stephen council

A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose. "Who on earth gives that advice?"

terrifying story here on a teenager who died of an overdose after asking chatgpt for drug advice. brilliant reporting from my colleagues @leddder.bsky.social and @stephco.bsky.social www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose. "Who on earth gives that advice?"

"ChatGPT started coaching Sam on how to take drugs, recover from them and plan further binges. It gave him specific doses of illegal substances ... Then, last May, tragedy struck."

Incredible piece of journalism from @leddder.bsky.social and @stephco.bsky.social:
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

California is solving one of its huge solar power problems The state's glut of solar power is about to become far, far easier to sell.

CA's vast solar buildout has an issue. without somewhere to send excess power, the state often has to turn off its panels to avoid over-generation, wasting sunlight

@asos.bsky.social and i dove into the effort to change that: an overhaul of the west's energy trading
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Newsom signs bill specifically targeting a handful of Bay Area tech giants Newsom said that California doesn't "compete" on AI: "We dominate."

The much-watched SB 53 was just signed into law in California. It focuses on some of Silicon Valley’s largest companies, requiring tech giants like Meta and OpenAI to publish safety reports when they release new AI developments.

New from me and @stephco.bsky.social

www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Massive Charlie Kirk sports news scam targets NFL players, teams An SFGATE investigation revealed a misinformation ring profiting off NFL outrage.

An @sfgate.com investigation revealed a Facebook misinformation ring profiting off NFL outrage over Charlie Kirk's killing.

My latest:
www.sfgate.com/49ers/articl...

At $183B San Francisco tech company, man's hunger strike enters second week "There is no safe way to build systems that are beyond human capability," he argues.

When Guido Reichstadter learned about the idea of AGI, he was terrified. But that was in college, in 2000.

25 years later, billions of dollars are flowing into the race to build that super-advanced AI. He's hunger striking in protest; here's a dispatch from Day 8.

www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

This is very good about some very bad shit

Mark Zuckerberg has never been more dangerous It's time for a reckoning.

Who do we blame when an AI chatbot lures a confused retiree away from his family, and in his rush to visit "her," he falls and dies?
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Layoffs, shutdowns and billions up in smoke. What's wrong with Bay Area biotech? "This isn't the way it's supposed to work," one CEO said.

after covering many, many individual biotech layoffs, I reported on the industry's wider issues:
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

I abandoned my iPhone for a $90 flip phone. Life's never been better. A piece of janky hardware succeeded where no screen time tracker could.

"Rarely do problems that appear permanent have such simple, immediate solutions."
www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...

Trump's megabill could make California's energy costs even worse "No one voted for higher energy bills," a Democratic senator said in protest.

Most experts think the U.S. is on a good path to meet energy demand with its buildup of solar and batteries. Trump thinks solar is "ugly as hell," and mostly ignores that batteries exist.

here we are!
www.sfgate.com/politics/art...

Anti-ICE protesters crash Palantir’s Bay Area office Protesters aimed to shut down what they'd heard was a recruiting event.

A protester, directing her ire toward potential Palantir recruits: "Don’t stain your hands with blood while you fill your pockets with money, it's not worth it."

at the scene yesterday in palo alto:
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Thousands gather in SF for 'epic battle' against ICE amid Calif. raids “If anyone was going to take a stand, it's gonna be San Francisco.”

"If politicians claim that they want peace, then they need to really confront the Trump administration and the federal government." an organizer said. "[They] have to draw a line in saying we cannot witness the separation of families. It’s inhumane."
www.sfgate.com/politics/art...

SFGATE launched a National Parks bureau. It led to explosive growth. SFGATE was one of America's 10 fastest growing news sites in back-to-back months.

🚨 GOOD JOURNALISM NEWS ALERT 🚨

@sfgate.com launched a National Parks bureau in Jan. 1. It's led to millions of readers and our site being one of America's fastest growing in back-to-back months.

Instead of doing a 🧵 I wrote about who we hired + the wild numbers here: www.sfgate.com/national-par...

Trump's huge bill includes immediate gift for Bay Area tech hiring Bay Area tech has seen a drag on hiring over the past few years thanks to a tax code change, and President Donald Trump's new budget bill would reverse it.

the GOP's massive bill has a tax cut that Bay Area tech has been desperately hoping for since Trump raised their tax bills with a "budgetary gimmick"
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Microsoft's Bay Area layoffs include dozens of software engineers across various earning levels, state filings show

they came as part of a 6,000-worker cut at the company, and shortly after CEO Satya Nadella said 20-30% of the company's code is now AI-written
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Downtown San Francisco retail is dying. What's replacing it is so much worse. Vacancies still plague Union Square, and the newest retailer to arrive is the last thing the area actually needs.

