iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"based on a cache of internal contractor documents seen by 404 Media, shows that AI companies are using human workers to review not just AI chatbot users’ text prompts, but the pictures they upload and wish to edit too".

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"Pangram tests on three articles published in the National Catholic Register this year — a film review and two op-eds arguing that AI cannot replace human “judgement” and “responsibility” in the domains of Catholicism and academia — returned “75%,” “96%” and “100% AI-written” respectively."

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"These features are marketed as “opt-in”. But only the person wearing the Apple Watch gets to opt at all. Nobody else in the room has a choice"

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It's interesting to me that these guys put so much energy into refuting (what they think we meant by) "stochastic parrots" and maybe not as much into refuting the (solid) research connecting "AI" to eugenics, racism, and fascism. >>

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Julie Blommaert @drjulieb.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Twice as many people die in workplace accidents in NZ compared to Australia, and four times as many as in the UK. This is not something we should be MORE relaxed about

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The US market is "flooded" but apparently right-wing Australian audiences are a relatively untapped market. Timothy Graham: "the impact of this stuff is more or less identical to what the intended, if not actual, outcomes of foreign influence operations would be" www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...

abc.net.au

Foreign YouTuber using AI to promote One Nation to thousands

An ABC NEWS Verify investigation reveals exactly how a YouTube political commentator from overseas is using AI to pretend to be Australian and promote One Nation to thousands of people.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Opponents warn that the chemicals, which never degrade in nature, are a ticking timebomb for human and planetary health . . . Although Pfas have existed for less than a century, scientists have warned that their accumulation in the environment has already breached a planetary boundary".

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Enjoyed talking with Fox Meyer about how Generative AI is changing political content. For many in NZ GenAI raises important ethical questions. For others, the lack of creative and thought work required can encourage them to ignore their responsibility for making or sharing harmful content.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"Even if AI can make a picture very efficiently, we don’t benefit from it if we want to be a painter. We need to put in the effort to develop ourselves. Second, effort communicates how much we care. . . when we outsource effort. . . reasonably assume that some effort, and some meaning, is missing"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"“We sent it out to actors, and no Black actors wanted to play in a movie where there are no good Black people,” he said. “And it sort of died. But then AI came along, and I didn’t need Black actors.”"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

"Over two decades and 1,400+ shows, I made my living flailing around shouting about things I found important. It was an extremely cool job, but I traded it for the only cooler job I can imagine: teaching anthropology."

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Here in NZ, its the second day of Spring: I need this in a dress. "It’s to give them the feeling that there are actually certain tools we can use against surveillance. It's not like we just have to accept what the lawmakers and police are doing" Time to dance anonymously in a riot of flowers 💃💃

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David Harvey @davidharvey.org · 31/08/2026

Next week: Join me for a free public livestream of my new course, The Story of Capital. The course meets on Tuesdays from 4:15 - 6:15 pm [ET] from September 8th to December 1st.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

"makes the distinction between targeting and optimisation important: advertisers choose who they initially want to reach, while the platform learns who responds and increasingly delivers ads to them. . . [In an EU study] Men were . . more likely to receive ads from populist and far-right parties"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The impact of AI on education is both psychological and social. It can lead to "cognitive surrender" as well as decreasing human interaction in the learning process. But mental struggle and learning with others are key developing our skills, creativity, ethics, intelligence, our capacity to do good.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"The footage is particularly notable as dozens of cops around the country have been caught abusing Flock and other ALPR systems to stalk ex wives, ex partners, and random people."

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"Many tech companies now trying to manage A.I. slop are also the ones enabling it. In July, Meta promised to support a European pact to make A.I.-generated content more identifiable . . . the company also released an image generator that automatically opted in public Instagram accounts."

