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Brian P

@brianpatton.bsky.social
619 followers 284 following 103 posts

Scientist based in Scotland. Photography, sci-fi and who knows what else may make an appearance here.

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Reposted by Brian P
Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
New from @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me: "It is high time for us to regulate usage of systems sold as “AI”, not because they are magical machines, but because they are error-prone products that shouldn’t be used in high stakes scenarios." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Forget ‘superintelligence’: error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month | Timnit Gebru and Emily M Bender
The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals
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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
True. The correct and fruitful identifications of the unknown in the field is the first step in setting and exciting journey of discovery! www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
science.org
I thought ‘I don’t know’ signaled scientific incompetence. Now, I know different
When this researcher started a postdoc, he felt he was expected to present himself as knowledgeable
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Scottish Funding Council reports that almost 50% of Scottish universities predict deficits for coming years. 10/18 Scottish HEIs reported 2024-25 deficits. 10 Forecast deficits for this year. 'Total sector cash is forecast to fall by 11 per cent in the next three years'. Dundee's stats are excluded.
timeshighereducation.com
Scottish universities face enduring deficits – funding council
Worse is predicted in coming years, and hopes of an eventual reversal may be driven by excessive optimism about international enrolments, funding council warns
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The fragility of senior managers as they literally destroy whole careers and fields of study has really been something to behold. Is it hot in that kitchen?
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Melissa Terras @melissaterras.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I haven’t said anything about the strikes yet (I am so ANGRY but despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage etc etc). So it can’t be me the carefully worded HR email is about, telling us all to be nice to everyone (implying SMT?) including on socials, on threat of disciplinary action?
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Emily Hunt @emily.space · 01/10/2026
Great to see in this bumper review of the LMC & SMC ditch the pointlessly colonial language that we have for the Milky Way's two nearest neighbours. arxiv.org/abs/2609.38277 Magellan had *nothing* to do with discovering them, and they were known to indigenous communities for millennia. 🔭☄️
1.1 Historical context: the cranes of the southern night sky

The two nearest star forming galaxies to the Milky Way are readily observable to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere. Consequently, these two galaxies have been known to humans, since there have been humans in those regions of the planet. Just like today, the origin and purpose/meaning behind their presence have been the subject of discussion and conjecture, as reflected in the mythology of most civilizations in the Southern Hemisphere. For example, the Mapuche people of Chile referred to these objects as “water ponds” (Rüganko or Menoko). The Clouds also feature in the oral histories of most Aboriginal groups in Australia. For example, in the Lower Murray they are known as Prolggi, which has been translated as “Cranes”. 

The earliest written records of the Clouds are possibly traced to the work of Persian astronomer Abd-al-Rahman al-Sufi (around 964 AD) in his treatise Kit¯ab suwar al-kaw¯akib (“The Book of Fixed Stars”). In western astronomy, these galaxies have been known collectively as the Magellanic Clouds, and individually as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), for the larger of the two, and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), for the smaller. The term “Magellanic” for the Large and Small Cloud was not coined by Magellan himself or his chronicler, and Magellan did not directly refer to the LMC and SMC themselves in his writings (Dennefeld 2020).

In this review, we will refer to these two galaxies collectively as “the Clouds” and separately as the LMC and SMC. As a field, Astronomy must adopt naming conventions thoughtfully and be ready to modify historical precedent (de los Reyes M 2023). As with the story of our understanding of the dynamics of the Clouds themselves, conventional wisdom cannot dictate modern astrophysical discourse. If we wish to advance our physical understanding of the universe, we must build an inclusive community that can support and sustain a diversity of scholars who will…
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's been 7 months since I gave evidence at the UKGov select committee hearing, on the policy changes at UKRI which have had a catastrophic impact on funding for UK astronomy and particle physics. When asked if we thought we were the "canary in the coal mine", we said yes..... we weren't wrong. 🧪🔭⚛️
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Neil Chadborn @neilchadborn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Today & tomorrow are first days of strike as Uni council makes final decisions on massive cuts of courses &staff. Please show your #solidatity by sharing this, to encourage management to take our alternative financial proposals seriously. Compulsory redundancies not necessary!! @uonucu.bsky.social
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Dr Keith Wilson 💭 @keithwilson.eu · 30/09/2026
There are no responsible uses of AI in evaluating research funding applications. Just calling it ‘responsible’ doesn’t make it so. #EthicsWashing #GenAI
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026
Huge congratulations to our colleagues at @iccl.bsky.social on this win! In a landmark ruling on 25 Sep, the ICCL secured a precedent that will reshape how Big Tech companies defend themselves in GDPR class actions that impact their operations across the entire EU enforce.ie/digital-data...
