My writing – CGW's Blog

Who are entrepreneurs enemies? My 2026 Technical.ly Builders Conference keynote

Below is my Friday speech, inspired by this bet, and following this live podcast recording.

I want to tell you about a bet I have with Brian Brackeen.

I’ve known for Brian for more than 10 years, back when he founded a facial recognition startup in Miami. He’s built in machine learning longer still. He and his wife and partner, Candice, cofounded Ohio-based VC firm Lightship Capital, investments around AI. He organizes Black Tech Week. He’s got opinions.

Last year we debated whether AI would imminently replace software developers. Brian said yes—developer jobs would fall. I disagreed. We bet a cheesesteak, or more properly having to wait in line for one, deadline May 2026.

It’s May 2026. This morning we’re going to learn the answer together, and what it means either way.

Statistics aren’t reversible

This was originally a social video.

You might have seen Robert F. Kennedy Jr. make a statistics mistake today.

Rather than clown on it, I wanted to explain the simple and interesting concept behind the gaff.

RFK: “And I said, well, if the drug was $100 and it raised the price to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from 600 to 100, that’s a 600% savings.”

I’m not one to judge because I’ve made lots of numeracy mistakes in my day, including in my journalism. And statistics actually are complicated, but they’re
cool. So, it’s worth looking at what’s happening here.

Two years after Hind Rajab’s killing in Gaza

This is adapted from a social video I published.

Last year, when I published a video I made about Palestine, I stayed close to my own lane: the documented killings of Palestinian journalists. That’s my trade, my expertise. It’s also considered a war crime.

Over my years of local reporting on economic issues, I’ve received criticism about speaking about geopolitics, and about *not* speaking about geopolitics. So I don’t know what to do other than be honest.

And, to be honest, I keep thinking about Hind Rajab, the little girl in Gaza who was the same age two years that my daughter is today. As Omar El Akkad has written: “There’s no such thing as someone else’s children.”

What’s my personal “artificial intelligence” philosophy

It was summer 2009 that I was first introduced to the idea that robotics and artificial intelligence are two halves of how a machine would move through our world. One is physical motion, and the other is a big term for computer systems that mimic human cognition — from computer vision and probabilistic language to sound mimicry and risk management.

Over the next near two-decades, my reporting and entrepreneurship have evolved alongside a new fast-moving chapter of these technologies we call “artificial intelligence.” I’ve spent at least a decade developing my own relationship to what some have called “the singularity.” Now the last few years have brought this into the mainstream. That’s forced me to develop a more precise view.

Science communication at a crossroads

I joined a spirited conversation at the University of Maryland BioPark for a system-wide symposium on science communication.

I filed a story for Technical.ly here. Our panel looked like this:

Megan Nicholson, a senior editor at Issues in Science and Technology
Heath Kelsey, director of the Integration and Application Network at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Christopher Wink, cofounder and publisher, Technical.ly
Moderator, Michael Sandler, the UM system’s vice chancellor for communications and marketing

Local stories shape how people in that place feel about their home

The good people at Series B[uffalo], a new entrepreneurship storytelling initiative from that upstate New York region’s innovation-led economic development org 43 North Foundation, interviewed me for their newsletter. I shared that below, and encourage you to check them out.

My perspective is informed by Technical.ly’s ‘case for storytelling.’

My foundational political belief: countervailing power

This was originally a social video

What’s your defining political belief?

I’ve been thinking about that because on this app, and others, there’s a loud and often vicious argument among people most Americans would place somewhere left of center. Liberal, progressive, leftist, socialist, Democrat — those words do not mean the same thing, and I usually try not to wade into that labeling fight, either as a journalist or as someone who studied political science.

But I do think there’s a fair and useful question underneath it all: what is your foundational belief? Mine is this: I am deeply skeptical of concentrated power.

The economic and family challenges of school-free summer

My latest Business Insider story is focused on the economic and family challenges of school-free summer.

I’m scrambling to get my kid into summer camp. We’ve joined multiple lotteries and lost money, but I need to fill 10 weeks of summer.

Read the story here

Great men are rarely good; good men are rarely great.

This perspective has long influenced my thinking, and it comes to mind again in the context of the longstanding rivalry between the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

I was always uncomfortable with people valorizing Jobs, because the track record seemed clear: he treated people very badly. Meanwhile, Bill Gates has done objective good with his wealth since. And yes, rehabilitating a reputation by investing in meaningful global health projects… that is a good.

But, though we don’t know the final word on the Epstein files, Gates’s relationship there does not look good, especially in light of a noncommittal interview done by his ex-wife Melinda.

Blue Man Group founder Chris Wink (that’s not me) appears in the Epstein Files

Well, my name is in the Epstein files. Not me though.

There’s another Chris Wink. He’s the founder of Blue Man Group, the eclectic artistic troupe that got its start in New York and maintains a longstanding residency in Las Vegas.

That Chris Wink (Blue Man Group founder and artist) is 25 years older than the Chris Wink (journalist) who is writing this. Once a friend pointed out that name appeared in this heinous file and document release, I wanted to ensure somewhere on the internet this clarification was made: there are (at least) two very different Chris Winks. When I was getting my journalism started in 2008, I first learned of the name competition.