures. And he has this amazing quote that goes something like, “I take pictures to see what the world looks like photographed.” And what’s so impressive about that idea to me, what’s so clarifying about it, is that it tells you something obvious that nevertheless needed to be said, which is that the world is different from the photograph. And when you look at a scene and you’re seeing it with your eyes and in your body, that’s different from framing it inside the boundaries of a viewfinder or on the emulsion of a film, let alone all of the properties of that film and how it was focused through the particular optical instrument that did so.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> There is a famous photographer, of the 20th century named, named Garry Winogrand, and there’s this, like, quite, quite famous quote from, from Garry Winogrand, who took, like, so many photographs that he didn’t even bother developing them all. There’s, like, rolls and rolls and rolls of undeveloped film found after Garry Winogrand’s death and he took so many almost indiscriminately took pictures. And he has this amazing quote that goes something like, “I take pictures to see what the world looks like photographed.” And what’s so impressive about that idea to me, what’s so clarifying about it, is that it tells you something obvious that nevertheless needed to be said, which is that the world is different from the photograph. And when you look at a scene and you’re seeing it with your eyes and in your body, that’s different from framing it inside the boundaries of a viewfinder or on the emulsion of a film, let alone all of the properties of that film and how it was focused through the particular optical instrument that did so.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And the two things are different from one another. So there’s the world, and there’s your photograph of it, and one doesn’t replace the other, and both are equally amazing and delightful in different ways. Now, if you lived your entire life without photography, having known that photography existed, I’m not talking about, like, before photography was invented, you’re – It would be a less rich life; because photographs give you a way of, of looking at not just the world, but objects themselves or images on screens as we use them today. That’s amazing. Now, this idea that we have, that we have to have to give up or trade one for the other, that is so fascinating. Like, oh, I’m only inspired to go into the physical world if I have an incentive in the form of Pokémon that I can search and collect. Like, there’s something weird about that, but there’s also something weird about saying, “Ah, that’s an impure way of experiencing the museum or your neighborhood or whatever,” that you’re only going out into it in order that you can collect these, you know, commercialized rare creatures. We can have it both ways, and the more we accept that we can have it both ways, and even that we must have it both ways, the better off we will be. Now, if you find yourself wanting to live always and fully and entirely in one of those spheres over the other, that’s where I think maybe it’s not that you’re doing something wrong.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And the two things are different from one another. So there’s the world, and there’s your photograph of it, and one doesn’t replace the other, and both are equally amazing and delightful in different ways. Now, if you lived your entire life without photography, having known that photography existed, I’m not talking about, like, before photography was invented, you’re – It would be a less rich life; because photographs give you a way of, of looking at not just the world, but objects themselves or images on screens as we use them today. That’s amazing. Now, this idea that we have, that we have to have to give up or trade one for the other, that is so fascinating. Like, oh, I’m only inspired to go into the physical world if I have an incentive in the form of Pokémon that I can search and collect. Like, there’s something weird about that, but there’s also something weird about saying, “Ah, that’s an impure way of experiencing the museum or your neighborhood or whatever,” that you’re only going out into it in order that you can collect these, you know, commercialized rare creatures. We can have it both ways, and the more we accept that we can have it both ways, and even that we must have it both ways, the better off we will be. Now, if you find yourself wanting to live always and fully and entirely in one of those spheres over the other, that’s where I think maybe it’s not that you’re doing something wrong.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I don’t want to make a moral judgment. It’s like you are missing out. If you met someone, and they were like, “Well, I just don’t engage with photography. Photography is not something that I want to partake of,” you’d be like, “I don’t even know what you mean. Like, what does that mean?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I don’t want to make a moral judgment. It’s like you are missing out. If you met someone, and they were like, “Well, I just don’t engage with photography. Photography is not something that I want to partake of,” you’d be like, “I don’t even know what you mean. Like, what does that mean?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian really doesn’t want to offer a moral judgment here. You want to go birding or visit a museum and take your phone out? Go for it. We don’t have to see that experience as but a pale imitation of the one provided by the physical world. We can see it as its own thing and enjoy it on its own terms for what it has to offer. And maybe the best thing to do if we are gonna get all judgy here is try to have both experiences. I hear all this, and in my head, I’m kind of nodding along. But my producer Jesse was listening in and he wasn’t fully buying it. Like really? We really aren’t gonna judge someone for having a big day out and then just staring at their phone? Can’t we just admit that they are objectively missing out? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian really doesn’t want to offer a moral judgment here. You want to go birding or visit a museum and take your phone out? Go for it. We don’t have to see that experience as but a pale imitation of the one provided by the physical world. We can see it as its own thing and enjoy it on its own terms for what it has to offer. And maybe the best thing to do if we are gonna get all judgy here is try to have both experiences. I hear all this, and in my head, I’m kind of nodding along. But my producer Jesse was listening in and he wasn’t fully buying it. Like really? We really aren’t gonna judge someone for having a big day out and then just staring at their phone? Can’t we just admit that they are objectively missing out? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>I think this is a riff on Jess’s question about the sort of hybrid experiences, the Merlin app, the Pokemon Go. And you know, when you answered it, you sort of declined to make a value judgment, you know, sort of outdoors versus apps, digital spaces. You know, one of the things I do if I have time at the end of my workday, I live near the beach, and so I’ll grab my camera or, sometimes a fishing rod, sometimes a surfboard, and I’ll spend some time by the ocean if I can manage to do that. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>I think this is a riff on Jess’s question about the sort of hybrid experiences, the Merlin app, the Pokemon Go. And you know, when you answered it, you sort of declined to make a value judgment, you know, sort of outdoors versus apps, digital spaces. You know, one of the things I do if I have time at the end of my workday, I live near the beach, and so I’ll grab my camera or, sometimes a fishing rod, sometimes a surfboard, and I’ll spend some time by the ocean if I can manage to do that. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Amazing. I’m very jealous. It’s wonderful. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Amazing. I’m very jealous. It’s wonderful. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>Yeah. I mean, that’s why I live where I live.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>Yeah. I mean, that’s why I live where I live.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost\u003c/strong>: Totally. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost\u003c/strong>: Totally. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>And I will sometimes see people who are enjoying the same space I’m enjoying, and the way they’re doing it is by taking photos of each other or taking selfies and posing and standing in different places, and then kind of experimenting with different lightings and different backdrops and sort of throwing the outfit out so it catches the light in an interesting way. And I feel kind of sad because these people are actually kind of closing themselves off to the experience. You know, I am imagining that they’re optimizing for Instagram or TikTok or something like that. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>And I will sometimes see people who are enjoying the same space I’m enjoying, and the way they’re doing it is by taking photos of each other or taking selfies and posing and standing in different places, and then kind of experimenting with different lightings and different backdrops and sort of throwing the outfit out so it catches the light in an interesting way. And I feel kind of sad because these people are actually kind of closing themselves off to the experience. You know, I am imagining that they’re optimizing for Instagram or TikTok or something like that. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, they probably are. You’re probably right that they are optimizing for social media engagement, which is a kind of goal setting and a kind of accomplishment or a kind of outcome-oriented living. But even your version of it, which is more internal, it’s more in your head, is still kind of goal-oriented, right? Like, I’m gonna go and commune with nature and the beach, and I’m gonna do so in a purer way. And the truth is probably that both of these activities have something new to offer us about the environment, the beach, the weather, whatever it is. Cause, like, think about the … I know what you mean by, you see them throwing their garments or they have an accessory or something and they want it to catch the wind and get that in the photo, and that’s not something you’re doing, right? Like, they’re encountering the light glinting off of the fabric or maybe their shoes or sandals are off and in the sand, and they’re experiencing that sensation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, they probably are. You’re probably right that they are optimizing for social media engagement, which is a kind of goal setting and a kind of accomplishment or a kind of outcome-oriented living. But even your version of it, which is more internal, it’s more in your head, is still kind of goal-oriented, right? Like, I’m gonna go and commune with nature and the beach, and I’m gonna do so in a purer way. And the truth is probably that both of these activities have something new to offer us about the environment, the beach, the weather, whatever it is. Cause, like, think about the … I know what you mean by, you see them throwing their garments or they have an accessory or something and they want it to catch the wind and get that in the photo, and that’s not something you’re doing, right? Like, they’re encountering the light glinting off of the fabric or maybe their shoes or sandals are off and in the sand, and they’re experiencing that sensation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And so the thing is always more than the thing, and one of the reasons I’m not, I’m trying to not to make judgment isn’t because I don’t have judgments to make. I think that’s the easiest thing to do. But just to, like, stop and recognize, okay, you know, taking pictures for Instagram involves a different set of sensory experiences, than taking, you know, documentarian photos for the purpose of collecting for an album or whatever.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And so the thing is always more than the thing, and one of the reasons I’m not, I’m trying to not to make judgment isn’t because I don’t have judgments to make. I think that’s the easiest thing to do. But just to, like, stop and recognize, okay, you know, taking pictures for Instagram involves a different set of sensory experiences, than taking, you know, documentarian photos for the purpose of collecting for an album or whatever.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And that those, like, those offer different delights. That feels not like more measured. It’s not like it’s more Aristotelian, which maybe it is. It’s more just like “Huh, I wonder what it’s like to try the other thing.” Maybe I should, maybe I should be open to it if the, if the opportunity arises, or maybe at the very least, I should admit to myself that every act has a sensory payload, and that sensory payload is what I’m really interested in as the gratifying experience separate from the value or the fact of the outcome it produces.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And that those, like, those offer different delights. That feels not like more measured. It’s not like it’s more Aristotelian, which maybe it is. It’s more just like “Huh, I wonder what it’s like to try the other thing.” Maybe I should, maybe I should be open to it if the, if the opportunity arises, or maybe at the very least, I should admit to myself that every act has a sensory payload, and that sensory payload is what I’m really interested in as the gratifying experience separate from the value or the fact of the outcome it produces.