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Every episode
Taylor Lorenz’s Power User
30 episodes
[PATREON PREVIEW] Inside America's First Venture Backed Bot Farm
Aug 17, 2026 · 7 min
To listen to the full episode and get access to more bonus episodes, an ad-free listening experience, and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻 Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz What happens when startups straight up stop hiring human creators and start leveraging industrial-scale bot farms powered by AI? In this bonus episode of Power User, I sit down with New York Magazine's Re…
Your iPhone Could Send You to Jail: The Terrifying Truth About Prairieland
Aug 14, 2026 · 26 min
Inside the Case That Could Change Protesting Forever FOR AD-FREE EPISODES SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz This week on Free Speech Friday, I sat down with independent investigative journalist Andrew Fedorov, whose bombshell Mother Jones piece reveals the horrors of the Prairieland case, which was one of the harshest protest sentencing outcomes in modern U.S. history. Activists who gath…
The Insane Collapse of Silicon Valley's 'Nostradamus of AI'
Aug 12, 2026 · 32 min
The Wild Rise and Fall of Leopold Aschenbrenner LISTEN AD-FREE!! 👇🏻 Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Until a week ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner was hailed as the "Nostradamus of AI". A 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher whose 165-page manifesto, Situational Awareness, convinced Silicon Valley and Wall Street that superintelligence was coming faster than anyone expected, his hedge fund ballooned to over…
The Viral Elon Musk Lawsuit Everyone Is Getting Wrong
Aug 7, 2026 · 36 min
Everyone got this viral lawsuit totally wrong. FOR AD-FREE EPISODES, BUY A PAID SUBSCRIPTION TO MY PATREON OR SUBSTACK!! SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz This week, a viral story claimed Elon Musk's xAI is suing Minnesota so that he can create AI-generated CS*M. That false claim exploded across social media, but it leaves out the most important part. In this episode of Free Speech Frida…
AI Is Destroying Millions of Books (But Not For The Reason You Think)
Aug 5, 2026 · 22 min
Is AI destroying human literature? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz You might have seen the viral videos of a "book guillotine" slicing the spines off thousands of books in a massive warehouse. Last week, the internet exploded after videos surfaced showing Anthropic cutting the spines off thousands of books to train AI models. Social media quickly filled with claims that AI companies we…
Inside The Nantucket Influencer War
Aug 3, 2026 · 48 min
Nantucket's "No Influencers" Sign Started a Gender and Class War, Here's What It's Really About SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Last week, the internet exploded after a small Nantucket shop posted a simple sign reading "No Influencers." What started as a local controversy quickly became a national debate about influencer culture, old money, quiet luxury, class, authenticity, and the fu…
Trump's Plan to Destroy 'Woke AI'
Jul 31, 2026 · 28 min
If AI becomes the foundation of search, education, government, and everyday life, the fight over who controls AI outputs could shape the future of the internet. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz The Trump administration is making a major push to reshape AI in a way that could affect ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and every AI company building the future by trying to ban "woke" AI. In thi…
The AI War Just Went Nuclear: Everyone Hates Anthropic Now (Even Denny's Diner)
Jul 29, 2026 · 39 min
The biggest fight in AI isn't about chatbots anymore, it's about who gets to control the future of artificial intelligence. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Is Anthropic trying to lock down AI before their IPO, or are open-weight models genuinely a threat to global safety? In this episode of Power User, Matthew Berman, co-founder of the tech media outlet Forward Future, breaks down the…
The Secret Plan to Kill Super PACs (How We Finally End Citizens United)
Jul 24, 2026 · 29 min
The Secret Court Case That Could Destroy Super PACs Forever SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz You've been told that Citizens United created Super PACs… but that's not the full story. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig reveals the obscure lower court ruling (SpeechNow v. FEC) that actually unleashed unlimited billionaire money into American electi…
OpenAI Could Lose Everything w/ Alex Kantrowitz
Jul 22, 2026 · 35 min
🔒 Get 20% off DeleteMe by going to https://joindeleteme.com/TAYLOR20 and use code TAYLOR20 to protect your privacy! 🙌 🚨 Apple is officially suing OpenAI and the allegations are insane. 🚨 SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In what might be the most shocking Silicon Valley lawsuit of the year, Apple has accused OpenAI of corporate sabotage, trade secret theft, and orchestrating a massiv…
