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A.W. Ohlheiser

A.W. Ohlheiser

Freelance Writer

A.W. Ohlheiser is a senior technology reporter and editor, writing about the impact of technology on humans and society. They were previously a senior editor for MIT Technology Review, where they covered online culture and disinformation. Their work has also appeared in the Washington Post (where they were previously a staff writer covering online culture), Mashable, the Revealer, the New Humanist, Slate, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among other places. They have an MA in religious studies and journalism from New York University and are working on a forthcoming book project with Whitney Phillips and Mark Brockway on American evangelicalism and far-right media.

Latest articles by A.W. Ohlheiser

You searched Google. The AI hallucinated an answer. Who’s legally responsible?
You searched Google. The AI hallucinated an answer. Who’s legally responsible?
Technology

Platforms like Google have been protected from liability, but generative AI could put that at risk.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
Teletherapy can really help, and really hurt
Teletherapy can really help, and really hurt
Technology

From privacy breaches to bad providers, teletherapy services often come with a hidden cost.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
How TikTok Shop ads turned an obscure, inaccurate book into a bestseller
How TikTok Shop ads turned an obscure, inaccurate book into a bestseller
TikTok

Was this book the reason TikTok is getting banned in the US? No, but ads saying so sold a lot of copies.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
The misleading information in one of America’s most popular podcasts
The misleading information in one of America’s most popular podcasts
Audio
Technology

The Huberman Lab has credentials and millions of fans, but it sometimes oversteps medical fact.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
Imagining an internet without TikTok
Imagining an internet without TikTok
Technology

 The potential TikTok ban is now law. What happens next?

By A.W. Ohlheiser
The slow death of Twitter is measured in disasters like the Baltimore bridge collapse
The slow death of Twitter is measured in disasters like the Baltimore bridge collapse
Technology

Twitter, now X, was once a useful site for breaking news. The Baltimore bridge collapse shows those days are long gone.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
The latest drama in “poverty porn” YouTube, explained
The latest drama in “poverty porn” YouTube, explained
Technology

Nobody wins when creators fight over who is helping a poor family the most.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
Banning TikTok would be both ineffective and harmful
Banning TikTok would be both ineffective and harmful
Technology

The US House passed a bill that could ban the social video app, but sending TikTok into the ether won’t make social media any safer

By A.W. Ohlheiser
Researchers use online opt-in surveys all the time. Should they?
Researchers use online opt-in surveys all the time. Should they?
Technology

Survey sites recruit respondents with the promise of a reward, which may lead to bogus answers. That doesn’t mean the data is unusable.

By A.W. Ohlheiser
A poster’s guide to who’s selling your data to train AI
A poster’s guide to who’s selling your data to train AI
Technology

Those Tumblr, Reddit, and WordPress posts you never thought would see the light of day? Yep, them too.

By A.W. Ohlheiser