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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ars Ex Machina Organizing the slide deck for my presentation at the "Aesthetics of Extraction: Sustainability and Responsibility in Times of AI" workshop @friasunifreiburg.bsky.social And my talk will be addressing #remix and generative #AI in both content and form uni-freiburg.de/frias/art-ma...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the book "A Relational Ethics for #AI and #Robots" co-edited with Abootaleb Safdari and published by @springer.springernature.com will be available this December 2026. link.springer.com/book/9783032...

link.springer.com

A Relational Ethics for AI and Robots

A Relational Ethics for AI and Robots reconsiders key ethical concepts and moral frameworks for an era of AI systems and robots.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

During conversations at the "Last Man at 200" conference @notredame.bsky.social, it became abundantly clear to me that everyone--even (and maybe especially) scholars in modern literature and the humanities--want and need to know about #LLM #AI. Now there's an app for that: tinyurl.com/5eucuxy5

tinyurl.com

Understanding Artificial Intelligence: A Critical Introduction for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Understanding Artificial Intelligence: A Critical Introduction for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to research and development in a handful of STEM di...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"The Last Man Complex: Artificial Intelligence and Existential Risk." - My presentation at 2026 Curran Symposium: THE LAST MAN AT 200–Imagining the Future After Environmental Disaster. k-saa.org/events/curra...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Today I will be presenting "The Last Man Complex: #AI and Existential Risk" during the closing session of the "Last Man at 200" conference @notredame.bsky.social. www.k-saa.org/events/curra... Preprint of the book chapter is now available from @ssrn.bsky.social dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I've got a new game. Call it "The Reverse Turing Test." Write a short paragraph that emulates #LLM generated content, test it in an #AI detection tool, and then iteratively modify it until you achieve the score of 100% #AI Generated.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Prompted #ChatGPT to generate an image for my "Last Man Complex" presentation about #AI x-risk coming later this week at @notredame.bsky.social Paid for it by sacrificing one glass of water and working in the dark.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Coming up this Friday: I will be presenting my paper "The Last Man Complex: #AI and Existential Risk" as part of the "2026 Niemeyer Lectures in Political Philosophy: The Last Man at 200" @notredame.bsky.social My thanks to the chorus of x-risk doomers for making this research relevant.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Reviews (aka back cover blurbs) for "Understanding Artificial Intelligence" @politybooks.bsky.social come from a trio of luminaries in communication, artificial intelligence, and philosophy of technology: @zizip.bsky.social, @blaiseaguera.bsky.social and @svennyholm.bsky.social tinyurl.com/5eucuxy5

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It is publication day for my 19th book, "Understanding Artificial Intelligence" @politybooks.bsky.social. This one is an #AI primer for students in the humanities, social sciences and the arts. Available now in the UK and worldwide. US release will be 24 November 2026. tinyurl.com/5eucuxy5

tinyurl.com

Understanding Artificial Intelligence: A Critical Introduction for the Humanities and Social Sciences

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Like all binary oppositions, the current debate between #AI enthusiasts and anti #AI opponents fails to critically question what both sides tacitly endorse and agree upon. The problem is not the #AI or even the Data Centers. The problem is the asymmetries of power under late-stage capitalism.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I am not as concerned about @microsoft.com's "Humanist #AI" not entertaining #AI consciousness as I am with how this anthropocentric framing marginalizes other conscious entities (like animals) and the non-human world of things (natural and otherwise). microsoft.ai/code-of-cond...

microsoft.ai

Humanist AI Code of Conduct | Microsoft AI

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I recently had the opportunity to discuss my research and publications in #AI personhood, #robot rights, and technology #law and #ethics with Mykyta Zhukov. Published version of our conversation is now available from the Tenderium blog. tenderium.net/blog/when-ai...

tenderium.net

When AI Answers Back: A Conversation with David J. Gunkel on Personhood, Programming and Robot Rights | Tenderium

A Tenderium conversation on anthropomorphism, free will, artificial identity, self-replication, ownership and the difficult line between a person and a thing

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Why are big tech CEOs and billionaires so interested in and convinced of the #AI apocalypse? Because, as Mark Fisher once wrote: "It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism." I call this (following Mary Shelley) The Last Man Complex.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I call this "The Last Man Complex." And I will be talking about it (and my essay that develops the concept) at the Curran Symposium on the topic of Mary Shelley’s "The Last Man" (1826) that will be taking place at @notredame.bsky.social 24-25 September 2026. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

The Thrill of Wanting AI to Destroy the World

An Anthropic researcher quit his job because he believes AI will destroy humanity. His story is going viral because so many others want to believe too.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Given that the term #Robot precedes that of #Artificial_Intelligence by 30+ years, I suggest we flip the script on this "Embodied #AI" moniker and begin referring to cloud distributed #AI applications as "Disembodied #Robots."