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Every act has a sensory payload separate from the outcome it produces. I like this a lot. Even in our increasingly slick, scentless, dial-less, lever-less, paperless, outcome-focused world, there is still no shortage of gratifying experiences on offer, and we don’t have to throw away our screens to find them. We just have to be a lot more intentional about recognizing them wherever they are, and maybe occasionally seeking out some new ones too, so we aren’t all just getting the same kind of sensory payload all the time. Because it really is about variety, and variety is exactly what we stand to lose when our lives are being streamlined for maximal efficiency.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Every act has a sensory payload separate from the outcome it produces. I like this a lot. Even in our increasingly slick, scentless, dial-less, lever-less, paperless, outcome-focused world, there is still no shortage of gratifying experiences on offer, and we don’t have to throw away our screens to find them. We just have to be a lot more intentional about recognizing them wherever they are, and maybe occasionally seeking out some new ones too, so we aren’t all just getting the same kind of sensory payload all the time. Because it really is about variety, and variety is exactly what we stand to lose when our lives are being streamlined for maximal efficiency.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Just, like, think about the nature of the sensory life that’s really easy and common for you. Like, you know, if you drive to work every day and you’re spending a lot of time in your car, and then you work an office job where you’re moving symbols around, on computers and through networks, then it’s not so much like that you need to get outside or you need to be in nature or something like that, or you need to bike instead of driving. It’s more like, “Where could I find sensory experience that is different?” Or what I call ‘orthogonal’ to that, to that experience. And, you know, maybe that means gardening, but not so that you can grow herbs or so that you can, like, feel good about having a tidy yard, but just so you can feel the wetness of soil under your fingertips and in your fingernails. And that’s kind of the purpose of it, not to do anything but just to spend time with other objects. Crafts or something like this, or hobbies too. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Just, like, think about the nature of the sensory life that’s really easy and common for you. Like, you know, if you drive to work every day and you’re spending a lot of time in your car, and then you work an office job where you’re moving symbols around, on computers and through networks, then it’s not so much like that you need to get outside or you need to be in nature or something like that, or you need to bike instead of driving. It’s more like, “Where could I find sensory experience that is different?” Or what I call ‘orthogonal’ to that, to that experience. And, you know, maybe that means gardening, but not so that you can grow herbs or so that you can, like, feel good about having a tidy yard, but just so you can feel the wetness of soil under your fingertips and in your fingernails. And that’s kind of the purpose of it, not to do anything but just to spend time with other objects. Crafts or something like this, or hobbies too. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>I mean, I think these are great. I have a daughter who loves throwing rocks. We even built her a little tiny pond in our little Chicago backyard. She loves the sensory sensation of big rock, little rock. And I’m, like, kind of already, like, in this conversation, like, okay, I gotta, like, make some time this afternoon and just, like, sit down and throw rocks with her. But these are, these are all, like, individual things that we can do, and I’m curious if you’ve thought about things that we might be able to do collectively to maybe have more control over our environment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>I mean, I think these are great. I have a daughter who loves throwing rocks. We even built her a little tiny pond in our little Chicago backyard. She loves the sensory sensation of big rock, little rock. And I’m, like, kind of already, like, in this conversation, like, okay, I gotta, like, make some time this afternoon and just, like, sit down and throw rocks with her. But these are, these are all, like, individual things that we can do, and I’m curious if you’ve thought about things that we might be able to do collectively to maybe have more control over our environment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> Sure. Yeah, there is – I think it’s very– Look, there are many cultural, economic, socio-economic, bureaucratic, technological, circumstances we find ourselves in that have contributed to our loss of gratifying sensation, to this process of dematerialization. And if you could remedy those, even in small part, I bet we would feel more gratified. I think one reason, at least in this book, that I tried to put the, like, just pause from worrying so much about systemic solutions isn’t because I don’t believe that systemic solutions are important or that these problems are worthy of those kinds of remedy, but because I think we have a predilection to think, “Well, I can’t do anything about this until the big problems are solved.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> Sure. Yeah, there is – I think it’s very– Look, there are many cultural, economic, socio-economic, bureaucratic, technological, circumstances we find ourselves in that have contributed to our loss of gratifying sensation, to this process of dematerialization. And if you could remedy those, even in small part, I bet we would feel more gratified. I think one reason, at least in this book, that I tried to put the, like, just pause from worrying so much about systemic solutions isn’t because I don’t believe that systemic solutions are important or that these problems are worthy of those kinds of remedy, but because I think we have a predilection to think, “Well, I can’t do anything about this until the big problems are solved.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If kids could go to the park in the first place because we built parks and we didn’t arrest them when they went there on their bikes on their own, or their parents, then we could talk. And I get it. I empathize with that position. I understand it. I just don’t wanna wait. I mean, I’ve worked on systemic problems and solutions for a big part of my career, and I’m still very interested in them. But for this moment, just like introducing the world to this idea of gratification, warming us up to doing it, I wanted to say, “You know what?” It’s a small stuff solution to a small stuff problem, actually, which doesn’t mean that big solutions wouldn’t help. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>If kids could go to the park in the first place because we built parks and we didn’t arrest them when they went there on their bikes on their own, or their parents, then we could talk. And I get it. I empathize with that position. I understand it. I just don’t wanna wait. I mean, I’ve worked on systemic problems and solutions for a big part of my career, and I’m still very interested in them. But for this moment, just like introducing the world to this idea of gratification, warming us up to doing it, I wanted to say, “You know what?” It’s a small stuff solution to a small stuff problem, actually, which doesn’t mean that big solutions wouldn’t help. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong>So I don’t need to, like, solve all the world’s problems before I go sit outside and throw rocks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong>So I don’t need to, like, solve all the world’s problems before I go sit outside and throw rocks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> That’s the key.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Well, we thought we’d take our own advice and try to make our show credits just a little more gratifying. I’m Jess Love. Life, Automated is a project of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. We’re distributed by KQED. Our show was produced by Jesse Dukes with help from Tom Dixon. Music by Stephen Jackson. Recording help from Will Feeney and George Christensen. Marketing help from Ananya Mallapragada and Lauren Ko. Special thanks to Laura Pavin, Rob Mitchum, and of course, today’s guest, Ian Bogost. His new book is “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” And if you like Life, Automated, consider sharing an episode with a friend. We’re a new show, and we’d love for more people to know about us.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Well, we thought we’d take our own advice and try to make our show credits just a little more gratifying. I’m Jess Love. Life, Automated is a project of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. We’re distributed by KQED. Our show was produced by Jesse Dukes with help from Tom Dixon. Music by Stephen Jackson. Recording help from Will Feeney and George Christensen. Marketing help from Ananya Mallapragada and Lauren Ko. Special thanks to Laura Pavin, Rob Mitchum, and of course, today’s guest, Ian Bogost. His new book is “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” And if you like Life, Automated, consider sharing an episode with a friend. We’re a new show, and we’d love for more people to know about us.\u003c/p>\n"
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"description": "Modern technology has generally made our lives faster, easier, and more convenient. But in swapping out stick shifts and paper menus for automatic transmissions and QR codes, have we accidentally optimized away many of the rich sensory experiences that make living so pleasurable? Journalist, academic and award-winning video-game designer Ian Bogost joins host Jess Love to discuss insights from his book "The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life." He makes the case that we’re losing some of the everyday pleasures of interacting with the world. But if technology has disconnected us from sensory gratification, can it also be part of the solution?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Modern technology has generally made our lives faster, easier, and more convenient. But in swapping out stick shifts and paper menus for automatic transmissions and QR codes, have we accidentally optimized away many of the rich sensory experiences that make living so pleasurable?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Journalist, academic and award-winning video-game designer Ian Bogost joins host Jess Love to discuss insights from his book \u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life\u003c/a>. He makes the case that we’re losing some of the everyday pleasures of interacting with the world. But if technology has disconnected us from sensory gratification, can it also be part of the solution?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Further Reading and Viewing\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://smallstuffbook.com/\">The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life \u003c/a>– Ian Bogost, Atria Books\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2oV2DQ2dEA\">Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome\u003c/a> – Game/Show, PBS Digital Studios\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Welcome to Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines Every spring and fall during migration season, I head to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary here in Chicago. It’s this gorgeous strip of dunes and hedges and grasses hugging the side of Lake Michigan, a waypoint for hundreds of species of birds, and it’s hugely popular with birders, a lot of whom I’ve noticed walk through the sanctuary with their phones out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They are almost certainly doing something related to birding, using popular apps like Merlin or eBird to ID bird calls or add to their own life lists. Or maybe they’re just taking pictures. I am aware of these possibilities because I, too, have downloaded these apps. I, too, am trying to take pictures. So here we all are on a beautiful, crisp morning with all of Lake Michigan on offer, and we’re staring at our phones.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I’m honestly not sure what to make of that. On the one hand, it’s birding. Whatever gets you out there, right? But on the other, what are we missing by letting technology mediate so much of this experience? I actually have this thought a lot because it’s not just birding. So much of modern life is mediated and warped by technology in ways we don’t always see because we’re just too close to it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I knew I wanted to talk about this with Ian Bogost. Ian recently wrote a book called “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” The book argues that we’re losing a lot of these sensory experiences that used to fill our everyday lives. As in the places we build, the objects we design, the technology we use.