Mediagraphy of AI and Big Tech critical sources

Circé

20 mars 2026 — 14 min de lecture

One of the biggest obstacles I face in my fight against the scourges that are generative AI, Big Tech and other fascist-leaning clankers, is that most people aren’t aware of all the critical literature on the subject. This makes it difficult to have conversations about it without coming across as an unhinged conspiracy theorist. Most people are only aware of the discourse available on traditional media and the bigger social media platforms. Unfortunately, these media have bought in Big Tech and AI to various degrees, this makes them very shy on the criticism. When they do criticize, it is meekly and mostly to regurgitate the industry’s narrative. There is currently, to my knowledge, no legitimate critical discourse on generative AI in the mainstream media.

That is why I wish to share with you a thematic bibliography of sources critical of Big Tech and AI. If you notice any sources missing that you consider relevant, please let me know. I will continue to add sources over time.

P.S. The bibliography format is in French, but most sources are in English.

General sources on tech and AI

404 Media, tech news and podcast : https://www.404media.co

Alkhatib, A. (2024, 24 juin). Ali Alkhatib: Destroy AI. https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/destroy-ai

Alkhatib, A. (2024, 6 décembre). Ali Alkhatib: Defining AI. https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/defining-ai

Bender, E. M. et Inie, N. (2026, 7 janvier). We Need to Talk About How We Talk About « AI ». TechPolicy.Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-ai/

Blood in the machine, blog and podcast from Brian Merchant : https://www.bloodinthemachine.com

Cate Denial blog, a blog by Cate Denial : https://catherinedenial.org/blog/uncategorized/against-generative-ai/

Computer says maybe, a podcast by The Maybe : https://www.themaybe.org/podcast

Critical AI, scholarly resource by Olivia Guest https://olivia.science/ai/

Moser, A. (2025, 26 août). I Am An AI Hater. moser’s frame shop. : http://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html

Mystery AI Hype Theatre 3000, a podcast from DAIR : https://www.dair-institute.org/maiht3k/

Pivot to AI, a blog and podcast from David Gerard : https://pivot-to-ai.com, https://pivottoai.libsyn.com

Politechs, a podcast from Politech : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/politechs/id1825785781

Tech won’t save us, a blog and podcast from Paris Marx : https://www.techwontsave.us

The data fix, podcast from dr. Mél Hogan : https://shows.acast.com/the-data-fix

Economy, AI bubble

Ed Zitron's blog : https://www.wheresyoured.at

Ed Zitron's podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-offline/id1730587238

Gil, B. (2026, 23 février). AI Added « Basically Zero » to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/ai-added-basically-zero-to-us-economic-growth-last-year-goldman-sachs-says-2000725380

Ha, A. (2026, 14 mars). Meta reportedly considering layoffs that could affect 20% of the company. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/14/meta-reportedly-considering-layoffs-that-could-affect-20-of-the-company/

Seybold, M. (2026, 23 janvier). « You have to use it. You have to trust it. »: Forced Adoption of AI is The Subtext of Davos [Substack newsletter]. The American Vandal. https://theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/you-have-to-use-it-you-have-to-trust

Education

Guest, O., Suarez, M., Müller, B., van Meerkerk, E., Oude Groote Beverborg, A., de Haan, R., Reyes Elizondo, A., Blokpoel, M., Scharfenberg, N., Kleinherenbrink, A., Camerino, I., Woensdregt, M., Monett, D., Brown, J., Avraamidou, L., Alenda-Demoutiez, J., Hermans, F. et van Rooij, I. (2025, 5 septembre). Against the Uncritical Adoption of « AI » Technologies in Academia. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17065099

Guest, O. et Van Rooij, I. (2025, 17 octobre). AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education. Project Syndicate. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ai-will-not-save-higher-education-but-may-destroy-it-by-olivia-guest-and-iris-van-rooij-2025-10

Merchant, B. (2026, 12 mars). « If AI is writing the work and AI is reading the work, do we even need to be there at all? » Education workers reveal a growing crisis on campus and off. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/if-ai-is-writing-the-work-and-ai

