Technology

What Happened to Baseball Jerseys?

Fans are doomed to keep paying more for merchandise they want less.

OpenAI’s Sora Is a Total Mystery

A new program from the ChatGPT maker promises to create videos from simple text prompts, but little is known about how it will actually work.

Things Get Strange When AI Starts Training Itself

What happens if AI becomes even less intelligible?

The AI Industry Is Stuck on One Very Specific Way to Use a Chatbot

OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are dying to help plan your next trip.

The Moneyball Theory of Presidential Social Media

Not even the president can bend the internet to his will.

The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop

Airplanes aren’t made for this much luggage.

Temu Is Speedrunning American Familiarity

The company’s ad strategy: bludgeon you into knowing its name.

‘Evidence Maximalism’ Is How the Internet Argues Now

A simple theory for why the internet is so conspiratorial

A Fake Yellow Line Changed Football Forever

You’ve been watching the Super Bowl in mixed reality for 25 years.

Lab Diamonds Are Too Perfect for Their Own Good

The traditional diamond industry is thought to be under threat from lab-grown stones. But that’s not how luxury works.

Neal Stephenson’s Most Stunning Prediction

The sci-fi legend coined the term metaverse. But he was most prescient about our AI age.

Meet Me in the Eternal City

Silicon Valley has always dreamed of building its own utopias. Who’s ready to move in?

The Apple Vision Pro Is Spectacular and Sad

A dispatch from the gypsum dunes of cyberspace

The New Luddites Aren’t Backing Down

Activists are organizing to combat generative AI and other technologies—and reclaiming a misunderstood label in the process.

The Apple Watch May Have a Calorie Problem

I tied myself into knots trying to close its little red ring.

AI in Politics Is So Much Bigger Than Deepfakes

Presidential campaigns have long tailored their ads and emails to specific groups. Now any politician can.

Should Teens Have Access to Disappearing Messages?

A recent lawsuit argues that Snapchat causes harm to young people through its basic design.

The Real Problem With American Universities

It isn’t DEI.

America Is Missing Out on the Best Electric Cars

Whatever kind of EV you might want, chances are China has it.

The Rise of Techno-authoritarianism

Silicon Valley has its own ascendant political ideology. It’s past time we call it what it is.