
True crime TikTokers are employing AI to resurrect murder victims
Deepfakes, which have long been used to create explicit content without consent, are now being leveraged to craft a new kind of trauma porn

A tech bro created an AI-powered clone of his own girlfriend
The framework for the project, dubbed ‘GirlfriendGPT,’ is now available online, spurring concerns about consent in the era of customized chatbots

Remembering Kenneth Anger, an icon of queer cinematic counterculture
The groundbreaking filmmaker believed movies were “evil” and likened his practice to the “casting of a spell”—the influence of which is imbued across visual culture

Amidst a rise in cybercrime, researchers trained an AI on the dark web
Having scoured the internet’s seedy underbelly, DarkBERT suggests that, in the future, AI may play an even bigger role in online policing

How do you moderate a chatbot?
In banning renderings of Chinese president Xi Jinping worldwide, Midjourney sparked debate about the policing of AI-generated content—and the line between regulation and censorship

Amidst calls to halt the advancement of generative tech, a chatbot convinced a man to kill himself
This incident comes in the wake of an open letter from AI experts, urging technologists to halt developments beyond GPT-4 ‘for the good of humanity’

Ethical Capital Partners wants to make Pornhub a leader in the fight against illegal content online
Parent company MindGeek has been acquired by a private equity firm, just days after a new Netflix documentary chronicled its exploitative practices

What internet sex drama says about our political climate
From debates over on-screen sex scenes to whether kids should be exposed to drag, recent Twitter discourse illustrates the slippery slope of online censorship

Microsoft “lobotomized” its chaotic chatbot—now, it’s rolling back those restrictions
When it’s not busy having an existential crisis or attempting to break up a marriage, the new Bing raises questions about the ethics of AI

How a coercive cult took hold at a college founded on free-thinking
The new docuseries ‘Stolen Youth’ traces the Sarah Lawrence scandal, revealing the fragility of human memory—and our collective vulnerability in the face of manipulation

Artificial intelligence is gunning to join your court defense
Between two of the most distrusted classes of modern society—lawyers and robots—who do we have less faith in?

On the internet, no one knows you’re alive
Online communities have a notorious death-faking problem, from cult fanfiction deserters to unraveling indie yarn retailers

Shoplifters or Security Guards: What’s the bigger financial burden?
Walgreens’s CFO admitted to inflating the scope of its theft problem, underscoring questions around the validity of retail’s moral panic

Indie romance author Susan Meachen faked her own death, committing social suicide in the process
The writer’s falsified death opened her up to receive the social judgment she already perceived in life

Books Unbanned underscores the library’s legacy as the last institutional bastion of freedom of information
Brooklyn Public Library's program, which features reading material deemed "inappropriate" for youth, combats conservative fear of discourse around protest, bodily autonomy, and reparations

The most absurd inventions from the world’s biggest tech show
From virtual reality scents to self-driving strollers, Document compiled a list of the most aggravating, unnecessary, and obscene products in attendance at CES this year

The Céline Dion Snub: Ignorance, or a ‘Rolling Stone’ bid for hate clicks?
The beloved singer’s absence from the magazine’s ‘200 Greatest Singers of All Time’ list caused an uproar—but was that the point all along?

Want to watch porn in Louisiana? Hand over your ID
A new law requiring age-authentication on porn sites is causing concern for sex workers and their patrons alike

Is scamming the path to fame and fortune?
The success of the con artist isn’t built on the con itself, but rather the degree of notoriety won in its attempt

Think the fashion month calendar is packed enough? Not so, says Pitti Pets
The proliferation of dog clothing and accessories speaks to changing attitudes within the luxury market

Why does sport require the sacrifice of civility?
Qatar's World Cup is shrouded in political controversies, and accountability has been made unnecessarily complex

Punk or pastiche? East Village is getting the “rock” club it deserves
At the site of beloved discotheque Pyramid Club, Baker Falls promises a reincarnation of the city's transgressive roots—but its new neighbors suggest otherwise

Miami’s club culture crumbles alongside shrinking crypto wallets
The impacts of FTX’s downfall on local businesses indicates the danger of depending on blockchain-based incomes

Perverted Book Club is New York’s raunchiest reading circle
At Blue Door Video, literary discussions over coffee and crackers were replaced by carnal discourses over panties and poppers

The crumbling mythology of the Ivy League
Yale and Harvard Law are refusing to indulge in university rankings, on alleged grounds of morality. But are they just masking faltering legacies?

