I'm sorry Dave, I really need you to agree to these new terms and conditions.

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I was reading along and then 🙄

"some very knowledgeable people fear that ... superintelligent AI could become smarter than humans, could become independent of human control, and pose an existential threat to the human race. " 🙄 🙄 🙄

justfacts.votesmart.org/public-state...

Introducing Middle School Students to "The Secret Ghost Workers of 'Artificial Intelligence'" — Civics of Technology Upcoming Book Clubs: We’re reading The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms our Kids’ Learning - And How to Help Them Thrive Again by Jared Cooney Horvath. Join us on Wednesday, Ap...

I really appreciate @elizabethwithaz.bsky.social's reflections on how she explored the social impacts of technology with her students by introducing them to the people - the ghost workers - whose labor makes “AI” systems possible.

Read this week’s @civicsoftech.bsky.social and find the lesson at:

Wait, how did this get into my feed without @hypervisible.blacksky.app already quoting it

I am forever saying that if refusal isn't a live option in any decision making process about "AI", then no ethical practice is possible. You've got to be able to stop if the thing is unacceptable.

If your ostensibly critical paper talks about "recent advances in AI" I have a hard time taking it seriously. Advances towards what? Measured how?

Today!

Infinite Patience Is Not Good for Education How many times does Sal Khan get to fail?

"Infinite patience" is not a quality ingredient for a good education, nor is it something we should continue to extend to the education "revolutions" of Sal Khan. biblioracle.substack.com/publish/post...

I had an opportunity recently to make a submission to the People’s Consultation on AI, a Canadian grassroots response to a chaotic gov consultation. I focused on 2 points and this was one - if there’s no space for rejection, consultation is performance.

www.peoplesaiconsultation.ca/wp-content/u...

Thank you. It's only evidence of what is in the system's training data, which is not really relevant to the argument here.

Google Starts Scanning All Your Photos As New Update Goes Live Google wants its AI to see all the photos of "you and your loved ones." Billions of users must now decide.

“Take a moment to think before you dive in. That’s the best advice for Google Photos users, as the company confirms its latest update can scan all your photos to “use actual images of you and your loved ones” in AI image generation.”

www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...

I am forever saying that if refusal isn't a live option in any decision making process about "AI", then no ethical practice is possible. You've got to be able to stop if the thing is unacceptable.

No thank you. I am not interested in synthetic text. Please don't send it at me.

The misogyny is clearest, though in the choice of words they used to refer to me and the hosts, most of which are gendered (though not gendered slurs): lady, gal, woman, bird (!)

>>

Hartzog said lawmakers need to create more specific rules tailored to the unique threat posed by the combination of facial recognition and nearly undetectable surveillance technology before it becomes ubiquitous. Those laws need to target not only people using the technology, but also the companies behind it, he said. “A lot of these conversations tend to focus on, ‘is it OK to use these glasses or this tool to surveil other people?’” he said. “What often gets lost in this conversation is, ‘is it OK for companies to design these really socially hostile tools in ways that will foreseeably lead to massive violations of privacy?’”

🛎️🛎️🛎️

Join us tomorrow!

Regulatory action is important, but we won't get to effective regulation if the public at large and our policymakers are kept ensorcelled by the fantasies spun by the tech bros and the acolytes.

>>

Is AI a Scam? We Ask Prof. Emily Bender, Author of “The AI Con” YouTube video by Agents of Tech

Anyway, because I'm sure someone will ask, the video is here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfOi...

There are also a few non-gendered terms in there (guest, expert, professor, person), but the gendered ones really stood out to me.

I don't spend a lot of time in the comments section on YouTube, but I suspect there isn't a similar practice of referring to male guests by their gender.

>>

The misogyny is clearest, though in the choice of words they used to refer to me and the hosts, most of which are gendered (though not gendered slurs): lady, gal, woman, bird (!)

>>

But some of the folks who disagreed with me (as well as a few who did) decided to express their displeasure at the wallpaper in my background.

... which, why?

>>

Both of the hosts interviewing me are also women, which probably had an influence here, too.

The first thing I noticed, gladly, was the near total lack of comment on our appearance (any of us).

>>

Before getting there, I do want to acknowledge that there are many unequivocally positive comments.

That said, even some of the positive ones do some of the things below.

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One of the many, many podcasts I've interviewed with in the past year decided to promote my episode heavily on YouTube and the comments are an interesting study in misogyny.

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dair_institute - Twitch Twitch account for The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR).

Tune into the next livestream of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000:

@emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social will be bringing you a very special round-up of the most recent Fresh "AI" Hell!

Watch live:
Monday, April 20, noon PT,
twitch.tv/dair_institute

For more background info on the Ghost in the Machine documentary, from one of the experts featured in it (and not to confuse it with another, by all reports much inferior film about AI, as explained in this thread):

Poster with black to bright dark blue gradient background, with faded circuitry pattern. Text: Critical AI Happy Hour Hosted by Cynthia Khoo / Tekhnos Law & sava saheli singh following Ghost in the Machine documentary screening at Hot Docs Festival (Toronto, ON) 1 May 2026 •  4:00 PM - 6:00 PM RSVP: tinyurl.com/criticalAIhh Please note the event will be held outdoors, at a restaurant near the theatre. The address will be sent to attendees upon confirmation of RSVP. First come, first served, until event is full!

If you live in Toronto and work on or care about critical approaches to AI, and want to connect with others who do too, @savasavasava.myatproto.social and I have organized an upcoming event that you're invited to! RSVP here: cryptpad.fr/form/#/3/for... More details in next post >>

OpenAI: We’re burning money like the Joker. A miracle needs to happen for us to turn a profit

Microsoft: Please please use our AI systems, we’re teetering on the edge here

Anthropic: I wonder what’ll kill us first: lawsuits, regulations or model collapse

Media and universities: AI is here to stay

Thank you! And thank you for being there with your poster. Let's hope that some folks did further thinking after...

Resisting Dehumanization in the Age of "AI": The View from the Humanities, Emily M. Bender YouTube video by Simpson Center

#TalkAboutHumanities

We need scholars across the humanities, because these are the fields where we study what it is to be human, to inhabit different identities, and to connect with each other, to be human together.

youtu.be/T7Lc6QNxolQ...