AI companies are spamming federal workers' key online hub

Federal workers’ online sanctuary, r/FedNews, is getting bombarded with ads for AI. Plus, AI-generated art controversy and another sign the bubble's bursting?

Like a lot of journalists following DOGE’s campaign to gut the government, I’ve been reading a lot of posts on r/FedNews and r/FedEmployees, the communities on Reddit where workers are sharing info, mutual support and solidarity, and ideas about how to deal with Elon Musk’s wrecking ball. And I’ve noticed a galling trend, given that DOGE has used AI to justify laying off thousands of people: The subreddits have been bombarded with ads from AI companies and influencers hocking AI services, products, and newsletters.

All screenshots taken from Reddit, r/FedNews and r/FedEmployees over the last two weeks.

So as federal workers read through harrowing accounts on r/FedNews and r/Employees of their peers and colleagues being villainized, pilloried, essentially told they’re replaceable with AI by Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration—and then laid off en masse—they’ll see ads from AI startups and marketers like Superhuman AI, Upwork, Adaline AI, and Spotter Studio.

It has a ‘learn to code’ vibe, if you ask me, and further helps bolster this false assertion that AI *can* replace any of these workers jobs, or that they’ll need to embrace AI once they’ve lost them.

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Look—there’s so much going on right now, and on the list of indignities and anxieties facing federal workers, this probably doesn’t break the Top 10. But all these ads feel callous, given the importance of these subreddits to federal workers. As one representative post by an employee on the forum puts it: “Yes, I’m exhausted, but opening r/fednews gives me the mental fortitude to go to work tomorrow.”

And then AI marketers use the space to push automation tools.

Now, there are a lot of AI ads like this everywhere right now, so I initially thought it was just a harsh and shitty reflection of our moment in general—the mass firing of civil servants, scientists, and aid distributors taking place to a backdrop of the ongoing, if increasingly encumbered, AI gold rush in Silicon Valley, where the big sell remains a promise to cut labor costs.

And ads on Reddit can either be general or custom-targeted to specific subreddits, so the AI ads could have just been showing up randomly. But I reached out to Reddit ad support out of curiosity anyway—and nope, those ads, the rep told me, are probably being targeted directly to r/FedNews and r/FedEmployee.

“It seems like the moderator has set no restrictions, therefore people are able to target it,” the Reddit rep told me, and targeting such communities “would give you good engagement.” When I asked point blank if it looked like these AI ads were indeed being targeted, the rep told me that “considering that the community is quite good in numbers—yes.”

I reached out to a couple of the companies advertising on the subreddits, including Superhuman AI, which bills itself as “the world’s biggest AI newsletter for businesses and professionals,” and didn’t hear anything back—though I haven’t seen any Superhuman ads since I sent the note out.

I also asked a couple federal employees how they felt about all this.

“The indignity of being fed ads for the robots the AI companies claim will replace us is honestly not that novel anymore,” one said. “But as a federal worker whose friends have been fired supposedly cause AI can do their jobs better, knowing there's some asshole out there specifically targeting our communities is just piling on.”

That about sums it up.

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This wasn’t the only big AI news this week—far from it. I’m going to dive into some more of the major AI headlines and add some of my own reporting and analysis below. Again, this reporting, research, and writing takes many hours, and is only made possible by paying subscribers. If you’re able, please consider chipping in a few bucks a month to allow me to continue this work. Thank you.

Activision admits using AI for art, assets, and calling cards — months after I reported on this exact practice for WIRED last summer.

Earlier this winter, Activision got caught using AI-generated art on a loading screen, displaying a zombie Santa Claus with the telltale six fingers, and it caused a uproar among fans. That followed my reporting in WIRED in July, which revealed that AI-generated art was already being sold on the Call of Duty store.

Now, due to the Steam platform’s new disclosure rules, Activision was finally forced to admit that yes, it indeed uses generative AI to create art and assets. But a worker I spoke to said that understates how rampant the situation is: AI use has become more routine in many parts of the company, and managers are asking for more AI production, he told me, confirming critics’ fears. Artists and designers are being asked to set companywide goals for AI production that could affect their performance evaluations.

So if fans were hoping to see less, not more AI slop, they’re going to be disappointed—it seems that Activision is only ramping up AI-generated art production, normalizing the process internally, and disregarding fans who find that the stuff devalues the game. Because, remember, folks really don’t like this stuff.

"Disappointingly, I just grinded for an AI generated calling card," wrote Redditor Poodonkus, in a comment spotted by PC Gamer. "I had heard of a cool pin-up style calling card for completing this challenge, but I wasn't expecting to find out after trying to figure out what was supposed to be on her belt (surprise, just shapeless artifacts of a neural network image generator), that there are glaring hallmarks of an unrefined AI-generated image."

Buckle up, gamers, there’s more where that came from—the AI slop era is already underway.

Microsoft cancels some data centers and CEO Satya Nadella makes some bearish remarks on AI. More signs that the bubble is bursting?

Take all this with a grain of salt—Microsoft is still one of the biggest players in the AI space, but it’s at the very least interesting. Bloomberg reports that Microsoft has bucked the trend of buying up more and more data center leases, and has in fact canceled some of those leases, voiding a couple hundred megawatts of capacity.

Per Bloomberg:

Microsoft Corp. has canceled some leases for US data center capacity, according to TD Cowen, raising broader concerns over whether it’s securing more AI computing capacity than it needs in the long term.

OpenAI’s biggest backer has voided leases in the US totaling “a couple of hundred megawatts” of capacity — the equivalent of roughly two data centers — canceling agreements with at least a couple of private operators, the US brokerage wrote Friday, citing “channel checks” or inquiries with supply chain providers. TD Cowen said its checks also suggest Microsoft has pulled back on converting so-called statements of qualifications, agreements that usually lead to formal leases.

This is notable because it’s one of the scant few examples of *any* tech giant publicly appearing to consider whether it’s over investing in data center capacity—the trend has up until now been almost totally the opposite, Microsoft included. Last year, after all, it bought a power purchasing agreement with Three Mile Island, the infamous nuclear power plant. Does this public example of caution signal the winds are beginning to change?

A number of folks wondered if the DeepSeek news might lead the tech giants to reevaluate their strategy—which is essentially ‘get more data, more compute, more power’—and this is at least a glimmer that maybe the Chinese startup had more impact than initially met the eye. After all, in a podcast appearance, Satya Nadella also made some noise that could be interpreted as the Microsoft CEO is somewhat unimpressed with generative AI’s economic gains thus far. He wants to see real growth on the level of the first industrial revolution, which has distinctly not manifested yet.

It’s too early to claim the AI bubble is bursting as we speak—but these are more signs of stress on a top-heavy, money-losing sector facing a mounting series of hurdles. I’ve been bracing for at least a deflation since last summer, and these are more signs that that’s on the way.

Alright! That’s it for now—until next time; hammers up.