Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Happening now! I'll be talking company towns, tech futurists and stripped modernism. 030
Reposted by Sun-ha HongBig Data & Society @bigdatasoc.bsky.social · 08/02/2026Join us for BD&S 2026 Colloquium, Panel 2: Infrastructures in Time: Genealogies of Big Data (Feb 18 | 16:00–18:00 GMT / 11:00 AM–1:00 PM EST) uky.zoom.us/j/86848639105 #CriticalDataStudies #STS #BigData 032
Reposted by Sun-ha HongTed McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 09/10/2025A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason. 251748560
Reposted by Sun-ha HongGrace Han @ghahahan.bsky.social · 10/05/2025Please join us for our last Digital Aesthetics event of the AY 24-25: an AI & Media Roundtable, with Sun-ha Hong, Johan Fredrikzon, Julia Irwin, and Hank Gerba on May 20, 5-7pm PT. Abstracts and bios can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Zoom for the day of: tinyurl.com/5n8mdpbb 173
Reposted by Sun-ha HongKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/04/2025This Yougov survey contains an important finding: people who rely heavily on ChatGPT rate it as being "good" at tasks that we ABSOLUTELY know for sure it is very bad at imo, this is a strong piece of evidence these heavy users simply do not ever check outputs yougov.co.uk/technology/a... 36887351
Reposted by Sun-ha HongKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/04/2025I think we can split @hankgreen.bsky.social's question out into two categories: 1) Uses with an obvious failure mode 2) Uses with a subtle failure mode My theory is type (2) failures are becoming EXTREMELY widespread - the ones we catch are the iceberg tip, and suggest 1,000 un-caught errorspcmag.comStanford Professor Allegedly Includes Fake AI Citations in Filing on Deepfake BillProfessor Jeff Hancock from the Stanford Social Media Lab submitted a legal argument in support of a Minnesota deepfake bill, but it reportedly includes citations made up by AI. 211617
Reposted by Sun-ha HongTamara Kneese @tamigraph.bsky.social · 24/04/2025I love how @zgtcooper.bsky.social uses his ethnographic work in Greenland to take down the vacuous concept of the Network State, which is so detached from land and the people who live in a place, with tech bros grafting AI generated crypto fascist nightmares onto topographies they don’t understanddatasociety.netThe Network State and Topological Fetishism in GreenlandIn his essay for our series “The Cloud is Dead,” D&S affiliate Zane Griffin Talley Cooper examines resource extraction in the Arctic and how fantasies of the Network State run counter to the reality o... 3199
Reposted by Sun-ha HongBrian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 22/04/2025I do wish it was better understood by now—especially by folks in the media—that these "warnings" from large AI corporations in fact function as "advertisements" www.axios.com/2025/04/22/a...axios.comExclusive: Anthropic warns fully AI employees are a year awayManaging those AI identities will require companies to completely reassess their cybersecurity strategies. 642175534
Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 08/04/2025One thing I distinctly remember from this book is FFM. 20th century SV grew on electronics manufacturing, and employers systematically looked for female migrant labour - they called it FFM (fast fingered Malaysians). Small, cheap, and you can ignore/suppress all their health & safety complaints 192
Reposted by Sun-ha HongTyler @electriceden92.bsky.social · 06/04/2025'From a legal perspective, the best analogy to robot rights is not human rights but corporate rights...' papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... @abeba.bsky.socialpapers.ssrn.comDebunking Robot Rights Metaphysically, Ethically, and LegallyIn this work we challenge the argument for robot rights on metaphysical, ethical and legal grounds. Metaphysically, we argue that machines are not the kinds of 2289
Reposted by Sun-ha HongKaren Hao @karenhao.bsky.social · 04/04/2025Sam Altman isn't keen on you reading my book. EMPIRE OF AI is based on 300+ interviews, 7 yrs covering AI, and my time as the first reporter who got extensive access to OpenAI. I sought OpenAI's perspective throughout. For months they said it was coming. It never did. Pre-order here: empireofai.com. 572310558
Reposted by Sun-ha HongEryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 18/03/2025Folks, this is going to be big: “Hype Studies is an emergent, transdisciplinary research arena aimed at inquiring hype as a powerful and pervasive phenomenon that influences economic trends, political agendas, media narratives, and technological developments.” hypestudies.orghypestudies.orgHome | Hype Studies 1317229
Reposted by Sun-ha HongDave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 10/03/2025I was gonna grade papers today, but ended up yelling about VC bullshit instead. It is an article of faith in Silicon Valley that technology is miraculous, and will always save us. We are stuck dealing with the consequences of that faith and its failures. open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...open.substack.comOn the Miraculous Tradition in Silicon Valley Thought"And then a miracle happens" is not a plan. 57921
Reposted by Sun-ha HongShannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 06/03/2025🤯! I just learned that both Sarah and I are the "senior scholars and broken machine facilitators" at this summer's Digital Ideas Institute at the University of Michigan, June 23-7. Advanced grad students + early career scholars are encouraged to apply!digitalstudies.umich.eduApply to Digital IDEAS 2025 | U-M LSA Digital Studies Institute 4353
