Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 19hThey were so close to describing me; just that missing L. 2180
Reposted by Kate DevlinDan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Ah yes the circle of life 12581251360
Reposted by Kate DevlinKatie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility 5776082089
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026To clarify: the ELIZA effect (1960s), the Computers Are Social Actors (1990s) thing... most people interact as if the machine is like us, and *that's okay* — convenient, and what we social creatures do — as they also simultaneously know it's a machine. Hyping the idea that it's more is unhelpful. ⬇️ 2203
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Hey you guys, Weizenbaum called and he said: "how easy it is to create and maintain the illusion of understanding, hence perhaps of judgment deserving of credibility. A certain danger lurks there." 04915
Reposted by Kate DevlinCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/09/2026Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure. 5742901171
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I mean... we've just surveyed a representative sample of the UK and I have bad (good) news for you about Gen Z's attitudes to AI 1346
Reposted by Kate DevlinSmooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 25/09/2026the future tech bros are dreaming of 4548161320
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I have a 16yo child. This involved 5yrs of totally lonesome single parenting from 2015-2020. We are at the stage where they go unbidden to the local Tesco to get ice cream for us. This feels like an excellent return on investment. 3801
Reposted by Kate DevlinFr. Robert Ballecer, SJ @padresj.bsky.social · 25/09/2026There is so much disinformation about the "Super El Nino" floating around the internet b/c mentioning any sort of mechanism that affects weather seems to start a shouting match. So here's a good video that gives you JUST the info you need in under 2 minutes. 631420756
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026This whole thing of LLM decisions without consent yet again makes me wonder when we'll see the first "Have YOU been misjudged by an AI?" advert along the lines of mis-sold car finance no-win, no-fee lawyers. 78112
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Eh, what now? This is awful. This is unacceptable and goes against UKRI policy, which clearly states: "Assessors...must not use generative AI tools as part of their assessment activities except for language refinement purposes". 47426
Reposted by Kate DevlinDiane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This is not AI agents going rogue, but OpenAI. This hack took the company months to notice and then they notified a public email address rather than the appropriate government agency. www.ft.com/content/5613... OpenAI ‘agent’ hacked an Australian health service websiteft.comOpenAI ‘agent’ hacked an Australian health service websiteAI lab took months to spot the problem, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called ‘obviously unacceptable’ 913945
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I'll tell you why I don't fear the machines: it is because in this, the year of our lord twenty twenty six, despite us burning the planet for compute, it remains impossible to simply one-click share an event in a Google calendar so it becomes an event in an Outlook calendar and vice versa. 9716
Reposted by Kate DevlinCynethryth @cynethryth.com · 22/09/2026Looks like the video is here youtu.be/kErHiET5YPwyoutu.beMaciej Ceglowski - Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People (Keynote)YouTube video by WebCamp Zagreb 0114
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Finished last weekend's ultramarathon with a sore lower back. "Obviously you rested it and are now better, right?" you might ask. No. No I did not. In fact, I overdid things and made it worse and now have a hot water bottle strapped to me while I eat painkillers and attempt gentle stretching. 2120
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026There's a woman further up the train from me rambling on and boringly on to her son about every second of her journey today, and I was tolerantly thinking "ahhh, nice that she has someone to listen" but then she described something that she thought was stupid as "a bit Irish" so she can fuck off. 2270
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026There is NOT a 'big spoon' and a 'little spoon', there is an outer spoon and an inner spoon of the same size because that is how they nestle together best. I will not be taking further questions at this time. 6819
Reposted by Kate DevlinKate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Us for years: "tech companies should be more responsible" Tech for years: "move fast and break things!" Tech now: "someone please stop us" Us now: "we've been asking you to be more responsible for years" The media now: "why are you criticising these tech guys they are so scared and afraid?" 515246
Reposted by Kate DevlinShannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Truly astonishing that all any world leader can think to do is keep inviting the same guys into a room to give their considered advice on how we can protect ourselves from all the harmful, unsafe things deliberately done by the guys in the roombbc.co.ukKing Charles warns of 'existential danger' of AI falling into wrong handsThe comments were made at a summit in Ayrshire with participants from AI giants including Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic. 610627
