The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication (original) (raw)

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Ph.D.

"The emerging tech-backlash
is a story of pendulum swings"

About the Author

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Ph.D., is a communication researcher and author of "The TECHLASH and Tech Crisis Communication." She is a Former Research Fellow at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Her area of expertise is tech media. Her research focuses on tech discourse, especially around emerging technologies.

Dr. Weiss-Blatt is a contributor to Techdirt and has also published in The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Big Think, and Tech Policy Press. Her investigative journalism on "AI Panic" has reached hundreds of thousands of views, and it was named one of the "Top AI Newsletters of 2024." She was quoted in The Washington Post, WIRED, Forbes, VentureBeat, Engadget, Ars Technica, Slate, Fast Company, The Independent, Le Monde, the Financial Times, IEEE Spectrum, and Scientific American.

The Techlash Book

"The TECHLASH and Tech Crisis Communication" book is about Tech Journalism and Tech PR.

It Tells the "Inside Story" of the Backlash Against Big Tech.

- Research Questions:

1. When and why did the tech coverage shift?

2. How did tech companies respond to the rise of tech criticism? Which crisis communication strategies were utilized?

3. What can we learn about the more profound changes in the power relations between the tech media and the tech giants they cover?

- Research methods:

1. AI-Media monitoring, Big Data analytics – to identify the tech companies' peaks of coverage and evolving criticism.

2. Content analysis of the tech companies' crisis responses – to reveal their strategies.

3. In-depth interviews with actors on both sides of the story, leading tech journalists and tech PR professionals – to create a virtual panel of experts, debating the broader meaning of the Techlash.

Contents

THE PRE-TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 1. Tech News and Tech Public Relations

THE TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 2. Big Tech – Big Scandals
Chapter 3. Tech Crisis Communication
Chapter 4. Evolving Techlash Issues

THE POST-TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 5. Never-Ending Criticism?

The #TechlashBook Chapters - Content Outline

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According to WorldCat, the book is available in hundreds of University Libraries

(September 2024: 871 libraries)

Book Excerpts

In the Media

Podcasts Guest - Podchaser
TWiG (This Week in Google) Podcast: How tech journalism changed since 2016

TWiT | Podcast Guru | YouTube: Full episode | What is the TechLash? | transcript

Techdirt Podcast: How the Techlash happend

Techdirt OpEd (opinion piece): Donald Trump Caused The Techlash
Innovation Files Podcast: How pack journalism and predictable crisis PR responses have influenced the Techlash

Business Bookshelf Podcast: Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt - Author of "The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication"

NEWSWEEK OpEd: Big Tech's Art of Making Up the Rules as It Goes Along
The PRovoke Media Podcast: The role of communication in Techlash

Techdirt OpEd: There's a Growing Backlash Against Tech's Infamous Secrecy. Why Now?
Techdirt OpEd: Facebook: Amplifying the Good or the Bad? It's Getting Ugly
Techdirt OpEd: TECHLASH 2.0: The Next-Gen Techlash is Bigger, Stronger & Faster
Techdirt OpEd: Can We Compare Dot-Com Bubble To Today's Web3/Blockchain Craze
Techdirt OpEd: What Happens When A Russian Invasion Takes Place In The Social Smartphone Era
Emerald Podcast Series: Understanding the Techlash Era

Emerald | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | transcript

Tech'ed Up Podcast: Big Tech PR: Battling Techlash

Tech'ed Up | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | transcript

Techdirt OpEd: A Guide for Tech Journalists: How To Be Bullshit Detectors and Hype Slayers (and Not the Opposite)
Keen On Podcast: Why the Techlash Has Gone Too Far

Keen On | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

The Daily Beast OpEd: Don't Be So Certain Social Media Is Undermining Democracy
Tech Policy Press OpEd: The Emerging Tech PR Template for Attacking Whistleblowers
Big Think OpEd: Bombastic eulogies: Let's put an end to cynical "The End of" headlines
Peoples & Things Podcast: Nirit Weiss-Blatt on The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication

Techdirt OpEd: AI Art is Eating the World, and We Need to Discuss its Wonders and Dangers
The Daily Beast OpEd: Generative AI Is Not Our Gateway To Heaven Nor A Frankenstein Monster
YouTube: AI Hype - Explained. A 25-minute version of my lecture "The Media Coverage of Generative AI."
Techdirt OpEd: Overwhelmed By All The Generative AI Headlines? This Guide Is For You
Tech News Weekly podcast: AI Headlines

Tech News Weekly | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Techdirt OpEd: The AI Doomers' Playbook
Techdirt OpEd: Like The Social Dilemma Did, The AI Dilemma Seeks to Mislead You with Misinformation
Medium post: 7 Ways AI Media Coverage is Failing Us
AI Inside podcast (Club TWiT members-only show, exclusive content)
Techdirt OpEd: 2023: The Year of AI Panic
AI Inside: Follow the Funding of AI Doom

