The tech oligarchs and their AI are taking over. Let's fight back.

Alright, I’m really doing this thing. Support Blood in the Machine and fearless independent tech journalism.

Greetings all,

Quick announcement time: I’m going all in here. This is it, this newsletter is going to be The Job.

I’ve been torn over whether to commit to doing Blood in the Machine full time ever since I left the LA Times, where it turned out being a columnist who criticizes tech billionaires was perhaps not welcome at a newspaper owned by a tech billionaire. I’ve idly had paid subscriptions open for a while, but haven’t paywalled more than a post as an experiment or really committed to the newsletter. Going independent is a risky venture, these are risky times, and I’ve got two little kids at home and all that.

But if there ever was a time to dedicate myself to a project whose aim is to take big tech to task, to report on AI, Silicon Valley, the new oligarchs, and their abuses of power, to center the humans, users, and workers—the blood in its machine—who must grapple with it all, well I think it’s safe to say that time is now.

Look, it’s all somehow gotten worse than expected, and faster. I haven’t been sleeping much. The federal government is being pulled apart by our richest and cringiest tech billionaire, Silicon Valley has gladly trekked to Mar-a-Lago to embrace Trumpworld, and Elon Musk and Facebook alike are instituting mass layoffs in pivots to AI. Venture capitalists have been installed at the highest levels of government, the tech oligarchs are ascendent, and one of the world’s largest social media networks has become a blaring propaganda organ. Meanwhile, the Valley has doubled down on a grow-at-all-costs approach to AI, sinking hundreds of billions into a technology that will automate millions of jobs if it works, might kneecap the economy if it doesn’t, and will coat the internet in slop and misinformation either way.

As a longtime tech journalist—I was the technology columnist at the LA Times, a senior editor at VICE’s Motherboard, and I’ve written for places like the New York Times, WIRED, and Harper’s—and the author of a book about the Luddites and the first rebellion against the tech overlords (from which this newsletter gets its name), I’ve been doing my best to make my experience and research useful in the face of all of the above. Mostly, that’s meant documenting, dissecting, and distilling the chaos in DC and the Valley, with an eye to the history of technological oppression. Most recently, I’ve reported on the federal tech workers facing down DOGE’s campaign of governmental destruction, broken down Elon’s intention to install government by Grok, and kept tabs on OpenAI’s ever-expanding ambitions. And let me tell you: The always misunderstood Luddites, who fought back, not against technology, but against the titans who used technology to exploit ordinary people—against the “machinery hurtful to commonality”—are more relevant than ever.

Art by Diego Mallo, from the NY Times book review of Blood in the Machine. I’ve always loved this art.

And I’ve found that my reporting and writing can absolutely have an impact without being attached to a legacy outlet. Since writing here, I’ve heard from students, gig workers, academics, folks whose jobs are threatened by generative AI, sources in the federal government looking to push back on Musk and DOGE, from artists, writers, and creatives seeking to stand up to big tech. The community that’s sprung up here—so far, 12,000 strong—has been perhaps the best part of embarking on this newsletter experiment. But it can leave a mark in the legacy world, too: BITM has been cited in the New York Times, Slate, and the Guardian, it’s been syndicated in outlets like Defector and Fast Company, and I’ve discussed the pieces I’ve written here on TV, podcasts, and the radio.

It’s having an impact, in other words, and I expect that to continue and even pick up steam as I dedicate more time here. But I’m going to need your help.

The kind of reporting, research, and writing that’s necessary to do this work is time consuming. It means staying up late on Signal with sources and wading through earnings sheets and obscure academic papers. It means dipping into newspaper archives to confirm the historical precedent, traveling to speak with workers impacted by AI, and interviewing key experts. It’s a lot, and if you find value here, if you’ve been reading along for months, and you’re able to, here’s where I ask you to chip in to make it possible for me to continue on, and to do even more. (And where I say a massive thank you to all of you who are already doing so, even without getting much in the way of concrete benefits in return).

I’m asking $6 a month, about the cost of a good cup of coffee plus a tip, or $60 a year. That will get you full access to the archives, access to any and all future paywalled posts, and to a biweekly office hours chat—either here or on Discord—where we can talk about anything you’d like; OpenAI, publishing, Luddism, journalism, DeepSeek, death metal, the new season of White Lotus, whatever. It will also help me bring this work—criticism, accountability journalism, labor reporting, and more—to all those that can’t afford to pay. I frequently get asked to speak to workers, unions, and policymakers, often without payment—your support will also make it possible for me to do more of this, to advocate for those under big tech’s thumb.

And I have big plans. I’d like to host a series of virtual meetups for workers impacted by AI, for instance, and I have some longer investigative stuff to get cracking on, and a tech project or two to designed to keep tabs on the tech oligarchs. I’d like to be able to bring on an editor, even feature other writers. Going forward, I’m going to commit to writing two stories a week. I’m never going to put my reporting behind a paywall, but roundups, cultural commentary, and my monthly Critical AI report may be. I’m going to have to experiment, and see what works for everyone.

I know I’m never going to get rich writing critically about Silicon Valley. If you look at the top 10 tech SubStacks, they’re all aimed at the industry insider; news for VCs, investors, the wealthy. An AI SubStack blurbed by the Spotify CEO! This is not intended (entirely) as shade against them—if you are thinking about a newsletter as a business, that is clearly the smart thing to do! Meanwhile, the one time I paywalled a post, I did so with a note that I’d offer free access to anyone who couldn’t afford it. I got a bunch of queries—from phD students, translators and writers whose livelihoods have been hollowed out by AI, an artist who maintains a repository of information for other artists concerned about AI, an environmentalist, even a farmer in Southeast Asia.

Those requests filled me with pride. I did not become a writer or a journalist to be a stenographer for the rich and to fawn over their machinery. I’m writing precisely for those who are thinking long and hard about what big tech is doing to society, to them, personally, and who are trying to push back. I’m writing for the people Silicon Valley is happening to—which, increasingly, is all of us.

And the way I see it, if there isn’t loud, informed, and dedicated opposition to the tech elites right now, we risking losing so much. The free press, good jobs, crucial public institutions, I could go on—it’s hard to understate what’s at stake.

SO. While I’m going to continue to write the occasional story I think will benefit from a broader audience at WIRED, and you can tune in to listen to discussions of many of the subjects covered in these pages at System Crash, the podcast I co-host with Paris Marx, BLOOD IN THE MACHINE will be my home, if I can get the support. Let’s take on the tech titans, the DOGE apparatus, and those who’d drown the world in bad AI. I’m taking a swing, and I hope you’ll join me.

Long live General Ludd. Hammers up.