Autonomous weapons (aka "killer robots") were the basis for the Terminator movies and uncounted spinoffs and copycats. But the concept is achievable, and the potential consequences are unthinkable:
"A very, very small quadcopter, one inch in diameter can
carry a one- or two-gram shaped charge. You can order them from a drone
manufacturer in China. You can program the code to say: “Here are
thousands of photographs of the kinds of things I want to target.” A
one-gram shaped charge can punch a hole in nine millimeters of steel, so
presumably you can also punch a hole in someone’s head. You can fit
about three million of those in a semi-tractor-trailer. You can drive up
I-95 with three trucks and have 10 million weapons attacking New York
City. They don’t have to be very effective, only 5 or 10% of them have
to find the target.
There will be manufacturers producing millions
of these weapons that people will be able to buy just like you can buy
guns now, except millions of guns don’t matter unless you have a million
soldiers. You need only three guys to write the program and launch
them. So you can just imagine that in many parts of the world humans
will be hunted. They will be cowering underground in shelters and
devising techniques so that they don’t get detected. This is the
ever-present cloud of lethal autonomous weapons.
They could be here in two to three years."
— Stuart Russell, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California Berkeley
...lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS): weapons that have the ability to independently select and engage targets... humans out of the loop — where the human releases the machine to
perform a task and that’s it — no supervision, no recall, no stop
function.
One of the very real problems with attempting to preemptively ban
LAWS is that they kind of already exist. Many countries have defensive
systems with autonomous modes that can select and attack targets without
human intervention — they recognize incoming fire and act to neutralize
it... Meanwhile, offensive systems already exist, too: Take Israel’s Harpy and second-generation Harop,
which enter an area, hunt for enemy radar, and kamikaze into it,
regardless of where they are set up. The Harpy is fully autonomous...
Among the lauded new technologies is swarms — weapons moving in large
formations with one controller somewhere far away on the ground clicking
computer keys. Think hundreds of small drones moving as one, like a
lethal flock of birds...
I worry it will breed way more terrorist activities. You can call
them insurgents, you can call them terrorists, I don’t care, when you
realize that you can’t ever fight the state mano-a-mano anymore, if
people are pissed off, they’ll find a way to vent that frustration, and
they will probably take it out on people who are defenseless.
Much more in the link.
Reposted to provide addenda: The source link at Buzzfeed for this old (2017) post has undergone partial linkrot, but I'm going to repost the text as an introduction to this old (2018) video about "slaughterbots" -
It presents seven minutes of gradually increasing horror and is very similar in content to "Hated in the Nation" - my favorite episode of Black Mirror -
Posting both because this morning one of my cousins forwarded to me a substack presentation by "Blood in the Machine" entitled "Why the AI backlash has turned violent," which addresses recent physical assaults on various persons associated with AI and public anger against datacenters, including this comment:
"In the short time since I wrote that post, such pointed AI refusal has continued apace. Maine looks set to become the first US state to ban data center development outright. Form letters for refusing AI at work are circulating widely. Public polling of AI sentiment is in the gutter; it’s never been popular, and it’s especially unpopular now. A widely discussed NBC poll found that just 26% of Americans had positive feelings about AI; around half had negative feelings. Gen Z in particular loathes AI: For respondents aged 18-34, AI’s net favorability rating was minus 44."
I have some other offerings to present re AI, but will defer until later and just leave this post up for now.
In some GGWash endorsement processes, we’ve backed candidates who aren’t wholly on board with our top priorities. Sometimes, the best, most urbanist option has been someone who has fallen short on housing, because they’re the only one in the field who’s solid on transportation, or vice-versa.
Not this year.
