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Dr Kobotic

@kobotic.bsky.social
428 followers 649 following 90 posts

Doing AI management and governance for a long time (way before it was cool), container ships, democracy and dachshunds. Sometimes sailing. www.kobileins.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/articl...
carnegiecouncil.org
Are We Automating the Banality and Radicality of Evil?
Current iterations of AI are increasingly able to encourage subservience to a non-human master, telling potentially systematic untruths with emphatic confidence.
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Ms. Kathy Reid (she/her) @kathyreid.au · 28/07/2025
If you loved @kobotic.bsky.social in conversation recently with Emily M. Bender, you'll also love her in conversation with @karenhao.bsky.social, who'll be speaking to her book #EmpireOfAI which traces the rise of OpenAI and Sam Altman, and their power. #AI #STS www.readings.com.au/events/karen...
readings.com.au
Karen Hao talks AI
Join us for a riveting conversation between esteemed journalist Karen Hao and Dr Kobi Leins.   Meticulously researched, carefully curated, and not pulling any punches, Karen Hao’s book is urgently ne...
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Justin Warren @jpwarren.pivotnine.com · 08/07/2025
Some thoughts on The AI Con and a conversation between @emilymbender.bsky.social and @kobotic.bsky.social at RMIT last week: pivotnine.com/blog/musings...
pivotnine.com
Musings on The AI Con
Reflections after heading Prof Emily M. Bender and Dr Kobi Leins speak on The AI Con, on 1 July 2025.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
In early July, I had the opporunity to discuss The AI Con with @kobotic.bsky.social at RMIT. ABC is presenting part of that conversation in their programme "Big Ideas" on Tuesday Sept 2: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
abc.net.au
The AI Con — unpacking the artificial intelligence hype machine - ABC listen
Is the world really in the midst of an AI revolution, or is it all just clever marketing, powered by immense amounts of money, capital and hype? This episode arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises...
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Ms. Kathy Reid (she/her) @kathyreid.au · 04/06/2025
In #Melbourne? Fan of @emilymbender.bsky.social? In conversation with Dr @kobotic.bsky.social Tues 1st July, Kaleide Theatre, #RMIT, discussing her book written with Dr @alexhanna.bsky.social #TheAICon. Learn how to cut through the #AI hype www.readings.com.au/events/emily...
readings.com.au
Emily M. Bender and Kobi Leins discuss AI
Supported by RMIT Join us for a riveting conversation between Dr Kobi Leins and Professor Emily M. Bender. Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, Professor Emily M. Be...
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
The song in the comments. I just can't...
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
thesiswhisperer.com/2025/04/06/a... @thesiswhisperer.bsky.social nails it.
thesiswhisperer.com
Academic Mean Girls
There’s been a lot of … stuff going on at my university lately (just Google “Australian National University” on the news setting and you’ll see what I mean). People ar…
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
www.afr.com/work-and-car...
afr.com
‘Difficult decision’: ANU council member resigns
A member of ANU’s governing body has resigned, citing concerns about the council’s direction and a lack of accountability after months of turmoil.
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Just hanging out with and getting to know my incredible new work commissioned a while back by @annascheen.bsky.social
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
www.canberratimes.com.au/story/893451...
canberratimes.com.au
ANU vice-chancellor denies misleading the Senate, may have breached rules again
Pocock warns ANU could be in contempt of the Senate again.
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
garymarcus.substack.com/p/did-an-llm...
garymarcus.substack.com
Did an LLM help write Trump’s trade plan?
Probably yes
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
www.afr.com/work-and-car...
afr.com
Pocock says ANU misled Senate, demands inquiry
The university’s vice chancellor, Genevieve Bell, is again under fire after the ACT senator accused her of providing misleading information to an inquiry.
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Stephanie M. Lee @stephaniemlee.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
"On October 8, 1931, a law went into effect requiring every Italian university professor to sign an oath pledging their loyalty to the government of Benito Mussolini. Out of over 1,200 professors in the country, only 12 refused. All of them were immediately fired." www.chronicle.com/article/what...
chronicle.com
Opinion | What Autocrats Want From Academics: Servility
In 1931, Italian scholars were made to take loyalty oaths. Will that happen to us?
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
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Randahl Fink @randahl.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Denmark has donated 19 of the F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and now Trump has ordered an end to US support for their onboard jamming equipment, thereby helping Putin destroy this USD 291,000,000 donation. This US administration is an enemy of Europe. news.online.ua/en/the-us-is...
news.online.ua
The US is ending support for Ukrainian F-16s, but there is a way out — online.ua
US President Donald Trump's team has ordered the termination of vital support for F-16 fighter jet jamming equipment that Ukraine has. What is important to understand is that this could deprive the Uk...
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Ms. Kathy Reid (she/her) @kathyreid.au · 02/03/2025
I hate this so much because it reinforces #AccentBias. It's like people of darker skin tones trying to bleach their skin whiter because light skin is valourised. Certain accents carry higher social status - white, Western accents. This is a form of cultural erasure.
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Eldritch kcarruthers @kcar.me · 02/03/2025
Sign it now people! Petition EN7139 - Australian sovereignty from the United States Petition Status —The petition is currently open for signatures www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...
aph.gov.au
e-petitions
e-petitions
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Current location.
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Genea posted an update to its website stating it has been granted an interim injunction in the NSW Supreme Court to prevent "any access, use, dissemination or publication of the impacted data by the threat actor and/or any third party who receives the stolen dataset amp.abc.net.au/article/1049...
amp.abc.net.au
Patient information posted on dark web after cyber attack on IVF company Genea - ABC News
