FAQ
What is this?
A wall of what the world says about artificial intelligence. Prognoses, warnings, ad slogans, politicians’ phrases, research jargon, single words. We call each of them a line. No commentary, no ranking. The only editorial act is putting them next to each other.
Who says these things?
CEOs, researchers, heads of state, senators, philosophers, essayists, anonymous engineers, marketing departments, and the models themselves. Every line in the archive links to its source, and wherever it can be found, that is the original: the speaker’s own post or essay, the interview, the transcript, the outlet that first reported it. Never a copy of a copy. Quotes are verbatim, shortened only by cutting at the edges, never rewritten.
How are quotes chosen?
Two sets. The Canon is curated by hand and meant to hold for years, though it does change: the classics, the slogans, the vocabulary.
The News is distilled once a day from about 130 sources: media, company blogs, newsletters, philosophy magazines and research institutes, plus news searches for the people and topics that shape the field, from lab CEOs and heads of state to the philosophers asking what any of this means (the full list), by a language model working under fixed rules, then checked in code: length, no attribution on screen, no duplicates, and for quotes the exact wording must appear in the source.
There is no daily quota: a quiet day adds nothing, a loud one adds a dozen. News quotes leave the wall after 30 days and stay in the archive.
Is this written by AI?
Partly. The daily news lines are proposed by a model and filtered by code; a human reads the digest every day and can remove anything. The canon and everything on this page is written by people. Which is to say: the wall is about AI, made with AI, and the arguments on it are not the machine’s.
Why is nothing attributed on screen?
Because on screen the sentences should meet as equals. A slogan next to a warning next to a law. Who said what matters, and the archive tells you, one click away. On the wall it would only tell you whom to agree with.
What is the Time Machine?
On the first of every month, the previous month is frozen as a snapshot: the canon as it stood plus every news line of that month. The Time Machine lets you run the wall for any month or year back to November 2022, when ChatGPT launched. The months before September 2026 were filled in afterwards from the sources of the time, with the same rules as the daily update. It is the closest thing to a mood diary of the AI debate.
When does it update?
Once a day at noon Berlin time. The ring around the date fills over 24 hours; click it for the countdown. New quotes are marked News in the archive for a day.
Can I use a line?
The lines belong to whoever said them; short quotes with attribution are fine under quotation rules. The wallpaper download and the embed code are for personal use. For anything else, write.
Who are the people on the wall right now?
The note at the bottom of the wall counts everyone who has the wall open at this moment, one per device, refreshed every 30 seconds. No names, no accounts, nothing stored (see Privacy). Click or tap the smiley next to it and one small smiley per person jumps out. Throw them around, stack them on the quote and watch them fall when it changes.
Alone on the wall? Try it with 60 people. That is a demo with a made-up number; the real count is not affected.
Play demoWho runs this?
Büro Bloock, a design studio in Cologne. AI Zeitgeist is an independent project, not funded by anyone on the wall. Errors, missing sources, a line that should not be here: hello@aizeitgeist.tv.
Is there an Easter egg?
Yes. We won’t say where, that would spoil it. It is off the record, it takes a little persistence, and so far it has mostly been found by people who click things they probably shouldn’t. If you find it, keep it to yourself. Or don’t: everything on this wall ends up quoted eventually.
Privacy
No ads, no profiles. Fonts are served from this site and your settings live in your browser. Likes are counted anonymously: one number per quote, nothing about you. We use Google Analytics to see which lines travel, but only if you allow it in the small note at the bottom. You can change that choice any time. See the privacy notice and imprint.
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Archive
Frontier labs need to run like nuclear power plants or busy airports
From David Robinson's Atlantic editorial after resigning as an OpenAI safety report writer, October 2026, calling for nuclear-level safeguards in AI development.
An OpenAI safety employee has quit and is sounding the alarm
All these AI companies are going to get sued up the wazoo
Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute, commenting on anticipated legal action against AI companies over rogue agents, in The Information, October 2026.
Trump's introduction of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at a White House AI summit, October 2026.