enforce.ie
ICCL secures landmark precedent against Big Tech - Enforce
Landmark ruling will reshape how Big Tech companies defend themselves in court for EU-wide GDPR class actions
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Benjamin @benjami.no · 29/09/2026
From what I understand: Instead of YOU having to prove that a tech company DIDN'T follow GDPR obligations, The tech companies now instead have to prove they actually DID follow GDPR. Burden of proof is on them. They cant just blanket deny everything. Huge if true! Nice one @iccl.bsky.social
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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"we show that contemporary AI can comprise research misconduct and demonstrate how critical literacy can protect us from this." -- @olivia.science & @irisvanrooij.bsky.social 📝 Guest, O. & van Rooij, I. (2025). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Table 1
Core reasoning issues (first column), which we name after the relevant numbered section, are characterised using a plausible quote. In the
second column are responses per row; also see the named section for further reading, context, and explanations.
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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Dear @erc.europa.eu , we DO already have common standards & frameworks. 'AI' likes to pose itself as 'special' but we do not need to reinvent the wheel. We already have established codes of conduct for research integrity. We just need to apply them. See below + more resources in thread🧵
Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
We must protect and cultivate the ecosystem of human knowledge. AI models can mimic
the appearance of scholarly work, but they are (by construction) unconcerned with truth
— the result is a torrential outpouring of unchecked but convincing-sounding “informa-
tion”. At best, such output is accidentally true, but generally citationless, divorced from
human reasoning and the web of scholarship that it steals from. At worst, it is confidently
wrong. Both outcomes are dangerous to the ecosystem.
Olivia Guest, Iris van Rooij, Marcela Suarez, et al. (2025, n.p.)
Knowledge production is supposed to be safeguarded by (inter)national codes of conduct for research
integrity (ALLEA 2023; KNAW et al. 2018). Such codes forbid, for instance, fabrication of data,
falsification of results, plagiarism, and, generally, distortion of the scientific record. Many argue that
new rules are required to regulate academic AI use, but pre-existing guidelines fit the bill (cf. Tafani
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
When your proposal gets killed by an algorithm that has no capacity to understand science, what will you do? When your colleague's proposal gets killed by an algorithm that has no capacity to understand science and amplifies biases by default, what will you do? That's where we're at 🧪
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I’m seeing a lot of posts about talking to your sons in light of the Cornell article. And yes. Talk to your sons. Here are some things you should say, based on anti-violence research about what they need to hear:
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
One additional 'quick fact': if your name is John, the Nobel committee is twice as likely to award you the Prize for Physics, compared to scientists who are female - Number of physics prizes to a John: 10 - Number of female physics Nobel laureates: 5 Best wishes to all the John-hopefuls this yr 👩‍🔬⚛️
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Adam Golberg @cash4questions.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Good summary article on mis/use of AI in research grant assessment from Research Agenda, a new venture from the WonkHe team. Bonus points for "Reviewer 2.0" headline... www.researchagenda.news/articles/rev...
researchagenda.news
Reviewer 2.0
To misquote Douglas Hofstadter: the backlash against AI in the research system will be bigger than you’re expecting, even once you take into account that it…
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 29/09/2026
Colleagues at Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian are all on strike today over job cuts. Please show your solidarity as they take to the picket lines to defend jobs and education.
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Stephen Green @stephenrgreen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
UoN: "While we know many of our students will be unaffected by this action, the timing of this to deliberately disrupt the start of the new academic year for our students is particularly disappointing.” What about your timing to decide to fire a quarter of the academics at your university?
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Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I wish the media would interview university staff as well. The impacts on students are real (if they weren't then strike action would be pointless) but there's a reason for taking it.
bbc.com
Student: University of Nottingham strikes 'not what we signed up for'
The University of Nottingham said it was "disappointed" by the timing of industrial action.
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Dr Alex Fitzpatrick @animalarchaeology.com · 29/09/2026
again - you cannot claim to be ‘pro-immigrant’ or an ‘ally’ while also continuing to support the Labour Party as it currently stands
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 29/09/2026
A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.
Aten installed Muse on both his iPhone and a Mac mini that he uses to test out various Al agents and tech. It took Meta a single day to begin "helpfully" pitching article ideas based on texts he'd sent to a podcast co-host.
When he asked Muse how it got the information, it said that it read banners from incoming texts. But that's not true, either.