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over time, in the name of convenience and efficiency, we’ve stripped them of a lot of texture, sights, sounds, physical sensations, all things that actually bring us a lot of joy. But here’s the thing. In addition to being a media scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and a journalist at The Atlantic, Ian is also a video game designer, hardly a Luddite. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So have we traded some of the simple sensory pleasures of just being in the world for more streamlined bird identification, or is there more to it than that?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a project of Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity distributed by KQED. I’m Jess Love and this is my conversation with Ian Bogost. I began by asking Ian if he could identify a moment when he first realized we’d lost some of the sensory pleasures of actually interacting with the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> The big one, the one that’s easy to identify, is the one that I talk about in the book when I wrote this kinda monster story for The Atlantic about the stick shift, the end of the stick shift. It was a monster story in the sense that a lot of people read it, not that I thought it was gonna be important. I thought it was just a little thing, you know? And the reactions from that, just the volume of them, and the passion of people lamenting and remembering their experience controlling a machine in that way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Ian was struck by the magnitude and variety of these responses. People really missed the stick shift, and it went beyond simple nostalgia. They missed these sensory moments, like the jerkiness of it all, seeing and feeling the gearshift move. Today’s automatic transmissions are more energy efficient than stick shifts ever were. They’re easier to learn. There’s no worrying about your clutch. Logically, there’s not really much to miss, and yet a lot of people still miss it and all the experiences that came along with it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>And I was like, “Oh, okay. I see.” It’s like a family of experiences, and those… It’s not just one thing. It’s not just, like, being a gearhead or, like, wanting to control your vehicle. It’s rather that we’re surrounded by all of this stuff that seems like it’s just noise and that it’s something to get through to get to the big stuff, the good stuff. But no, those experiences matter, and they matter as first-order parts of our day-to-day lives, but then also our lives as a whole. And so it was that… That realization was confusing to me ’cause I didn’t feel like there was a name for it. I mean, I ended up naming it ‘gratification’ or borrowing the word gratification to name it. This thing that describes, like, what I call the sensory enchantment of everyday life. But I had this realization that we had all kind of agreed without agreeing that that stuff was not important, and so discovering that it was important and that it wasn’t just important to me but to everyone, that was really magical and enlightening and, kind of life-changing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Gratification. That’s the term Ian gives to the magical, enlightening, and kind of life-changing sensory stuff that we encounter all day long, or at least that we used to encounter all day long but increasingly maybe aren’t getting quite as much of. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So think about anything you do in your daily life. I mean, you have to go shopping for groceries. And, you know, in the past you’d have to make a list, and maybe you’d write that down on paper, on a piece of scratch paper with a pen that you particularly liked using, and then you’d put it in your pocket, and you’d sort of fold it up, and it would have a certain feel of the paper as it tore off.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And maybe the paper made a sound as you tore it. And then you’d get in your car, which maybe had a stick shift and maybe didn’t, but even if it didn’t, you’d turn the key in the ignition, and you’d press your foot down on the pedal, and you’d turn the knob on the radio physically as you drove to the store.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And you’d get the cart, and the cart wobbled a little bit, but you felt it underneath you and against the cold floor, beneath your feet, and then you’d touch the produce to figure out which ones met your desired level of ripeness and all the rest of it. And, you know, you can kind of fill in all those blanks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So it’s like we automatically got this rich and diverse sensory experience just by doing things that we had to do every day. And we may not have thought of those things as desirable, like, “Ugh, I gotta go do the grocery shopping,” but since you had to go do it, you couldn’t just Instacart your way out of that problem, all this other stuff kind of came along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So what we lost in part wasn’t just all of those sensory encounters I just mentioned, but the very idea that they were being delivered to us continuously, so much so that we almost didn’t notice them happening. And there’s so many other examples of this, right? Like the feel of an old school Western Electric style telephone handset, the heft of it, the kind of intimacy of your voice in your own ear and against your mouth, the ability to smash it down on the hook to hang it up, the sound of the ring, the quality of the sound along the copper line, the feeling of dialing the rotary mechanism or pressing the touch tone buttons.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s like that was just what making a phone call was, you know? And now it’s like, well, I’ve got this phone and the… and this has an app for a phone app on it, and it doesn’t really work well, but, like, that’s… But I, and I hate making phone calls anyway. It’s like, well, maybe what you hate is the experience that phone calls evolved into and the fact that they were so sensorily bereft that you didn’t even wanna pursue them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And then it’s like a digital line, and it’s always dropping, and you can’t hear someone anyway and all, and all the rest of it. So, I found that people love identifying and talking about these, these feelings of sensory life that they remember but have lost. And the big thing, the big collective thing is they just happened automatically. They just happened to you. They were a part of the texture and the background noise of daily life, and then they weren’t. anymore. Like during the pandemic when all of us stopped going places, and we worked from home, and we ordered delivery all the time, and, QR codes for menus became a thing. And now you go to a restaurant, and you still have a QR code maybe for a menu, and you feel in your head and in your heart and in your fingertips, you’re like, “I want a menu,” but that’s not reasonable anymore to want. Even some of it is just like a place to live spatially while you’re looking at it, and to kind of distance yourself from this device you use all the time, and to peruse this artifact that is distinctive for the restaurant you’re in, or to spill salsa on it as you’re waiting to order. Whatever you know, whatever delight happens to you, all of that just happened. It was just right there all the time, and then it wasn’t anymore. So it’s like we didn’t even know what we were losing because we didn’t notice losing it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Listening to Ian speak, I realize how rare it is to hear someone actually describe these sensations, at least outside of a poem. The feel of a paper menu between your thumb and forefinger, the satisfaction of turning a key and feeling a motor roaring to life underneath you, rumbling your seat. It feels so intimate, almost vulgar. Like, wow, Ian, getting a little personal here, aren’t we? But maybe that’s just me. Look at me. I work at a university. I spend most days sitting in front of a computer, reading words, pressing keys, reading more words, and I do this around a lot of other people who are also sitting in front of computers, reading and typing. Am I unusually deprived of these everyday sensory pleasures, like some poor neglected houseplant assuming everyone else is as thirsty as I am? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, the simple answer is this is everywhere. This dematerializing effect is everywhere and affects everyone. It affects us in different ways depending on all matter of factors, socioeconomics, where we live, the kind of job we have, the kind of life we lead, whether you have kids or not…what sort of vehicle you drive or if you don’t. All of these factors play in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian says that, yeah, sure, some jobs lend themselves to more gratifying experiences than others, but technology is changing a lot of these jobs too, generally in ways that make them less gratifying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>So we’re all in it together, I think. I think we’re in it differently together. And I think that, you know, but it’s not something where it’s like, “Well, I don’t make enough money to worry about being gratified.” Like, no, do you have a human body and live in the physical world? Then this is something of concern and interest to you. It’s not an indulgence that you only undertake once your Maslow’s needs have been met. It is part of those needs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>We have spent decades designing technology that’s faster, easier, more convenient, culminating in lives that we increasingly spend online with fewer reasons to interact with the physical world at all. And now maybe we’re dealing with some unintended and unwanted side effects. Well, one answer is to spend less time online, less time scrolling, fewer video games. And we do seem to be at a moment where at least some people are stepping back from these things. There’s apparently a 175% uptick in Etsy searches for beginner needlepoint kits. But is that the only way? Is the only answer here to retreat from modern technology? Or can technology provide its own kinds of sensory gratification? And of course, what the heck should we make of these birding apps? I try to get an answer after the break.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I’ve been talking with Ian Bogost about how technology has allowed us to optimize away so many of the physical interactions that used to fill our lives with sensory gratification. But we increasingly live in digital and virtual worlds, and I want to understand whether gratification can be found here too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>A different kind of gratification perhaps, but sensory gratification all the same. And I figure if there’s one place to look, it might be video games. So is gratification one of the things that you think about when you are designing games and virtual worlds? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>It didn’t used to be. In fact, in some ways I wish I had realized this far sooner, that maybe the thing about games in particular… Look, games are purposeless. They don’t need to exist. They seem stupid because they don’t, like, get something. It’s not like an app. It’s like, oh, I’ve got this productivity tool, even if it, like, is kind of questionable in terms of whether it makes you more productive, like groupware like Slack or something. Like, we know that a game doesn’t make you more productive. All it does is distract you or give you something to do with your fingers and your hands while something else is happening. And if you think about some of the most popular, most compelling kinds of digital games, like Candy Crush, say, right? Like, why is it so delightful to just move gems or candies around so that they match and then to watch the little explosions when they take place in front of you? It’s not because that particular kind of artifact has meaning in the way that a novel or a film does, which is the way that some people in the games universe want to think of games as this inherited medium that does for the twenty-first century what cinema did for the twentieth or what the novel did for the nineteenth. But, like, it’s just a thing. It’s just, like, an apparatus that you can manipulate, you know, that you can engage with and interact with. It’s almost like games are this place where we can go to experience, among other things, the pureness of gratifying experience. And it doesn’t even have to be a digital game, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like, I play backgammon many nights with my daughter. We have a backgammon set set up in our house in a kind of permanent way. And like, one reason we love it is just the sound and sight of the dice spinning against the table as they resolve, and the feel of the checkers under our fingertips and as they slide across the surface and of course, the opportunity to look one another in the eye and to be present in that particular way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I think games are like these, these kind of strange mysteries that give us a reason to do that kind of stuff, that gratifying experience, without any outcome. It’s just that they’re very deeply misunderstood as such, including among the communities that play and make games deliberately. Like, for many, many years, my interest and focus as a game developer was about the meaning of games, like the idea that they could be meaningful and serious, and you could make, like, kind of documentarian games or games about politics or about complex social and political and infrastructural issues.