Reposted by Sun-ha HongShannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 06/03/2025I wanted to see what Sarah Sharma's been up to, and I discovered that she's soon publishing a book titled Insufferable Tools, which sounds amazing. I love her 🥰sarahsharma.comBio – Sarah SharmaSarah Sharma is Professor of Media Theory at the ICCIT/Faculty of Information and Director of the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto. Her rese... 1226
Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 19/02/2025Remember Babylon Health: a Goldman Sachs banker sees the NHS gutted by austerity => promises magic AI doctors => 4.2bn valuation => IPO bust => bankruptcy. The funding system requires exponential hype - until, eventually, the massive costs & lack of actual product catches up with you. 010
Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 14/02/2025"The more ideas have become automatic, instrumentalised, the less does anybody see in them thoughts with a meaning of their own. They are considered things, machines. Language has been reduced to just another tool in the gigantic apparatus of production in modern society." - Max Horkheimer, 1944 010
Reposted by Sun-ha HongOlivier Jutel 🇵🇸 @ojutel.bsky.social · 02/08/2024'The Network State, Venture Capital and the Political Economy of Exit' my latest manuscript (preprint) on Crypto-colonialists and NRx VCs www.researchgate.net/publication/...researchgate.net(PDF) The Network State, Venture Capital and the Political Economy of ExitPDF | This paper considers the emerging network state movement as evidence of the interplay between exit ideologies and exit strategies in the political... | Find, read and cite all the research you n... 153
Reposted by Sun-ha HongFight For A Union @fightforaunion.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Trump already empowering the worst bosses to just.. ignore labor law. Whole Foods workers won their union vote, and now Whole Foods (owned by Jeff Bezos) is saying they simply won't recognize the vote because nobody is going to make them. 17637361766
Reposted by Sun-ha HongOlúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 01/02/2025It occurs to me, for no reason in particular, that I should put this starter pack back in circulation go.bsky.app/3h6n3YC 371822604
Reposted by Sun-ha HongEd Zitron @edzitron.com · 03/02/2025Straight up corporate welfare. Incredible stuff. Unimaginably stupid and wasteful and invariably will help SoftBank burn even more billions 1966451
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMiriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 25/01/2025One of the things to know about edtech is that many, many people involved in it have no experience teaching, and particularly not at the grade level the intervention is designed to target. They’re tech guys who think tech is Very Hard and teaching is a skill-free avocation for ladies. 25775177
Reposted by Sun-ha HongBrian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 22/01/2025This is especially relevant now that OpenAI is now touting its "$500 billion" data center project with Softbank, and celebrated by Trump—it shows that OpenAI still doesn't have a viable business model, that their costs are too high, and that they need more state buy-in and outside capital to survive 512742
Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 20/01/2025The key ambition for the tech ideologues is the systematic destruction of all things 'public' - public oversight, democratic institutions, public space. City councils, local media, community orgs, public health experts - everything 'independent' must be eliminated in this vision of tech as religion. 0112
Reposted by Sun-ha HongSun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 16/01/2025publicera.kb.se/jdsr/article... New piece in very cool JDSR special issue '(Un)stable diffusions', *open access*, ft.@thaophan.bsky.social @lukestark.bsky.social @abpowell.bsky.social @melhogan.bsky.social & more - I show how genAI is being legitimised through dramas & rituals of 'realness'. Thread:publicera.kb.se Strategic misrecognition and speculative rituals in generative AI | Journal of Digital Social Research 1298
Reposted by Sun-ha HongEd Burmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 18/01/2025“I’m different, I’m a rebel. I’m an outsider,” I say to the credulous journalist before repeating verbatim the beliefs and worldview of the president of the United States and every person with money and power in the world right now. 526222995
Reposted by Sun-ha HongAllie Thrall @alliethrall.bsky.social · 16/01/2025Excited to share that @ftripodi.bsky.social will join us to discuss her incredible book, The Propagandists’ Playbook, for our next @civicsoftech.bsky.social book club, hosted by me and @philnichols.bsky.social! Grab a copy and register at www.civicsoftechnology.org/events to join us on February 18 1206
Sun-ha Hong @sunhahong.bsky.social · 16/01/2025publicera.kb.se/jdsr/article... New piece in very cool JDSR special issue '(Un)stable diffusions', *open access*, ft.@thaophan.bsky.social @lukestark.bsky.social @abpowell.bsky.social @melhogan.bsky.social & more - I show how genAI is being legitimised through dramas & rituals of 'realness'. Thread:publicera.kb.se Strategic misrecognition and speculative rituals in generative AI | Journal of Digital Social Research 1298
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMore Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 15/01/2025Los Angeles landlords are raising rents by as much as 124% after the wildfires. 2071901551
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 13/01/2025A very important voice in the whole AI debacle — please have a listen to @ali-alkhatib.com 13914