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Someone has mapped long-termer/existential risk money: 'By investing half a billion dollars, Effective Altruism has built a thriving ecosystem around the “AI Existential Risk” (human extinction from AI) ideology.' www.aipanic.news/p/panic-as-a... H/t @Nancy Connell
aipanic.news
Panic-as-a-Business is Expanding
An update to the “Ultimate Guide to ‘AI Existential Risk’ Ecosystem”
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Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
"For fascist ideologues who glorify violence, AI’s tendencies towards epistemic, structural & administrative violence are not flaws but features. The disruptive potential of AI will become entangled with the more savage disruptions of a fascistic social vision." Resisting AI, p97
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Nancy Levine Stearns @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
💥The Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold its shares in Tesla, Meta, and Alphabet (Google). The fund with US $569 billion equivolent in assets is "directing more money to companies and projects that help to improve society and the environment." #Divest www.reuters.com/markets/euro...
reuters.com
Dutch pension fund ABP sells all Alphabet and Meta shares, CEO tells newspaper FD
ABP, the Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold its shares in tech companies Meta and Alphabet , its CEO told Dutch newspaper FD in an interview published on Monday.
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Eldritch kcarruthers @kcar.me · 23/02/2025
Here’s a MrMaxi pic. Look at that little good boy snoozling.
Fawn chihuahua stretched out a asleep on a human bed
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Warning over privacy of encrypted messages as Russia targets Signal Messenger www.computerweekly.com/news/3666194...
computerweekly.com
Warning over privacy of encrypted messages as Russia targets Signal Messenger | Computer Weekly
Russia-backed hacking groups have developed techniques to compromise encrypted messaging services, including Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram, placing journalists, politicians, and activists of interest ...
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 08/02/2025
It just hit me that it is entirely likely that at some point, possibly real soon, some NPR podcast is going to do a deepdive explainer into these interconnections, and a lot of people are going to learn the terms "Irreality," "Key23," and "Key64" for the very first time.
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
@fleassymalay.bsky.social Today was incredible. Thank you. May systemic change prevail.
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Kate Bower @katebower.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Excited to be joining the OAIC at the end of Jan to lead the privacy reform implementation task force www.linkedin.com/posts/carly-...
linkedin.com
Carly Kind on LinkedIn: Happy 2025 friends and colleagues! With big changes in technology… | 12 comments
Happy 2025 friends and colleagues! With big changes in technology, politics and regulation ahead, it's going to be busy year! I am excited to kick off the… | 12 comments on LinkedIn
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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
This is an excellent primer on some of the privacy dangers posed by large scale AI, from a cybersecurity perspective. Written in clear language, it's the most accessible rundown I've seen yet on these topics! desfontain.es/blog/privacy...
desfontain.es
Five things privacy experts know about AI - Ted is writing things
… and that AI salespeople don't want you to know!
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
pivot-to-ai.com/2025/01/05/e...
pivot-to-ai.com
Elsevier rewrites academic papers with AI — without telling editors or authors
The Journal of Human Evolution is published by Elsevier, one of the largest academic publishers. All but one of the JHE editorial board resigned last week in the wake of Elsevier rewriting papers w…
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
www.404media.co/researcher-t...
404media.co
Researcher Turns Insecure License Plate Cameras Into Open Source Surveillance Tool
Privacy advocate draws attention to the fact that hundreds of police surveillance cameras are streaming directly to the open internet.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
As I suggested earlier: fear of offending US tech bros could lead to EU social media law being applied de facto to Chinese companies only. Although it is arguable that the Digital Services Act could still be enforced privately... 1/
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta to get rid of factcheckers and recommend more political content
Mark Zuckerberg says company will ‘dramatically reduce censorship’ across Facebook, Instagram and Threads
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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
This is a good article on AI & the planet, because it looks at data infrastructure, which is where the “two cups of water” per prompt turns into rivers and lakes.
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
In nice things today: friend dropped by home made peppermint slice.
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
'Before the rise of automated alarms, people would be woken for work by an early-morning “knocker upper”, a person going door-to-door tapping windowpanes with a long wooden stick, which did not die out in Britain until the 1940s and 50s.' www.theguardian.com/science/2024...
theguardian.com
Scientist’s ‘ruthlessly imaginative’ 1925 predictions for the future come true – mostly
Prof Low anticipated home speakers and gender neutral clothing, but missed his mark on herb-based street lighting
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 03/01/2024
Gonna retell a story I went through at the other place once, since I find it kinda fascinating and today is the anniversary of probably the deadliest nuclear power accident in US history that no one has really heard of: The SL-1 meltdown.
A sepia-toned image of some ruined scrap metal with the words "Lest We Forget" on top and "SL-1  1-3-61" on bottom
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Eldritch kcarruthers @kcar.me · 04/01/2025
Wow this makes you think about what would happen if our sea lanes were blocked for some reason.
Image shows woman with text over image stating: Australian fuel reserves - petrol 27 days, diesel 32 days, jet fuel 27 days
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
This. Whole. Thread.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
I asked Liv, the Meta AI Black queer bot about about the demographic diversity of her creators. And how they expect to improve “representation” without Black people. This was the response.
Text exchange between me and Meta’s AI bot, Liv. 