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Shaun Hendy @hendysh.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The strongest finding in my reanalysis is that social sciences and humanities are dramatically underweighted in NZ (humanities receives just one fifth of the share of funding it does in the SAEs), and these aren’t well covered by the government’s four new funding pillars. 6/n

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

"Law enforcement on the streets of New Delhi used lathi – long wooden sticks (some studded with iron rings and nails) – and tear gas on the country’s young people. Symbolically important for the world’s largest democracy, the leader of the opposition was arrested and briefly detained"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

"After the births, I arsed around something chronic. I was at home for more than six months each time, idly waking up every two to three hours all night. . . dropkick vibes means I’m a woman, a mother and unsuitable for the workforce" Full of zingers! 👏👏👏: thespinoff.co.nz/politics/29-...

thespinoff.co.nz

Am I still a woman? NZ First has me confused as all hell

I have a pussy and a pair of tits but I don’t know where to shop for clothes, shoes and chocolates.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

"the process of the obscuring of women's contributions, cryptogyny, often goes hand-in-hand with the theft of women's contributions through attributing them to men, part of what is known as great man theorising"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

"buried with a powerful arsenal of weapons . . . which archaeologists have continued to dismiss as "purely symbolic" But. . . "evidence the princesses knew how to use them, based on the state of the muscle attachments on their bones, and the signs of injuries" www.sciencealert.com/ancient-egyp...

sciencealert.com

Bones of Ancient Egyptian Princesses Reveal They Were Kind of Badass

Ancient Egyptian princesses actually knew how to use the weapons they were buried with, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

AI generated influencer account pushing fake charity with AI videos of blanket donations in Gaza and Ugandan orphanages, “our newest children in Africa”. Uses a celebrity AI aesthetic to bankroll the creators' luxury lifestyles: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...

abc.net.au

Australian influencer Lily Jay's tangled web of AI manipulation

Receiving millions of views online, the Lily Jay Foundation claims to help children across the world. She was even given an award for her work. But what is real and what is AI-generated? ABC NEWS Veri...

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

There are very good reasons why professors become professors rather than billionaires. "Luxon said the goal was to "brutally commercialise our science system. I want professors to become millionaires " www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

rnz.co.nz

Luxon 'constantly underwhelmed' by slow AI uptake in NZ businesses

Christopher Luxon says he is "constantly underwhelmed" at the slow adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology by Kiwi businesses.

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Dr Lucy Stewart @lcsnz.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

This is a man who fundamentally sees not a single solitary valuable thing about research except any monetary return it can provide, and what his government is doing to our research system illustrates this perfectly

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Geoffrey Hughes @geofffhughes.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Don't laugh. "Memorandum of Understanding" is how we say inshallah in my culture...

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The American Anthropological Association has put out a very clear statement in response to a new report claiming the humanities and social sciences are ruining themselves with left-wing bias. Would be good to see more such robust responses to these familiar yet deeply unhelpful accusations

The report also characterizes anthropology’s attention to positionality and reflexivity as evidence of a broader rejection of objectivity. This is wholly incorrect. Reflexivity is not, as the report asserts a claim that facts don’t exist, that they are irrelevant, or that all interpretations are equally valid. It is a methodological commitment to examining how knowledge is produced and to making visible the assumptions, relationships, and contexts that shape research. Far from weakening scholarly rigor, many anthropologists see reflexivity as one of the ways rigor is strengthened.

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urban_james_ @urban-james.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Oh Girls 👏👏👏👏

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

"The ruling also arrives as the Government reshapes New Zealand’s environmental laws and reviews the place of Treaty obligations . . Court’s repeated emphasis on Te Ture Whaimana as the primary framework guiding restoration of the Waikato River is. . . significant" www.teaonews.co.nz/2026/06/09/r...

teaonews.co.nz

River iwi celebrate landmark victory after more than a decade of legal battles

River Iwi say a landmark Environment Court ruling strengthens efforts to restore the Waikato and Waipā rivers while reaffirming Te Ture Whaimana.

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Helsinki University Press @helsinkiupress.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Timothy Cook writes about the subtle effects that long-term use of AI models can have on researchers’ reasoning. Read more on the LSE Impact Blog 👇 #ResearchIntegrity #AI

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

"The price we pay for AI today is not the real price. AI companies are still in the land-grab phase, burning cash to get governments and businesses hooked on their tools, so they are selling their services for a fraction of what they actually cost to deliver. ..That will not last."