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And I made a lot of those games, and I think they were interesting, but maybe I was wrong about what was fundamentally the most interesting thing about games and other kinds of digital experiences was just this opportunity to interact with this alien machine for no reason other than to feel what it’s like to interact with it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Yeah. Why does it feel so satisfying to watch those brightly colored Tetris shapes disappear in satisfying poof when you line them up just right? Sure, there’s the goal-oriented pleasures of solving a puzzle, but there’s also the sensory pleasures of tapping your finger and having your entire visual field just rearrange itself, or hearing that celebratory little jingle. So clearly it is possible to find gratification behind a screen. A lot of gratification. While I was editing this episode, a colleague of mine sent me a YouTube video called “Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?” This video actually breaks down why Mario’s jump feels so awesome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Why Does Mario’s Jump Feel So Awesome?]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What made the jump for Super Mario Brothers so groundbreaking is that it had its own specific physics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voicover]: \u003c/strong>But I still wonder, when do screens provide this kind of gratification and when do they just distract us from the real world with all of its sensory pleasures? Like, are we better off enjoying Mario’s awesome jumps or just, like, jumping ourselves?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So I’ve always been fascinated by these tech-mediated experiences that change how we actually experience the physical world. So example would be, we take out our phone, you’ve got your Merlin app, and that tells you what bird call you’re hearing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Yeah. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Or maybe you’re just taking out your phone to take a picture of the bird. And on the one hand, this does kind of get us out of that moment, but on the other hand, maybe that’s what got us outdoors in the first place. And to, to put this in the idea of, of games here, I’m sure you’re familiar with Pokemon Go. Sure. So I recently took my eight-year-old to the Field Museum here in Chicago. The place was completely overrun by eight-year-olds all attending a Pokemon exhibit, and there was this virtual game overlaid over the, you know, physical museum. And I just, I was like, are these hybrid experiences, are they giving us, like, a path toward gratification or away from gratification?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> There is a famous photographer, of the 20th century named, named Garry Winogrand, and there’s this, like, quite, quite famous quote from, from Garry Winogrand, who took, like, so many photographs that he didn’t even bother developing them all. There’s, like, rolls and rolls and rolls of undeveloped film found after Garry Winogrand’s death and he took so many almost indiscriminately took pictures. And he has this amazing quote that goes something like, “I take pictures to see what the world looks like photographed.” And what’s so impressive about that idea to me, what’s so clarifying about it, is that it tells you something obvious that nevertheless needed to be said, which is that the world is different from the photograph. And when you look at a scene and you’re seeing it with your eyes and in your body, that’s different from framing it inside the boundaries of a viewfinder or on the emulsion of a film, let alone all of the properties of that film and how it was focused through the particular optical instrument that did so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And the two things are different from one another. So there’s the world, and there’s your photograph of it, and one doesn’t replace the other, and both are equally amazing and delightful in different ways. Now, if you lived your entire life without photography, having known that photography existed, I’m not talking about, like, before photography was invented, you’re – It would be a less rich life; because photographs give you a way of, of looking at not just the world, but objects themselves or images on screens as we use them today. That’s amazing. Now, this idea that we have, that we have to have to give up or trade one for the other, that is so fascinating. Like, oh, I’m only inspired to go into the physical world if I have an incentive in the form of Pokémon that I can search and collect. Like, there’s something weird about that, but there’s also something weird about saying, “Ah, that’s an impure way of experiencing the museum or your neighborhood or whatever,” that you’re only going out into it in order that you can collect these, you know, commercialized rare creatures. We can have it both ways, and the more we accept that we can have it both ways, and even that we must have it both ways, the better off we will be. Now, if you find yourself wanting to live always and fully and entirely in one of those spheres over the other, that’s where I think maybe it’s not that you’re doing something wrong.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I don’t want to make a moral judgment. It’s like you are missing out. If you met someone, and they were like, “Well, I just don’t engage with photography. Photography is not something that I want to partake of,” you’d be like, “I don’t even know what you mean. Like, what does that mean?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Ian really doesn’t want to offer a moral judgment here. You want to go birding or visit a museum and take your phone out? Go for it. We don’t have to see that experience as but a pale imitation of the one provided by the physical world. We can see it as its own thing and enjoy it on its own terms for what it has to offer. And maybe the best thing to do if we are gonna get all judgy here is try to have both experiences. I hear all this, and in my head, I’m kind of nodding along. But my producer Jesse was listening in and he wasn’t fully buying it. Like really? We really aren’t gonna judge someone for having a big day out and then just staring at their phone? Can’t we just admit that they are objectively missing out? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>I think this is a riff on Jess’s question about the sort of hybrid experiences, the Merlin app, the Pokemon Go. And you know, when you answered it, you sort of declined to make a value judgment, you know, sort of outdoors versus apps, digital spaces. You know, one of the things I do if I have time at the end of my workday, I live near the beach, and so I’ll grab my camera or, sometimes a fishing rod, sometimes a surfboard, and I’ll spend some time by the ocean if I can manage to do that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Amazing. I’m very jealous. It’s wonderful. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>Yeah. I mean, that’s why I live where I live.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost\u003c/strong>: Totally. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jesse Dukes: \u003c/strong>And I will sometimes see people who are enjoying the same space I’m enjoying, and the way they’re doing it is by taking photos of each other or taking selfies and posing and standing in different places, and then kind of experimenting with different lightings and different backdrops and sort of throwing the outfit out so it catches the light in an interesting way. And I feel kind of sad because these people are actually kind of closing themselves off to the experience. You know, I am imagining that they’re optimizing for Instagram or TikTok or something like that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Well, they probably are. You’re probably right that they are optimizing for social media engagement, which is a kind of goal setting and a kind of accomplishment or a kind of outcome-oriented living. But even your version of it, which is more internal, it’s more in your head, is still kind of goal-oriented, right? Like, I’m gonna go and commune with nature and the beach, and I’m gonna do so in a purer way. And the truth is probably that both of these activities have something new to offer us about the environment, the beach, the weather, whatever it is. Cause, like, think about the … I know what you mean by, you see them throwing their garments or they have an accessory or something and they want it to catch the wind and get that in the photo, and that’s not something you’re doing, right? Like, they’re encountering the light glinting off of the fabric or maybe their shoes or sandals are off and in the sand, and they’re experiencing that sensation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so the thing is always more than the thing, and one of the reasons I’m not, I’m trying to not to make judgment isn’t because I don’t have judgments to make. I think that’s the easiest thing to do. But just to, like, stop and recognize, okay, you know, taking pictures for Instagram involves a different set of sensory experiences, than taking, you know, documentarian photos for the purpose of collecting for an album or whatever.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And that those, like, those offer different delights. That feels not like more measured. It’s not like it’s more Aristotelian, which maybe it is. It’s more just like “Huh, I wonder what it’s like to try the other thing.” Maybe I should, maybe I should be open to it if the, if the opportunity arises, or maybe at the very least, I should admit to myself that every act has a sensory payload, and that sensory payload is what I’m really interested in as the gratifying experience separate from the value or the fact of the outcome it produces.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Every act has a sensory payload separate from the outcome it produces. I like this a lot. Even in our increasingly slick, scentless, dial-less, lever-less, paperless, outcome-focused world, there is still no shortage of gratifying experiences on offer, and we don’t have to throw away our screens to find them. We just have to be a lot more intentional about recognizing them wherever they are, and maybe occasionally seeking out some new ones too, so we aren’t all just getting the same kind of sensory payload all the time. Because it really is about variety, and variety is exactly what we stand to lose when our lives are being streamlined for maximal efficiency.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost: \u003c/strong>Just, like, think about the nature of the sensory life that’s really easy and common for you. Like, you know, if you drive to work every day and you’re spending a lot of time in your car, and then you work an office job where you’re moving symbols around, on computers and through networks, then it’s not so much like that you need to get outside or you need to be in nature or something like that, or you need to bike instead of driving. It’s more like, “Where could I find sensory experience that is different?” Or what I call ‘orthogonal’ to that, to that experience. And, you know, maybe that means gardening, but not so that you can grow herbs or so that you can, like, feel good about having a tidy yard, but just so you can feel the wetness of soil under your fingertips and in your fingernails. And that’s kind of the purpose of it, not to do anything but just to spend time with other objects. Crafts or something like this, or hobbies too. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>I mean, I think these are great. I have a daughter who loves throwing rocks. We even built her a little tiny pond in our little Chicago backyard. She loves the sensory sensation of big rock, little rock. And I’m, like, kind of already, like, in this conversation, like, okay, I gotta, like, make some time this afternoon and just, like, sit down and throw rocks with her. But these are, these are all, like, individual things that we can do, and I’m curious if you’ve thought about things that we might be able to do collectively to maybe have more control over our environment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> Sure. Yeah, there is – I think it’s very– Look, there are many cultural, economic, socio-economic, bureaucratic, technological, circumstances we find ourselves in that have contributed to our loss of gratifying sensation, to this process of dematerialization. And if you could remedy those, even in small part, I bet we would feel more gratified. I think one reason, at least in this book, that I tried to put the, like, just pause from worrying so much about systemic solutions isn’t because I don’t believe that systemic solutions are important or that these problems are worthy of those kinds of remedy, but because I think we have a predilection to think, “Well, I can’t do anything about this until the big problems are solved.