iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

p.s. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that all of this acceleration in the hype is a reaction to the succesful and broadening opposition to their wasteful, polluting, noisy data centers.

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

So how about this for a "pause AI" proposal: "pause credulous AI reporting". No more media about "breakthroughs" or "rogue agent swarms" or ... UNLESS and UNTIL that media demands the actual empirical evidence and/or focuses on the motivations of & harms by these companies.

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 13/09/2026

All of a sudden we're not talking about the widely popular bipartisan opposition to massive data center buildouts. I wonder why 🤔

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Straight talk time: Doomerism is BORING. It's the same fantasties rehashed over and over again, just louder each time. And with each iteration it seems that new audiences are being reached, and a new group of people needs to be talked down from unnecessary fear. >>

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Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 05/09/2026

Good news: he lost.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Every time I think the mainstream media in America can't get any worse, their counterparts in the UK pop up to remind me, oh, yes it can. It's like an entire ecosystem run by the Mean Girls clique

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“not even close to accurate” - now extend that “insight” to… (gestures at everything)

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly Parton. My wife and I rewatched 9 to 5 at Bryn Mawr Film Institute just last week. americansongwriter.com/dolly-parton...

Not A Fan Of AI

Sitting down with The Hollywood Reporter, the topic of AI integrating into the music industry eventually landed at the feet of Parton. When debating how AI could be used to recreate voices from singers who passed away, like Elvis Presley, Parton said, “I ain’t going to consider AI on nothing that’s human being. Because I think that is a weapon and a tool that can be scary. I think it’s going to be great for a lot of things, like science and medicine and many, many things, but not to replace human beings.”

On a personal note, Parton shared her hesitation about AI and referred to it as the mark of the beast. “That scares me to death. That’s like the mark of the beast.”

When discussing AI used after she dies, Parton admitted to not wanting to be replicated. “It’s like you can’t remake a person. I don’t want that. I want to just leave a body of work behind.” She added, “I think all this stuff can be great, used in the right way. But not to replace voices and writings and not to replace a human being that belongs to God.”

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 25/08/2026

Fox News finds what so many other polls have found over the past few years: the core reason people oppose data centres in the US are real, material and immediate environmental concerns. static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/...

Survey results (17–20 July) listing main reasons for opposing a local data center: 50% environmental concerns (29% energy/water use, 13% environmental impact, 4% noise, 4% pollution); 14% quality-of-life; 11% economic effects; 11% negative views of AI; 10% other; 4% unsure.

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Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Over here in Europe we have always tracked kids towards trade school or university with a test at age 12! Still do. It sucks. It’s a really dumb idea! America should definitely do this if it wants to kill growth and waste human potential, oh and also worsen racial discrimination

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

"Many parents would likely object if, say, Exxon Mobil wrote their children’s environmental science curriculum. Or if Purdue Pharma trained their children’s biology teachers. Yet, over the last decade, schools have often embraced the technology industry in similar ways with few questions asked."

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

"But something different is happening this time in schools: pushback. A groundswell of teachers, parents, researchers and local government leaders say they aren’t buying the idea of new, and educationally unproven, A.I. tools as the next fulcrum for learning,” writes @natashanyt.bsky.social.

nytimes.com

How Big Tech Captured American Schools

Companies like Google and Microsoft have used their money, their might and their massive reach to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain.

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Breaking News: I outscored NYC Mayor Zoran Mamdani by seven (7) points on the New York State Spanish Regents exam.

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"Educators who try to withhold A.I. writing tools are essentially announcing to their students — ‘consumers,’ [the Grammarly employee] called them — that their coursework is irrelevant to the job market." IDK seems to me like turning education into transactional job training is the problem.

nytimes.com

What Do Students Lose When They Stop Writing?

Educators are worried that many students can no longer write essays without A.I. And it’s costing more than just grammar skills.

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Riley is the reason Ewing didn't win a ring. I appreciate this excellent @secretbase.bsky.social video as the start of holding him accountable. youtu.be/_9jfik_LYw8?...

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

STOP FORCING THIS FUCKING GARBAGE ON US

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Adam Conover @adamconover.net · 14/08/2026

Gas powered leaf blowers were BANNED. So why do we still hear them? Watch the full video on YouTube: youtu.be/Ay73erQx39U

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 13/08/2026

🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....

Cover of my new book, Deep Unlearning: The Rise of AI and The Radicalization of a Tech Idealist.

There are two concentric circles in the book, the left being circuits in black an white, and the right being a bunch of dots with orange accents. The cover background is cream. And the words are written in black except for "Un" which is in orange.

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I'm wary after edtech hype was part of Civics of Technology last week, but maybe this could redeem that experience?

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So @thecrashcourse.bsky.social just emailed their list for BTS and included a link to @complexly.org's response to the Hank Green debacle. Their genAI policy doesn't go far enough, but it's better than nothing, I guess. I'm so happy I'm not a science teacher 😌 #EduSky complexly.org/ai-response/

complexly.org

Response to Discussion about AI use in Ask Hank Anything | Complexly

Hello Complexly Community, You may have seen the discussion about Hank using ChatGPT for research in a “Future Hank” segment of Ask Hank Anything, or you may just have questions about how the 80+ per...

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Very true and reminds me of Grace Helbig's take on Hank Green who alienated his audience because of his LLM addiction. I'm really hesitant to encourage children to use LLMs. www.instagram.com/reel/DbtT_bW...

instagram.com

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

We're laughing at this guy for saying something dumb while in the throes of AI addiction, but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't treat it like a drug or alcohol problem. These people need help.