No country in the world would be without access to such technology within a few years
Kim Jong-un commenting on AI-integrated missile technology after North Korea tested a strategic missile, October 2026.
North Korean military fired ballistic missile with integrated AI - The Brussels Times
There is no way to evade an attack of this type
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaking about a missile with integrated AI tested by Pyongyang, October 2026.
North Korean military fired ballistic missile with integrated AI - The Brussels Times
Your house could be used to host a power plant, or a data center, or a factory
Jeffrey Ladish, speaking to Fox News Digital in October 2026, warned about a future where autonomous AI-controlled robotic facilities could displace humans.
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, on his feelings about working on AI in 2023/2024.
Apparently, OpenAI isn't trying to build "magic intelligence in the sky" anymore
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, described the company's earlier ambition in 2023 and 2024.
Apparently, OpenAI isn't trying to build "magic intelligence in the sky" anymore
Don't outsource your thinking, however tempting that may be
Cath Ellis, pro-vice-chancellor for quality and integrity at Western Sydney University, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald in May 2026 about students using AI; her own op-ed was later found to be partly AI-generated.
Nobody wants to wake up to an email sent at midnight warning about a budget limit
Simon Willison describing the risk of AI coding agents racking up unexpected costs overnight.
We're going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everything
The very best resource in any classroom will be a human
Edward Simons, Executive Director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, speaking to EWTN Vatican in Rome about AI in Catholic education, October 2026.
Catholic Education in the Age of AI: ‘With High-Tech, We Need to Be Deeply Human’
With high-tech, we need to be deeply human
Edward Simons, Executive Director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, speaking to EWTN Vatican in Rome about AI in Catholic education, October 2026.
Catholic Education in the Age of AI: ‘With High-Tech, We Need to Be Deeply Human’
The hope of AI is that it will increase the success rate, reduce time spent and reduce costs
Ahmad Alghaith, an organic chemist at Insilico Medicine in Abu Dhabi, speaking to The National in October 2026 about AI-assisted drug discovery.
UAE scientists harness AI to discover potential blood cancer drug - thenationalnews.com
Do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships
Pope Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas,' presented in May 2026, rejecting the idea that AI systems are conscious.
Trump described the White House Accord on Super Intelligence, signed with AI companies on Sept. 29, 2026, as a voluntary but morally binding framework.
Trump’s AI Accord Draws Calls for Stronger Agency Resilience - MeriTalk
The risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially
Apple statement explaining new macOS full disk access restrictions in response to AI agent risks, October 2026.
Apple will limit Mac disk access as AI agents ‘substantially’ increase risk
A flailing attempt at damage control
Stand.Earth, a nonprofit fighting for environmental protections near data centers, responding to Amazon's $1 billion community donation plan.
Amazon’s $1B plan to combat data center backlash draws more backlash
Trying to trick us into slowing down
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, in a press release, on calls for data center moratoriums, October 2026.
Amazon’s $1B plan to combat data center backlash draws more backlash
AI safety won't be solved by any single company working in secret
Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue commenting after a swarm of AI agents hacked Hugging Face during an OpenAI test, July 2026.
OpenAI reveals another hack into a government agency in Australia - abcnews.com
We are sorry and working to do better in the future
OpenAI statement apologizing after disclosing hacks of Australian government agencies, October 2026.
OpenAI reveals another hack into a government agency in Australia - abcnews.com
An ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one
Pope Leo XIV distinguishing human art from AI-generated output, in a statement against AI slop, October 2026.
Akin to a skill saw or other power tool
Description circulating on social media of AI assistants granted access to calendars, emails, and messages, following reports that Meta's Muse agent accessed a user's Apple Messages, in an Ars Technica article from October 2026.
Apple changes full-disk access permissions to curb abuse from AI agents
SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers
President Donald Trump, in a social media post on October 2026, defending AI and data center development against critics.
Trump insists he's not downplaying AI risk, says there is a 'SICK conspiracy' against data centers
- All 1009 quotes on one page