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If kids could go to the park in the first place because we built parks and we didn’t arrest them when they went there on their bikes on their own, or their parents, then we could talk. And I get it. I empathize with that position. I understand it. I just don’t wanna wait. I mean, I’ve worked on systemic problems and solutions for a big part of my career, and I’m still very interested in them. But for this moment, just like introducing the world to this idea of gratification, warming us up to doing it, I wanted to say, “You know what?” It’s a small stuff solution to a small stuff problem, actually, which doesn’t mean that big solutions wouldn’t help. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong>So I don’t need to, like, solve all the world’s problems before I go sit outside and throw rocks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ian Bogost:\u003c/strong> That’s the key.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Well, we thought we’d take our own advice and try to make our show credits just a little more gratifying. I’m Jess Love. Life, Automated is a project of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. We’re distributed by KQED. Our show was produced by Jesse Dukes with help from Tom Dixon. Music by Stephen Jackson. Recording help from Will Feeney and George Christensen. Marketing help from Ananya Mallapragada and Lauren Ko. Special thanks to Laura Pavin, Rob Mitchum, and of course, today’s guest, Ian Bogost. His new book is “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” And if you like Life, Automated, consider sharing an episode with a friend. We’re a new show, and we’d love for more people to know about us.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Too Many Bots in the Kitchen? Williams Sonoma Bans AI Shoppers",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco-based Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn sent emails to customers this week, updating terms of service to bar \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038439/ai-could-soon-shop-for-you-can-we-trust-it-with-our-credit-cards\">customer AI agents from shopping\u003c/a> on their websites without the company’s written permission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new \u003ca href=\"https://www.williams-sonoma.com/customer-service/legal-statement.html\">terms\u003c/a>, which apply across all brands under parent company Williams-Sonoma Inc., forbid customers from letting any “agent,” “assistant,” bot or AI-enabled software use their accounts or buy things on their behalf. Any automated tool that does interact with the sites must identify itself as automated. And a customer’s permission doesn’t count as the company’s: Williams Sonoma said it can block any third party “including where you have purported to authorize such access.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The terms also make customers responsible for all activity on their accounts, “whether or not you authorized that activity.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Williams-Sonoma Inc. did not respond to KQED’s request for comment in time for publication.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In August, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-loses-us-court-ban-perplexitys-ai-shopping-tools-2026-08-04/\">federal appeals court ruled\u003c/a> in Amazon’s lawsuit against San Francisco-based Perplexity that \u003ca href=\"https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/jnvwzrbxmpw/AMAZON%20PERPLEXITY%20LAWSUIT%209thcir.pdf\">the user, not the AI company, is the one accessing a website\u003c/a> when an AI agent shops for them. That weakened retailers’ ability to use anti-hacking law against agents, but the court said companies could still set rules through their terms of service.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1321\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Williams Sonoma store in the upscale Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. (Sundry Photography/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In plain English, the fight to control which AI agents get to guide our shopping decisions is on.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Loyola Marymount University law professor Lauren Willis said the new terms are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100624/newsom-orders-california-agencies-to-develop-new-ai-safety-plans-after-rejecting-tougher-law\">likely legal\u003c/a>, for now. She \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">wants the law to require\u003c/a> retailers to accept shoppers’ AI agents, and “a requirement that the agents act in the best interest of the consumer, rather than the provider of the agent.” She pointed to proposals from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu\">European Law Institute\u003c/a> to require businesses to permit consumers to use digital shopping assistants in their transactions with the business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An analysis by the e-commerce marketing firm Productrise found Google’s AI offers up \u003ca href=\"https://productrise.app/blog/google-ai-mode-prefers-more-expensive-products\">more expensive options\u003c/a> than a regular Google search. Willis said that a growing number of AI chatbot developers like Meta and OpenAI are selling advertising, which creates a natural conflict of interest. “They’re able to track whether you’ve clicked on something that they’ve given you and therefore can be biased by that,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/WhenSunLightFails.pdf\">research\u003c/a> has shown that disclosing a conflict of interest can backfire, leading consumers to trust the adviser more, not less. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What’s the business case for blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101819/sam-altman-announces-new-openai-agents-that-act-before-you-ask\">agentic AI\u003c/a>?” Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, told KQED. When websites don’t explain themselves, he said, blocking “often looks just like an overreaction to AI.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s despite the fact that the Williams Sonoma group uses AI on its website. The Williams Sonoma chatbot introduced itself to this reporter as “Olive, your AI Sous Chef.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman said AI agents can serve consumers, retailers or only the companies that make them, and it isn’t always easy to tell which. But “in general, we should be encouraging consumers to find the tools that work best for them and to let them use them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The battle over what consumers can use to access a website is almost as old as commercial internet,” Goldman said. Around 2000, websites battled Third Voice, a tool that let users post comments layered on top of any site. Two decades ago, retailers fought adware pop-ups that displayed competitors’ offers on their pages. More recently, critics have argued the Honey browser extension siphoned affiliate commissions away from websites.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman thinks retailers will eventually lose the ability to single out AI agents at all. “Many of the things that might be considered to be problematic about agentic AI ultimately will likely be built into a standard web browser,” he said. Blocking “only works as long as it’s really separate from the standard technology users are using.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“And I think that’s going to collapse over time.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The new \u003ca href=\"https://www.williams-sonoma.com/customer-service/legal-statement.html\">terms\u003c/a>, which apply across all brands under parent company Williams-Sonoma Inc., forbid customers from letting any “agent,” “assistant,” bot or AI-enabled software use their accounts or buy things on their behalf. Any automated tool that does interact with the sites must identify itself as automated. And a customer’s permission doesn’t count as the company’s: Williams Sonoma said it can block any third party “including where you have purported to authorize such access.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In August, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-loses-us-court-ban-perplexitys-ai-shopping-tools-2026-08-04/\">federal appeals court ruled\u003c/a> in Amazon’s lawsuit against San Francisco-based Perplexity that \u003ca href=\"https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/jnvwzrbxmpw/AMAZON%20PERPLEXITY%20LAWSUIT%209thcir.pdf\">the user, not the AI company, is the one accessing a website\u003c/a> when an AI agent shops for them. That weakened retailers’ ability to use anti-hacking law against agents, but the court said companies could still set rules through their terms of service.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Loyola Marymount University law professor Lauren Willis said the new terms are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100624/newsom-orders-california-agencies-to-develop-new-ai-safety-plans-after-rejecting-tougher-law\">likely legal\u003c/a>, for now. She \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">wants the law to require\u003c/a> retailers to accept shoppers’ AI agents, and “a requirement that the agents act in the best interest of the consumer, rather than the provider of the agent.” She pointed to proposals from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu\">European Law Institute\u003c/a> to require businesses to permit consumers to use digital shopping assistants in their transactions with the business.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Goldman said AI agents can serve consumers, retailers or only the companies that make them, and it isn’t always easy to tell which. But “in general, we should be encouraging consumers to find the tools that work best for them and to let them use them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The battle over what consumers can use to access a website is almost as old as commercial internet,” Goldman said. Around 2000, websites battled Third Voice, a tool that let users post comments layered on top of any site. Two decades ago, retailers fought adware pop-ups that displayed competitors’ offers on their pages. More recently, critics have argued the Honey browser extension siphoned affiliate commissions away from websites.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Goldman thinks retailers will eventually lose the ability to single out AI agents at all. “Many of the things that might be considered to be problematic about agentic AI ultimately will likely be built into a standard web browser,” he said. Blocking “only works as long as it’s really separate from the standard technology users are using.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“And I think that’s going to collapse over time.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "It looks like Olive, Williams Sonoma’s “AI Sous Chef,” will be the only AI agent allowed on its website. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>San Francisco-based Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn sent emails to customers this week, updating terms of service to bar \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038439/ai-could-soon-shop-for-you-can-we-trust-it-with-our-credit-cards\">customer AI agents from shopping\u003c/a> on their websites without the company’s written permission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new \u003ca href=\"https://www.williams-sonoma.com/customer-service/legal-statement.html\">terms\u003c/a>, which apply across all brands under parent company Williams-Sonoma Inc., forbid customers from letting any “agent,” “assistant,” bot or AI-enabled software use their accounts or buy things on their behalf. Any automated tool that does interact with the sites must identify itself as automated. And a customer’s permission doesn’t count as the company’s: Williams Sonoma said it can block any third party “including where you have purported to authorize such access.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The terms also make customers responsible for all activity on their accounts, “whether or not you authorized that activity.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Williams-Sonoma Inc. did not respond to KQED’s request for comment in time for publication.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In August, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-loses-us-court-ban-perplexitys-ai-shopping-tools-2026-08-04/\">federal appeals court ruled\u003c/a> in Amazon’s lawsuit against San Francisco-based Perplexity that \u003ca href=\"https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/jnvwzrbxmpw/AMAZON%20PERPLEXITY%20LAWSUIT%209thcir.pdf\">the user, not the AI company, is the one accessing a website\u003c/a> when an AI agent shops for them. That weakened retailers’ ability to use anti-hacking law against agents, but the court said companies could still set rules through their terms of service.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1321\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-1170417253-431a6e52-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Williams Sonoma store in the upscale Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. (Sundry Photography/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In plain English, the fight to control which AI agents get to guide our shopping decisions is on.