Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

What’s really driving the growing backlash against AI and Silicon Valley?
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From burning data centers to celebrating an attack on Sam Altman’s house, the anti‑tech backlash has escalated. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with journalist and author Brian Merchant to unpack the rise of anti AI sentiment, the growing anger toward Big Tech, and why public hostility toward companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google keeps escalating.
We discuss:
Why the AI backlash exploded so quickly

The connection between AI fear and distrust in capitalism

Why people are protesting data centers

The rise of anti tech politics

AI doomers and effective altruism

Sam Altman and Silicon Valley PR failures

Whether AI companies created their own crisis

How automation fears are shaping public opinion

Why people feel powerless against Big Tech

The future of AI regulation and resistance

Brian Merchant is the author of Blood in the Machine, a book about the original Luddites and the history of anti technology movements.
If you’re interested in AI, ChatGPT, Silicon Valley, automation, tech criticism, labor politics, or the future of the internet, we break down the cultural and political forces shaping the AI era.
Subscribe for more interviews and deep dives on AI, internet culture, media, tech, and politics.

Ben Shapiro’s Media Empire Is Collapsing
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For the last decade, Ben Shapiro and The Daily Wire dominated the digital landscape. From Facebook to chart-topping podcasts, they seemed untouchable. But in 2025, the data tells a different story. With a 90% drop in YouTube views, massive layoffs, and the high-profile exit of CEO Jeremy Boreing, the "Conservative Disney" empire is crashing and burning.
The Bulwark's Will Sommer joins me on this week's episode of Power User to dive deep into the rise and fall of Ben Shapiro. We break down the explosive internal feud with Candace Owens, the catastrophic failure of his Hollywood ambitions, how a changing Facebook algorithm killed their traffic overnight, and what his fall reveals about the future of conservative media. 
We cover:
The Daily Wire layoffs and financial struggles.

Why Ben Shapiro is losing his audience to creators like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson.

The failure of "Anti-Woke" entertainment and the "Conservative Hollywood" dream.

How the death of Charlie Kirk created a massive fracture in the MAGA movement.

Why Ben Shapiro is irrelevant to Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

What if everything you've been told about technological progress is a lie?
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AI is changing society faster than ever, but resistance to technology is not new. For this week's Free Speech Friday I spoke with academic Thomas Dekeyser, author of Techno Negative, about the history of anti-technology movements, from the Luddites smashing machines in the Industrial Revolution to anarchist groups bombing computer companies in the 1980s.
We discuss AI, labor automation, surveillance, moral panic, Silicon Valley ideology, tech CEOs, machine breaking, environmental destruction, and why backlash against technology keeps returning throughout history. We also explore whether technological progress actually benefits ordinary people, or mainly serves corporations and power. Sometimes it's not what you think!
Topics include:
Why anti-AI movements are growing

Big Tech and labor exploitation

AI moral panic and conspiracy theories

Environmental costs of AI

Surveillance and control

The politics of technological progress

Why people resist new technology

Silicon Valley and deregulation

The Lie Created To Strip Your Rights Online
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In March, a CNN investigation into a "Global Academy" of 62 million men allegedly drugging and assaulting women broke the internet. But the most viral story of the year was built on a foundation of misleading statistics and bad journalism. 
Journalist Kat Tenbarge joins me to debunk the "62 Million Men" narrative. We dig into how this story was used to manufacture consent for dangerous new censorship laws and who is actually behind the movement to repeal Section 230.
In this video, we cover:
Why the "62 million" figure is a misleading traffic stat, not a count of criminals.

The connection between CNN’s reporting and far-right Christian nationalist groups like Exodus Cry.

How the "Global Academy" branding was manufactured from a single interview quote.

The real-world harm of FOSTA-SESTA and why new "safety" bills like KOSA actually endanger victims.

How mainstream media organizations lobby against free speech to protect their own business interests.

Don't let emotional propaganda dictate tech policy. We look at the systemic failures of the legal system and why villainizing platforms instead of perpetrators is a losing battle for women's rights. If you’ve seen the “62 million men” claim, you need to watch this.

Should AI be protected by free speech laws?
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In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Corbin K. Barthold, Internet Policy Counsel at Tech Freedom, to discuss one of the most controversial legal papers of the year: "Why the First Amendment Protects Artificial Intelligence."
While many are calling for strict AI regulation to prevent "AI psychosis" or the spread of misinformation, Corbin argues that AI outputs are a protected form of expression. If we allow the government to dictate what an LLM can and cannot say, are we inadvertently giving them the power to control our access to information?
In this video, we cover:
Why AI content qualifies as First Amendment protected speech.
The theories the government uses to justify censorship.
Analysis of recent tragic cases involving Character AI.
Why New York’s S7263 law might be "rank protectionism" for doctors and lawyers.
The progressive case for why we should actually want free and open AI.
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