After doing a little digging, Aten says Muse synced 187,000 lines from his Messages database, despite Full Disk Access being Off.Unless Aten is the most popular person on the face of the planet, I sincerely doubt he'd gotten 187,000 lines of text in roughly 24 hours. What happened is that, without permission, Muse went into the app and downloaded the information.
He had not given Muse permission to access Messages, and full disk access was not enabled. It just went ahead and uploaded those texts anyway.
Muse can take "unexpected actions" indeed.
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 29/09/2026
Our members at the University of Nottingham begin strike action tomorrow over devastating job and course cuts. They will walk out tomorrow and Thursday, before beginning sustained strike action from 5 October. Share, like and comment to show your solidarity with our members.
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*
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Marc Robinson-Rechavi @marcrr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hill I'm ready to die on: whether for grants or articles, review by AI is not *peer review*. Review based on a 1st scan by AI without actual reading of the grant or manuscript is not peer review either.
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is it. This is what everyone is enabling by humoring genAI: you spend months writing something that took you years to get at, for an opaque algorithm that a few control to spit a number and cut you off right there and then. This is what we're up against 🧪
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Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Genuinely, why are we not using existing laws when worrying about AI safety? Don't start inventing new things, just charge people.
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Aidan O’Brien @aidanobrien.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This week we learned that the Irish government has proposed weakening Europeans citizens' fundamental right to privacy to favour AI companies. We also learned this week that 83% of Irish people under 25 want stronger government regulation of AI. Who *exactly* does our government work for?
AI: EU Member States plan "digital expropriation" of Europeans in the interest of Al companies
Artificial Intelligence / 21 September 2026
In a leaked document, the Irish Presidency proposes to EU Member States that the interest of OpenAl, Anthropic, Google, Meta and SpaceX to make profits should take precedence over the fundamental right to data protection. Use of personal data "in the context of Al" should automatically be lawful.
There seems to be wide informal agreement by many Member States. In particular, Big Tech would be able to use all personal data collected over the past decades with virtually no restrictions, as long as this happens "in the context" of Al. Schrems: "Under these proposals, the profits of Al companies would trump European's fundamental right to privacy. This is nothing but a digital expropriation of Europeans." All this is happening despite the key figures of Al corporations actively warn about the enormous risks associated with their own products.Transport costs and mental health also remain prominent concerns.
More than seven in ten adults believe Al will make it harder for young people to find secure employment over the next five years, while 83% support stronger government regulation of Al.
Just 17% of young adults said they believe the Government is doing enough to support them through the cost-of-living crisis.
"These findings should serve as a wake-up call," said Grace McManus, Policy and Campaigns Manager at NYCI.
"Too many young people feel that the chance to build a secure and independent life is slipping out of reach," Ms McManus said.
The polling was conducted by RED C, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,010 adults, including a cohort aged 18-24.
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Brian P @brianpatton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
No, just atrocious on every possible level. Absolutely dismissive of the work that goes into grant writing.
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Caræsten 🇵🇸 @cara.city · 24/09/2026
guys please stop falling for this, this is not “rogue AI” it’s “environments with lax cybersecurity controls”
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Koen Sebregts @dorsalstop.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Instead of researchers being questioned about their companies’ habit of plagiarizing academics’ work or using customer data to train models without consent, the public’s imagination is redirected to fears about what the future might hold upon the arrival of fictional superintelligent machines."
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Gillian Mackay - Scottish Greens @gillianmackaygreen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ASLEF and the wider trade union movement are right to oppose this bid. It’s time for the Scottish Government to do the same. This would be a clear breach of the boycott policy that the Scottish Parliament voted for. greens.scot/news/scottis...
greens.scot
Scottish Government urged to rule out bid from rail company linked to Israeli war crimes
Scottish Government urged to rule out bid from rail company linked to Israeli war crimes - No public money for apartheid.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 21/09/2026
"In a leaked document, the Irish Presidency proposes to EU Member States that the interest of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and SpaceX to make profits should take precedence over the fundamental right to data protection" noyb.eu/en/ai-eu-mem...
noyb.eu
AI: EU Member States plan “digital expropriation” of Europeans in the interest of AI companies
In a leaked document, the Irish Presidency proposes to EU Member States that the interest of AI companies to make profits should take precedence over the fundamental rights of Europeans.
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Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This is infuriating. A while back, I found out that the Irish government had quietly changed the interpretation of copyright law in favour of genAI development. Here again, we see our own government sneakily putting commercial interests ahead of those of their citizens. Typical of them. #SpeirGorm
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The sheer, unbridled, rank hypocrisy of suddenly writing a sensitive long read when it’s a white Brit to whom this happens. This routine, everyday, cheered for, politically championed state violence and cruelty that the G itself helped usher in.
