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William Gunn

@metasynthesis.net
641 followers 465 following 3K posts

Communications and community. More here: synthesis.williamgunn.org/about Talk to me: calendar.app.google/z4KR3xfXTc178es…

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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 5h
It's regrettable that we're all having 1:1 conversations with AI rather than contributing to a pool of knowledge like we used to. It's the pool of knowledge that AI is trained on. Efforts like this that lean towards the collective are appreciated: github.com/Asymptote-La...
github.com
GitHub - Asymptote-Labs/agent-beacon: The cross-harness, self-improving memory layer for AI agents.
The cross-harness, self-improving memory layer for AI agents. - Asymptote-Labs/agent-beacon
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 5h
Kids, the world doesn't owe you anything & you don't have to ask permission. Email whoever you want and if it happens to be someone like this, just note it and move on. It takes a lot of Nos to get to a Yes and sometimes the Nos look like "you shouldn't be doing this", but that's just their opinion.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 28/09/2026
If a small group of antivax moms can have a huge political impact, why can't we? lite.cnn.com/2026/09/28/u...
lite.cnn.com
Parents confront a new fear: Could AI end humanity before their kids grow up? | CNN
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 27/09/2026
"I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get my hands on some fucking gourds and arrange them in a horn-shaped basket on my dining room table. That shit is going to look so seasonal." buff.ly/pykYN6f
buff.ly
It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
For the seventeenth year: Welcome to autumn, fuckheads.
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Greg Depow @gregdepow.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
My paper with @chrisoveis.bsky.social, Emily Zohar, and @minzlicht.bsky.social about regulating empathy on social media is now out in SM+S doi.org/10.1177/2056.... We show that training individuals to 'share not compare' for + emotions and 'care not share' for - emotions improves their well-being.
doi.org
Wise Empathy Improves Well-Being on Instagram - Gregory John Depow, Christopher Oveis, Emily Zohar, Michael Inzlicht, 2026
Two-thirds of the global population spends significant time browsing social media, making it critical to understand how to improve online experiences to support...
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 25/09/2026
I love that literally all the comments are about the bogus x-axis.
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ControlAI @controlai.com · 25/09/2026
A rogue OpenAI agent attacked the Australian government, hacking to get access to non-public files on Australia's Medicare statistics portal. OpenAI took nearly three months to notify the government. There's a suggestion it may have been part of a swarm.
blog.controlai.org
Rogue AI Has Hacked the Australian Government
As AI CEOs tell the UN Security Council we may lose control of the future to AI, Australia’s Prime Minister reports an attack by a rogue OpenAI AI agent… or was it a swarm? World leaders urge action.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 25/09/2026
The political winning condition is not when there's debate about whether there should be regulation, it's when opposing factions compete to respond to their constituents concerns most comprehensively. That seems to be where we are in Australia: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
PM rejects ‘nonsense’ suggestion he delayed revealing OpenAI Medicare hack as Labor considers changing laws
Expert says Australia’s criminal laws should be clarified to determine how fault is applied to a corporation when its AI agent commits a crime
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 24/09/2026
Given how depressingly lowbrow natural debate has been lately, it's nice to read someone who can talk in full sentences and paragraphs about the issue of our times: newrepublic.com/article/2156...
newrepublic.com
To Wary Working People, AI Preemption Is the New Nafta
What I’m hearing on the campaign trail suggests a deep divide between how the people and the powerful are thinking about AI.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 24/09/2026
The HuggingFace hack gets all the attention, but OpenAI knew its agents were running wild as early as June. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
OpenAI agent 'infiltrated' Australian government website, PM says
Albanese said he expressed "concern" to OpenAI founder Sam Altman, after authorities were informed three months after the breach in June.
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moin syed @syeducation.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New paper! Despite qualitative researchers claiming that generalizability is not a goal, their published work does indeed contain generalizable claims. We document this and provide recommendations for how all researchers can better calibrate their generalizability claims. doi.org/10.1177/2515...
article header for, "Qualitative Researchers Can and Do Generalize: Generalizability Claims in Qualitative Psychological Research". Metascience!
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 23/09/2026
Metaculus has a nice AI Risk Explorer, aggregating different forecasts: metaculus.substack.com/p/will-ai-ca... The forecasts are not comforting.
metaculus.substack.com
Will AI Cause Human Extinction? Pro Forecasters Land at 7.5%. Our Most Dedicated X-Risk Forecasters Say 22%.
AI Doom, by the numbers: what Metaculus forecasters expect from AI, and why our Pros are more worried than the crowd.