Palmer, K. (2026, 16 mars). Writing Faculty Push for the Right to Refuse AI. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/teaching-learning/2026/03/16/writing-faculty-push-right-refuse-ai

Stokel-Walker, C. (2026, 11 mars). ChatGPT Edu feature reveals researchers’ project metadata across universities (exclusive). Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91507219/chatgpt-edu-researchers-project-metadata-universities-exclusive

Weinberg, J. (2026, 17 février). Grammarly Is a Cheating Machine. Daily Nous. https://dailynous.com/2026/02/17/grammarly-is-a-cheating-machine/

Eugenics, sexual violence, sex work, CSAM

Dupré, M. H. (2026, 13 mars). Character.AI Is Hosting Epstein Island Roleplays Scenarios and Ghislaine Maxwell Bots. Futurism. https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/character-ai-epstein-island-ghislaine-maxwell

Horwitz, J. (2025, 14 août). Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with children. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meta-ai-chatbot-guidelines/

Maiberg, E. (2026, 13 janvier). Instagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex Scandals. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/instagram-ai-influencers-are-defaming-celebrities-with-sex-scandals/

Mithani, J. (2026, 17 mars). Women and girls are taking Grok to court over sexualized AI deepfakes. The 19th. https://19thnews.org/2026/03/women-girls-lawsuit-grok-ai-deepfakes/

Perdue, N. (2026, 19 février). Grok Exposed a Porn Performer’s Legal Name and Birthdate—Without Even Being Asked. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/

Governments

Cox, J. (2026, 11 mars). Here’s the Memo Approving Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot for Use in the Senate. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/heres-the-memo-approving-gemini-chatgpt-and-copilot-for-use-in-the-senate/

Tomulescu, R. (2026, 10 mars). L’absence de réglementation en matière d’IA au Canada pointée du doigt. Radio-Canada. Radio-Canada.ca. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2236736/encadrement-ia-poursuite-openai-tumbler-ridge

Racism, white supremacy, radicalisation, masculine toxicity, extreme-right

Birhane, A. (2024). Algorithmic Bias. Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.21428/e2759450.50c7e139

Gauthier, G., Hodler, R., Widmer, P. et Zhuravskaya, E. (2026). The political effects of X’s feed algorithm. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2

Fascism, authoritarianism, war

Bordelon. (2026, 24 février). Pentagon sets Friday deadline for Anthropic to abandon ethics rules for AI — or else. POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/24/hegseth-sets-friday-deadline-for-anthropic-to-drop-its-ai-red-lines-00795641

Gerard, D. (2025, 10 décembre). Department of Defense goes to war by AI chatbot. Pivot to AI. https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/12/10/department-of-defense-goes-to-war-by-ai-chatbot/

Goodman, A. (2026, 18 mars). Speeding Up the “Kill Chain”: Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/18/ai_warfare

Keough, J. (2026, 6 mars). Exclusive: AI Error Likely Led to Iran Girl’s School Bombing. https://thisweekinworcester.com/exclusive-ai-error-girls-school-bombing/

Young, C. (2026, 13 mars). ‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is a threat to UK’s security. The Nerve. https://www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-technologies-uk-mod-sources-government-data-insights-security-state-secrets

AI image and video generation, esthetics of fascism, AI slop, AI and the worlds of art, plagiarism, deepfakes

Alemohammad, S., Casco-Rodriguez, J., Luzi, L., Humayun, A. I., Babaei, H., LeJeune, D., Siahkoohi, A. et Baraniuk, R. G. (2023, 4 juillet). Self-Consuming Generative Models Go MAD. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.01850

Argent, M. (2025). A new frontier of American propaganda. Index on Censorship, 54(3), 72‑73. https://doi.org/10.1177/03064220251382205

Bourquin, C. (2026, 13 février). Des organismes publics utilisent l’IA pour illustrer leurs publications. La Presse, Actualités. https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2026-02-13/des-organismes-publics-utilisent-l-ia-pour-illustrer-leurs-publications.php