Reposted by Kate DevlinPhilip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 15/09/2026In thisa piece for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social I express the wish for a better level of public discourse around AI that doesn't leave us hanging on every word of the alleged tech gurus. www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...thenewworld.co.ukApocalyptic AI fantasies are a stupid, annoying distraction from its real problemsThe people who work in AI are not gurus and most of their predictions have been wrong. Working in the industry makes them less reliable commentators, not more 713060
Reposted by Kate DevlinJohn Hill @jpjhill.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Say what you like about 2008, but back in the day, when some creep with no house training decided to rip people off and crash the economy out of greed, arrogance and general contempt for others, at least they didn’t clog up the news cycle every other week to cry about how maybe they were “too smart” 0173
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Us for years: "tech companies should be more responsible" Tech for years: "move fast and break things!" Tech now: "someone please stop us" Us now: "we've been asking you to be more responsible for years" The media now: "why are you criticising these tech guys they are so scared and afraid?" 515246
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Well, hey, I'm entirely in favour of an AI slow-down too, I'm just not convinced that tech companies are calling for it out of the goodness of their own hearts. 5437
Reposted by Kate DevlinBrigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Yep, 2023 was the year makingsciencepublic.com/2023/06/15/a...makingsciencepublic.comArtificial intelligence and existential risk: From alarm to alignment1956 was a momentous year: I and AI were born. Ok, I was born and artificial intelligence was defined as a field of research in computer science. A lot has happened since, especially over the last … 022
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026"News framing shapes our perceptions; done well, it’s an important contribution to public understanding of the technology – and we need that. Done badly, and it perpetuates the dystopia." I wrote this more than three frickin' years ago and it still applies: bylinetimes.com/2023/06/09/r...bylinetimes.comRogue Drones and Tall TalesKate Devlin dispels the sudden Science Fiction panic around superintelligence, and looks at the real threats to employment and the environment from AI and machine learning 1113
Reposted by Kate DevlinKate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Me for the ipaper: "it’s likely they do believe this, viewing themselves as the Oppenheimers of the modern age. They see the race to develop bigger and better models as something that must be done despite potentially lethal consequences" inews.co.uk/opinion/worr...inews.co.ukWorried about the end of humanity thanks to AI? Here's what's really happeningIt's not superintelligence we need to worry about, it's the people who are recklessly pressing ahead with powerful new systems 65230
Reposted by Kate Devlinmichael lutz @ztul.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Barber CEO: You Risk Falling Behind If You Don't Get A Haircut "Right Now" Industry Experts Foresee Future In Which Everyone Receives Multiple Haircuts Every Day Today Your Hair, Tomorrow The World: Barbers Say They Are On Track To Build A Pair Of Scissors So Big, It Could End Life As We Know It 142237644
Reposted by Kate DevlinEmily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 13/09/2026So how about this for a "pause AI" proposal: "pause credulous AI reporting". No more media about "breakthroughs" or "rogue agent swarms" or ... UNLESS and UNTIL that media demands the actual empirical evidence and/or focuses on the motivations of & harms by these companies. 4744196
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I did my first ultramarathon today. 51.3K (they rerouted and added extra) and I enjoyed it mostly and didn't break any bones, unlike my last marathon. I'm knackered and desperately in need of something that isn't sugar but worryingly I haven't said that I'd never do it again. 13440
Reposted by Kate DevlinWE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The emergency crumb catcher was a spacesuit pocket. In 1965, John Young brought a corned beef sandwich aboard Gemini III. It started breaking up, so Gus Grissom put it away in his suit. At least your laptop has gravity on its side. Source Transcript: NASA 121
Reposted by Kate DevlinPavel @spavel.bsky.social · 11/09/2026If Hugo continues to grow at this rate, by 2030 he will no longer fit in the barn. By 2050 he will have grown to the size of Godzilla and could crush humanity. But if we let the Chinese grow their own Hugo first that would be bad. This is why we must invest 100 trillion dollars in Hugo immediately. 1450396
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026I kinda miss the days when people just wanted to ask me questions about sex robots and then shout at me about that. 3260
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Also did a Q&A for @theconversation.com here with a Betteridge's Law headline: theconversation.com/could-ai-rea...theconversation.comCould AI really kill off humanity within the decade? Expert Q&AIt’s not the first time AI researchers and companies have issued such warnings. 1117
