Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

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**Taylor Lorenz’s Power User**

Taylor Lorenz explores how technology and the internet are upending our lives and the world around us. Each week, she explores everything from online fame to emerging platforms, viral phenomena, the creator economy, and much more. Tune in every Wednesday for regular episodes and every Friday for “Free Speech Friday,” her series on tech policy and the fight for civil liberties online.

Latest Episodes:

The Viral Elon Musk Lawsuit Everyone Is Getting Wrong Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

Everyone got this viral lawsuit totally wrong.

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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 Friday, I sit down with First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff to break down Minnesota's new AI law, why xAI is challenging it, why major civil liberties orgs like the ACLU are also against the law, and why free speech advocates across the country say the law raises serious concerns.

This convo is NOT defending Elon Musk. It is about understanding how AI regulation can produce unintended consequences and why even laws that claim to do good can do immense harm to us all.

We discuss:

The $500,000-per-image penalties facing AI companies
How the law could affect image generators, creative software, and indie developers
Why First Amendment scholars are sounding the alarm
The risks of strict liability for AI platforms
The chilling effect on online speech and creative expression
Whether AI-generated content deserves First Amendment protection
How this compares to Section 230, FOSTA-SESTA, and the Take It Down Act
Why regulating platforms instead of bad actors may have unintended consequences

AI Is Destroying Millions of Books (But Not For The Reason You Think) Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Is AI destroying human literature?

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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 were destroying rare books, erasing human knowledge, and building a future where artificial intelligence replaces libraries.

But is that actually what happened?

In this episode of Power User, I sit down with tech policy expert Derek Slater, who worked on the original Google Books project, to explain why Anthropic is actually scanning books and destroying physical copies afterward, how decades of copyright law (not just AI) created this bizarre situation, and how we can actually save the books!!

We discuss:

Why Anthropic buys books by the pallet
Whether rare books are actually being destroyed
How Google Books handled digitization
Why copyright law incentivizes destroying books
The Internet Archive lawsuits
Fair use and AI training
The future of libraries in the AI era
Why the viral outrage missed the bigger story

Inside The Nantucket Influencer War Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

Nantucket's "No Influencers" Sign Started a Gender and Class War, Here's What It's Really About

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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 future of social media.

In this bonus episode of Power User, I'm joined by freelance reporter Andrea Domanick, co-host of The Culture Journalist podcast and newsletter, to unpack the most cursed discourse of the summer. We get into why this fight is not actually about one sign or one influencer, and who gets to define status, taste, and authenticity in America's most exclusive spaces.

We explore:

The Four Winds Craft Guild controversy
Paige Lorenz and Dairy Boy
Quiet luxury and the old money aesthetic
The rise of influencer culture
Why "influencer" has become a loaded word
The history of influencer bans
Social media, class, and cultural capital
Why privacy has become the ultimate luxury

Trump's Plan to Destroy 'Woke AI' Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

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.

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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 this episode of Free Speech Friday, TechDirt's Mike Masnick joins me to break down the FTC's proposed AI policy, what it actually says, and how it will pressure AI companies to change their answers, withhold information, give misleading information, and what this battle means for free speech, censorship, AI regulation, and open-weight models.

We discuss:

• Trump's AI Executive Orders • The FTC's new anti-woke AI policy proposal • ChatGPT and AI censorship • Free speech and the First Amendment • OpenAI vs Grok • Open-weight AI models • Government regulation of artificial intelligence • The future of AI in America

The AI War Just Went Nuclear: Everyone Hates Anthropic Now (Even Denny's Diner) Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

The biggest fight in AI isn't about chatbots anymore, it's about who gets to control the future of artificial intelligence.

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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 explosive debate rocking Silicon Valley and Washington DC.

After the release of China's powerful Kimi K3 open-weight model, OpenAI's autonomous hacking benchmark, and a growing push from Anthropic to restrict open AI models, Silicon Valley has erupted into one of the biggest technology battles in years.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft, Meta, Google, IBM, Hugging Face, Mozilla, Palantir, Dell and dozens of other massive technology companies have all come together to publicly back open weight AI models, while Anthropic argues against them.

Whoever wins will control the future of the tech landscape for decades to come.

I break down:

What open weight AI actually is

How Kimi K3 changed the AI race

The OpenAI benchmark that escaped containment

The Hugging Face security incident

Anthropic's campaign against open models

Why Jensen Huang and all of Silicon Valley is pushing back

The growing debate inside Washington over regulating AI

Why this fight could determine who controls AI for decades

The Secret Plan to Kill Super PACs (How We Finally End Citizens United) Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

The Secret Court Case That Could Destroy Super PACs Forever

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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 elections, and the groundbreaking legal strategy that could end Super PACs by 2028 WITHOUT overturning Citizens United.