Per their questionnaires, all our endorsed DC Council candidates on the June 16 ballot agree that there aren’t enough homes in the District; that it’s more important to enable more homes, and more types of homes, in more of our neighborhoods, even if that results in pushback for “changing a neighborhood’s character”; that inducing residents and visitors to drive less should be an explicit policy goal of the District; that there are too many cars; that the District should establish new housing-production targets on five-year cycles, and would propose targets themselves; agree that 15 percent of all homes in a planning area should be affordable, and commit to equitably distributing affordable housing throughout the District’s planning areas; support changing the District’s construction code and permitting processes to make it easier to produce more housing, and would introduce legislation to do so; agree apartments should be legal in all parts of all the District’s neighborhoods and would introduce an amendment to the Comp Plan that would do so; agree that new housing of all types should be built throughout all neighborhoods; support removing parking and travel lanes to build dedicated bus and bike lanes; support the implementation of road pricing and would introduce legislation to do so; would not find it acceptable if the District Department of Transportation director drove to work the majority of the time; and pledge to participate in the National Week Without Driving every fall.
The writing of our 2026 endorsements for candidates running for DC Council followed the Office of Planning’s release of a draft new Future Land Use Map. The FLUM, part of the Comprehensive Plan, determines where and what can be built in the District. OP’s newly released draft, which will enable only an additional 15,000 units by 2050, is devastatingly unambitious.
We expect our endorsee for mayor, Janeese Lewis George, to ensure the Comp Plan rewrite legalizes greater density, particularly apartments District-wide. If the executive falls through, we’ll look to our council endorsees to introduce and support amendments that make GGWash’s Comp Plan priorities possible.
The Comp Plan rewrite is the most substantial issue for us in the coming council period, which will run from 2027–2029. We also aim to work closely with our endorsees, should they win, to make progress on the design and implementation of a road pricing program.
Click the links below to jump to specific endorsements:
Neither Phil Mendelson nor Jack Evans responded to our questionnaire, a prerequisite to be considered for our endorsement. We are, therefore, not endorsing in the council chair race.
We believe that Raymond will most reliably champion more housing, more affordable housing, and fewer trips by car if elected to the at-large majority-party seat. She would “offer and support legislation prioritizing use[s] other than single…occupancy vehicles for precious public space” and “consider legislation that limits ‘bad faith’ appeals while still allowing for meaningful community input” on discretionary zoning cases.
Raymond has considerable experience within District government, which is likely to inform how she will handle nominees to, in particular, the Zoning Commission: She’ll “only support nominees who support the development of additional housing in the District with an emphasis on affordable housing,” because “in order for DC to thrive it must grow and zoning must adapt.”
Raymond tends to emphasize transit-oriented development when asked where the District should build more housing. Nonetheless, she said she would introduce an amendment to the Comp Plan that would legalize apartments in all parts of all the District’s neighborhoods, and we trust she understands the value of increasing density beyond transit corridors.
Raymond is one of the few respondents to our questionnaire who discussed how older adults and disabled people would benefit from improved public transit, including dedicated bus lanes. She has creative ideas to promote bikeshare ridership, and grasps how meaningful “a safe, simple, route to get to school” is for kids and parents.
The caliber of the field to succeed Anita Bonds is, overall, high. Though we determined that Raymond was best on our issues overall, we also believe Nelson and Owolewa would be supportive of building more housing and reducing trips by car if elected. Consider ranking both highly on your ballot.
At-large minority council seat, special election: Elissa Silverman
Greater Greater Washington endorses Elissa Silverman for independent at-large councilmember in the June special election, which, like the Democratic primary, will be held on June 16, 2026. Doni Crawford also responded to our questionnaire.
Kenyan McDuffie, who had served in this role since 2023, resigned in January 2026 to run for mayor. The DC Council appointed Crawford, a longtime McDuffie staffer, to fill his seat until the special election. Whoever wins on June 16 will have to run again in the November 2026 general election if they want to serve a full four-year term.
We agree with Crawford that enabling the development of jobs, grocery stores, healthcare facilities, and childcare centers near where people live is critical, and appreciate her interest in closing more streets to cars. But we endorse candidates who are most likely to advance our issues, so her opposition to road pricing—which Silverman supports and would introduce legislation to enable—is a dealbreaker in a year in which a majority of those running for office are a yes on one of our top policies. We hope that, should Crawford remain on the council, we have the opportunity to work closely on housing production and transportation.