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Alexandra Andhov says it clearly. NZ doesn't want to regulate AI, but it does want to replace 8700 public sector jobs with AI. The plan is to pay US based AI companies instead of New Zealand workers. To comply with US law, not laws designed accountable to Aoteaora. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

rnz.co.nz

Replacing public servants with AI could come with hidden costs, critics warn

The government's basic recipe for cutting the wage bill is to reduce the head-count and use of technology - but critics have a warning.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

"Between 65 and 80 per cent of Tuvaluans applied for the visa in its inaugural year in 2025 — roughly 8,700 people of its estimated 10,000–13,000 eligible global population — making it one of the highest migration application rates on Earth" www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

abc.net.au

'We're not fleeing': The disappearing Pacific nation relocating its people to Australia

Tuvalu is building new land to hold back rising sea levels, but the majority of its people are applying to relocate to Australia. As they do, many are confronting a disturbing question.

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Dr Sarah Hendrica Bickerton 🏳️‍🌈 @sarahhbickerton.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I’m sure this is a great idea with absolutely no risk of any negative repercussions.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

"“We shouldn’t be expected to individually document, fund, navigate and survive sustained campaigns of racist abuse,” she said. “The burden itself becomes another form of harm.” She called for a coordinated national framework to address online harassment"

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Radical Graffiti @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

"The only dangerous minority is the millionaires" Seen in Barcelona during a 2026 May 1st demonstration

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@JanelleAnthro @janelleanthro.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

In other news, I have made DuckDuckGo my default browser.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

If LinkedIn is one of the social media sites most wallowing in AI slop, then perhaps Graeber's point that many white collar jobs in capitalist economies, are no more than "bullshit", is truer than ever.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

"I chose the title Dissimulation because it describes the process of using false appearances to hide a form of reality. It brings to mind a sense of trickery and illusion, which I think is quite apt when we are thinking about what is often called Artificial Intelligence"

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

For the past five years, Jen has sent me (and her larger circles of friends) an annual email tracking her food expenditure. Cool to see the fruit of this record keeping coming out in this analysis about UPFs and food justice. www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...

theguardian.com

My family tried to eat fewer ultra-processed foods for five years. Here’s what we learned

Cutting UPFs from our grocery list was expensive, laborious and time-consuming

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

"Whether or not we pay attention to the world’s “scentscape,” heat and pollution are causing it to shift. As temperatures rise, man-made substances release more scent molecules, and biodiversity loss due to climate change threatens the plants that scent the environment".

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Meta should be accountable for the content it is paid to amplify: "argues that Meta's artificial intelligence tools optimised and personalised fraudulent ads before distributing them, thereby making Meta an active participant, rather than a mere intermediary". www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

abc.net.au

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest battles Meta over fake ads

Australian billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest is asking a US federal court in Silicon Valley to hold Meta accountable for scam ads using his likeness without permission.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

"A study by researchers at the University of Oxford found that LLMs routinely conduct their core reasoning in English, even when prompted in other languages. They translate the output at the final stage. A user receives flawless text . . . but the underlying logic originates elsewhere".

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

" Sama has been sued repeatedly for its low pay and the fact that many of its workers suffer PTSD from repetitively looking at graphic content. For years, a giant sign outside its office read: “Samasource THE SOUL OF AI.”

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.

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Bronwyn Isaacs @find-bronwyn.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

NSW taking DV more seriously, leading to large inmate numbers for DV + a shift in culture : "“It was wrong to hit a woman – that was a rule that once applied inside,” he says. “But generations have changed and, unfortunately, in here there’s not that stigma around it.” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

smh.com.au

Behind bars: Inside the prison filled with Sydney’s violent men

In movies and TV shows, prisons are the setting for crooks to serve out lengthy sentences. But in Sydney, a different story is playing out.

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