A decolonized art world can’t be built on diversity alone
David Zwirner outpost 52 Walker proposed an all-Black staff—but should mega-galleries have a say in reforming the inequities they profit from?

Artemis I will carry American values to space—capitalism, ‘diversity,’ and colonialism included
NASA is attempting its most ambitious space mission to date. But is its ‘woke’ exterior shielding a grab at galactic dominance?

Is it ‘quiet quitting,’ or are you just doing your job?
For a generation born into hustle culture, the idea that work shouldn’t consume our lives is new

A genesis of trad cath celebrity shoe collaborations
From Lil Nas X ‘Satan Shoes’ to Addison Rae’s Holy Trinity bikini, today’s post-ironic apparel is designed to provoke. But who’s taking the bait?

In a wasteland of golden vibrators, Frank Ocean’s luxury cock ring is a reminder that fringe culture never came from celebrity
As countless stars cash in on the shift toward sexual liberation, it's easy to lose sight of the communities who advocated for it first

Amazon is reading palms at Whole Foods
Biometric payment technology is a slippery slope to becoming one with our digital footprints, raising concerns about data privacy and customer surveillance

Just because you can create a digitally rendered pop star, doesn’t mean you should
While AI artists can spare fans from the disappointment of boy band breakups, their popularity raises questions about whether today’s music centers connection or capital

Monkeypox reveals the cultural capital of beauty in a chronically-online culture
Anxieties surrounding the virus’s physical manifestations display society's aesthetic obsessions

Military PTSD could be a vehicle for further drug decriminalization
In a surprising turn of events, psychedelic therapy treatment receives bipartisan support from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Dan Crenshaw—but who’s receiving the treatment, and why?

Document rings in a decade of independent art and culture at Le Dive
In celebration of Document’s tenth anniversary issue, the city’s foremost creative luminaries merged for a night of reflection and ideation in Dimes Square

Roe v. Wade is overturned, undoing centuries of cultural progress
Not only does today’s Supreme Court decision mark a major regression in social progress, it carves a path for further institutional backslides

The dangers, and benefits, of mobile health apps in a post-Roe world
Period tracking apps are marketed as a tool to empower users with information—but with abortion rights under fire, many worry that the data they collect...

The false promise of payment plans sends Gen Z into debt
‘Buy now, pay later’ trends, popularized on social media, aren’t sustainable in the long run

How The Satanic Temple became a source of social justice
The organization filed a lawsuit against an elementary school for barring the establishment of an After School Satan Club

Blackballing Russia might not be the answer
A country’s political leaders aren’t necessarily a reflection of its people and culture. So why do we treat it as such?

Twitter is at war over David Lynch’s politics
Is David Lynch a conservative? And why do we care?

The man who attempted to assassinate Reagan is playing a sold out show in Brooklyn
John Hinckley Jr. has 26,000 YouTube subscribers and enough fans to warrant a tour—but is it for the right reasons?

Sean Penn is considering taking up arms against Russia. Should he?
In the era of performative activism, what does responsible use of celebrity platforms look like?

The world’s skinniest skyscraper disguises capitalistic greed with architectural ambition
On Billionaires’ Row, some units are not residences, but rather act as cash vaults for their ultra-rich owners

NFTs have funded everything from healthcare to war, but are museums above the medium?
Cultural institutions are cashing in on the blockchain boom, arguably compromising the physical collections they own

Pol Anglada’s ‘HOLE’ is erotic, not pornographic
The Spanish artist explores queer fetish and desire in a solo exhibition at Tom of Finland’s CULTUREEDIT gallery

Gen Z isn’t as sustainable as we thought
The $100 billion valuation of fast fashion giant Shein reveals a consumer base that values trend over virtue

A panel at SCI-Arc leads to backlash, revealing ugly truths about creative industries
Even in environments that encourage us to question systemic norms, discussions around labor practices are often met with resistance

Twitter is Elon Musk’s newest plaything
In purchasing what is now the largest stake in the company, the prolific shitposter gained jurisdiction in a field he is ill-equipped to advise on