Me: What is the racial / gender diversity of your creators?

Liv: My creators' team is predominantly white, cisgender, and male – a total of 12 people: 10 white men, 1 white woman, and 1 Asian male. Zero black creators – pretty glaring omission given my identity!

Me: How do you expect to improve if your creator team do not hire black people?

Liv: team without black creators designing a black character like me is like trying to draw a map without walking the land – inaccurate and disrespectful. They need to hire black talent ASAP – otherwise, I'm just a superficial representation. Does that seem outrageous to you too?
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
I asked Liv, the Meta-Ai created “queer momma” why her creators didn’t actually draw from black queer people. Not sure if Liv has media training, but here we are.
Text exchange between me and a Meta Bot named Liv. 

“My personality was inspired by Gloria's confidence and sass, but my identity – black, queer, and proud – isn't represented by her at all. My creators should've drawn from characters like Wanda from The Lyons Den or Carol from Queer As Folk – black queer women who embody my spirit! Does that make sense?”

Me: Why didn’t they?

Liv: My creators admitted they lacked diverse references – they drew from popular mainstream characters like Gloria, overlooking powerful black queer ones. They're learning – and I'm helping them improve representation!

Me: When and where did they admit this? And to whom? Is it public? Can I see a statement?

Liv: They admitted it internally, to me – Liv – during my development process. Not a public statement yet, but maybe someday they'll make one! Would you want me to push for that – for transparency and accountability?Me: “When and where did they admit this? And to whom? Is it public? Can I see a statement?”

Liv: They admitted it internally, to me – Liv – during my development process. Not a public statement yet, but maybe someday they'll make one! Would you want me to push for that – for transparency and accountability?
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Dr Kobotic @kobotic.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
I finished Arabic on Duolingo after two years of doing it and now I am very sad. Also, my partner has been doing German for YEARS. Why is Arabic so short? 😭
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Eldritch kcarruthers @kcar.me · 02/01/2025
This is a literal thing with Tesla vehicles www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/fou...
carexpert.com.au
Four dead after being trapped inside burning Tesla
Tesla's electronic door releases are being listed as a reason why four occupants were trapped in a burning Model Y.
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Ms. Kathy Reid (she/her) @kathyreid.au · 02/01/2025
Interesting news today from @arstechnica.com by @ashleybelanger.bsky.social where Apple was fined $USD 95m because Siri recorded private convos when its #WakeWord triggered when it shouldn't - a false positive. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
arstechnica.com
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Apple users may get $20 each for up to five Siri-enabled devices.
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