Definitely! Let’s talk

This image features a vibrant yellow promotional graphic for a book titled "Platform Extractivism: Data Work and the People Powering Artificial Intelligence" by Julián Posada. The top of the graphic displays the text "PRE-ORDER NOW! COMING OCTOBER 20, 2026" in bold blue capital letters. Centered in the middle is a 3D rendering of the book cover, which includes three vertical photo strips showing people working in office settings and server racks. Below the book image is a quote in large, bold black and red font: "A GROUNDED AND UNCOMPROMISING ACCOUNT OF THE INFRASTRUCTURES AND WORKERS THAT SUSTAIN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE." — Mark Graham, co-author of Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labor Powering A.I. The bottom of the graphic features the logo and name for the University of California Press.

#PlatformExtractivism is available for 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 (out Oct 20)!

Thrilled to share what @geoplace.bsky.social has to say about the book: "A grounded and uncompromising account of the infrastructures and workers that sustain AI."

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤: www.ucpress.edu/books/platfo...

#BookRecommendation #Books

Data centers are a physical manifestation of AI infrastructure and they've become a flashpoint precisely because they're tractable. They exist in specific places, consume specific resources, can be seen and pointed to. I spoke with @lorenaoneil.com @rollingstone.com about our urgent AI reckoning.

An event poster for a conference titled "the future of (data) work" held on April 10 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm at Aaron Burr Hall 219. The visual features a list of academic speakers and a central graphic of a large rock with an embedded circuit board pattern.

This week, I’ll be presenting my research at Princeton University’s Anthropology Department for a conference titled “the future of (data) work.” A huge thank you to Beth Semel and Hunter Akridge for the invitation and for organizing such an important event!

International Network on Digital Labor-North America Join our inaugural North America symposium to hear about “Workers Building, Using, and Resisting AI.”

INDL-NA, the North American chapter of our International Network on Digital Labor, holds the 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜, hosted at Yale University in April.

The event, organized by
@posada.website, opens with a keynote by Julia Ticona.

Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/internatio...

Poster for Yale’s “Symposium on Labor and Artificial Intelligence.” At top is an antique illustration of a mechanical automaton with two human figures operating or presenting it. Along the left edge, vertical red text reads “International Network on Digital Labor.” Large red title: “Symposium on Labor and Artificial Intelligence.” Blue subtitle: “Workers building, using, and resisting AI.” Event details in red: Main Event, April 29, 9 AM–5 PM, HQ 134; Doctoral Colloquium, April 28, 1–5:30 PM, KT 401; register at indl-yale.eventbrite.com. Bottom text notes sponsorship by the MacMillan Center’s Kempf Memorial Fund. A QR code labeled “Scan Me” and the Yale logo appear at lower right.

Registration is now open for @indl.bsky.social's 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 at @yale.edu (Apr. 29), with a Doctoral Colloquium on Apr. 28. Join us to discuss workers building, using, and resisting AI. Please note: both events are in person only. indl-yale.eventbrite.com

I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.

A modern event flyer for the launch of the Yale Computing, Culture & Society certificate. The poster features a guest talk by Paola Ricaurte Quijano (TIME Most Influential People in AI 2025) in conversation with professors Kalindi Vora and Julián Posada. The design includes a portrait of Ricaurte Quijano and a collage of images representing the history of computing (including Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing). The event is scheduled for Monday, March 30, 2026, at 12:00 PM in Humanities Quadrangle, Room 136. The flyer notes that lunch will be provided and includes a QR code and registration link: https://tiny.cc/YaleCSOC.

We are pleased to announce the Fall launch of the Computing, Culture, and Society certificate. To commemorate the program, we are hosting a conversation with Paola Ricaurte, Kalindi Vora, and me this Monday at noon at Yale's Humanities Quadrangle. Our website will be online by then in csoc.yale.edu

The Ends of AI Sycophancy and psychosis

Very interesting essay (as always) by @melhogan.bsky.social on "The Ends of AI: Sycophancy and psychosis":

"The rage against DEI and the humanities is part of the ongoing project of building up the logics of AI and metrics as the great authority."

disjunctionsmag.com/articles/end...

Email from Epstein to Goertzel: "free and home" Goertzel replies: ";-))) Congratulations!!!! Actually, I was just about to send you an email summarizing my recent progress, current situation, and future hypothetical plans...I'll probably do so tomorrow. I'm sure you're super-swamped, but it would be great to get together when you have the chance... ben" Goertzel continues: "p.s. Also, the Singularity Summit (futurist conference, but with some good scientific speakers this year) will be in NY this year, Oct 3-4...and Oct 5-6, afterwards, there will be a brainstorming workshop I think you might enjoy (where, basically, the ~20 speakers from the Summit will get together and try to make conceptual progress on various future-science issues). I'll remind you again when the date gets closer!"

Ben Goertzel, popularizer of the term AGI and creator of the Sophia robot, congratulating Jeffrey Epstein the day after Epstein was released from prison.