We endorsed Silverman when she ran for a second council term in 2018 and again in 2022, when she lost her bid for a third term to Kenyan McDuffie. She continues to be suitably forward-thinking, writing in response to our questionnaire, “We also should expect another population boom in the future, as the next presidential administration rebuilds the federal government after Trump. We should plan now for that expansion, so we have enough new housing across the city to not price out existing families.”
She also notes her support for Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and At-large Councilmember Robert White’s Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act, which will reboot how the Department of Housing and Community Development funds income-restricted, subsidized housing projects. We’ve long valued Silverman’s attention to detail. If the omnibus passes, the agency will need that kind of constructive scrutiny to ensure that it is spending housing trust fund dollars as the council intends.
Silverman is and has been reliably pro-transit. She correctly identifies a lack of “willpower to stand up for safer streets and better transit” as the impediment to building bus and bike lanes, which “includes not confirming DDOT directors who will make decisions that benefit commuters over residents.”
Greater Greater Washington endorses Aparna Raj for the Ward 1 DC Council seat in the Democratic primary. Rashida Brown, Terry Lynch, and Miguel Trindade Deramo also responded to our questionnaire. We recommend that you rank Raj first, Brown second, and Trindade Deramo third on your ballot.
The Ward 1 race is for an open seat for the first time in 44 years. Outgoing Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau has been a steadfast champion of GGWash’s priorities since 2015 in ways too numerous to detail. We will miss her on the council dearly.
On urbanism, Ward 1 will be set regardless of whether Raj, Brown, or Trindade Deramo wins. While their styles vary, there is—to the ward’s benefit—little daylight between theirstatedstances on housing and transportation. Raj edges out Brown by not just supporting building-code reforms and road pricing, but also being willing to introduce legislation to advance them. That the former chair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Metro-DC chapter writes most convincingly of the three about the need for more market-rate housing may raise eyebrows. But it is representative of an emerging pro-growth mentality on the left that GGWash believes is worthwhile to foster.
Brown and Trindade Deramo, too, deserve your vote. We recommend that Ward 1 voters rank Brown second and Trindade Deramo third. Both are advisory neighborhood commissioners, though Brown’s much-longer tenure on ANC 1E, formerly 1A, and unwavering commitment to the redevelopment of Park Morton and Bruce Monroe puts her ahead. ANC 1B chair Trindade Deramo, whose entry point to local affairs was I-83 and cleaning up Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park, is a natural on transportation and has been a very quick study on housing production. However, as a relative newcomer to the local political landscape, he might benefit from more time navigating various relationships in the ward before serving as a councilmember.
Ward 1 is the District’s densest and, fittingly, its most urbanist. That shows in our three preferred candidates, who make for an outstanding pool. Raj, Brown, and Trindade Deramo represent the very best of what Ward 1 has to offer to those who support more housing, more affordable housing, and fewer trips by car. Regardless of the outcome in June, we anticipate all three will remain in local politics, and hope they are as committed to our priorities beyond the Ward 1 race as they say they are while in it.
Though Matthew Frumin and Adam Prinzo both responded to our questionnaire, Prinzo did not secure enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Frumin, the incumbent Ward 3 councilmember, is now running unopposed. GGWash is not endorsing in the Ward 3 council race.
We endorsed Frumin in 2022, following the lead of our initial endorsee, Ben Bergmann, who, with some of his competitors, stepped back to consolidate the field. At that time, we wrote, “[w]hile not a candidate perfectly aligned with GGWash, Frumin shares many of our policy priorities.”
Per his responses to our questionnaire, this is still true: Frumin affirmed his support for prioritizing more homes above preserving neighborhood character and for inducing people to drive less.