Brickner-Wood, B. (2026, 7 janvier). ICE’s New-Age Propaganda. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/ices-new-age-propaganda

Gault, M. (2026, 16 mars). CEO Asks ChatGPT How to Void $250 Million Contract, Ignores His Lawyers, Loses Terribly in Court. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/ceo-ignores-lawyers-asks-chatgpt-how-to-void-250-million-contract-loses-terribly-in-court/

Gerard, D. (2025, 10 décembre). Department of Defense goes to war by AI chatbot. Pivot to AI. https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/12/10/department-of-defense-goes-to-war-by-ai-chatbot/

Green, R. (2025, 6 novembre). The ethics of AI-generated content and who (or what) is responsible. Index on Censorship. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/11/the-ethics-of-ai-generated-content-and-who-or-what-is-responsible/

Kornfield, M. (2025, 7 novembre). Labor Department social media campaign depicts a White male workforce. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/07/labor-white-male-images-social-media/

Mercier-Ross, L. (2026, 9 mars). Québec a utilisé l’IA générative dans une de ses publicités. Le Devoir. https://www.ledevoir.com/actualites/societe/962142/quebec-utilise-ia-generative-publicites

Meyer, R. (2025). “Platform Realism”. AI Image Synthesis and the Rise of Generic Visual Content. Transbordeur. Photographie histoire société, (9). https://doi.org/10.4000/13dwq

Pagé, M. (2026, 16 mars). L’art est humain. Le cabinet de curiosités. https://lecabinetdecuriosites.ca/lart-est-humain/

Pagé, M. (2026, 16 mars). Art is human. Le cabinet de curiosités. https://lecabinetdecuriosites.ca/art-is-human/

Prévost, T. (2025, 6 mai). « Slop » : l’IA et l’ère du grand n’importe quoi. Arrêt sur images. https://www.arretsurimages.net/chroniques/clic-gauche/slop-lia-et-lere-du-grand-nimporte-quoi

Santiago Cortes, M. (2025). The ‘Fascinating Fascism’ of AI. https://artreview.com/the-fascinating-facism-of-ai-opinion-michelle-santiago-cortes/

Singh Chouhan, M. (2025, 28 décembre). This simple ChatGPT prompt can turn your Christmas photo into a Norman Rockwell painting. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/this-simple-chatgpt-prompt-can-turn-your-christmas-photo-into-a-norman-rockwell-painting-101766911444704.html

Watkins, G. (2025). AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism. New Socialist. https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/

Yekrangi, A. (2025, 9 novembre). A domestic army in pictures: Inside the far-right art of ICE’s recruitment ads. UN-aligned. https://un-aligned.org/posts/ice-recruitment-ads/

Environemental impact, extractivism, colonialism

Gault, M. (2026, 8 janvier). Texans Are Fighting a 6,000 Acre Nuclear-Powered Datacenter. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/project-matador-datacenter-amarillo-texas/

Gerard, D. (2026, 5 mars). Power price rises are from data centres. Nothing but data centres. Pivot to AI. https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/03/05/power-prices-data-centres-nothing-but-data-centres/

Gerard, D. (2026, 6 mars). How much water do the data centres use? It’s a secret. Pivot to AI. https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/03/06/how-much-water-do-the-data-centres-use-its-a-secret/

Jansen, F. et Oever, N. ten. (2026). More Compute for a Burning Planet? A Scarcity Approach to AI Infrastructures. Dans A. Mollen, F. Jansen, S. Kannengießer et J. Velkova (dir.), AI Infrastructures and Sustainability : Expanding Perspectives on Automation, Communication and Media (p. 321‑339). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-09748-4_15

Koebler, J. (2026, 12 mars). « AI Is African Intelligence »: The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/ai-is-african-intelligence-the-workers-who-train-ai-are-fighting-back/

