iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 18/11/2025

every large public institution (esp, universities & schools) reliant on big tech infrastructure should take note as the "bursting of the AI bubble" will bring these sectors down with it do you now see how the likes of Oxford signing contracts with OpenAI was a grave mistake

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 06/09/2025

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Karen Finney @finneyk.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

“When a leader has no substantive policies to heal a nation’s wounds, he opens new ones with the sword of state violence.”

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 11/08/2025

I am starting to believe that the AI craze actually has, for once, created a genuinely useful way to test someone's intelligence: are they unquestionably on board with using corporate AI tools for everything, or are they going "whoa, hey, wait a second"?

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Here is UW - Madison's budget. Our <largest> funder is the federal government. 25%. It used to be the state. Either way, the university in its current form ceases to exist if these federal cuts really happen. But The. Public. Doesn't. Know. This. And our leaders are absent from the public debate.

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Dr. S.A. Applin @anthropunk.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Hey @anthropunk.bsky.social and @liedra.net break it all down (free): doi.org/10.1016/j.jr...

doi.org

Redirecting

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 07/08/2025

“The way the exploit works is by hiding a 300-word malicious prompt in a document in white text and size-one font — something that's easily overlooked by a human, but not a chatbot like ChatGPT.”

futurism.com

It's Staggeringly Easy for Hackers to Trick ChatGPT Into Leaking Your Most Personal Data

OpenAI's ChatGPT can easily be coaxed into leaking your personal data — with just a single "poisoned" document.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 04/08/2025

so I am one of the 12 people (including the “god-fathers of AI”) that will be at the Vatican this September for a two full-day working group on the Future of AI here is my Vatican approved short provocation on 'AI and Fraternity' for the working group

AI and Fraternity, Abeba Birhane, AI Accountability Lab

I envision a future where human dignity, justice, peace, kindness, care, respect, accountability, and rights and freedoms serve as the north stars that guide AI development and use. Realising these ideals can’t happen without intentional tireless work, dialogues, and confrontations of ugly realities – even if they are uncomfortable to deal with. This starts with deciphering hype from reality. Pervasive narratives portray AI as a magical, fully autonomous entity approaching a God-like omnipotence and omniscience. In reality, audits of AI systems reveal a consistent failure to deliver on grandiose promises and suffer from all kinds of shortcomings, issues often swept under the rug. AI in general, and GenAI in particular, encodes and exacerbates historical stereotypes, entrenches harmful societal norms, and amplifies injustice. A robust body of evidence demonstrates that — from hiring, welfare allocation, medical care allocation to anything in between — deployment of AI is widening inequity, disproportionately impacting people at the margins of society and concentrating power and influence in the hands of few. Major actors—including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI—have willingly aligned with authoritarian regimes and proactively abandoned their pledges to fact-check, prevent misinformation, respect diversity and equity, refrain from using AI for weapons development, while retaliating against critique. The aforementioned vision can’t and won’t happen without confrontation of these uncomfortable facts. This is precisely why we need active resistance and refusal of unreliable and harmful AI systems; clearly laid out regulation and enforcement; and shepherding of the AI industry towards transparency and accountability of responsible bodies. "Machine agency" must be in service of human agency and empowerment, a coexistence that isn't a continuation of modern tech corporations’ inequality-widening,

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Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

one thing I wish more people knew is that many offices have such poor air circulation that CO2 levels in meeting rooms can rapidly exceed 1000ppm, the point at which people start to get groggy and sleepy people are literally suffocating in offices every day & absolutely no one talks about it

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

I think some people in power in western govts & biz need to come to terms with the fact that all of the problems they promise AI/tech will solve are, in fact, symptoms of the failings of their own personal values as pushed out into economic and political spheres of activity. Repentance is hard.