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Shutting down conversations about the Bayeux Tapestry by telling them "I'm not really into embroidery". 1486
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026You call it "lying on the sofa trying not to get Wotsit crumbs on the laptop", I call it "tapering and carb-loading". 2250
Reposted by Kate DevlinHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 09/09/2026'Humanities & social sciences research is central to ask questions about how and in whose interests technology is being developed, how it can be adopted, deployed & governed and how to create a world where AI can benefit the many, not the few' My blog for @ukri.org ukri.substack.com/p/why-ai-wil...ukri.substack.comWhy AI will fail without the humanities and social sciencesAI can transform society. But only if society has a say in shaping it, writes Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of The British Academy. 59943
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Me for the ipaper: "it’s likely they do believe this, viewing themselves as the Oppenheimers of the modern age. They see the race to develop bigger and better models as something that must be done despite potentially lethal consequences" inews.co.uk/opinion/worr...inews.co.ukWorried about the end of humanity thanks to AI? Here's what's really happeningIt's not superintelligence we need to worry about, it's the people who are recklessly pressing ahead with powerful new systems 65230
Reposted by Kate DevlinBrigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026This week's post is about the myths and metaphors that emerged within and about AI models after the Hugging Face incident #AI #metaphors #AIMetaphorObservatory makingsciencepublic.com/2026/09/11/f...makingsciencepublic.comFrom rogues to collectives: Myths and metaphors after the Hugging Face incidentSome weeks ago, I wrote a blog post just after reports about AI ‘going rogue’ had spread in the media. This referred to an incident at OpenAI that one can summarise like this: In July 2026, experim… 0116
Reposted by Kate DevlinMelanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026I wrote down my thoughts about the last several weeks of AI hell. aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...aiguide.substack.comMisleading Metaphors, Real RisksWhat To Fear from AI Agents and How to Reclaim Our Human Agency 1019880
Reposted by Kate DevlinGordon Guthrie @foundationsofthedigitalstate.com · 09/09/2026As everyone is losing their mind over <another> AI is alive and going to kill us scare, it is time to point y'all to this by @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social again hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/wz35dvpo...hdsr.mitpress.mit.eduAI Safety Is a Narrative Problem 0118
Reposted by Kate DevlinDermot Casey @dermotcasey.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Hadn't seen this paper before but the way our media and political class who are still on Twitter are having their perspectives shifted rightward by a literal evil billionaire with space rockets seems so absurd that its hard to fathom. 02914
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Did two very contrasting radio interviews on AI destroying all humans: Nicky Campbell on 5Live, where the discussion was a decent "let's think the issues through" perspective and Radio Ulster's Talkback where they were deliberately leaning into the panic and I hope you could hear my eyerolls. 3312
Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026A lot of news coverage on AI doom based off one tweet on a shitposting platform by a prodigal techbro. Do I fear superintelligence wiping us out? No, I fear incompetence and probably climate disaster, both of which could be somewhat mitigated by making tech companies more responsible & accountable. 18914
Reposted by Kate DevlinIsilanka @isilanka.bsky.social · 09/09/2026It's really funny how OpenAI talks like they're running project Manhattan while apparently having no concept of things like "maybe don't connect your testing environment to the Internet" or "what do you mean we are supposed to keep an eye on our chatbots" 224423
Reposted by Kate DevlinDiami @diami.myatproto.social · 09/09/2026My school has had 5,999 conversations about AI in the past year and exactly zero about fascism. 1143
Reposted by Kate DevlinThe Policy Institute @policyatkings.bsky.social · 04/09/2026NEW w/ @ukandeu.bsky.social: Reform UK supporters are imagined to be more hostile to rejoining the EU and keener on low taxes for the wealthy than they really are. They're also viewed as the group of voters most driven by dislike of others and the party people most want to block from powerkcl.ac.ukReform UK supporters misunderstood on EU and taxes on wealthy – and seen as most driven by dislike of others, study finds | King's College LondonReform is also the party people most want to block from power 071
Reposted by Kate DevlinKing Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Sobering, insightful essay on how chatbots mangle historical primary sources. 🗃 www.hnn.us/article/ai-i...hnn.usAI Is an Anti-Primary Source MachineReal voices from the past are threatened by chatbots designed to amplify — and ultimately become — the loudest voices in the room. 9421182
Reposted by Kate DevlinJamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 03/09/2026A reminder that a ban on social media for under 16s is also this inevitably happening to the rest of us. 3296167