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Play that Gunky Music. In philosophy, it is inconvenient when one's surname does not lend itself to being turned into an adjective. And mine is definitely the poster-child as both "Gunkelian" and "Gunkelist" are just cumbersome. But the alternatives may be no better: "Gunkist" or "Gunky."

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🇯🇵 Future Human #AI Relations. The last official event at Hakkaido University. Sapporo, Japan. My thanks to Hayate Shimizu for organizing the event and providing the opportunity for four days of interesting and insightful conversations.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"Understanding Artificial Intelligence" @politybooks.bsky.social will be out and available mid-September (UK/EU) and mid-November (North America/Global). The book is an #AI primer designed for use with undergraduates in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts. read.amazon.com/sample/15095...

read.amazon.com

Read a sample: “Understanding Artificial Intelligence: A Critical Introduction for the Humanities and Social Sciences (AI & Society)”

David J. Gunkel

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🇯🇵 Here I am at the bookstore of Hakkaido University proudly displaying the place where the Japanese translation of "Communicative #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social (co-authored with @coeckelbergh.bsky.social) had been before it sold out. You can clearly see the disappointment on my face.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

"I begin with an act of plagiarism because the title to my talk today is not my own..." My presentation "Does Writing Have a Future?--Literary Theory for #LLMs" at "Rethinking Humanity in the Age of #AI" Hakkaido University. Sapporo 🇯🇵 - Photo by Masahiro Morioka

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

"What does it Matter Who is Speaking?" New radio op ed on @WNIJ-Northern Public Radio concerning the uncertainty of provenance for ALL written content in the wake of #LLM #AI. www.northernpublicradio.org/wnij-perspec...

northernpublicradio.org

Perspective: What does it matter who is speaking?

David Gunkel tries a different way of thinking about AI-generated content.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🇯🇵 Today I will be presenting "Does Writing have a Future?--Literary Theory for #LLMs" as one of the keynotes at the conference Rethinking Humanity in the Age of AI. The presentation is based on the final chapter in the book "Communicative #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social @coeckelbergh.bsky.social

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Today is the official start of my COMS 647: Communication Technology grad seminar, which is all about #AI. And as I have done year after year, we begin at the very beginning with Plato's "Phaedrus"--the first recorded debate about a new and disruptive technology of communication.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

As long as ghostwriting was a privilege only afforded the rich and famous, it was tolerated as SOP. But as soon as this capability is democratized by the #LLM and made widely available to anyone with an internet connection, it becomes inauthentic SLOP.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"It is for this reason that we can say, following Ludwig Wittgenstein (1995, 5.6) that for these technologies the limit of their language (model) mean the limits of their world." - @coeckelbergh.bsky.social & @davidgunkel.bsky.social. "AI & Society" (2024). link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Technological Determinism. Unless academe rethinks its "publish or perish" model of scholarship, #LLM #AI will institute a new "publish and perish" model for it.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Pre-modern Problems. The Socrates of Plato's "Phaedrus"--well in advance of the advent of #LLM #AI generated textual content--destablized the authority of what Foucault will eventually call the "author function" and prefigures Beckett's "what does it matter who is speaking?"

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In 2019, I published the first #AI primer for undergrad students in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts. But by Nov. 2022, a good 75% was obsolete. To remedy that, I have now written a new textbook called "Understanding #AI" (also from @politybooks.bsky.social). Available mid-Sept. 2026.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Back to my NIU office and waiting for me were two new translations. 1) The Vietnamese translation of "#AI for Communication" @routledgebooks.bsky.social. And 2) the Japanese translation of "Communicative #AI" @politybooks.bsky.social which was co-authored with @coeckelbergh.bsky.social.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

🇮🇪 Tomorrow (13 August) Robophilosophy 2026 @ucddublin.bsky.social. Dublin, Ireland. Workshop #7 9:15-12:15 Featuring innovative research presentations from @kamilmamak.bsky.social @aybig.bsky.social @chadedwards.bsky.social Hayate Shimizu and Joan Llora

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Reposted by David Gunkel

Paul Harland @pabloredux.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

"After the death of the author: generative AI and the ethics of academic evaluation" jmepb.bmj.com/content/2/3/... with contributions by @davidgunkel.bsky.social & Hayate Shimizu, notably, from a changing distribution of human conscious participants supported by impermanent cultural scaffolding.

jmepb.bmj.com

After the death of the author: generative AI and the ethics of academic evaluation

Brian Earp and colleagues ask what authorship should mean in the age of generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted writing. 1 Our answer is that the author should not be kept on life support. Au...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

🇮🇪 Just presented "Ethics in the Face of Others" as part of the workshop "Artificial Companions: Power, Value, and the Changing Meaning of Relationship" at Robophilosophy 2026. Dublin, Ireland. With Anna Strasser, Tillman Verkant and Oliver Zöllner.