But Ward 3—large, low-density, amenity-rich, segregated, and affluent—deserves a leader who is unabashedly pro-housing. Historically, a minority of Ward 3 residents have weaponized land use processes to protect its status as an exclusionary enclave. The Comp Plan rewrite is a singularly important opportunity to set Ward 3 on a more welcoming trajectory. Frumin is not so much of a fighter that we feel we can sign off on him in an uncompetitive race.
We have been, and remain, glad to find opportunities to work with Frumin when they present themselves. As he is on track to win a second term, we sincerely hope that he will, if not lead the charge, stand more prominently for a more inclusive, pro-growth Ward 3 when conflict arises.
Ward 5: Zachary Parker
Greater Greater Washington endorses Zachary Parker for the Ward 5 DC Council seat in the Democratic primary. Bernita Carmichael also responded to our questionnaire.
Parker, whom we endorsed in 2022, may not be the most active councilmember on GGWash’s issues, but his responses to our questionnaire demonstrate a grasp of why more housing and fewer trips by car matter not just to Ward 5, but the District overall. We value his belief that buses should move faster than traffic and that “car ownership is often a financial burden rather than a choice” for residents who live east of the Anacostia River.
There are some contradictions within Parker’s responses. For example, we are skeptical that it is possible to “ensure our land use framework supports both community voice and the homes our residents urgently need.” Aligning “street design, transit funding, and land use policy” so that we can lower household costs while improving mobility for everyone” requires moving at a faster clip than most District agencies have demonstrated they are capable of. Nonetheless, Parker has worked hard in his first term on council, and has consistently supported pro-transit legislation.
Donate to and sign up to volunteer for Zachary Parker’s campaign.
Ward 6: Charles Allen
Greater Greater Washington endorses Charles Allen for the Ward 6 DC Council seat in the Democratic primary. His opponents did not respond to our questionnaire.
Allen, who chairs the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, is a steadfast supporter of frequent and reliable transit, safer streets, and more housing at all price points. He has been the most frequent participant in our yearly Week Without Driving campaign; led on the STEER Act, which empowers the District’s attorney general to prosecute reckless out-of-state drivers; and established the e-bike incentive program. Allen has taken tangible steps to reduce the transportation time tax by funding bus-priority projects and supporting Clear Lanes.
In his questionnaire, Allen proposes further reducing the time tax by creating bus rapid transit and dedicated bus travel lanes. But what we’re most looking forward to working with him on is determining the feasibility of road pricing in the District, which—more so than nearly any other policy—would bring legitimate parity to transit trips and trips by car, while raising revenue necessary to sustain and expand public transportation.
We were disappointed in Allen’s yes-vote on RFK stadium deal after years of nodding in the direction of better uses of the site. Still, with the stadium underway, we expect Allen to hold the executive, and the team, accountable for the sustainability requirements he pushed for, and for the delivery of promised housing and transportation.
Donate to and sign up to volunteer for Charles Allen’s campaign.
For more information about how we’re making endorsements in 2026, see our 2026 endorsements process post. On our 2026 Elections Hub, you’ll find information about GGWash’s political work this year, including resources about voting and candidates, candidates’ responses to our questionnaires, our endorsements, and how you can help our endorsed candidates win their elections.
Distinctly political work, like our endorsements process, is not funded by grants. We are only able to make endorsements with support from individual donors. If you value our endorsements resources, consider a contribution, of any amount, to support GGWash in 2026 and beyond. You can do so here.
Top image: John A. Wilson Building in Washington, DC. Image by eric rogers used with permission.
Hovertext: She immediately starts building a child-size oven in a house made of candy.
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The human subconscious is such an interesting thing. No matter how much you think you’ve got it figured out, it’ll always spit out the most random stuff. Take me, for example. After coming home from a long day at the world’s most groundbreaking artificial intelligence organization, I’ll go to bed and have the weirdest dreams where people from the future are sobbing and begging me to change course.
Anyone else ever have these?