Olang’, M. (2025, 8 juillet). I’m Kenyan. I Don’t Write Like ChatGPT. ChatGPT Writes Like Me. [Substack newsletter]. this man’s mind. https://marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-i-dont-write-like-chatgpt

White, C. L., Rory. (2026, 27 février). One data centre or one million homes? Mapping Ontario’s proposed hyperscaler boom | Canada’s National Observer: Climate News. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/03/02/news/ontario-towns-cities-data-centres-mapped

Wittenberg, A. (2026, 11 mars). A data center opened next door. Then came the high-pitched whine. POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/11/data-centers-ai-electricity-virginia-00815219

Psychology, health, AI psychosis, medecine

Spirals. (s. d.). Home. Spirals. Récupéré le 19 mars 2026 de https://spirals.stanford.edu/

AFP. (2026, 11 mars). L’IA peut encourager les passages à l’acte lors de tueries ou d’attentats, selon une étude. Radio-Canada. Radio-Canada.ca. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2237605/chatgpt-robot-conversationnel-violence-conseils

Birhane, A. (2024). Algorithmic Bias. Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.21428/e2759450.50c7e139

Bonifield, S. (2026, 12 mars). Microsoft’s Copilot Health can connect to your medical records and wearables. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/tech/893594/microsoft-copilot-health-launch

Cole, S. (2026, 9 février). Chatbots Make Terrible Doctors, New Study Finds. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/chatbots-health-medical-advice-study/

Dowdell, J., Stecklow, S., Terhune, C., Levy, R., Dowdell, J., Stecklow, S., Terhune, C. et Levy, R. (2026, 9 février). As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts. Reuters, Investigations. https://www.reuters.com/investigations/ai-enters-operating-room-reports-arise-botched-surgeries-misidentified-body-2026-02-09/

Dupré, M. H. (2026, 15 janvier). A Man Bought Meta’s AI Glasses, and Ended Up Wandering the Desert Searching for Aliens to Abduct Him. Futurism. https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-glasses-desert-aliens

Glickman, M. et Sharot, T. (2025). How human–AI feedback loops alter human perceptual, emotional and social judgements. Nature Human Behaviour, 9(2), 345‑359. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02077-2

Goodman, A. (2026, 19 février). Social Media Addiction: Facebook Whistleblower Says Big Tech Has Known & Ignored Problem for Years. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2026/2/19/social_media

Hogan, M. (2026). The Ends of AI. Disjunctions. https://disjunctionsmag.com

Kurjata, A. (2026, 10 mars). Family of Tumbler Ridge shooting victim suing OpenAI. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/openai-sued-tumbler-ridge-victim-9.7121635

Li, R.-N., Folk, D., Singh, A., Ungar, L. et Dunn, E. (2026). Is a random human peer better than a highly supportive chatbot in reducing loneliness over time? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 125, 104911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2026.104911

MacHour, A. (2026, 4 mars). OpenAI promet de communiquer avec la GRC pour prévenir d’autres drames, dit Evan Solomon. Radio-Canada. Radio-Canada.ca. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2234851/chatgpt-tumbler-ridge-solomon-altman-eby

Moore, J., Grabb, D., Agnew, W., Klyman, K., Chancellor, S., Ong, D. C. et Haber, N. (2025). Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers. Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3715275.3732039

Moore, J., Mehta, A., Agnew, W., Anthis, J. R., Louie, R., Mai, Y., Yin, P., Cheng, M., Paech, S. J., Klyman, K., Chancellor, S., Lin, E., Haber, N. et Ong, D. (2026). Characterizing Delusional Spirals through Human-LLM ChatLogs. https://spirals.stanford.edu/research/characterizing/

Wells, G. (2026, 20 février). Exclusive | OpenAI Employees Raised Alarms About Canada Shooting Suspect Months Ago. Wall Street Journal, Tech. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62

Employment, job market

Dzieza, J. (2026, 10 mars). The Laid-off Scientists and Lawyers Training AI to Steal Their Careers. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/white-collar-workers-training-ai.html