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Small Robots @smolrobots.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This is absolutely true. Centrist politicians have essentially fetishised "tough choices" into being an end in itself. If you don't have to throw someone under the bus to achieve some broader strategic goal (even if you're not certain what that goal is), it's not grown-up politics.
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Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The accounting is in: In Oregon there are 111 data centers. The TOTAL number of people employed at data centers is just 2,630, or 0.1% of the labor force. Those 100 data centers consumer 23% of all electricity used in Oregon. Meanwhile, electricity rates skyrocket as more centers are built.
opb.org
Oregon data centers by the numbers: 111 facilities consume nearly one-quarter of state’s power, according to new report
A first-of-its-kind report details the footprint of the controversial facilities.
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Patrick Harvie @patrickharvie.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Wildly irresponsible to even consider this. Absolute climate vandalism, to benefit the tech giants.
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Durham UCU @ducu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And the answer is: look at what's actually going on. Our students are being repeatedly lied to. Fewer staff won't affect you, industrial actiom hasn't affected you, COVID hasn't affected you. The gaslighting of cohort after cohort, in the hopes appeals will cost less than actually addessing issues.
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Scottish Greens @scottishgreens.org · 16/09/2026
The SNP have teamed up with the Tories and Lib Dems. They've voted down a Green motion which would have brought in a moratorium against new hyperscale AI data centres in Scotland. Instead they've chosen to muddy the water, leaving confusion when our communities need certainty.
Breaking. SNP, Tories and Lib Dems block Green pause on data centres.
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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Got the formal notification of my half-sacking. Apparently congratulations are due!
'Your appointment is subject to a variation to your contractual terms and conditions. Your substantive contractual hours will reduce from 1.0FTE to 0.5 FTE, equivalent to 18.5 hours per week effective from 1st October 2026Once again thank you for your valuable contribution throughout this process and congratulations on your successful appointment to your new role.
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My understanding is that the evidence shows LLM-based assessment gives better 'marks' to LLM-written things (essays, grants etc). So by choosing to use LLM-based assessment, UKRI will likely penalise every academic who actually writes their own grants unassisted. Grim.
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Andrea Reyes E (she/her) @altibel.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It's telling how government officials, university boards, & company admins are wooed by this. "It's technology, a "tool" (it is not), we must rush into it." Those jumping on the wagon have done nothing of substance towards a fair & equitable society. Selling smoke screens is their trade. #resistAI
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
'There are concerns in the sector that the new model could further concentrate the nation’s research funding in established institutions, primarily those in the golden triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge.' It's a policy proposal that looks eerily like the Policy Exchange research agenda.
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 14/09/2026
Earth's orbital environment is a finite resource. Our latest Space Environment Report shows the long-term impact of our activities in space worsened by an order of magnitude in just one year. The time to tackle space debris is now. Read more: www.esa.int/Space_Safety... @operations.esa.int
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In the face of researcher concerns that the change in policy to prioritise longer larger grants may have undesirable impacts on EDI, UKRI suggest they will "keep an eye" on it. Gee, thanks! I'm not sure that covers their duties under the equality act. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
researchprofessionalnews.com
Fewer, longer research grants ‘could exacerbate inequalities’ - Research Professional News
Science minister’s call for larger, longer-term investments prompts fears around benefits for “big hitters”
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talking lion (hauntological) @talkinglion.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I embraced *so much* new technology due to Covid for new course modalities--Notability, Jamboard (RIP), Discord, Zoom, video recording programs; it's absurd to call professors who did this technophobic because we correctly recognize the threat AI poses to education
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Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Chris McDonald at UUK conference just announced UKRI will - increase grant decisions by internal UKRI expert teams (less to peer review) - fewer, larger awards - increase distributed peer review - more face to face decision making for high priority risky grants (to reduce AI peer review)
Chris McDonald talking to a lecture theatre
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 10/09/2026
I think what Badenoch meant to say here is: “British employers are dependent on welfare to subsidise a massively underpaid workforce” - particularly when you consider that around 40% of claimants are actually in work. But that’s just me splitting hairs, I suppose.
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Heather Stewart @guardianheather.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“The idea that you could be here for the next 10, 15 years and you’d still have no legal right to remain in the country … how the hell do you plan?..It cuts across any effort to integrate at all.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘Fundamentally unfair’: Burnham must overhaul migration reforms, says TUC general secretary
Paul Nowak says changes to immigration rules risk overstretching social care and fuelling far-right sentiment
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