Reposted by Sun-ha HongDaniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 09/01/2025Is there a link between #ClimateChange & increasing risk/severity of #wildfire in California--including the still-unfolding disaster? Yes. Is climate change the only factor at play? No, of course not. So what's really going on? [Thread] #CAfire #CAwx #LAfires iopscience.iop.org/a... 26788363
Reposted by Sun-ha HongKate Miltner @katemiltner.bsky.social · 08/01/2025PUB ALERT 🚨Thrilled that my article on Lensa (remember Lensa??) and the discourse of visual generative AI is finally out in the Unstable Diffusions special issue in @jdsr.bsky.social. Article link here: publicera.kb.se/jdsr/article...publicera.kb.se “A.I. is holding a mirror to our society”: Lensa and the discourse of visual generative AI | Journal of Digital Social Research 2145
Reposted by Sun-ha Hongm. r. sauter @oddletters.bsky.social · 06/01/2025"but we have to protect innovation" dude stop whiteknighting for openAI openAI is not going to fuck you (this isnt directed at ed i clearly agree with ed) 1366
Reposted by Sun-ha Hongm. r. sauter @oddletters.bsky.social · 06/01/2025public goods should be shielded from market forces, like health care, housing, and the postal service. openAI is NOT a public good! neither is uber! both directly attack public goods in different ways! THEY ARE NOT JUST LITTLE GUYS AND IT IS NOT THEIR BIRTHDAY WE DONT HAVE TO GO EASY ON THEM 111423
Reposted by Sun-ha HongThao Phan @thaophan.bsky.social · 05/01/2025Part of a 🔥 special issue on (UN)STABLE DIFFUSIONS eds. Fenwick McKelvey, @jredden.bsky.social, Jonothan Roberge, and @lukestark.bsky.social w articles by @sunhahong.bsky.social @melhogan.bsky.social @abpowell.bsky.social @katemiltner.bsky.social & more Check it out👇 publicera.kb.se/jdsr/issue/v...publicera.kb.se Vol. 6 No. 4 (2024): (Un)stable diffusions | Journal of Digital Social Research 0117
Reposted by Sun-ha Hongm. r. sauter @oddletters.bsky.social · 10/10/2024do you care about venture capital (derogatory)? do you care about *weird charts* (complimentary)? do you care about using extremely fiddly historical methods to trace the use of One Weird Chart through 40+ years of venture capital policy? HERE YA GO www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.org 79530
Reposted by Sun-ha HongAnthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 14/12/2024This immediately made me think of the @sunhahong.bsky.social paper "Prediction as Extraction of Discretion"dl.acm.orgPrediction as Extraction of Discretion | Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency 0176
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMatt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 12/12/2024Insurers must spend 80-85% of premiums on care by law. "But big insurers have figured out if they also become health care providers—by buying physician practices, clinics, and pharmacy benefit managers—they can meet that threshold by paying themselves and avoiding payment for their customers’ care." 411643724
Reposted by Sun-ha HongParis Marx @parismarx.com · 10/12/2024“AI is an ideological project to shift authority and autonomy away from individuals, towards centralized structures of power. Projects that claim to ‘democratize’ AI routinely conflate ‘democratization’ with ‘commodification’.” — @al2.bsky.socialali-alkhatib.com Ali Alkhatib: Defining AI 316836
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMike Drucker @mikedrucker.bsky.social · 08/12/2024the rich people pushing AI on everything are going to be the same rich people who will brag they can afford to send their kids to a school with human teachers 7753771500
Reposted by Sun-ha HongShannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 08/12/2024New York and Erie Railroad, "Diagram Representing a Plan of Organization, exhibiting the division of academic duties and showing the number and class of employees engaged in each department," by D.C. McCallum + G.H. Henshaw, 1855, via Library of Congress blogs.loc.gov/maps/2024/11... 814932
Reposted by Sun-ha Hongsarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 07/12/2024Soldiers who invaded the National Assembly are saying they were lied to: 362659689
Reposted by Sun-ha HongM. Beatrice Fazi @mbfazi.bsky.social · 06/12/2024The whole special issue of the Journal of Continental Philosophy this article is part of is now online. www.pdcnet.org/collection-a... Really a great collection of the latest philosophical thinking on technology! 🔨💻🧮📷📱☎️📺📽️📡 1285
Reposted by Sun-ha HongJoseph Howley @illdottore.bsky.social · 06/12/2024I’ve come to think the most important thing to understand and insist on about AI is that “AI” is not a discreet technology but it kind of story that someone tells about certain technologies or systems 937467
Reposted by Sun-ha HongHypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/12/2024“The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, allegedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed the suit, UHC knew it.”futurism.comMurdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick PeopleBefore United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered, a lawsuit filed against the firm revealed just how bad its claims-denying was. 715751
Reposted by Sun-ha HongMeredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 02/12/2024📢NEW: 'Open' AI systems aren't open. The vague term, combined w frothy AI hype is (mis)shaping policy & practice, assuming 'open source' AI democratizes access & addresses power concentration. It doesn't. @smw.bsky.social, @davidthewid.bsky.social & I correct the record👇 nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comWhy ‘open’ AI systems are actually closed, and why this matters - NatureA review of the literature on artificial intelligence systems to examine openness reveals that open AI systems are actually closed, as they are highly dependent on the resources of a few large corpora... 271026346