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Axios writer: I melted my brain with AI. Not only can I no longer read, but I don't even understand the purpose of reading anymore. Here's how you can also do this. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...

Axios: AI has become my reading buddy as I've plowed through my summer book list, helping me keep track of plots and characters, unpack themes, and make sense of wordy, old prose.

Why it matters: The way many of us actually read books — a few pages before bed, a chapter at the beach, another on a plane — makes it easy to lose the thread. AI can help you pick it back up without starting over.
📖 I really got into using AI while reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans." The text was far too dense for casual vacation reading. My first prompt asked:

"I'd like a guide as I read The Last of the Mohicans who can help me understand what I've read and where the story is, without giving spoilers or getting ahead of my progress. Can you do this, chapter by chapter?"
The robot agreed: "Cooper's sentences are long and his diction is archaic."

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Tom Mullaney @tommullaney.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I'm old enough to remember when the NFL, not the NBA, was the dominant league in the US. Watch, next year NBA will have games on Thanksgiving. I'm here for it. Knicks in 5!

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 11/08/2026

"A student’s essay on Macbeth has no value as a product. It’s what you learned in the reading and writing that created it – the swiftness and resilience and suppleness of thinking you built, along with the knowledge gained of a literary marvel, of something unsummarisable – that was the point"

Many students want to resist, but the temptation is great, and some start to feel they’re being penalised for their honesty. I tell the students I meet: imagine you’re an Olympic athlete. You set out to sprint the 3km across London, from Clapham to Balham. You know if you take the bus, it will be faster. But you also know that the point was never being in Clapham or Balham; they’re very similar: they both have a nice Pizza Express. It was the strength you built, the speed and knowledge of your body that you gained. A student’s essay on Macbeth has no value as a product. It’s what you learned in the reading and writing that created it – the swiftness and resilience and suppleness of thinking you built, along with the knowledge gained of a literary marvel, of something quicksilver and unsummarisable – that was the point. So you can’t collaborate with AI in the same way you can’t collaborate with a bus. And you cannot learn to think without a climbing frame of facts and ideas and texts to move around in.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 11/08/2026

"To wrap AI into the art of learning when we have overwhelming proof of the harm it does to developing minds is feeding snake oil to the people we should cherish most." www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

theguardian.com

‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The environmental damage is well documented at this point. I think the status of data centers as focal points of economic damage merits a little more expansion: www.wired.com/story/the-ai...

Screencap of linked article:

Beyond online outcry, more people are starting to protest against the building of data centers that power these AI tools. “There's a lot of pushback coalescing around data centers," says Emily Bender, coauthor of The AI Con. "Data centers are important because they are focal points of environmental and economic damage.” Americans across the political spectrum have recently united in these data center protests.

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Allison Dieppa @amdieppa.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Every time a commercial for ChatGPT or Claude comes on now, I can’t unsee it… “[B]utthole logos is what happens when you have style over substance in a move-fast-and-break-things industry…you just get a lot of meaningless shit.”

graphiclanguageblog.substack.com

Why So Many A.I. Logos Look Like Buttholes

Many logos from A.I. integrated products or companies look, either abstractly or quite literally, like a butthole.

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Teresa Heffernan @tjheffernan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Hinton said he wanted to "disrupt the humanities;" I suggest we use the humanities to disrupt the AI industry: youtu.be/hPV-Ql_KGzM?...

youtu.be

The 2026 Wiegand Lecture featuring Teresa Heffernan — Literature Versus the AI Industry

YouTube video by Arts & Science - University of Toronto

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Excellent piece highlighting student voices on gen AI in higher education, including MS student Mirakle (pictured!) in my lab who is leading research on college student AI resisters. I can only assume that leadership at many universities are making incorrect assumptions about student attitudes.

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Elizabeth Hernandez @lizzy-hernandez.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

New: Universities (CU, CSU, others nationwide) are partnering with AI giants like ChatGPT to roll out university-sanctioned AI Hear from the students resisting & why some liken their opposition to wartime conscientious objectors www.denverpost.com/2026/08/07/c... via @denverpost.com #EdColo #AI

denverpost.com

As Colorado universities align with ChatGPT, student AI resisters take a stand against the ‘plagiarism machine’

“The majority of my participants flat out don’t think AI has a place in education,” said Mirakle Wright, a CU graduate student who is studying resistance to artificial intelligence.

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Christie Nold @christienold.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

When asked as part of school-wide conversations, students shared that they felt “abandoned” when “teachers wouldn’t answer questions” I think there are times when we believe ourselves to be well meaning in letting students construct understanding, but really they feel “alone” in their learning…

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Neil Turkewitz @neilturkewitz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

“I just have not heard a single person outside of the tech community talk about an agent that they use. As excited and optimistic as we as an industry may be about the frontier and recursive self-improvement, it's worth pausing and just saying, ‘Huh, what?’” —Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company

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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 08/08/2026

They were never designed to. They are not scary, they are not magic, they are just fancy equations that you do on a computer. Just numbers. That's all. By focusing on these models (which are just an iteration of existing models, which we didn't get all aerated about)

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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 08/08/2026

Arguing that LLMs are anything more than a load of numbers going into a complicated mathematical function and spitting some more numbers out. Yes they simulate. But they simulate *language*. They do not simulate the cognitive processes underlying communication.

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 08/08/2026

exactly 💯 on LLMs: they simulate the output we call language, not the cognitive capacity we call language!

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Katie (Kathryn) Conrad @kconrad.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

My daughter: “Never date a guy who uses AI. Because he doesn’t understand consent.”

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Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

My hubby’s booth at #Terrificon

Image of a very handsome husband, sitting in a convention with a collection of pop art, comic art, street art, and collectibles

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