AI Inside show | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify

Techdirt: Effective Altruism's Bait-and-Switch: From Global Poverty to AI Doomerism

- AI PANIC newsletter (Substack):

Your Guide to the Top 10 "AI Media Frames"
What's Wrong with AI Media Coverage & How to Fix It
What Ilya Sutskever Really Wants
The AI Panic Campaign - part 1
The AI Panic Campaign - part 2
Effective Altruism Funded the "AI Existential Risk" Ecosystem with Half a Billion Dollars
Ultimate Guide to "AI Existential Risk" Ecosystem
The $665M Shitcoin Donation to the Future of Life Institute
Panic-as-a-Business is Expanding
Effective Altruism's Bait-and-Switch: From Global Poverty to AI Doomerism
The Role of AI Metaphors in Shaping Regulations
When Effective Altruism Takes a Dark Turn
My comment about Facebook's rebrand to Meta generated widespread discussion. For example, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, The Mercury News, The Week UK, The London Economic, Jerusalem Post.
An article in Forbes quoted the book for a discussion about the start-up's ethical movement: "In The Techlash, Nirit Weiss-Blatt chronicles the change in the nature of media coverage of the tech industry, from fawning admiration to a more critical stance that is slightly more capable of seeing warts in the sector."
An article in Forbes quoted the book for a discussion about employee well-being: "Various stories of workers revolting against such practices have emerged in books such as The Techlash, by the University of Southern California's Nirit Weiss-Blatt, and Alex Rosenblatt's Uberland, with such stories taking some of the unvarnished veneers off of the march of technology in recent years."
FamilyandMedia – an international think-tank with research members from Italy, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile – published a review of my book in three languages:
English, Italian, and Spanish.
The author of this piece is a marketing expert from Italy, who wrote: "In her book The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, she explores how – and through which means – tech companies have responded to the spreading negative sentiments about them and summarizes valuable lessons."
In the 2022 Israel Brands Index, Google ranks first. Far behind, at number 123 (!): Facebook. WHY? An interview with Globes - Israel's financial newspaper (in Hebrew & English).
Engadget featured my response to Andy Stone's fabricated email: The bizarre saga of Meta, The Wire and their fight over Indian content moderation.
The Washington Post published an article on how social media content moderation wars are moving into the AI culture war: The right's new culture-war target: 'Woke AI.' My quote concerns Big Tech's failed attempt to avoid those AI-content moderation battles (more context - here).
In an article for WIRED, Will Knight discusses the "Why They're Worried" paper (that I reviewed and summarized in this Twitter Thread): "A Letter Prompted Talk of AI Doomsday. Many Who Signed Weren't Actually AI Doomers." My quote.
Sharon Goldman from VentureBeat published an article: "Even OpenAI's Ilya Sutskever calls deep learning 'alchemy'" that is based on materials I've provided her. It followed other Ilya Sutskever quotes I published in the "AI Panic Newsletter": "What Ilya Sutskever Really Wants."
Erik Sherman published on Forbes a column titled "The Real Economic Problem of AI isn't Tech but People." He took Ilya Sutskever's quotes from my "What Ilya Sutskever Really Wants" post. Then, he added: "There is a lot going on under the surface. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, a communications researcher who focuses on discussions of technology, has referred to 'AGI utopia vs. potential apocalypse' ideology' and how it can be 'traumatizing.'" (Indeed).
Andrew Orlowski from the Telegraph published in Spiked magazine about "Why are the elites suddenly so terrified about AI?" and quoted: "In recent years, this nerdy utilitarian movement has become obsessed with AI. As author Nirit Weiss-Blatt explains, the policy obsession with AI soon followed, lubricated by some $500 million of effective altruists' money." (Linked to the "Effective Altruism Funded the "AI Existential Risk" Ecosystem with Half a Billion Dollars" piece).

- Quotes during OpenAI's Saga:

VentureBeat (Matt Marshall): OpenAI's leadership coup could slam brakes on growth in favor of AI safety
Investing 101 (Kyle Harrison): The Leaders of Movements
That Was The Week (Keith Teare): The OpenAI Debacle - e /acc versus e /a
Frackers (Michiel Frackers): It looks like Sam Altman is returning as CEO at OpenAI
Slate (Nitish Pahwa): What the Heck Just Happened at OpenAI??
Fast Company (Chris Stokel-Walker): New OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear's time at Twitch gives clues to the future of the AI giant
The Independent (Chris Stokel-Walker): Doomers vs tech boomers: inside OpenAI's bizarre boardroom battle with the man 'who can see the future' (My quote)
Le Monde (Alexandre Piquard): 'The Sam Altman saga shows that AI doomers have lost a battle'
OM (Om Malik): A Letter from Om. Issue #16/2023
IEEE Spectrum magazine published an article (by Michael Nolan) on the "AI Impacts" survey: "Weighing the Prophecies of AI Doom." I'm quoted about the survey's "red flags" - its methodological issues and how it was covered in the media. "A better representation of this survey would indicate that it was funded, phrased, and analyzed by 'x-risk' effective altruists. Behind 'AI Impacts' and other 'AI Safety' organizations, there's a well-oiled 'x-risk' machine. When the media is covering them, it has to mention it."
Scientific American magazine published an article (by Chris Stokel-Walker) on the "AI Impacts" survey: "AI Survey Exaggerates Apocalyptic Risks." I'm quoted about how the AI community is uncomfortable with the focus on "Existential Risk": "Nowadays, more and more people are reconsidering letting Effective Altruism [EA] set the agenda for the AI industry and the upcoming AI regulation. EA's reputation is deteriorating, and BACKLASH is coming."
VentureBeat's Sharon Goldman published an article: "Money and politics continue to merge in AI safety — including a new Super PAC" and quoted the details I posted about Gladstone AI co-founder Eduoard Harris (another AI doomer trying to influence Washington, D.C.).
"The AI Doomers Have Infiltrated Washington" (The Daily Beast, by Louis Anslow) featured my tweet on Effective Altruists who disavow the EA label, and do not cop to being EAs (even while wearing an Effective Altruism T-shirt).
The Week published a piece on the "complex tapestry of AI's impact on society" (by Harmeet Singh and Salik Khan). It mentioned I described 2023 as "the year of AI panic."
Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, the Director of the Reuters Institute, wrote about AI hype cycles. Regarding the current generative AI hype cycle, he describes my work on the AI Panic (What's wrong with AI media coverage & how to fix it) and the overemphasis on extinction risk.
In a profile article of Anthropic (Les Echos, by Anais Moutot), I said that Effective Altruism and AI Doomersim are at the heart of Anthropic: "Anthropic is the AI laboratory that most subscribes to the 'doomerist' hypothesis." Here's why.
"The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Six Years Later" (The Dispatch, by Will Rinehart) mentioned that in my Techlash book, I "laid the 'Techlash' at the feet of Cambridge Analytica."
ArsTechnica published a detailed article on the SB 1047 bill: "From sci-fi to state law: California's plan to prevent AI catastrophe" (by Benj Edwards and Kyle Orland). The topic: The overblown focus on existential threats by future AI models could severely limit AI R&D, slow innovation, and stifle open-source AI. Quotes: Next to AI luminaries like Yann LeCun and Andrew Ng, I added this perspective: "If we see any power-seeking behavior here, it is not of AI systems, but of AI doomers. With their fictional fears, they try to pass fictional-led legislation, one that, according to numerous AI experts and open-source advocates, could ruin California's and the US's technological advantage."
Tania Duarte, Founder of We and AI, wrote on Tech Policy Press about the "AI Hype" special collection and research webinar. I'm quoted on the "AI x-risk" hype: "There's a lot of hyperbolic terminology in AI discourse (e.g., God-like AI, Superintelligence). This AI hype distorts media coverage and public knowledge, resulting in misguided political decisions. We need a better understanding of what AI can and cannot do if we want the proper guardrails. In Prof. Milton Mueller's words, 'If our threat model is unrealistic, our policy responses are certain to be wrong.'"

Endorsements

"In this deeply researched work, Nirit Weiss-Blatt provides an invaluable record of tech media's mood swing as its portrayal of Silicon Valley lurches from utopian to dystopian. What's most surprising and insightful here is Weiss-Blatt's well-documented evidence that the shift from tech-love to techlash came with the election of Donald Trump, as journalists chose to blame internet companies for his rise rather than examine their own culpability. This is much more than a book about tech's PR problems. It is a trenchant analysis and indictment of the news industry's simplistic, binary worldview. Overall, the Techlash book restores nuance to the debate over technology and society."

- Jeff Jarvis, Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, The Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation, CUNY, Blogger, BuzzMachine. He is also the author of "What Would Google Do?", "Public Parts", "Geeks Bearing Gifts", and "Gutenberg the Geek."

"Nirit's in-depth study of tech media chronicles the reputational rise and fall of an entire industry while providing valuable insights to those who work in it. The book provides PR professionals, journalists, and students with a comprehensive analysis of the Techlash's core issues. Whether you're working in tech journalism or tech PR, the book will broaden your understanding of the media scrutiny, the tech clients, and, thus, help you define the future correspondence between the two."

– Fred Cook, Chairman of Golin, Professor of Professional Practice, Director of the USC Center for Public Relations. He is also the author of "Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO."

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