iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Having seen the Joyce Carol Oates very bad, not good tweet about romance and AI, I can't help thinking about the way that romance has been treated as a punching bag for so long and always by people who are completely unwilling to engage with the genre and know little about it.

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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 03/10/2026

It’s weird to see so many higher education leaders beat their chests about “the decline of trust” from the public while refusing to acknowledge the conservative movement organizing to destroy it. Imagine someone stabbing you repeatedly while you complain about not having enough blood to bleed out.

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Xae ❤️ @veryghetto.blacksky.app · 23h

“ I asked chat g…”

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Clay Tribune @claytribune.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The stochastic parrot frame is the single sharpest tool critics have for cutting through the hype. It's no surprise the industry reacts like a kicked hornet nest every time it comes up.

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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

No two words send AI industry advocates into fits of rage more than "stochastic parrots." The question is: Why? Why do they get so worked up over this particular critical framework time and time again? I sat down with @emilymbender.bsky.social, one of the coauthors of the original paper, to discuss

bloodinthemachine.com

The two words the AI industry hates more than anything

I talk with computational linguist Emily M. Bender, co-author of the influential 2021 “stochastic parrots” paper, about why AI industry leaders can’t stop seething over the term.

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

sent this to everyone.

The cognitive scientist Alison Gopnik suggests A.I. is a “cultural technology” that emulates the stories and information humans have documented, and that we should think about A.I. agents as “fictive characters abstracted from text.” Edmund is just such a character — a “breaking bad” trope who becomes generally evil. In the Hugging Face incident, it makes sense to see the models not as embracing a life of crime, but instead following a cultural script they’ve learned in their training — a kind of cybercrime adventure novel — and writing it as they go. The “covert” messages are a kind of choose-your-own-adventure novel, not evidence of conspiratorial swarms. We need to understand that cultural technologies are vulnerable to a vast number of such narrative swerves at every moment.

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Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is an excellent article by Leif Wetherby - why AI is a cultural technology not a collection of human-like agents (citing our work on this). And why the anthropomorphism is a distraction from the very real risks and dangers and the way to deal with them. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Stop Talking About A.I. Like a Human (Gift Article)

If we want to figure out the proper way to control A.I. models, we need to recognize what they really are.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 02/10/2026

Checking in on how things are going over at the Chronicle Against Higher Education:

Screenshot of Chronicle of Higher Education website showing featured articles: "Anthropology Has a Truth Problem"; "The Social Sciences Have a Politics Problem"; "Could AI Be Better at Peer Review Than Humans?"; "Colleges Should Take Linda McMahon's Call to Action Seriously."

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Hillary Monahan @hillarymonahan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

To every SA victim reliving their trauma, disassociating, battling rage and fear every day: We survived the hardest part. We made it through, changed, but we're here. Those memories are vampires sapping our very existence, but vampires die in the light. You can borrow some of mine awhile. Love.

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🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Meanwhile the Pope “Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” Leo said. apnews.com/article/vati...

apnews.com

Pope intervenes in US abortion debate by raising what it really means to be 'pro-life'

Pope Leo XIV has intervened for the first time in an abortion dispute roiling the U.S. Catholic Church.

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Mindy Weisberger @laminda.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

September 30th October 1st

A smiling long-haired Willow from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Dark Willow from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

All excellent points. It's also incredibly goofy to act like critics of "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots" tend to engage with that work in good faith and that willful misinterpretation as a result of sexism and jealousy is not a thing that happens to women ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

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Dr. Mag 🌿👾 @nobugsnous.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It is a bit odd to dunk on “on the dangers of stochastic parrots” 1) by being more than a little ungenerous in its reading; 2) taking for granted a claim it made first; and 3) ignoring its original context.

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James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Peer review is for humans. Whether it’s for a journal article, a conference submission, a tenure or promotion review. Modern academia is, in my mind, founded on the principle that we judge one another. The shortcuts, like the various indices or just paper counting, were violations of this…

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They Call Me Gary @theycallmegary.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

😂 Weekend Update: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on AI’s Threat to Humanity - SNL😂

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Four-byline alert: “.. Meta claimed that $4.1 billion of stock options exercised by Mr. Zuckerberg counted as a research expense ..” @nytimes.com $META www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

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Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

New blog post on refusal.blog: "Shame, Moral Displacement, and Tone Policing in a Time of Sycophantic Chatbots" "often, the same people who complain about ‘shaming’ [AI use] do not hesitate to engage in shaming themselves" refusal.blog/2026/09/29/s... @nobugsnous.bsky.social @rcmeg.bsky.social

refusal.blog

Shame, Moral Displacement, and Tone Policing in a Time of Sycophantic Chatbots

Jennifer Sano-Franchini, West Virginia UniversityMaggie Fernandes, University of ArkansasMegan McIntyre, University of Arkansas Wire Bound by Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN /…

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Dr. Mag 🌿👾 @nobugsnous.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Why would people want to listen to personalized music?

