It’s one thing to spend your career at the RAND Corporation warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence in the wrong hands. It’s another thing entirely to log onto X and mock a one-man journalist for using AI to create a banner image for an article. Yet that’s exactly what Dr. Adejare (Jay) Atanda did.
This is a man with three advanced degrees, a fellowship at Johns Hopkins, and a seat at RAND—one of the most powerful policy think tanks in the world. He writes about AI misuse, biosecurity threats, and global health risks, warning that AI could destabilize entire nations if handled recklessly. And yet, when it came time to wield his vast expertise, what was his chosen battleground? My Wes Moore banner graphic.
A Professional Persona Built on Gravitas
Dr. Atanda’s résumé reads like a who’s-who of public health and emerging tech:
- Senior policy researcher at RAND, focusing on AI and biosecurity.
- Former policy advisor at the Department of Homeland Security.
- Published in Nature, BMJ Open, and Health Security.
- Speaker at the WHO Global Technical Meeting.
- Podcast host interviewing Anthony Fauci on pandemic preparedness.
This is the kind of person you expect to see briefing Congress on synthetic biology or drafting pandemic response protocols. Someone serious. Someone with gravitas. Someone too busy saving the world to be lurking on social media belittling independent writers.
But then you open his X account.
The Online Persona: Petty, Sarcastic, and Unnecessarily Combative
On X, Dr. Atanda swaps the gravitas of RAND reports for casual snark and condescension. Consider a few of his posts:
- When disagreeing with someone, he dismissed them outright: “ignorant, anti-African and anti-black” (source).
- On another topic, he waved off luxury status symbols with: “I can’t imagine where I’d need to wear a RM [Richard Mille watch] too.” (source).
- In yet another exchange, he didn’t bother with nuance, instead replying with “Wooosh Dumb GIF.” (source).
Now, sarcasm is fine—we all have moments online—but it’s worth noting: this is the same person entrusted to shape U.S. policy on AI misuse and biothreats. A man who can navigate global pandemic response yet can’t resist dunking on small creators using AI to level the playing field.
The Contrast: Ivory Tower Meets Keyboard Warrior
And this is where the hypocrisy shines. Atanda makes a career of arguing that AI must be handled carefully, responsibly, and with transparency. I use AI responsibly—to generate a graphic—and I’m transparent about it. Unlike some, I don’t pretend I’m a professional designer. I admit openly that I use AI tools because I can’t afford graphic artists while running a one-man news operation.
Instead of applauding that honesty, he ridicules it. The same man who warns that AI could destabilize civilization is apparently deeply troubled by its use for… digital clip art in a blog post.
It’s not just condescension—it’s gatekeeping. And it exposes how many of these “thought leaders” actually view AI: not as a tool that can empower individuals, but as something to be controlled by elites in think tanks and federal offices.
Final Word
So, to recap: while RAND pays Dr. Atanda to worry about rogue states and pandemics, he’s on X nitpicking whether someone like me—a disabled independent journalist without corporate backing—should be allowed to use AI to generate images.
That isn’t leadership. That isn’t gravitas. That’s petty elitism.
Maybe next time RAND needs a commentary on AI risks, they can publish this: “The greatest threat to AI safety is an independent journalist making a banner image about Wes Moore.”
Because if this is the level of discourse the experts have been reduced to, maybe the real misuse of AI isn’t coming from rogue actors abroad—but from the ivory tower itself.
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