Crypto Corruption, AI Erotica, & the Antichrist
A roundup of recent news and research at the intersection of Tech & Democracy
Welcome back to the Tech & Democracy Roundup! We’re keeping you up-to-date on everything you need to know at the intersection of technology & democracy— both the perils and the possibilities.
~
Crypto Corruption
In yet another example of corrupt dealings between the Trump Administration and the cryptocurrency world, Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, aka ‘CZ.’ In 2023, CZ pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering as CEO. Luckily, lobbyist Charles McDowell is close friends with Donald Trump Jr.; last month, McDowell’s lobbying firm was paid $450k for lobbying work on “executive relief” and “financial services policy issues relating to digital assets and cryptocurrency.” Small world!
Our own Danielle Allen laid out how crypto opens up a whole new avenue of White House grifting, corruption, and influence-purchasing in her Atlantic essay right at the beginning of the term: ‘The Problem with $TRUMP.’ The launch of Trump’s memecoin not only enriched his family by billions; it also created a direct line of access for coin-holders around the world (including foreign adversaries) to untraceably influence the President. Want a favor? Well, how much $TRUMP do you hold?
The corrupting fusion of the worst elements of the crypto world with the White House has been facilitated by the White House’s special ‘AI and crypto czar,’ David Sacks. Sacks has major influence in the administration as a go-between from Washington to Silicon Valley; he has a finger in many big deals involving the government across AI and crypto, and it seems like he’s probably enriching himself in the process. Paul Graham, the beloved startup guru and founder of YCombinator, once tweeted at Sacks: “I was talking recently to another investor about whether you’re the most evil person in Silicon Valley. He thought about it for a few seconds, and agreed that he couldn’t think of anyone worse.” Tough.
When crypto grifters and scammers get all the attention, it’s sometimes easy to forget the revolutionary, emancipatory potential offered by blockchain technology. Technologies of decentralization open many possibilities for those who wish to experiment with liberal-democratic governance, communication, and decision-making. In this optimistic vein, The Renovator’s Tech & Democracy fans may enjoy this new paper by Puja Ohlhaver—
AI Erotica
The AI race continues its race-to-the-bottom trajectory, as Sam Altman follows Elon Musk and Grok’s lead by announcing that OpenAI will likely start introducing AI erotica for adult ChatGPT users.
In some related news, California became the first state to regulate AI companion chatbots (SB 243):
“SB 243 will go into effect January 1, 2026, and requires companies to implement certain features such as age verification, and warnings regarding social media and companion chatbots. The law also implements stronger penalties for those who profit from illegal deepfakes, including up to $250,000 per offense. Companies must also establish protocols to address suicide and self-harm, which will be shared with the state’s Department of Public Health alongside statistics on how the service provided users with crisis center prevention notifications.”
“Per the bill’s language, platforms must also make it clear that any interactions are artificially generated, and chatbots must not represent themselves as healthcare professionals. Companies are required to offer break reminders to minors and prevent them from viewing sexually explicit images generated by the chatbot.”
On the governance side, Governor Newsom sided with the tech lobby in an AI companion standoff
There were two proposals around AI companions: AB 1064 (vetoed) and SB 243 (passed)
AB 1064 had stricter measures — it would ban companies from making AI companions available to children unless they are “not foreseeably capable” of engaging in certain harmful conduct. TechNet lobbied against this bill. Here is the Newsom veto message.
The Antichrist
Peter Thiel’s private lecture series in San Francisco on the topic of ‘The Antichrist’ has been causing a lot of buzz. Thiel’s obsession with the Antichrist carries large consequences for his powerful political project, and the neoreactionary movement as a whole. His comment that the Antichrist ‘definitely wants a Nobel Peace prize’ has many people wondering if Thiel thinks Trump is the Antichrist— making Thiel’s deep investment in the Trump Administration all the more interesting, and baffling.
Read more about that here: https://www.thenerdreich.com/peter-thiel-says-antichrist-wants-a-nobel-peace-prize/.
You can also read The Guardian’s piece on Thiel’s Antichrist obsession: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/13/peter-thiel-the-antichrist-and-why-the-world-should-listen.
Even South Park addressed Thiel’s Antichrist quest: https://www.ign.com/articles/south-park-season-28-premiere-twisted-christian-review-recap.
Other News
AWS (Amazon Web Services) outage sends hundreds of services offline: Amazon Cloud Outage Reveals Democratic Deficit in Relying on Big Tech
Meta axed 600 AI roles, especially from its Fundamental AI Research Unit (FAIR), while it continues to invest in high-profile acquisitions for its new superintelligence team.
Manipulating the meeting notetaker: The rise of AI summarization optimization by Gadi Evron and Bruce Schneier
Opportunities!
Foundations for the Digital Commons, October 30-31 in Maine; Supported by Partners in Democracy, Northeastern University, and RadicalxChange.
From the Allen Lab:
Reboot Democracy: Designing Democratic Engagement for the AI Era series hosted by the Allen Lab, InnovateUS & The GovLab
Citizens Assemblies and AI: Online event hosted by Danielle Allen & Claudia Chwalisz October 29th; register for free!
“Explore how artificial intelligence can enhance citizen assemblies and other deliberative democratic innovations. Learn how AI can improve participant selection, facilitate small group discussions, synthesize complex policy information for lay participants, and help assemblies process expert evidence more effectively. Examine real-world examples of AI-supported assemblies and discover frameworks for maintaining democratic legitimacy while leveraging technology to make deliberative processes more accessible and effective.”
Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Fellowships, due January 9, 2026
Thiel's spiel about the AC seems tailored to defend AI to evangelicals; as podcasters rise and fall gaining and losing to some degree million and more click audiences. He's trying his hand at weaving a tale that interests a conspiracy-searching section of the public. It doesn't seem to be catching on, but after Thiel's support for Curtis Yarvin nothing should surprise. But as this same group of conspiratorialists has trouble paying their bills and even buying food like millions of others, the ravings of billionaires--Thiel is hardly the only one--are perhaps not as resonant in a public at large struggling to survive as they might have otherwise hoped. The original utopianism of the commercial Internet of thirty years ago in the late 90's is long gone--replaced by our nouveau billionaire class that has collectively tossed the common good in exchange for their aspirations to be Plato's philosopher kings. God help us all.