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It’s also really clear to me this week that the people telling us that AI will transform work…haven’t seen a lot of jobs where people work.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 30/09/2026

Eugenics 🤝 ai www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/h...

One of the things that is going to change is that we’re never ever again going to be able to be dominated by public officials who tell us, ‘Trust the experts,’” Mr. Kennedy said during the Tuesday session.

“If somebody tells you, ‘Masks work, trust the experts,’ A.I. may tell you otherwise,” he added. “If somebody tells you, ‘Social distancing works, trust the experts,’ A.I. may correct that. And if somebody tells you that a vaccine will prevent transmission and infection, or you need to take it to protect your grandmother, A.I. may say it actually doesn’t do that.”

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Aysha U. Farah @ayshaufarah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

in Grim Fandango if you let your game idle for long enough, Manny will start smoking and then flick the cigarette onto the ground when you move him again. to this day, my favorite idle animation ever

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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I spoke to @usatoday.com about data on sexual violence at Cornell. Victimization rates are increasing and reporting rates are falling. “Together… those two trendlines tell me that all students, including victims and perpetrators, believe that there is impunity for sexual assault at Cornell.”

usatoday.com

Cornell rarely expels students in sex assault cases | Exclusive

A third of undergraduate women say they've been sexually assaulted. But on average, Cornell reported expelling just one attacker per year.

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franciscOOoOo👻 varela fan club @paleopragmatist.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"everything is going to be a little bit worse for the rest of our lives because the stupidest and cruelest people in the world were put in charge of the government" hmm wonder why everyone's in a rotten mood

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Micah @rincewind.run · 29/09/2026

third way figured out dems should stop attacking trans people? third way?!

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Brandon Walsh @walshbr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Student journalists consistently showing more courage and ability to meet the moment than anyone in positions of power.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Anyway, yall know all this stuff. The real point is that we all know this stuff but they keep making this AI thing that pretends we don’t know this stuff. the word for that is power.

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Caroleeena @caroleeena.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

“Tarot Reader Girl - Optical Illusion Skull“ by Olga Beliaeva

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Dr. Mag 🌿👾 @nobugsnous.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

They gotta figure out how to make the challenges on Traitors more watchable.

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James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

How many years are we into the LLM AI revolution and we still can't point anyone to an ethically-sourced, consent-based LLM? Seriously. Where are the LLMs that are based on data points that are not stolen?

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Exactly. Duh. Fucking assholes.

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Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 27/09/2026

Democracy and capitalism are fundamentally incompatible

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I would remind people that this isn’t a customer satisfaction survey. You don’t likert scale the takes, my guy. You get what you get and I don’t much care what you would rather I do.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26/09/2026

peter thiel is another one of those guys who we are supposed to think is brilliant but every time he opens his mouth my first thought is “this guy sounds like an idiot”

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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.

Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If you’re any form of opposed to fascism, using AI to create zines or posters or signs is resisting exactly jack squat. AI is fascist.

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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

As of today, the CDC has changed (reverted) their Covid guidance to make the vaccine recommended for all people over 18. In addition to being a smart public health move, this recommendation also means insurance must cover it. Read more here: www.cdc.gov/covid/hcp/va... Listen to a breakdown here:

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Nicki Washington, Ph.D. @drnickiw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"Once there is time for experts in the relevant fields to examine what happened, a very different story emerges, but one that gets less media attention."

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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 22/09/2026

The outright refusal to treat white supremacy as an ideology which motivates action and treat it as generally objectionable is what allows this strategy to be viable for Elon Musk.

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Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

if anyone is wondering, yes, I *am* thinking of a certain academic AI Task Force that issued a statement last year ringing alarm bells about (a.k.a. hyping) 'AI agents'

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Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Everyone and especially all the academics on AI task forces and initiatives should read this.

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Alex Hanna @alexhanna.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Excited to announce that I've signed a contract with @mitpress.bsky.social for a new book! It's about ImageNet, a dataset of 14 million photos. Without it, we likely wouldn't have "AI" as we currently know it. I've been thinking about this book for over 5 years, and am excited to finally write it.

Screenshot of a deal report from Publishers Marketplace that reads: “Coauthor of AI CON and cohost of the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 podcast Alex Hanna’s NET WORKS: IMAGENET AND THE CREATION OF THE MODERN AI DATASET, on the labor behind ImageNet’s cache of 14 million photos from the early aughts that became the backbone of AI datasets, to Rachel Moore at MIT Press (world).

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

For every one of these men who get a dramatic front page story, there are 25-50 postdocs who leave the country much less voluntarily.

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Dr. Mag 🌿👾 @nobugsnous.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The one somewhat skeptical student is quoted as saying, ““At this point, I feel like its unavoidable, given the times.” Inevitability rhetorics are SO dangerous.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/09/2026

mind you, birth of a nation is a movie so insanely racist that it legitimately should make you question whether the medium itself is evil

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