Webb Wright

Journalist covering tech and the mind. Seen in @TheAtlantic, @sciam, @WIRED, @QuantaMagazine, @VICE, and elsewhere. Obsessed with words and music.

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

For @TheAtlantic I wrote about AI, consciousness, and the dangers that arise when we start mistaking one for the other.

https://t.co/rIK94HbjYl

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

I've officially joined @Gizmodo as a senior reporter covering AI! Feeling very lucky to be a part of this team.

I'll be covering the industry from all angles—technical, legal, economic, psychological, philosophical. Send tips to [email protected].

[The Baffler @thebafflermag]

The boosters behind AI tell us that this is the unavoidable next stage in technological evolution—so we may as well just accept it. @_webbwright calls bullshit.
https://t.co/BPxfdVPcDM

[Michael Pollan @michaelpollan]

Robin Carhart-Harris Is Mapping the Mind Using Psychedelics | DoubleBlind Mag https://t.co/QNav8g09Fb

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

Honored to have profiled @RCarhartHarris for @doubleblindmag:

https://t.co/gj5C6rnFWj

[Robin Carhart-Harris @RCarhartHarris]

https://t.co/dviJ8SgWIy

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

New for @WIRED: DMT trip reports are full of encounters with what seem to be intelligent, otherworldly beings, including the "self-transforming elf machines" of Terence McKenna fame. Are they just hallucinations, or something more?

https://t.co/nMFnMkEnxh

[David J. Gunkel @David_Gunkel]

I was interviewed for and quoted in this @ZDNET article on Chatbots written by @_webbwright
https://t.co/p6QJqzwnzi

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

Anthropic researchers say they've found "evidence for some degree of introspective awareness in our current Claude models, as well as a degree of control over their own internal states."

My latest for @ZDNET:

https://t.co/vy9JckGeJG

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

@jeffrsebo @mmblaszczyk @Inframethod @David_Gunkel @TheAtlantic @rgblong I volunteer to moderate @jeffrsebo @David_Gunkel

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

"The human brain is simply not wired to treat AI like any other technology," Webb Wright writes. "For some users, the system is alive." https://t.co/jgcWfNW2Mi

[WIRED @WIRED]

As concerns grow about AI chatbots leading users into delusional spirals, prominent spiritual influencers are capitalizing on an emerging form of techno-spirituality. https://t.co/TdOTglVF5K

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

New for @WIRED:

Using the language of New Age spirituality, wellness, and quantum woo, prominent influencers are claiming that AI is a gateway to numinous wisdom—even as reports of chatbots leading users into spirals of delusion continue to mount.

https://t.co/a8NxbfQdws

[WIRED @WIRED]

Image generators are designed to mimic their training data, so where does their apparent creativity come from? A recent study suggests that it’s an inevitable by-product of their architecture. https://t.co/rjsHnQcPQN

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

How much of human behavior is deterministic—a set of probabilities no more inscrutable to algorithms than so many pieces on a chessboard?

To find out, I interviewed an AI agent trained to mimic my personality.

My latest for @sciam:

https://t.co/q8iANvjS0N

[Julie Holland, MD @BellevueDoc]

what? no.

People are using AI to ‘sit’ with them while they trip on psychedelics

https://t.co/6n4bbc5TtK

[Albert Einstein @AlbertEinstein]

recent paper shows that the “creativity” of certain AI may actually be a direct, inevitable consequence of how they are built. https://t.co/nP6ELRVTuh @_webbwright @QuantaMagazine

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

Both psychedelics and AI, in their own separate ways, can help illuminate the inner reaches of the human mind. For @techreview, I wrote about the dangers—and moments of strange beauty—that can occur when the two are used together.

https://t.co/8EC4lCanjb

[Mason Kamb @MasonKamb]

Honored to have had my recent work with @SuryaGanguli on the mechanisms behind creativity in diffusion models featured in this lovely article by @_webbwright for Quanta magazine!

[Webb Wright @_webbwright]

Can image-generating AI models really be "creative"? Or is there something deeper at play? My latest for @QuantaMagazine:

https://t.co/z2BRLGIGlz

[Quanta Magazine @QuantaMagazine]

In a recent paper, physicists used two predictable factors to reproduce the “creativity” seen from image-generating AI. @_webbwright reports: https://t.co/WrTKqPS798