If you read anything today, read this piece by @bedoyausa.bsky.social. It’s a sharp reminder that the real political stakes aren’t just left vs. right. They are about power vs. the people and who gets to control our economy and our lives. For immigrants, in housing, in labor, in tech, and beyond.
Packed hearing, dodged questions. At the first-ever City Council hearing on Philly gov’s use of AI and surveillance, City Councilmembers asked powerful, basic questions to open up the city’s black box of technology, and were disappointed by the city’s lack of answers.
Cover of Upturn's new report titled "Calculated Need: Algorithms and the Fight for Medicaid Home Care. A Comparison of Five States' Eligibility Algorithms." The authors are Miriam Osman, Emily Paul, and Emma Weil. Published in October 2025.
1/ NEW: Read our new report, “Calculated Need: Algorithms and the Fight for Medicaid Home Care.” We show how automated eligibility determinations are political tools that draw a subjective line between who is deserving and undeserving of getting care in their home. www.upturn.org/work/calcula...
The text reads: “Amazon is Building a Surveillance Empire on the Backs of Delivery Drivers. A new report from the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) exposes the dark underbelly of technology-driven workplace surveillance.” Above the text is an old school television with an antenna featuring a surveillance snapshot from a camera inside of an Amazon delivery van. The Amazon logo is upside down and is a frown. Around the television are disembodied eyes and ears.
DAIR’s (@dairinstitute.bsky.social) latest report offers a chilling glimpse into how Amazon is using technology to ramp up surveillance of delivery drivers, violating existing workers' rights and creating unsafe working conditions.
www.dair-institute.org/projects/dri...
Some personal news, as they say.
Beyond the work that we do, Upturn is just a really special place with so many brilliant, committed, and caring people - past and present - and I feel incredibly lucky to have been on this journey with them to build Upturn together in the ways that we did.
Two commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission were fired by Trump today.
Alvaro Bedoya ( @bedoyaftc.bsky.social) and Rebecca Slaughter have long been champions for everyday people. They also held corporate power accountable. Sharing Bedoya’s statement here:
What congressional Republicans are trying to do to the DC budget perfectly illustrates why DC statehood is essential.
DC has a balanced budget. It is half way through its current fiscal year. These are its own (& not the federal government’s) tax dollars - and yet its budget is about to be gutted.
A quick 🧵: The news of Congress potentially blowing a $1.1 billion hole in D.C.'s budget has certainly riled up a lot of people. But it's part of a larger trend of how Congress's years-long budget dysfunctions have bled into D.C.'s municipal government.
Universities have to recognize that these actions pose an existential threat. They need to make clear, through action, that they won’t sit on the sidelines as the Trump administration terrorizes students and faculty alike and runs roughshod over individual rights and the rule of law.
The United States government just disappeared a lawful US resident because it didn't like his speech. You should care about this because it shouldn't happen to anyone, but you should also care because it could happen to you. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/n...
@upturn.org is hiring a Director of Operations! This position is ideal for a senior leader with experience managing the full suite of functions necessary to support the operations and infrastructure of a nonprofit organization.
Applications due 2/28/25.
www.upturn.org/join/directo...
