Sign in

Richard Veryard

@richardveryard.bsky.social
55 followers 75 following 40 posts

Book: How to do things with data leanpub.com/howtodothingswithdata Guest editor: Algorithmic Culture link.springer.com/collections/gcdhj…

PostsRepliesMedia
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Do I detect a note of sarcasm in @bvig.bsky.social's recent comment about the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act, when he writes "with the difficulty of separating one layoff cause from the other, Hawley and Warner's bill may become essential"? posiwid.blogspot.com/2025/10/expl...
posiwid.blogspot.com
Explaining Layoffs
Earlier this year, I posted (not for the first time) an important question How soon might humans be replaced at work . Recent layoffs from A...
100
Reposted by Richard Veryard
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 04/08/2025
so I am one of the 12 people (including the “god-fathers of AI”) that will be at the Vatican this September for a two full-day working group on the Future of AI here is my Vatican approved short provocation on 'AI and Fraternity' for the working group
AI and Fraternity, Abeba Birhane, AI Accountability Lab  

I envision a future where human dignity, justice, peace, kindness, care, respect, accountability, and rights and freedoms serve as the north stars that guide AI development and use. Realising these ideals can’t happen without intentional tireless work, dialogues, and confrontations of ugly realities – even if they are uncomfortable to deal with. This starts with deciphering hype from reality. Pervasive narratives portray AI as a magical, fully autonomous entity approaching a God-like omnipotence and omniscience. In reality, audits of AI systems reveal a consistent failure to deliver on grandiose promises and suffer from all kinds of shortcomings, issues often swept under the rug. AI in general, and GenAI in particular, encodes and exacerbates historical stereotypes, entrenches harmful societal norms, and amplifies injustice. A robust body of  evidence demonstrates that — from hiring, welfare allocation, medical care allocation to anything in between — deployment of AI is widening inequity, disproportionately impacting people at the margins of society and concentrating power and influence in the hands of few. Major actors—including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI—have willingly aligned with authoritarian regimes and proactively abandoned their pledges to fact-check, prevent misinformation, respect diversity and equity, refrain from using AI for weapons development, while retaliating against critique. The aforementioned vision can’t and won’t happen without confrontation of these uncomfortable facts. This is precisely why we need active resistance and refusal of unreliable and harmful AI systems; clearly laid out regulation and enforcement; and shepherding of the AI industry towards transparency and accountability of responsible bodies. "Machine agency" must be in service of human agency and empowerment, a coexistence that isn't a continuation of modern tech corporations’ inequality-widening,
29531154
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
In his commentary on a recent guilty embrace at a Coldplay concert, @bvig.bsky.social notes our willingness to persecute someone for a perceived wrong despite not knowing the full story. posiwid.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
posiwid.blogspot.com
The Urge to Persecute
People have always sought to project evil onto their neighbours, and that desire now extends to random strangers on the Internet. Malcolm Ga...
010
Reposted by Richard Veryard
The Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute @dairinstitute.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
This is in less than 1 hour. Join us at www.twitch.tv/dair_institute 👇
045
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
On #technology and #trust by @zsk.bsky.social quoting @ginasue.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis...
bbc.co.uk
Why don't we trust technology in sport?
Technology editor Zoe Kleinman explores the tensions between between humans and machines that were encapsulated at Wimbledon.
040
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
@lot49.com in @theregister.com compares two alternative ways of predicting the future for agentic AI - surveys versus benchmark. Here's my commentary. demandingchange.blogspot.com/2025/07/how-...
demandingchange.blogspot.com
How Soon Might Humans Be Replaced At Work
Systems thinking for demanding change - by Richard Veryard and friends
010
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
‪ Before and After the Internet. My review of two recent books on #AlgorithmicCulture and #PlatformCapitalism by @striphas.bsky.social and @synthesiastica.bsky.social has been published by @j4subjectivity.bsky.social rdcu.be/ekN6M
rdcu.be
Before and after the internet
120
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Following widespread criticism here and elsewhere, ICE has removed the claim that their job is to stop illegal ideas entering or leaving the US. Apparently it's now only IP they are interested in. Meanwhile, what about their claim to regulate flows of money? www.newsweek.com/ice-illegal-...
newsweek.com
ICE deletes post about stopping 'illegal ideas' from crossing border
The agency acknowledged it made a mistake with the wording.
110
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Apparently an anxious chatbot can benefit from being given mindfulness exercises. This adds a new twist to my @j4subjectivity.bsky.social piece on the Subjectivity of Devices #chatbotics #mentalhealth rvsoftware.blogspot.com/2025/03/from...
rvsoftware.blogspot.com
From ChatGPT to Anxiety
There has been a lot of attention to the ways in which algorithms may either promote or alleviate anxiety. A recent article in the journal S...
010
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
"From the paranoia that results, it seems to the prejudiced that if we aren't allowed to say something, it must be because it's true" from Stuart Walton's gloss on #Adorno www.the-tls.co.uk/philosophy/h...
the-tls.co.uk
Theodor W. Adorno’s public lectures on aesthetics and democracy
Theodor W. Adorno, more than any other member of the Frankfurt School, has long been known for his inscrutable writings. In Germany, however, he was known
010
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Just copying my follows across from another platform.
010
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
#DataStrategy #DataDriven In news that shouldn't surprise anyone, datadictum.bsky.social reports a Gartner survey showing how few orgs measure business value and cost-effectiveness of data and analytics. Which I've been pushing for years. My comment here. rvsoapbox.blogspot.com/2025/02/data...
rvsoapbox.blogspot.com
Data-Driven Data Strategy
On the structural challenges of achieving a viable service-based business ecosystem with organizational intelligence.
000
Reposted by Richard Veryard
danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
6759
Richard Veryard @richardveryard.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
My commentary on "Left to their own devices", by Jesse Ruse, Ernst Schraube and Paul Rhodes has been published by @j4subjectivity.bsky.social t.co/zOTfiHlgIj
t.co
https://rdcu.be/d8PSt
000