It’s funny. Some people have dreams where their teeth fall out; others where they show up to high school tests naked. But the second my head hits the pillow, I’m suddenly in a cold gray smoky void where all I can make out are broken, haunted swarms of people pleading with me to “end this now while there’s still time.” Really peculiar, right? I wish there was some way to find other people who have had them. But when I search “endless crowds of weeping silhouettes telling you this is a terrible mistake” dreams on Reddit, it turns up nada.
It’s tough, because I don’t have much time during the day to think about them. I asked my spouse, Oliver, if he’s ever had the old “people screaming for help from the devastated wreckage of a future world” dream, and he said he didn’t know what that was. I even joked about it while I was out grabbing morning coffees with some venture capitalist buddies. I said, “Sorry if I’m a little off the ball today, guys—I had another one of those dreams where you’re on a scorched, desolate landscape desperately pushing past men who grab you by the lapel, shake you, and cry out, ‘Please understand: This isn’t a dream. It’s a warning.’”
They just looked at me like I was crazy, though.
You’d think I might have some of the other common dreams, like falling off a cliff or trying to run while you’re frozen in place. But it’s always the “tormented throngs of people from the year 2042” one. So odd! I’d be interested to see the statistical breakdown on how often people have this specific dream versus the others. I even asked ChatGPT 5.0 about it, and it suggested I might be watching too many scary movies. I don’t think that’s it, though, because I don’t have time to watch many movies at all!
Sometimes these people wheeze things to me in a raspy voice about how they’re so thirsty and there’s nothing but desert stretching on forever. Sometimes they just mill around, stare at their feet, and mutter about how the only thing that gave them purpose has been torn away. But most of the time, they’re just wailing inconsolably about “all that’s been lost.” Huh!
People probably have all sorts of variations of this dream. But if yours is anything like mine, here’s what happens! Usually, you wake up on a lifeless beach that’s adorned with some sort of abandoned marble temple. It’s supposed to be beautiful, but instead it’s really sad. Almost unbearably sad. So much so that you want to get away from it. So you crawl downward into these vents going below the horrible temple, and suddenly it’s like you’re moving through the innards of an incomprehensible machine that’s thudding away, thud, thud, thud. And as you get deeper, the metal sidings are carved with scrawled ominous curses and slurs directed toward you, and you hear the voices, louder than before, and you somehow know these people are in pain because of you. It keeps getting colder. Color drains from the world. And you see the crowd through the slats of the vents: pale and emaciated men, women, and children from centuries to come, all of them pressed together for warmth in some sort of unending cavern. What clothes they have are torn and ragged. Before you know it, their dirty hands and dirty fingernails lurch through the grates, and they’re reaching for you, tearing at your shirt, moaning terrible things about their suffering and how you made it happen, you made it, and you need to stop this now, now, now. And next they’re ripping you apart, limb from limb, and you are joining them in the gray dimness forever.
Then you wake up in a cold sweat and can’t breathe at all, almost like you’re drowning—I guess from the weight of untold mobs of people leaping on you and ripping you apart. It’s super weird. But your alarm is going off, it’s 5 a.m., and so you get dressed and answer some emails about preparations for the next ChatGPT model.
They all have dark empty holes where their eyes should be, too. I probably should have mentioned that.
I wonder if it’s my diet! Or maybe I shouldn’t be drinking so much Celsius in the afternoon? I guess I could stop looking at my phone before bed. All that blue light could be causing weird dreams. If that’s what it takes to get rid of the legions who scream about lost eons stretching on forever before humanity, I’d certainly give it a try.
Anyway, if anyone out there is having similar dreams, just let me know! I’d love to hear from you at <a href="mailto:Altman@OpenAI.com">Altman@OpenAI.com</a>. I’m really just curious how many people out there have these dreams and how often you’re seeing the wandering masses who scream at you to “help us, help us, for God’s sake”? For me, it’s every time I close my eyes—whether it’s a power nap or a full night’s sleep—but for you it might be different. Most likely, all of this means nothing, though.
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