Merchant, B. (2025, 21 août). AI Killed My Job: Translators. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-killed-my-job-translators

Merchant, B. (2025, 28 novembre). AI Killed My Job: Tech workers. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-ai-is-killing-jobs-in-the-tech-f39

Merchant, B. (2026, 12 mars). Artists are losing work, wages, and hope as bosses and clients embrace AI. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/artists-are-losing-work-wages-and

Nilesh, C. (2026, 12 mars). Why hundreds of people in L.A. are strapping cameras on their bodies to do chores. Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/why-hundreds-people-l-strapping-100000284.html

Robotics

Angelo, J. (2026). Robot dogs priced at $300,000 a piece are now guarding some of the country’s biggest data centers. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2026/03/17/robot-dog-patrols-data-centers-ai-infrastructure-buildout/

Hively, A. (2026, 3 janvier). Tesla Optimus Robot’s Public Failure Has To Be Seen To Be Believed. BGR. https://www.bgr.com/2065073/tesla-optimus-robot-public-failure/

Tangermann, V. (2026, 19 février). Amazon’s Shiny New Warehouse Robot Just Failed in Spectacular Style. Futurism. https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/amazon-warehouse-robot-failed

Surveillance, facial recognition, law enforcement, data privacy

Reclaiming our Humanity in the Age of AI. (2026, 15 mars). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1tJnM81NCM

Cavallier, A. (2026, 13 mars). Grandma jailed after AI error linked her to crime in state she never visited: lawyer. The Independent § News. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/tennessee-grandmother-ai-arrest-error-north-dakota-b2938261.html

Courcy, C. (2026). La reconnaissance faciale déployée à grande échelle sur les téléphones des forces de l’ordre. Disclose. https://disclose.ngo/fr/article/la-reconnaissance-faciale-deployee-a-grande-echelle-sur-les-telephones-des-forces-de-lordre

Cox, J. (2026, 12 février). Cops Are Buying ‘GeoSpy’, an AI That Geolocates Photos in Seconds. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/cops-are-buying-geospy-ai-that-geolocates-photos-in-seconds/

Einbinder, N. (2026, 9 mars). AI cameras are everywhere — and people are paying the price for their mistakes. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/flock-safety-alpr-cameras-misreads-2026-3

When the state openly admits it wants its eyes on you at all. (2026, 20 mars). https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/podcasts/in-solidarity-podcast/ai-panopticon-surveillance-jim-killock-open-rights/

Lonsdorf, K. (2026, 5 mars). ICE has spun a massive surveillance web. We talked to people caught in it. NPR, National. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s1-5717031/ice-dhs-immigrants-surveillance-confrontation-deportation-mobile-fortify

Techno-fascism, boomer/doomer, oligarchs, tech-bros, Silicon Valley, the Singularity

Auslander, R. (2025, 21 août). Historian Mar Hicks on why nothing about AI is inevitable. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91384078/nothing-about-ai-is-inevitable-historian-mar-hicks-on-rejecting-the-future-were-being-sold

Becker, A. (2025). More everything forever AI overlords, space empires, and Silicon Valley’s crusade to control the fate of humanity. Basic Books.

Bender, E. M. et Inie, N. (2026, 7 janvier). We Need to Talk About How We Talk About « AI ». TechPolicy.Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-ai/

Doctorow, C. (2025). Enshitification: why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it. MCD.

Marx, P. (2025, 24 octobre). Generative AI is a societal disaster. Disconnect. https://disconnect.blog/generative-ai-is-a-societal-disaster/

Shrishak, K. (2025, 10 novembre). Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement. Irish Council for Civil Liberties. https://www.iccl.ie/press-release/scientists-call-on-the-president-of-the-european-commission-to-retract-ai-hype-statement/

Warner, J. (2026, 15 février). Can We Please Stop it with the AI Woo-Woo? [Substack newsletter]. The Biblioracle Recommends. https://biblioracle.substack.com/p/can-we-please-stop-it-with-the-ai