Daring Fireball
Nilay Patel: ‘Beware Software Brain’
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/04/23/patel-software-brain
Nilay Patel: ‘Beware Software Brain’

Link to: https://www.theverge.com/podcast/917029/software-brain-ai-backlash-databases-automation

Daring Fireball
Apr 23 at 8:19pmDF Tootbot
Show threadTed TodorovApr 23

@daringfireball The main difference between the early days of Internet (early 1990s or 1980s if you want to count Usenet) was that no regular Jane or Joe had a clue what it was or cared about it.

Smartphone era: Regular people had heard of the Blackberry (not a Smartphone), but when the iPhone came out in 2007, they just thought it was a toy.

AI, in 2026 is completely unavoidable on media, TV, anywhere. Most people are not well informed about AI, but they are forced to have an opinion

Show threadNitApr 23
@daringfireball actually lost for words at the poll numbers from one of the links. That country has a lot of pain ahead.
Show threadDelricApr 23

@daringfireball he had me until:

“My friend Ezra Klein”

…gross.

Show threadhot coffeeApr 24
@daringfireball we have moved from “a bicycle for the mind” to “the steamroller of the mind”
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaApr 24

@hotcoffee @daringfireball What a great phrase… I also immediately thought of the infamous iPad Pro press ad when Nilay talked about flattening people…

One of the astronomy Ph.D. students of my cohort used to say that “software people are always trying to socialize their problems”, and at the time I saw part of his point, but now I realize how right he was.

Show threadtylercheungApr 24
@daringfireball something is profoundly off when the gent who wrote that "seminal essay" now also is a raving right wing lunatic with questionable grounding in reality
Show threadRoelandMay 4

@daringfireball I think this is downstream of software getting worse and worse in general. People have learned that technological progress no longer results in better products. If anything it will enable more enshittification.

Case in point for AI: its most prominent use case is all the vile shit companies like Meta are doing.

As you wrote here
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/05/04/photoshop-modern-user-interface

Photoshop’s ‘Modern User Interface’ Sucks (and Doesn’t Feel Modern)

Link to: https://unsung.aresluna.org/photoshops-challenges-with-focus-pt-2/

Daring Fireball