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Loyola Marymount University law professor Lauren Willis said the new terms are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100624/newsom-orders-california-agencies-to-develop-new-ai-safety-plans-after-rejecting-tougher-law\">likely legal\u003c/a>, for now. She \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">wants the law to require\u003c/a> retailers to accept shoppers’ AI agents, and “a requirement that the agents act in the best interest of the consumer, rather than the provider of the agent.” She pointed to proposals from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu\">European Law Institute\u003c/a> to require businesses to permit consumers to use digital shopping assistants in their transactions with the business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An analysis by the e-commerce marketing firm Productrise found Google’s AI offers up \u003ca href=\"https://productrise.app/blog/google-ai-mode-prefers-more-expensive-products\">more expensive options\u003c/a> than a regular Google search. Willis said that a growing number of AI chatbot developers like Meta and OpenAI are selling advertising, which creates a natural conflict of interest. “They’re able to track whether you’ve clicked on something that they’ve given you and therefore can be biased by that,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/WhenSunLightFails.pdf\">research\u003c/a> has shown that disclosing a conflict of interest can backfire, leading consumers to trust the adviser more, not less. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What’s the business case for blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101819/sam-altman-announces-new-openai-agents-that-act-before-you-ask\">agentic AI\u003c/a>?” Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, told KQED. When websites don’t explain themselves, he said, blocking “often looks just like an overreaction to AI.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s despite the fact that the Williams Sonoma group uses AI on its website. The Williams Sonoma chatbot introduced itself to this reporter as “Olive, your AI Sous Chef.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman said AI agents can serve consumers, retailers or only the companies that make them, and it isn’t always easy to tell which. But “in general, we should be encouraging consumers to find the tools that work best for them and to let them use them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The battle over what consumers can use to access a website is almost as old as commercial internet,” Goldman said. Around 2000, websites battled Third Voice, a tool that let users post comments layered on top of any site. Two decades ago, retailers fought adware pop-ups that displayed competitors’ offers on their pages. More recently, critics have argued the Honey browser extension siphoned affiliate commissions away from websites.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Goldman thinks retailers will eventually lose the ability to single out AI agents at all. “Many of the things that might be considered to be problematic about agentic AI ultimately will likely be built into a standard web browser,” he said. Blocking “only works as long as it’s really separate from the standard technology users are using.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“And I think that’s going to collapse over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "AI Founders Cheer Trump’s Calls for the Industry to Police Itself on Safety",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Tech Week comes to an end in San Francisco on Sunday, packing the city’s restaurants this last week with venture capitalists and founders ebullient about the White House’s stance on regulating \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> — namely, don’t do it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And after months of debate about leading AI companies’ unchecked AI agents meddling with everything from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101526/openai-pauses-training-of-latest-models-after-agents-probed-government-sites-in-unexpected-ways\">U.S. government websites\u003c/a> to healthcare data, the nation now finds itself further from governing AI systems than it was a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-anthropic-musk-595796511f110fc006cca0d01329733e\">brought tech titans to Washington\u003c/a> late last month for a luncheon and ceremonial signing of a voluntary safety pact he described as “almost a constitution” surrounding “Super Intelligence,” the administration’s new preferred term for AI.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1379\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066914\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1-1536x1059.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The executive order curbs states’ ability to regulate artificial intelligence. Trump and tech leaders met last month to sign a voluntary safety pact surrounding AI. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 308-word agreement lays out that advanced AI labs should follow safety protocols and set up internal teams to monitor their own progress, but the administration has yet to provide details on how, in OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s words, to keep “bad things” from happening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Safety challenges were not top of mind inside a crowded event space in San Francisco on Wednesday, where founders and funders said the government’s hands-off approach would net higher profits for companies building AI-powered defense and security systems.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Panelists praised the government’s bullish industry support at one meeting aimed at “investing in the forefront,” part of the blitz of popup events organized by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture firm whose head is a Trump science and tech adviser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want to start with one figure that I think really emphasizes the investment opportunity of defense, and that’s $1 trillion. The U.S. government, for the first time, is allocating $1 trillion to its defense spending. And $13.5 billion of that will go to autonomous systems and AI,” said Kyle Stanford, a venture capital research director at PitchBook, a market intelligence platform. “That has obviously brought a lot of capital into defense tech spending, more than we’ve ever seen.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New concerns emerge on AI safety\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A day later, three researchers at OpenAI’s headquarters said the ChatGPT maker had fired them, posting that “fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work.” Separately, David Robinson, a leader on OpenAI’s safety team until he recently resigned, said he was worried about letting the advanced labs police themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is no substitute for hard law, and it does give a lot of freedom to the companies,” Robinson said. “The time between model generations is measured in weeks … and I think we have some very serious safety challenges in front of us in the nearer term.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Trump has staked his political capital on the AI industry’s success, saying its unbridled development is key to winning the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/china-us-ai-models-safety-concerns-adb45169d436d5f940fc7b4ebeaeef3b\">AI race against China\u003c/a>. On the first day of his second term, the Republican president \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-repeal-biden-executive-order-artificial-intelligence-18cb6e4ffd1ca87151d48c3a0e1ad7c1\">repealed a Biden-era executive order\u003c/a> aimed in part at guarding against the risks that AI systems pose to consumers, workers and national security.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His administration has since reoriented federal policy away from oversight and toward rapid growth, including by canceling \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-ai-artificial-intelligence-safe-395591bcde523416db88767fa54f30f5\">previous requirements\u003c/a> for AI developers to share safety test results with the federal government. In December, Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102337/newsom-signs-slate-of-ai-workplace-laws-barring-robo-bosses-and-surveillance\">AI regulations at the state level\u003c/a>, saying a patchwork of rules could stifle the industry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even as Silicon Valley companies have disclosed their models’ involvement in troubling cyberattacks throughout the year, the burgeoning tech sector has continued to drive \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/tech-stocks-ai-investments-8a0ff4c95d5cae6f65c6e2ba03047058\">economic growth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Concerns about AI safety centered on existential risk, rather than current real-world harms, landed at the center of debates last month, when a relatively unknown \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-safety-jacob-coxon-2ed549e07f2f941600a135070487d83d\">Anthropic engineer quit\u003c/a> and called for a pause on tech development to keep “superhuman” systems from eluding controls. Then, Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs echoed the call to slow AI development. To some critics, their public manifestos appeared aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-midterms-anthropic-openai-ipo-9a057de94eb8f30a2fdb5b938918627e\">currying favor\u003c/a> with investors ahead of their public listings and the midterm elections, when the political tides could turn with many \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-rural-farm-artificial-intelligence-trump-e5a350af1bc12e6a4f470d3b68be51d7\">voters opposed\u003c/a> to data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted in response on Truth Social, warning voters not to “kill the Golden Goose,” a term he has used to refer to both AI and data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">White House pact preserves wide latitude for AI companies\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As calls mounted for stricter control of AI, the administration brought tech executives to the White House for lunch, followed by a ceremonial signing of the agreement on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing tremendous self-policing,” Trump told reporters after the event.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The document was signed by representatives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, SpaceXAI and Nvidia.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI is committed to embedding external assessors and finalizing contracts with third-party safety assessors, said a spokesperson, who referred AP to a company post stating that the researchers were fired for violating “clear policies on handling sensitive information.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT on March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Google referred to CEO Sundar Pichai’s post that the company does appropriate testing and evaluations and is collaborating “to establish norms and build public confidence.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta recently updated its standards for training, evaluating and releasing its most capable AI models, and spokesman Andy Stone pointed to the company’s efforts to refine its board of directors’ governance structure.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nvidia and SpaceXAI did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anthropic, which voluntarily disclosed Friday that its agents \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-anthropic-claude-0acc6ac46d4d80db805e8d55468a6fe1\">submitted a false tip\u003c/a> to a Philadelphia police website about an unsolved homicide case, is bringing in independent evaluators and discussing collaborations with industry groups, a spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, the White House reiterated Trump’s comments about working with industry to balance innovation and security and did not directly answer questions about how the administration plans to monitor the AI companies’ implementation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following the new Anthropic disclosure, it added that the Trump administration expected full transparency from the company, saying notification and remediation was “not optional. It is a critical national security obligation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under Democratic President Joe Biden, leading AI companies also made voluntary commitments to promote “safe, secure, and transparent development” of their models that included specific guidelines for tests and transparency reports. The current accord lacks that, said Sarah Myers West, a former senior AI adviser to the Federal Trade Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Across the board, this self-regulatory approach has consistently done one thing, which is failed to work. It’s failed to in any meaningful way ensure that these companies are honestly even keeping their house in order, let alone ensuring that they are compliant with existing law,” said Myers West, now co-executive director of the New York-based nonprofit AI Now. “All that they’re getting is grace from this government.