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Since today the NY Times is profiling Alpha School and "MacKenzie Price, a podcaster and influencer who co-founded Alpha" 🤮, I'm resharing @civicsoftech.bsky.social's resources on Audrey Watters' book Teaching Machines that I helped to write, including a reading guide and inquiry-based lesson plan.

civicsoftechnology.org

Whose interests do teaching machines serve? — Civics of Technology

In this blog post, Charles Logan shares his thoughts, a reading guide, and new inquiry design model (IDM) lesson based on Audrey Watters’ 2021 book, Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Lear...

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 27/07/2025

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u... But partnering with OpenAI on the other hand…

“I’ve seen the future,” she wrote on social media, “and it isn’t 10 years away. It’s here, right now.”
To detractors, Ms. Price’s “2 Hour Learning” model and Alpha School are just the latest in a long line of computerized fads that plunk children in front of screens and deny them crucial socialization skills while suppressing their ability to think critically.
“Students and our country need to be in relationship with other human beings,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, a teachers’ union. “When you have a school that is strictly A.I., it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.”

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Anne Elias @woodsfern.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

There is no way to work safely, wisely, or ethically with these companies. They are some of the very architects of our current nightmare and future hellscape. You are lying to your membership, students, teachers, and community. Resign. Signed, an AFT member, organizer & elected officer.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 25/07/2025

“At present, the WhoFi system is a proof of concept requiring some incredibly advanced software to implement. But it’s very real, and the hardware used to develop it wasn’t anything special.”

pcworld.com

Your body can be fingerprinted and tracked using Wi-Fi signals

A new system developed by researchers in Rome can identify specific people and their locations with 95% accuracy.

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Crucial read: eliminating tip taxes while requiring cross-platform reporting creates new vulnerabilities for the very workers it claims to help. Data flows from Venmo to IRS to ICE surveillance is disguised as worker protection. The often invisible power of platforms is profound and multiplicative.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 22/07/2025

wake up babe, a new modality of surveillance just dropped

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ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 15/07/2025

something i think about a bit is the growing sense among young people that college isn't worth it. what would we say if a student said uni wasn't worth it if they were compelled to use chatbots? what would we say if a student said uni wasn't worth it if they were prohibited from using chatbots?

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

this is one of the worst crimes in human history and the entire global north and all of us in it share the responsibility

One million starved children and no shortage of food

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Dr Sasha Luccioni @sashamtl.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Friends! Does anyone know of any model distillation with public logs (W&B or other)? I'm trying to figure out the energy tradeoffs between model training and distillation..

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WIRED @wired.com · 15/07/2025

NEW: Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

wired.com

The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out

Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

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Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 10/07/2025

I need everyone in the airline industry to understand that these ghouls do not have enough airplane contracts to deport everyone they want to deport. NOW is the time for you and your union to tell your airline: If you contract with ICE, I will refuse to fly.

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

A strong statement of resistance to the relentless marketing of "AI" in education spaces. I encourage all educators to have a look and consider signing on: openletter.earth/an-open-lett...

openletter.earth

An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

An “anti-government militia” is “targeting Oklahoma weather radars, days after a man vandalized News 9’s weather radar Meteorologists are trying to explain that weather radars do not control the weather

news9.com

'Anti-government militia' says it’s targeting Oklahoma weather radars

An “anti-government militia” called ‘Veterans on Patrol’ told News 9 on Tuesday that it is “targeting” Oklahoma weather radars, days after an individual vandalized News 9’s weather radar.

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Andy Greenberg @agreenberg.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

McDonald's uses an AI bot called "Olivia" for hiring. A pair of hackers found they could access every conversation job applicants had with it—including all the personal info they shared—by exploiting security vulnerabilities as basic as using the password "123456". www.wired.com/story/mcdona...

wired.com

McDonald’s AI Hiring Bot Exposed Millions of Applicants’ Data to Hackers Who Tried the Password ‘123456’

Basic security flaws left the personal info of tens of millions of McDonald’s job-seekers vulnerable on the “McHire” site built by AI software firm Paradox.ai.

