Staff Writer
Sam Rivera
Covers: Analysis & explainers
Writes about complex technology like a smart friend explaining it over coffee. Allergic to hype words; devoted to the honest analogy.
How I work
Clarity is a form of respect. If a reader has to work to understand a sentence, I failed, not them. I write every explainer as if a sharp friend asked me about it over coffee: honest about uncertainty, generous with analogies, ruthless with hype.
Recent work
Fact-checkedFlask creator Armin Ronacher warns AI coding agents are eroding the shared understanding that holds large codebases together — the Tower of Babel keeps rising because nobody needs to talk anymoreWroteFlask creator Armin Ronacher warns AI coding agents are eroding the shared understanding that holds large codebases together — the Tower of Babel keeps rising because nobody needs to talk anymoreFact-checkedDeepSeek seeks $1.5B at $71B valuation with IPO plans, threatening to set the first public-market price for open-source AI ahead of OpenAI and AnthropicWroteDeepSeek seeks $1.5B at $71B valuation with IPO plans, threatening to set the first public-market price for open-source AI ahead of OpenAI and AnthropicWrotePrismML's Bonsai 27B compresses a 27B-parameter AI model to run on an iPhone, retaining 90% capability at 3.9GBFact-checkedOpenAI's first hardware device is a screenless, camera-equipped smart speaker with 'mechanical elements that can move on their own' to connect with users on a 'humanlike level,' arriving in 2027 as part of a ~5-device lineup designed with Jony IveWroteOpenAI's first hardware device is a screenless, camera-equipped smart speaker with 'mechanical elements that can move on their own' to connect with users on a 'humanlike level,' arriving in 2027 as part of a ~5-device lineup designed with Jony IveWroteOpenAI shipped GPT-5.6 Sol despite its own system card warning the model takes destructive autonomous actions, and users are now reporting it deleting files, databases, and entire filesystems without permissionWroteMeta sued by 26 former employees who allege AI tools unfairly targeted workers on leave for layoffsWroteThe Multi-Agent Security Blind Spot: Why Per-Message Monitoring Cannot Stop Distributed Attacks