[PATREON PREVIEW] Bill Gates Daughter's $43M Tech Scandal
Jul 20, 2026 · 5 min
To listen to this and other bonus episodes, buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co or support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz. Affiliate marketing is one of the biggest industries on the internet, and according to researcher Ben Edelman, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest AI startups may have been abusing it. In this bonus episode of Power User I sat down with Edelman to break down what’s happening with Phia, the shopping startup co-founded by Phoebe…
How the Government Uses AI to Spy on You
Jul 17, 2026 · 28 min
The government is using powerful AI tools to build massive digital dossiers on everyday citizens, and it’s happening with zero oversight. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sat with Matthew Guariglia, Senior Policy Analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), to expose how generative AI has democratized mass surveillance. From the FBI’s mas…
A Physicist Destroys Elon Musk's Mars Fantasy
Jul 15, 2026 · 36 min
We are never going to Mars. And the billionaires selling you the dream are lying to your face. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz The idea of living on Mars has become one of Silicon Valley's biggest promises. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other tech billionaires claim humanity's future depends on becoming a multi-planetary species. But what if nearly everything you've been told about colonizing Mars is…
Kids Aren't Addicted to Phones — Here's the Data (The Top Academic Studying Social Media & Children Breaks Things Down)
Jul 10, 2026 · 43 min
Is social media actually destroying a generation, or are we in the middle of a massive political moral panic? For this week's Free Speech Friday I sat down with one of the world's leading researchers studying young people, technology, and mental health to answer one question: Did social media really create a generation-wide mental health crisis? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz For years we've been…
Why Smart Glasses Feel Different This Time w/ Amy Odell
Jul 8, 2026 · 43 min
Are we living through the dawn of a permanent Surveillance Summer? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Kylie Jenner is the new face of Meta's AI smart glasses and suddenly, mass surveillance is a fashion trend. Influencers are declaring a "hot surveillance summer," West Village fashion girlies are posting AI glasses selfies, and for thousands of people (not me! lol), cameras on your face have official…
Bars Are Secretly Scanning Your Face And Tracking You
Jul 3, 2026 · 30 min
Most people hand their ID to a bouncer without thinking twice. But what if your local bar was monitoring way more than your age? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Cydney Hayes is a tech and business reporter at the Gazetteer SF.and she joins me for this week's Free Speech Friday to discuss her investigation into Patronscan, a creepy biometric surveillance system being integrated into bars and restau…
The Terrifying New Bounty Economy w/ Adam Aleksic (Etymology Nerd) & Aidan Walker
Jun 30, 2026 · 39 min
The internet has entered a terrifying new era where reality itself has become a marketplace. Adam Aleksic (Etymology Nerd) & Aidan Walker join me to break it all down. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Pump Fun GO is a new service that lets anyone pay anyone to do anything, and the results are terrifying. From paying people in poor countries $13 to get forehead tattoos to offering $95 for degrad…
Congress Just Declared War on the Internet: The Patriot Act For Online Spaces Is Here
Jun 26, 2026 · 34 min
The Kids Act Could End Internet Freedom As We Know It. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz A massive new package of legislation, dubbed the "Kids Act," is moving through Congress with unprecedented speed. The package is a broad-based censorship and surveillance scheme that will affect every single American. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Fou…
The Riskiest Bet in Tech History: Elon Musk's Most Dangerous Company Yet
Jun 24, 2026 · 30 min
SpaceX just pulled off the biggest IPO in history and made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. But is it all built on a fantasy? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In this week's episode of Power User, I sit down with Ryan Mac, the main New York Times reporter covering SpaceX and co-author of Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, to unpack how SpaceX went from a startup mocked by ae…
[PATREON PREVIEW] What Is Peter Thiel Doing In Argentina? (and what's with his secret cult) w/ NYT's Ryan Mac
Jun 22, 2026 · 8 min
Subscribe to my Patreon or newsletter to listen to the full episode! SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Over the past few months, Peter Thiel has become fully infatuated with Argentina. He bought a house there, enrolled his kids in school, has been attending local soccer matches, playing chess with locals, and the Argentine government is exploring offering the billionaire permanent residence and citi…
