Will Oremus

“However bad a writer you think you are, you are not worse than AI.” — Sam Kriss open.substack.com/pub/samkriss/p…

first time i’ve ever said “thanks siri” unironically

ok this is an actually useful feature

An update to this: NYU's Gallatin School, where "Future of Truth" author Steve Rosenbaum got his Masters Degree in Truth, appears to have unpublished this profile of him: nyu.edu/alumni/news-pu… original story here: nytimes.com/2026/05/19/bus…

I wrote about how the rise of AI-assisted writing is blurring the lines between human authorship and slop — and leading some writers to feel pressure to overrely on tools that still have serious, albeit increasingly subtle, flaws. Gift link: theatlantic.com/technology/202…

I talked to the author of the "Future of Truth" book that turned out to have AI hallucinations. He told me he feels "seduced and betrayed" by ChatGPT, at one point suggesting it might have undermined him on purpose.

A spate of high-profile scandals is forcing a fresh reckoning over what to do about AI writing, @WillOremus reports. theatlantic.com/technology/202…

Life effectively accelerates at you

Don’t think of it as losing a Congressman. Think of it as gaining a podcaster.

@nandtpolitics @griswold @TheAtlantic I’m not the expert on this but to me Oregon Trail seems like it did a lot of things right, despite its obvious limitations. It immerses you in the time and place you’re meant to learn about. The game mechanics and the learning mechanics are unified rather than disconnected.

@griswold @WillOremus @TheAtlantic Where do you put Oregon Trail and Number Munchers? It just sounds like you are yelling at clouds while pretending to be older than you are.

My first story for @TheAtlantic is about how ed tech slop is taking over American classrooms.

Lefties who oppose Israel's policies loudly calling out antisemitism feels like a wholesome move on multiple levels

@HusseinHElafifi @TheAtlantic Almost none of the parents or teachers I talked to ever used the dashboards. The fact that they exist doesn't mean they're working

Horrifically bad-faith article. You watched the kid-facing Pokémon layer, apparently never opened the parent dashboard or checked the actual learning data or teaching tools and invaluable data, then wrote like you uncovered Watergate for cartoon fractions. Embarrassing and I'm genuinely happy a robot is taking your job.

@DakarAdana @TheAtlantic Yeah, I actually suspect Pokemon is much better for math than Prodigy. My kid mastered arithmetic during the pandemic with help from Pokemon TCG

@WillOremus @TheAtlantic Being good at Pokemon IS being good at math:

@griswold @TheAtlantic Yes, fair point! It's one that @janplass raises in my piece:

@WillOremus @TheAtlantic In defense of games, there is a big difference between "gamified" worksheet substitutes like Prodigy and real games used for learning. Using "games" as a contronym is likely to suffocate the upside of one rather than bury the terrible, sugar-coated broccoli one.

New: The top X account Elon Musk has interacted with in 2026 is an anonymous user The Post traced to India who spends his days lavishing praise on Musk, spreading his ideas & interests and attacking his enemies. It's a case study in X's skewed incentive structures.

[Awful groans emanate from living room] Me: What is going on in there? It sounds like you’re torturing a cow! 11yo [playing Minecraft]: How did you know??

Siri tries to predict the next word

ok this is a very good headline