Goertzel is mentioned in the files nearly 800 times, including well after the Miami Herald investigation in 2018.

poster for "the future of (data) work." top right corner contains event info: April 10, 9:30-4:30pm, Aaron Burr Hall 219." Under the title is the conference description: "The rapid expansion and commercialization of artificial intelligence systems has been enabled by the upscaling of data work, defined by Miceli and Posada as 'the labor involved in the collection, curation, classification, labeling, and verification of data.' Amidst debates about how 'intelligence machines' will impact the global workforce, this conference brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars and organizers to examine the histories, topographies, and lived realities of data work around the world, centering the people behind the platforms that dominate our present to imagine alternative futures." Underneath this text is the list of panelists and their affiliations: Beth Semel, Organizer, (Assistant Professor, Dept of Anthro, Richard Stockton Picentennial Preceptor) Hunter Akridge Research Assistant (Grad Student, Dept of Anthro), Alex Hanna (DAIR), Seyi Olojo (UC Berkeley), Cindy Kaiying Lin (Georgia Institute of Tech), Julian Posada (Yale), Shivani Kapania (CMU), Samantha Dalal (Princeton CITP) Lilly Irani (UCSD), Sarah Fox (CMU). The background image, from Hanna Barakat/Archival Images of AI/AIxDesign, is a picture of hands yanking invisible strings through a rare earth mineral with a microchip superimposed over it set against. On the bottom of the poster are the sponsors (Princeton AI Lab, Princeton Dept of Anthro), and a QR code for the program).

interested in questions of tech, labor, and worker futures? on April 10 in Princeton i'm hosting an outstanding lineup of panelists at "the future of (data) work," where speakers will discuss the ethnographic, archival, and participatory action research they've conducted with data + tech workers

By bridging these concepts, the book places Latin American critical thought in conversation with research on digital labor and critical data studies across disciplines.
Pre-order details to follow. 4/4

The central argument is that digital platforms are not merely technological tools, but function as infrastructures of extraction structurally rooted in enduring legacies of coloniality. 3/4

This monograph is the culmination of seven years of mixed-methods research examining the role of data work and platform labor in AI development. The empirical focus centers on data workers across three major platforms operating in Venezuela during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2/4

Book cover for "Platform Extractivism: Data Work and the People Powering Artificial Intelligence" by Julián Posada. Set against a bright yellow background, three vertical photographic panels at the top depict a crowd with digital bounding boxes over faces, a person coding at a computer, and a dense rack of glowing server cables. The title is in large, bold black text, followed by the red subtitle and the author’s name in blue at the bottom.

With the cover now finalized, I am pleased to announce my forthcoming book: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐦: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Available this October from @ucpress.bsky.social s. 🧵 1/4

It was such a pleasure to welcome you!

A flyer that shares detail for Chinasa's upcoming talk at Yale. It reads "Global Imperatives for an Equity-Centered Approach to AI Governance" and has a headshot of Chinasa smiling wearing braids, a green blazer and gold earrings.

A photo of a brick wall at Yale University I took in 2023 that has Yale engraved in one of the bricks.

I'll be at Yale today for a guest lecture in the “Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society" course!

My talk, “Global Imperatives for an Equity-Centered Approach to AI Governance,” will discuss my latest research, work, and vision for inclusive approaches to AI oversight.

Rest in peace Vicente Rafael. Just learned of his passing from @dukepress.bsky.social. We lose a giant today.

Bilbo looking at his phone top on bottom is ChatGPT After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it? You're absolutely right — you found it, it's been with you a long while, and it's only natural to feel fond of something that's served you so well, especially when someone like Gandalf suddenly seems to want it for himself.

THE SILICON GAZE

After reading a really interesting paper from @oii.ox.ac.uk (link below), I asked ChatGPT (version 5.2) to give an ranking of countries by IQ, 'extrapolating' and 'estimating' where data was not available.

I then asked it to provide an 'approximate' heat map of the estimates

1/2

Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.

Absolutely damning from @aaronschaffer.com, @willoremus.com, & @nitasha.bsky.social.

To get more data, Anthropic:
* "destructively scanned" millions of books
* downloaded the shadow library LibGen
* hailed another shadow library's arrival as "just in time!!!"

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Job Applicants Sue to Open ‘Black Box’ of A.I. Hiring Decisions

“A lawsuit filed by a group of job applicants claims that some A.I. employment screening tools should be subject to the same Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements as credit agencies.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/b...

Three deliver workers stand together.

Today, a case was filed on behalf of the City of New York to get our city’s delivery workers the money they are owed.

For too long, companies like Motoclick stole tips from delivery workers and ignored the minimum pay rate law. Under our administration, they won’t get away with it any longer.

If Canada & others aren't willing or able to prevent Grok from being used and monetized as an automated sexual abuse tool then we really shouldn't expect any type of meaningful AI regulation to come from political leaders

AI’s Memorization Crisis Large language models don’t “learn”—they copy. And that could change everything for the tech industry.

If gen AI systems often just repeat what they have seen elsewhere, then researchers using LLMs to simulate human behavior might have a serious ethics conundrum: maybe such studies are just analyzing observational data without consent?

cc @mjcrockett.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Having served on the editorial advisory board for this book, I’ve seen firsthand the depth of insight it offers. This is a foundational text and a must-read for everyone in the field.

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

Montage of creative works entering the public domain in the US in 2026.

When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1930 & sound recordings from 1925 will enter the public domain in the US, like:

💄 Dizzy Dishes, first Betty Boop cartoon
🕵️♀️ First 4 Nancy Drew novels
🚂 The Little Engine That Could
🎩 Morocco
🍑 Georgia on My Mind
and many more!

🧵👇

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New article out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social (with Dušan Cotoras).

We examine how AI ethics is negotiated in practice through an ethnographic study of a predictive system developed inside Chile’s Public Defender’s Office.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

“In a Bloomberg interview, Vincke admitted that Larian has been pushing generative AI internally, even though it hasn't led to gains in efficiency or speed.”

The “need” to rush into AI adoption is executive peer pressure. It is the ideology of business leadership triumphing over data and people.