Hasan Piker Reveals The New Censorship Playbook: The Twitch Streamer on KOSA, Section 230, jawboning, travel bans and more
Jun 19, 2026 · 43 min
Hasan Piker On The Terrifying Future Of Internet Surveillance SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: patreon.com/taylorlorenz Hasan Piker joined me for this week's Free Speech Friday for a wide-ranging conversation about online censorship, government surveillance, digital ID laws, Section 230, TikTok, KOSA, free speech, the JAWBONE Act, internet privacy, and the growing pressure campaigns targeting creators and political commentators.…
Why Timothée Chalamet Is Shilling Kalshi: Inside The Plan To Monetize Everything
Jun 17, 2026 · 33 min
Why is Kalshi suddenly everywhere? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have become one of the most powerful forces in American media, politics, and culture. In this episode of Power User, I sit down with NPR's Bobby Allyn, the country's top prediction-markets reporter, to break down how Kalshi went from a tiny startup that 50 lawyers refused to represent t…
The Anti-LGBTQ Internet Censorship Bill Is Back
Jun 12, 2026 · 33 min
Just in time for Pride month, Marsha Blackburn and the Heritage Foundation's anti-LGBTQ censorship is back (now supported by OpenAI). SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is back, and this time, the White House is reportedly negotiating a deal to pass it in exchange for federal preemption of state AI laws. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I break down why KOSA is…
Exposing OpenAI's Secret Meme Army: A $125M Propaganda Network
Jun 10, 2026 · 21 min
Exposing The Dark Money Machine Behind AI Propaganda SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz I break down my investigation into a network of pro-AI and anti-AI meme accounts that I found were secretly being run and funded by OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz's big $125M super PAC and dark money group. I reveal how these accounts operated, who is connected to them, why they promoted both sides of t…
Are You On A Govt Watchlist? Cops Are Tracking Anyone Who Hates AI
Jun 5, 2026 · 18 min
Are you on a government watchlist just for criticizing AI? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz A shocking new investigation from The Intercept reveals that police are tracking seemingly anyone who expresses skepticism or anger about the tech industry online. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, journalist Sam Biddle joins me to dive deep into a t…
The Data Center Boom Is More Toxic Than You Think
Jun 3, 2026 · 48 min
Are AI data centers destroying the environment, driving up power bills, and consuming massive amounts of water, or is the backlash overblown? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In this episode of Power User, I sit down with Wired senior climate and energy reporter Molly Taft to unpack the AI data center boom. We discuss how AI infrastructure actua…
Visa Could Ruin the Internet
May 29, 2026 · 29 min
What if you woke up tomorrow and completely lost access to your bank account, credit cards, PayPal, and Venmo, all because of something you posted online? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In this episode of Free Speech Friday, Rainey Reitman, advisor at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and author of the new book "Transaction Denied" join…
Why AI Doom Content Is Everywhere
May 27, 2026 · 45 min
Have you noticed your social media feeds suddenly flooding with terrifying content about AI existential risk? From TikTok clips warning about "AI psychosis" to viral YouTube shorts claiming chatbots are pushing people to the brink, the anti-AI movement has taken over the internet... But what if these "anti-AI" influencers aren't actually what they seem? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams,…
Elon Musk’s Final Plan: A Dangerous Blueprint For World Domination
May 22, 2026 · 36 min
Elon Musk has evolved far beyond a billionaire CEO. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz According to political theorists Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, Musk has created an entirely new ideology called “Muskism” — a system where technology companies merge with state power, AI shapes politics, and billionaires become more powerful than governments.…
The AI Job Apocalypse: Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass w/ Jasmine Sun
May 20, 2026 · 52 min
What happens if AI becomes smarter than humans at most jobs? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz Researchers, economists, and top AI executives are increasingly warning about the rise of a “permanent underclass”, a future where millions of workers lose not just their jobs, but their economic value altogether. In this episode of Power User, I sit do…
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