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Reposted by David Gunkel

Kamil Mamak @kamilmamak.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

At #Robophilosophy2026 at University College Dublin, presenting “Which Relations Matter? Rethinking Scope in Relational Ethics in AI and Robots” in the workshop “The Relational Turn in Robot Ethics,” chaired by @davidgunkel.bsky.social Research funded by @erc.europa.eu #ROBOCRIM

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@digitaldang.bsky.social captured this image of the Vietnamese translation of "AI for Communication" @routledgebooks.bsky.social in its natural habitat.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

On Monday (6 July) at 7:00 CDT/20:00 MYT, I will be presenting "Does Writing Have a Future?" as part of the opening session for "Literary AI: Computational Writing and the Media of Language" an online event hosted by Monash University Malaysia | literaryai.org

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

- The Différance Engine - A prototype of #LLM #AI is described in Part III, ch. 5 of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver Travel's" with the description of the "Engine" of the Great Academy of Lagado. I prompted #ChatGPT to generate an image based on Swift's characterization.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Human-Machine Communication is now a full-fledged division of the International Communication Association. This research area (which predates #LLM by a decade) was developed at Northern Illinois University and is now an international movement @hmcjournal.bsky.social niutoday.info/2026/06/23/f...

niutoday.info

NIU Today - From NIU to the world: Scholars help create field of AI research

A research area pioneered by NIU communication professors has reached a major milestone on the international stage. At the recent annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA)...

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

First things last. Wrapping up the reading/revising of "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social prior to submission. The preface--the first thing in the book but the last thing written--contains this bit about the book's title.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

"Who Belongs in the Moral Circle?" A relational response to @jeffsebo.bsky.social's book "The Moral Circle" written in collaboration with Hayate Shimizu, @annapuzio.bsky.social and @kamilmamak.bsky.social and published in the "Asian Journal of Philosophy" @springernature.com rdcu.be/fppRj

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Final read-through for "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social - Closing in on the finish line. The final chapter--"Criticisms and Responses"--begins with this paragraph, which sneaks in a few snarky parenthetical statements just for fun.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Read-through of "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social manuscript continues. This nugget is from the third chapter, which is tasked with connecting the dots between the technical exigencies of #LLM #AI and Jacques Derrida's (non)concept of différance (previously defined in chapter two).

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

"Does Writing have a Future?" - IDEepolis26, Institut für Digitale Ethik at Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart. And if you know your Flusser then you know that my title is a rip-off from his book. And that is because Flusser's question is newly relevant & urgent in the face of #LLM and #Generative #AI

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

More teasers from "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social. The third chapter connects the dots between the technical architecture of the #LLM and Derrida's (non)concept of différance. And it begins (as it must) with Ferdinand de Saussure's innovations in structural linguistics.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Does Writing have a Future? / Hat Schreiben Zukunft? Tomorrow (17 June) I will be providing one of the keynotes at the IDEepolis26 conference hosted by the Institut für Digitale Ethik (IDE) of the Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart. Featuring material from "Communicative AI" @politybooks.bsky.social.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Another teaser from "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social. This one comes from chapter one--"Writing Machines." And is designed to tee-up the raison d'etre for bringing Derrida's (non)concept of différance into the current and seemingly irresolvable debate about #LLM #AI.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

A German court has just provided this resolution to the "responsibility gap" in #AI assisted search. I expect that this is not the conclusion but the point at which the legal and regulatory debate actually begins. @wired.com www.wired.com/story/a-cour...

wired.com

A Court Has Ruled That Google Is Liable for False Statements Generated by AI Overviews

The ruling holds that a company that designs, trains, operates, and manages an AI system must assume legal liability for any damages caused by the responses it generates.

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Another image from "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social. This one leverages Derrida's problematizing of the principle sign of (human) authenticity--the signature--that is developed in the final pages of "Signature Event Context."

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David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Currently doing a reading and final check of the full manuscript for "The Différance Engine" @mitpress.bsky.social As a result, I can deposit a few teasers here:

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