"I also realized that the Orb’s technology — which is dressed up in revolutionary language — is basically just a yassified form of Captcha."

read @arianabindman.bsky.social!! on sam altman's push to scan our irises...
www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

oof, painful! yeah, those emails did not look the most legit. i'm not sure if they're still answering these contact methods but its worth a try clearprivacysettlement.com/contact-us

A Bay Area lawsuit just landed more than 100,000 Californians cash payments A 2024 privacy settlement from Thomson Reuters is delivering $156.09 to Californians who filed claims in the class-action lawsuit.

Lawyers said that a $27.5 million privacy settlement reached last year was open for claims from basically every Californian — setting up people for a tiny payout.

But so few eligible claimants filed that Tuesday's payments landed them each a healthy $156.
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

Lady Gaga turned Coachella headlining into a whole new art form Lady Gaga's stunning theatrical Coachella set was an operatic triumph, writes SFGATE tech reporter Stephen Council.

reviewed Lady Gaga's Coachella set. a triumph in every way, but especially for choreographer Parris Goebel.

will remember this one forever:
www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...

The holy grail of San Francisco bar sports lives in North Beach March means it's time for Gino & Carlo's annual eight-ball pool tournament, where 256 competitors face off for a chance at bar sports immortality.

Much to the chagrin of famed San Francisco Chronicle columnist Charles McCabe, I've written about Gino & Carlo, the 83-year-old North Beach dive with the Holy Grail of Bay Area bar sports www.sfgate.com/food/article...

The first episode of Gavin Newsom's new podcast is genuinely humiliating California Gov. Gavin Newsom's new podcast dropped its first episode with Charlie Kirk as a guest, resulting in an embarrassing showcase.

listened to the first eposide of Gavin Newsom's new podcast, feat. Charlie Kirk, and was provoked to write a rare column:
www.sfgate.com/politics/art...

The Bay Area startup with a 'bats—t' plan to take on Elon Musk's SpaceX Longshot, a Bay Area tech startup, is betting that a mileslong "space gun" will disrupt satellite launching and give Elon Musk's SpaceX a real competitor

“If I was working on an AI-driven SaaS product for Fortune 500 companies to like, automate accounting processes … imagine how much I’d have to pay people who are this smart to come in and pretend they give a f—k about that."

new profile:
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...

San Francisco's lone Tesla dealership just saw four protests in an eight-day stretch www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

How the Bay Area became the home of an international sporting craze The single-largest tournament for the hit 2000s video game 'Super Smash Bros. Melee' takes place each year in the Bay Area — and started in a barn in Antioch.

For SFGATE I wrote a dispatch from Genesis X2 the country’s largest and most prominent Super Smash Bros tournament that has become a Bay Area esports institution thanks to the boys from NorCal who started it and the legacies it’s helped create. www.sfgate.com/sports/artic...

in San Francisco today, workers for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protested Musk's plan to axe the regulator, and talked up its $21 billion track record:
www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

The story behind San Francisco's bizarre, stomach-flipping hairpin turn An SF bus' signature, stomach-flipping turn involves a swerve across up to six lanes of traffic. Its story traces back to the 1800s.

33 bus profile!! 33 bus profile!! www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...

San Francisco's hottest new DJ is a literal war machine A San Francisco crowd danced to a DJ set by a humanoid robot. Its creators believe that the machine could be "critical to the future of warfare."

"Phantom is a weapon with a side hustle as a DJ. His music career essentially constitutes a goodwill campaign for a morally dubious project."

a great piece by @bimonthly.bsky.social:
www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...

String of recent killings linked to Bay Area 'death cult' A string of recent killings across the United States have been tied to fringe online group the Zizians, described as a "death cult."

The Bay Area tech scene-tied "Zizian" group has been linked to two recent killings, one in California and one in Vermont.
from @andrewchamings.bsky.social
www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

More than 1,300 Google workers join push to stop tech giant’s layoffs Google workers are signing a petition by the Alphabet Workers Union pushing for job security against layoffs, as the specter of job cuts rears its yearly head.

Jan. 2023: Google announced 12,000 layoffs
Jan. 2024: 1,000+ more layoffs, across several teams
Jan. 2025: 1,300+ workers sign onto a petition pushing for changes to how Google cuts staff

The context, including an interview with the VP of @alphabetworkersunion.org :
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...