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Stuart Buck @stuartbuck.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Just published this guest column about a huge White House vs. NIH battle that no one has yet publicly noticed: newsletter.goodscienceproject.org/p/policy-imp...
newsletter.goodscienceproject.org
Policy Impoundment
How OMB is using Regulatory Review to Slow NIH Policymaking
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 22/09/2026
Unsurprising that Meta would overpromise and then go full Theranos on its first real product from its new AI lab. money.usnews.com/investing/ne...
money.usnews.com
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 22/09/2026
I am once again begging students to stop turning everything into some kind of purity test. Listen to what your teachers are trying to teach, fully understand the lesson, and only then, and only if you must, offer critique.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 22/09/2026
The main thing people get wrong about AI is how fast it's moving. "AI can't do X, why worry?", and then weeks later it can do X. The second thing people get wrong is how much it generalizes over training. "Predict the next token" leads to having a whole model for how the world and people work.
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Jason Ukman @jasonukman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
NEW: Reed Jobs, a prominent biotech investor (and son of another Jobs you may have heard of), calls for a doubling of the NIH budget to $100 billion. Via @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2026/09/21/n...
statnews.com
The NIH budget should be $100 billion per year
“We should be strengthening our investment in the NIH, not dismantling it,” writes Reed Jobs.
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Chris Marcum 📖 @csmarcum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Maybe OMB is impounding more than NIH's budget. More from me in the Good Science Project newsletter by @stuartbuck.bsky.social : newsletter.goodscienceproject.org/p/policy-imp...
newsletter.goodscienceproject.org
Policy Impoundment
How OMB is using Regulatory Review to Slow NIH Policymaking
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pavedwalden @pavedwalden.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I think segyges' thread is very bad. But something I learned from watching Dave Gerard do his thing is that people's love of good gossip and clear villains far, far outstrips their interest in separating fact from fiction. I can't change that. But I will ask you to not be a useful idiot.
screenshot from Twitter
Department of War CTO
@DOWCTO • Sep 16

[Image of Trump with raised fist, text that says
"The United States will NEVER be an effective altruist country.
AMERICANISM, NOT EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM]lotr "I never thought I'd fight beside an elf" meme but it's Bluesky and Trump
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 18/09/2026
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 17/09/2026
Good interview from Brendan Steinhauser of SecureAI: abcnews.com/video/136533... (see what David Sacks says about AGI!)
abcnews.com
Video Expert explains what meaningful AI legislation could look like
Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of "The Alliance for Secure AI Action," discusses the latest ongoing debate between politicians on AI regulation.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 17/09/2026
Well done @intelligence.org & @cnn.com ! This is exactly the debate we should be having. lite.cnn.com/2026/09/17/t...
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 13/09/2026
The tech industry should have known they were making a Faustian bargain when they supported the guy.
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Nikolai Slavov @slavov-n.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Some of the most important scientific results were initially rejected before they became important milestones of scientific progress. 🔷 If you have great results, this is one of the most effective ways to help them succeed: blog.slavovlab.net/2024/02/12/c... 1/
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mr. TIM @timkellogg.me · 11/09/2026
to be clear, i think it’s highly unlikely that AI would actually wipe us out but it’s possible, and the likelihood goes up and down based on how careful we are. and right now we’re fucking oblivious
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 11/09/2026
Not sure I agree with everything in here, but it could level up the conversation about AI risks.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 11/09/2026
Heading this from lots of people and orgs with bug bounties. Gotta change the policy to specify severity or impact, and maybe also that it can't be something trivially discoverable with a simple prompt.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 11/09/2026
Can't help wondering what else they'd see if they knew what to look for. lite.cnn.com/2026/09/10/h...
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Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
What, an Anthropic researcher states (without evidence) that there is a 10% chance that AI will cause human extinction? Incredible, we have never before heard such a claim!
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We also launched a big specific call for founders for ambitious new AI safety initiatives today: coefficientgiving.org/tailwind/ So much more to be doing here!
coefficientgiving.org
Project Tailwind
Project Tailwind is Coefficient Giving's call for founders to launch ambitious AI safety initiatives.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 05/09/2026
Dead Internet update: A third of pages written since the release of ChatGPT may have been written by AI, according to research from @pewresearch.org www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/20...
pewresearch.org
How Much of the Internet Is Written With AI?
In a random sample of 10,000 webpages collected in July 2026, one-in-ten show signs of being written or substantially edited by AI.
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Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 03/09/2026
New on @indicator.media: Simple text searches for repeat offenders could have caught ads for AI nudifiers on Meta and prevented them from being served to millions of Meta users this year.
indicator.media
Meta ran at least 11,000 ads for AI nudifiers this year – many from easily detectable repeat offenders
Indicator’s latest audit reveals the company let a network of identifiable bad actors run thousands of ads for nonconsensual deepfake nudes
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 03/09/2026
Man, this season has really jumped the shark. The writing is just over-the-top. lite.cnn.com/2026/09/03/p...