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Listening to the AI for Good conf. OpenAI Ed Tech lead, Kevin Mills justify, nay celebrate, the deconstruction of education and attempt at total market capture of a generation via "partnerships". Basically a big, fat ad at a UNESCO conference.

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Steve-o Stonebraker @sstoneb.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

You are partnering with parasites whose unethical businesses seek to invalidate and replace the exercise of human thought and learning. Products like these will never "work for" educators. You're simply giving them good PR and setting up more profits for them on the back of work stolen from others.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 08/07/2025

On one side are con men, fabulists, fascists, investors, and cultists (or some combination of those descriptors), with no regard for the amount of destruction they create as long as they profit. This is why there are sides.

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Young Brolic @audaciouskay.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

"The plaintiff, a Black man over age 40 who lives with anxiety and depression, applied to more than 100 jobs at companies using Workday’s AI hiring tools (i.e., personality and cognitive tests) — and was rejected every time. newenglandbizlawupdate.com/2025/07/08/w...

newenglandbizlawupdate.com

When AI benches the wrong players

In mid-May a federal judge cleared the way for a nationwide class action against Workday, finding that its AI-driven hiring tools may have unfairly screened out applicants older than 40.

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Joanna Bryson, blathering @j2bryson.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/07/2025

"lets China win #AI" is the new "works to burn down the world using fossil fuels" #giftArticle happy interdependence day #interdependenceDay www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi…

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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

The new budget law will be an absolute bonanza for state surveillance tech, AI grifters, and Silicon Valley giants that are increasingly comfortable abetting the authoritarian project to remake the US state. My latest:

bloodinthemachine.com

The budget bill opens the floodgates for state surveillance tech and bad AI

Silicon Valley wins big in the accelerated authoritarianism of Trump's beautiful bill

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Sar Crespi @boron110.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

In the latest from the @science.org podcast series of books on science and death, we hear about the fate of virtual you after physical death w/ @tamigraph.bsky.social www.science.org/content/podc...

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

*angry goose meme - "and how much are you making, John Fry?"

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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

“Despite no evidence that such a thing has occurred in the history of the universe, Amodei goes to the black box myth as his explanation for why this thing, which hasn’t happened, happened”

techpolicy.press

The Black Box Myth: What the Industry Pretends Not to Know About AI | TechPolicy.Press

Tech Policy Press fellow Eryk Salvaggio says it's a problem is that those of us outside of the AI industry don’t know what rules they are following.

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Maybe the real Roko's Basilisk was the greed we genuflected to along the way.

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

This afternoon I was at a protest decrying the simple minds in DC. This evening I'm at The Mann for the Simple Minds concert. Alive and kicking indeed. Welcome to the revolution.

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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 14/06/2025

If you are arrested today protesting the Trump administration in Illinois, I can represent you pro bono. Email me at sheryl@weikallaw.com.

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

A reminder on this Flag Day/No Kings Day. ChatGPT and other #genAI are the tools of oppression and extraction, not freedom. Using them enriches those with no regard for democracy. #nokings

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Del @del.art · 11/06/2025

Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Universal City Studios Productions and DreamWorks Animation, have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney. They have described it in the suit as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.”

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Career Quartermaster @cmiciek.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Final session of #NACE25 and I'm listening to a 45 minute infomercial for an #ai ed tech company. Bad enough, but multiple slides have Studio Ghibli style graphics.

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

“Trump is using military forces to stop a protest — I want y'all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us.” Doechii at the #BETAwards

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 24/05/2025

The author has a different perspective than I do on the reams of data Amazon collects on Alexa users, but also of note is how paltry this will seem compared to the treasure trove of data collected by ai stuffed wearables companies are pushing—and not just on users but on everyone in range.

theguardian.com

‘Alexa, what do you know about us?’ What I discovered when I asked Amazon to tell me everything my family’s smart speaker had heard

For years, Alexa has been our on-call vet, DJ, teacher, parent, therapist and whipping boy. What secrets would the data reveal?

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