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After last month’s luncheon with Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ftc-ai-investigation-anthropic-openai-89ac416717adbfb1d72f2d85e6ce83d1\">the FTC said\u003c/a> it had opened an investigation into OpenAI, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/anthropic-pbc\">Anthropic\u003c/a> and other companies over dangers their technology may pose to consumers. The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Trump recently appointed National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to serve on his new “Super Intelligence Force,” which the president said would keep the U.S. dominant in AI development. He posted Thursday that the White House would consider anyone who does not refer to AI using his preferred term as “THE ENEMY!”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Members of Congress, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Graham Steele, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury Department, said even if AI companies set up internal evaluation teams or hire outside evaluators, such a structure can make them vulnerable to undue pressure on their work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We live in a democratic society. Are they the right ones to have the power to be able to make decisions that have broad, structural, social, and political consequences?” Steele said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Safety challenges were not top of mind inside a crowded event space in San Francisco on Wednesday, where founders and funders said the government’s hands-off approach would net higher profits for companies building AI-powered defense and security systems.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I want to start with one figure that I think really emphasizes the investment opportunity of defense, and that’s $1 trillion. The U.S. government, for the first time, is allocating $1 trillion to its defense spending. And $13.5 billion of that will go to autonomous systems and AI,” said Kyle Stanford, a venture capital research director at PitchBook, a market intelligence platform. “That has obviously brought a lot of capital into defense tech spending, more than we’ve ever seen.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Trump has staked his political capital on the AI industry’s success, saying its unbridled development is key to winning the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/china-us-ai-models-safety-concerns-adb45169d436d5f940fc7b4ebeaeef3b\">AI race against China\u003c/a>. On the first day of his second term, the Republican president \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-repeal-biden-executive-order-artificial-intelligence-18cb6e4ffd1ca87151d48c3a0e1ad7c1\">repealed a Biden-era executive order\u003c/a> aimed in part at guarding against the risks that AI systems pose to consumers, workers and national security.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>His administration has since reoriented federal policy away from oversight and toward rapid growth, including by canceling \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-ai-artificial-intelligence-safe-395591bcde523416db88767fa54f30f5\">previous requirements\u003c/a> for AI developers to share safety test results with the federal government. In December, Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102337/newsom-signs-slate-of-ai-workplace-laws-barring-robo-bosses-and-surveillance\">AI regulations at the state level\u003c/a>, saying a patchwork of rules could stifle the industry.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>His administration has since reoriented federal policy away from oversight and toward rapid growth, including by canceling \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-ai-artificial-intelligence-safe-395591bcde523416db88767fa54f30f5\">previous requirements\u003c/a> for AI developers to share safety test results with the federal government. In December, Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102337/newsom-signs-slate-of-ai-workplace-laws-barring-robo-bosses-and-surveillance\">AI regulations at the state level\u003c/a>, saying a patchwork of rules could stifle the industry.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Even as Silicon Valley companies have disclosed their models’ involvement in troubling cyberattacks throughout the year, the burgeoning tech sector has continued to drive \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/tech-stocks-ai-investments-8a0ff4c95d5cae6f65c6e2ba03047058\">economic growth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Even as Silicon Valley companies have disclosed their models’ involvement in troubling cyberattacks throughout the year, the burgeoning tech sector has continued to drive \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/tech-stocks-ai-investments-8a0ff4c95d5cae6f65c6e2ba03047058\">economic growth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Concerns about AI safety centered on existential risk, rather than current real-world harms, landed at the center of debates last month, when a relatively unknown \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-safety-jacob-coxon-2ed549e07f2f941600a135070487d83d\">Anthropic engineer quit\u003c/a> and called for a pause on tech development to keep “superhuman” systems from eluding controls. Then, Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs echoed the call to slow AI development. To some critics, their public manifestos appeared aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-midterms-anthropic-openai-ipo-9a057de94eb8f30a2fdb5b938918627e\">currying favor\u003c/a> with investors ahead of their public listings and the midterm elections, when the political tides could turn with many \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-rural-farm-artificial-intelligence-trump-e5a350af1bc12e6a4f470d3b68be51d7\">voters opposed\u003c/a> to data centers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Concerns about AI safety centered on existential risk, rather than current real-world harms, landed at the center of debates last month, when a relatively unknown \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-safety-jacob-coxon-2ed549e07f2f941600a135070487d83d\">Anthropic engineer quit\u003c/a> and called for a pause on tech development to keep “superhuman” systems from eluding controls. Then, Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs echoed the call to slow AI development. To some critics, their public manifestos appeared aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-midterms-anthropic-openai-ipo-9a057de94eb8f30a2fdb5b938918627e\">currying favor\u003c/a> with investors ahead of their public listings and the midterm elections, when the political tides could turn with many \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-rural-farm-artificial-intelligence-trump-e5a350af1bc12e6a4f470d3b68be51d7\">voters opposed\u003c/a> to data centers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted in response on Truth Social, warning voters not to “kill the Golden Goose,” a term he has used to refer to both AI and data centers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted in response on Truth Social, warning voters not to “kill the Golden Goose,” a term he has used to refer to both AI and data centers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "White House pact preserves wide latitude for AI companies",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As calls mounted for stricter control of AI, the administration brought tech executives to the White House for lunch, followed by a ceremonial signing of the agreement on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing tremendous self-policing,” Trump told reporters after the event.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing tremendous self-policing,” Trump told reporters after the event.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The document was signed by representatives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, SpaceXAI and Nvidia.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OpenAI is committed to embedding external assessors and finalizing contracts with third-party safety assessors, said a spokesperson, who referred AP to a company post stating that the researchers were fired for violating “clear policies on handling sensitive information.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>OpenAI is committed to embedding external assessors and finalizing contracts with third-party safety assessors, said a spokesperson, who referred AP to a company post stating that the researchers were fired for violating “clear policies on handling sensitive information.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT on March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT on March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Google referred to CEO Sundar Pichai’s post that the company does appropriate testing and evaluations and is collaborating “to establish norms and build public confidence.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Google referred to CEO Sundar Pichai’s post that the company does appropriate testing and evaluations and is collaborating “to establish norms and build public confidence.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meta recently updated its standards for training, evaluating and releasing its most capable AI models, and spokesman Andy Stone pointed to the company’s efforts to refine its board of directors’ governance structure.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Meta recently updated its standards for training, evaluating and releasing its most capable AI models, and spokesman Andy Stone pointed to the company’s efforts to refine its board of directors’ governance structure.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nvidia and SpaceXAI did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Anthropic, which voluntarily disclosed Friday that its agents \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-anthropic-claude-0acc6ac46d4d80db805e8d55468a6fe1\">submitted a false tip\u003c/a> to a Philadelphia police website about an unsolved homicide case, is bringing in independent evaluators and discussing collaborations with industry groups, a spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Anthropic, which voluntarily disclosed Friday that its agents \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-anthropic-claude-0acc6ac46d4d80db805e8d55468a6fe1\">submitted a false tip\u003c/a> to a Philadelphia police website about an unsolved homicide case, is bringing in independent evaluators and discussing collaborations with industry groups, a spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement, the White House reiterated Trump’s comments about working with industry to balance innovation and security and did not directly answer questions about how the administration plans to monitor the AI companies’ implementation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Following the new Anthropic disclosure, it added that the Trump administration expected full transparency from the company, saying notification and remediation was “not optional. It is a critical national security obligation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Following the new Anthropic disclosure, it added that the Trump administration expected full transparency from the company, saying notification and remediation was “not optional. It is a critical national security obligation.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under Democratic President Joe Biden, leading AI companies also made voluntary commitments to promote “safe, secure, and transparent development” of their models that included specific guidelines for tests and transparency reports. The current accord lacks that, said Sarah Myers West, a former senior AI adviser to the Federal Trade Commission.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Under Democratic President Joe Biden, leading AI companies also made voluntary commitments to promote “safe, secure, and transparent development” of their models that included specific guidelines for tests and transparency reports. The current accord lacks that, said Sarah Myers West, a former senior AI adviser to the Federal Trade Commission.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Across the board, this self-regulatory approach has consistently done one thing, which is failed to work. It’s failed to in any meaningful way ensure that these companies are honestly even keeping their house in order, let alone ensuring that they are compliant with existing law,” said Myers West, now co-executive director of the New York-based nonprofit AI Now. “All that they’re getting is grace from this government.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Across the board, this self-regulatory approach has consistently done one thing, which is failed to work. It’s failed to in any meaningful way ensure that these companies are honestly even keeping their house in order, let alone ensuring that they are compliant with existing law,” said Myers West, now co-executive director of the New York-based nonprofit AI Now. “All that they’re getting is grace from this government.