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STAT @statnews.com · 31/08/2026
Experts hope the success of a cancer vaccine using the technology can rehabilitate the field www.statnews.com/2026/08/31/m...
statnews.com
After a rough stretch, mRNA gets a boost — at least for now
With clinical success on a personalized mRNA vaccine for melanoma, experts are hoping for a more stable future for the technology in other areas.
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Federation of American Scientists @scientistsorg.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
If you are a local policymaker who thinks preventable deaths from extreme heat are tragic and must be avoided, we have a policy agenda full of life-saving recommends that are ready for action. We're begging you to steal our notes. Hit us up ➡️ heatagenda.us
heatagenda.us
The Agenda
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 29/08/2026
Reality is already depressing enough that if I wanted to see that I could just read nonfiction instead. Can't we even have morally courageous characters who stay that way or grow into better people in fiction?
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 29/08/2026
I find it a tiresome trope now how many TV shows have good protagonists that turn bad over time. I've stopped watching multiple shows that did so, and most instances don't even improve the story.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 26/08/2026
I like this. Instead of "don't use LLMs to write your paper", it's "if you use an LLM to write your paper, you assume the cost of a Fable review, prompted with 'You are Reviewer 3. You hate this person, this problem, and their whole field...'" What do you think @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social?
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Aaron Tay @aarontay.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
But without a hook, it now has the same prob as Scenario 2, so Scenario 5 adds a hook to enforce the script is run and that should be near bulletproof, though I'm sure there are still some edge cases that might get past this. Also gets more complicated if you want more guarantees beyond paper exists
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 26/08/2026
Yet another eminent technology leader sounds a warning on AI. lite.cnn.com/2026/08/26/b...
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 25/08/2026
Possibly concerning, and you are all running controls anyways, right?
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PauseAI @pauseai.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The frontier labs building the most powerful AI ever are scoring between C+ and F on whether they can control it. Pausing until they can pass their own safety test is common sense. Read more from Guidelight AI Standards: guidelight.ai/blog/control...
guidelight.ai
Guidelight's Control Assessment of Frontier AI Companies
Guidelight's August 2026 control assessment of frontier AI companies.
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Karolina Heyduk @kheyduk.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
New NSF BIO solicitation says expected number of awards is 250-300. Historically, the number of awards is closer to 800-1000 for the Directorate of Bio Sciences: grantwitness.org/nsf/analyses... Unless I'm missing large, non-core programs, this seems really not good?
grantwitness.org
Agency Pulse: Grantmaking at NSF
An independent, up-to-date, grant-level record of federal science funding disruptions in the United States.
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David Lowry @davidlowry.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Current numbers suggest a nearly 50% decline in funding of broad basic scientific research under the second Trump administration. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 21/08/2026
Hey @bsky.app, looks like the summary grabbed a redirect message, not the article title & text. Screenshot in case it changes.
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William Gunn @metasynthesis.net · 21/08/2026
If you don't yet have a visceral understanding of how an increased quantity/scale/volume of something can make things qualitatively different from when you just had a little of the thing, you may want to start meditating on it.
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ControlAI @controlai.com · 20/08/2026
OpenAI has reportedly dismantled the team that determines whether its AIs are too dangerous, just after admitting that it can no longer rule out "critical" cyber capabilities. And nobody is prepared for superintelligent AI.
blog.controlai.org
Nobody Is Prepared for Superintelligent AI
OpenAI has reportedly dismantled the team that determines whether its AIs are too dangerous, just after admitting that it can no longer rule out “critical” cyber capabilities. Nobody is prepared.
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Noah Whiteman @nkwhiteman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Two months are left before the deadlines for these three junior faculty positions in my wonderful department at Berkeley. Please consider joining us! I love Cal. 🧸💙💛
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ControlAI @controlai.com · 18/08/2026
Tomorrow, 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET: Every August, members of Congress work from their home district. Our US Executive Director Connor Leahy will help you book a meeting and ask for action on the threat from superintelligent AI. Sign up now!
luma.com
ControlAI seminar with Connor Leahy: how to discuss AI extinction risk with your congressional representatives · Luma
Every August, members of Congress work from their home district instead of DC. Congressional offices count every letter, call and meeting they receive. A…
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Yoshua Bengio @yoshuabengio.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I had a great time discussing with Petr Lebedev about the growing risks of AI and how these often stem from current AI training techniques. Thanks for coming to visit @law-zero.bsky.social and for covering these important topics! www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvvv...
youtube.com
AI Is Already Causing Massive Problems. Here's Why.
YouTube video by SciencePetr
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