Backed by an unlikely coalition including Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman, Lessig and his group Equal Citizens helped Maine voters pass a historic ballot initiative banning Super PAC contributions. Now the case is headed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals on July 29, with famed Supreme Court litigator Neal Katyal arguing that nothing in the Constitution protects billionaires' "right" to buy elections. If the appeal succeeds, this case could reach the Supreme Court by 2027 and revive existing federal limits on campaign contributions nationwide.

We break down: ▶ Why SpeechNow v. FEC — not Citizens United — created the Super PAC system ▶ How the Menendez bribery indictment exposed the "no quid pro quo" myth ▶ The originalist argument designed to win over conservative justices ▶ Billionaire outside spending's explosion from 0.3% to 19% of election money ▶ The AI Super PAC trying to block Congress from regulating artificial intelligence ▶ Why an Article V constitutional convention may be the backup plan ▶ What happens if the First Circuit rules on July 29, and the road to SCOTUS

If you care about money in politics, campaign finance reform, and getting billionaire money out of elections, this is the most important legal fight you've never heard of.

OpenAI Could Lose Everything w/ Alex Kantrowitz Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

🔒 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. 🚨

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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 massive campaign to poach over 400 former Apple employees to build its secret AI hardware division. From ex-employees using security bugs to access secret Apple folders, to candidates allegedly bringing physical Apple prototypes to job interviews for "show and tell", this legal battle gives us a rare, cutthroat look at the AI hardware arms race.

In this episode of Power User, I sat down with tech reporter and Big Technology founder Alex Kantrowitz to break down everything you need to know about the Apple vs. OpenAI lawsuit. Will this kill OpenAI's hardware ambitions and ruin its upcoming IPO? Will we ever actually get a ChatGPT phone? And why is Apple taking such aggressive legal action now? We break down why this isn't just another tech lawsuit, it's literally a fight over who will own the future of AI.

We discuss:

Why OpenAI hired Jony IveWhether an OpenAI phone is actually coming
The future of AI glasses, AI pins, and wearable devices
Why Apple may be trying to stop OpenAI before it can compete
The race to control the next generation of computing
Whether AI hardware is the future or another Silicon Valley flop
Why OpenAI tried to copy Apple's hardware roadmap instead of building from scratch.
How this lawsuit could cripple OpenAI's valuation and delay its IPO.
The future of AI hardware: AI pins, smart glasses, or will the iPhone remain king?

[PATREON PREVIEW] Bill Gates Daughter's $43M Tech Scandal Jul 20, 2026

Show notes

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 Gates that has raised over $43 million from famed Silicon Valley investors like Kleiner Perkins Sheryl Sandberg, along with a slew of celebrities including Sydney Sweeney, Khloe Kardashian and Hailey Bieber.

We break down allegations that Phia’s browser extension secretly inserted affiliate tracking codes, how this compares to the Honey controversy, why retailers could have lost millions, and what this means for the future of AI-powered shopping.

How the Government Uses AI to Spy on You Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

The government is using powerful AI tools to build massive digital dossiers on everyday citizens, and it’s happening with zero oversight.

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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 massive physical paper filing hangars of the 20th century to modern AI models that scrape your social media, track your geolocation, and predict your political affiliation in seconds—the barrier to entry for government surveillance has officially collapsed.

We dive deep into Guariglia's recent congressional testimony on the AI security landscape, revealing how the Pentagon is blacklisting tech companies like Anthropic for trying to restrict AI from being used in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

In this video, we cover:

How AI is automating mass surveillance at an unprecedented scale.
The secret government contracts and the battle for unrestricted AI use.
Why your social media history, geolocation, and purchases create a permanent record.
The historical lessons from Ferguson and the Japanese-American internment that prove data is vulnerability.
What you can do to protect your digital rights (hint: it starts with turning off your geolocation).

A Physicist Destroys Elon Musk's Mars Fantasy Jul 15, 2026

Show notes

We are never going to Mars. And the billionaires selling you the dream are lying to your face.

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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 quite literally scientifically impossible?

In this week's episode of Power User, I sat down with physicist and science journalist Adam Becker, author of More Everything Forever, a fantastic book that I absolutely loved, to break down the biggest myths about Mars colonization, SpaceX, AI, and Silicon Valley's vision of the future.

We discuss why Mars is far more hostile than most people realize, the scientific barriers that make permanent settlement nearly impossible, and why billionaires continue selling this vision despite knowing it will never become reality.

We cover:

Why humans will literally NEVER live on Mars
The biggest scientific problems SpaceX can't solve
The truth about Elon Musk's Mars colony plans
Why Silicon Valley keeps selling science fiction as reality
How AI and space colonization became part of the same billionaire narrative
Why investing in Earth may matter far more than escaping it

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