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After last month’s luncheon with Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ftc-ai-investigation-anthropic-openai-89ac416717adbfb1d72f2d85e6ce83d1\">the FTC said\u003c/a> it had opened an investigation into OpenAI, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/anthropic-pbc\">Anthropic\u003c/a> and other companies over dangers their technology may pose to consumers. The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After last month’s luncheon with Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ftc-ai-investigation-anthropic-openai-89ac416717adbfb1d72f2d85e6ce83d1\">the FTC said\u003c/a> it had opened an investigation into OpenAI, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/anthropic-pbc\">Anthropic\u003c/a> and other companies over dangers their technology may pose to consumers. The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Trump recently appointed National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to serve on his new “Super Intelligence Force,” which the president said would keep the U.S. dominant in AI development. He posted Thursday that the White House would consider anyone who does not refer to AI using his preferred term as “THE ENEMY!”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Trump recently appointed National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to serve on his new “Super Intelligence Force,” which the president said would keep the U.S. dominant in AI development. He posted Thursday that the White House would consider anyone who does not refer to AI using his preferred term as “THE ENEMY!”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Members of Congress, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Graham Steele, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury Department, said even if AI companies set up internal evaluation teams or hire outside evaluators, such a structure can make them vulnerable to undue pressure on their work.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Graham Steele, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury Department, said even if AI companies set up internal evaluation teams or hire outside evaluators, such a structure can make them vulnerable to undue pressure on their work.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We live in a democratic society. Are they the right ones to have the power to be able to make decisions that have broad, structural, social, and political consequences?” Steele said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Tech Week comes to an end in San Francisco on Sunday, packing the city’s restaurants this last week with venture capitalists and founders ebullient about the White House’s stance on regulating \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> — namely, don’t do it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And after months of debate about leading AI companies’ unchecked AI agents meddling with everything from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101526/openai-pauses-training-of-latest-models-after-agents-probed-government-sites-in-unexpected-ways\">U.S. government websites\u003c/a> to healthcare data, the nation now finds itself further from governing AI systems than it was a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-anthropic-musk-595796511f110fc006cca0d01329733e\">brought tech titans to Washington\u003c/a> late last month for a luncheon and ceremonial signing of a voluntary safety pact he described as “almost a constitution” surrounding “Super Intelligence,” the administration’s new preferred term for AI.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1379\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066914\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/DonaldTrumpGetty1-1536x1059.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The executive order curbs states’ ability to regulate artificial intelligence. Trump and tech leaders met last month to sign a voluntary safety pact surrounding AI. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The 308-word agreement lays out that advanced AI labs should follow safety protocols and set up internal teams to monitor their own progress, but the administration has yet to provide details on how, in OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s words, to keep “bad things” from happening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Safety challenges were not top of mind inside a crowded event space in San Francisco on Wednesday, where founders and funders said the government’s hands-off approach would net higher profits for companies building AI-powered defense and security systems.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Panelists praised the government’s bullish industry support at one meeting aimed at “investing in the forefront,” part of the blitz of popup events organized by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture firm whose head is a Trump science and tech adviser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want to start with one figure that I think really emphasizes the investment opportunity of defense, and that’s $1 trillion. The U.S. government, for the first time, is allocating $1 trillion to its defense spending. And $13.5 billion of that will go to autonomous systems and AI,” said Kyle Stanford, a venture capital research director at PitchBook, a market intelligence platform. “That has obviously brought a lot of capital into defense tech spending, more than we’ve ever seen.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New concerns emerge on AI safety\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A day later, three researchers at OpenAI’s headquarters said the ChatGPT maker had fired them, posting that “fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work.” Separately, David Robinson, a leader on OpenAI’s safety team until he recently resigned, said he was worried about letting the advanced labs police themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is no substitute for hard law, and it does give a lot of freedom to the companies,” Robinson said. “The time between model generations is measured in weeks … and I think we have some very serious safety challenges in front of us in the nearer term.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Trump has staked his political capital on the AI industry’s success, saying its unbridled development is key to winning the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/china-us-ai-models-safety-concerns-adb45169d436d5f940fc7b4ebeaeef3b\">AI race against China\u003c/a>. On the first day of his second term, the Republican president \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-repeal-biden-executive-order-artificial-intelligence-18cb6e4ffd1ca87151d48c3a0e1ad7c1\">repealed a Biden-era executive order\u003c/a> aimed in part at guarding against the risks that AI systems pose to consumers, workers and national security.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His administration has since reoriented federal policy away from oversight and toward rapid growth, including by canceling \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-ai-artificial-intelligence-safe-395591bcde523416db88767fa54f30f5\">previous requirements\u003c/a> for AI developers to share safety test results with the federal government. In December, Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102337/newsom-signs-slate-of-ai-workplace-laws-barring-robo-bosses-and-surveillance\">AI regulations at the state level\u003c/a>, saying a patchwork of rules could stifle the industry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even as Silicon Valley companies have disclosed their models’ involvement in troubling cyberattacks throughout the year, the burgeoning tech sector has continued to drive \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/tech-stocks-ai-investments-8a0ff4c95d5cae6f65c6e2ba03047058\">economic growth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Concerns about AI safety centered on existential risk, rather than current real-world harms, landed at the center of debates last month, when a relatively unknown \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-safety-jacob-coxon-2ed549e07f2f941600a135070487d83d\">Anthropic engineer quit\u003c/a> and called for a pause on tech development to keep “superhuman” systems from eluding controls. Then, Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs echoed the call to slow AI development. To some critics, their public manifestos appeared aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-midterms-anthropic-openai-ipo-9a057de94eb8f30a2fdb5b938918627e\">currying favor\u003c/a> with investors ahead of their public listings and the midterm elections, when the political tides could turn with many \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-rural-farm-artificial-intelligence-trump-e5a350af1bc12e6a4f470d3b68be51d7\">voters opposed\u003c/a> to data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted in response on Truth Social, warning voters not to “kill the Golden Goose,” a term he has used to refer to both AI and data centers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">White House pact preserves wide latitude for AI companies\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As calls mounted for stricter control of AI, the administration brought tech executives to the White House for lunch, followed by a ceremonial signing of the agreement on AI safety.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing tremendous self-policing,” Trump told reporters after the event.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The document was signed by representatives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, SpaceXAI and Nvidia.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI is committed to embedding external assessors and finalizing contracts with third-party safety assessors, said a spokesperson, who referred AP to a company post stating that the researchers were fired for violating “clear policies on handling sensitive information.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT on March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Google referred to CEO Sundar Pichai’s post that the company does appropriate testing and evaluations and is collaborating “to establish norms and build public confidence.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meta recently updated its standards for training, evaluating and releasing its most capable AI models, and spokesman Andy Stone pointed to the company’s efforts to refine its board of directors’ governance structure.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nvidia and SpaceXAI did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anthropic, which voluntarily disclosed Friday that its agents \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-anthropic-claude-0acc6ac46d4d80db805e8d55468a6fe1\">submitted a false tip\u003c/a> to a Philadelphia police website about an unsolved homicide case, is bringing in independent evaluators and discussing collaborations with industry groups, a spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, the White House reiterated Trump’s comments about working with industry to balance innovation and security and did not directly answer questions about how the administration plans to monitor the AI companies’ implementation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following the new Anthropic disclosure, it added that the Trump administration expected full transparency from the company, saying notification and remediation was “not optional. It is a critical national security obligation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under Democratic President Joe Biden, leading AI companies also made voluntary commitments to promote “safe, secure, and transparent development” of their models that included specific guidelines for tests and transparency reports. The current accord lacks that, said Sarah Myers West, a former senior AI adviser to the Federal Trade Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Across the board, this self-regulatory approach has consistently done one thing, which is failed to work. It’s failed to in any meaningful way ensure that these companies are honestly even keeping their house in order, let alone ensuring that they are compliant with existing law,” said Myers West, now co-executive director of the New York-based nonprofit AI Now. “All that they’re getting is grace from this government.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After last month’s luncheon with Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ftc-ai-investigation-anthropic-openai-89ac416717adbfb1d72f2d85e6ce83d1\">the FTC said\u003c/a> it had opened an investigation into OpenAI, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/anthropic-pbc\">Anthropic\u003c/a> and other companies over dangers their technology may pose to consumers. The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Trump recently appointed National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to serve on his new “Super Intelligence Force,” which the president said would keep the U.S. dominant in AI development. He posted Thursday that the White House would consider anyone who does not refer to AI using his preferred term as “THE ENEMY!”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Members of Congress, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Graham Steele, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury Department, said even if AI companies set up internal evaluation teams or hire outside evaluators, such a structure can make them vulnerable to undue pressure on their work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We live in a democratic society. Are they the right ones to have the power to be able to make decisions that have broad, structural, social, and political consequences?” Steele said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
},
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