On Monday next week we will conclude our 2026 seminar series with Isabelle Millar's talk and a drinks reception afterwards. Please join us (in-person only)!
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Tomorrow we will hear @drkatedevlin.bsky.social on "The Agreeable Machine", in Birkbeck's wonderful new event space "The Conservatory". It looks like we are almost fully booked, but if you are quick you might be able to squeeze in! www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
March 10, Kate Devlin (@drkatedevlin.bsky.social): "The Agreeable Machine"
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Some upcoming events I'll be speaking at. Mostly in London, but the Starling Centre lecture will be online. (danmcquillan.org/pages/events...)
Two more days! Sign up, online or in-person if you're in London. There will be drinks, nibbles and socialising afterwards!
March 16, Isabel Millar: "Pluribus: Natality and AI"
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
March 10, Kate Devlin (@drkatedevlin.bsky.social): "The Agreeable Machine"
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
March 05, Rebekah Cupitt: "Piercing the veil of authority in techno-utopian and AGI future-driven innovation"
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Here is the complete line-up of our 2026 seminar series "Critical Voices on AI" on March 05, 10 and 16. We start next week! 🎉
A reminder that we will have Rebekah Cupitt speak on March 05, 6pm, on "Piercing the veil of authority in techno-utopian and AGI future-driven innovation". The event will also be live-streamed, you can register for offline or online attendance using the link below!
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
We are working on online participation, follow this account to get notified.
I'm very excited to announce our first talk of 2026! On March 5, Rebekah Cupitt will tell us about the moat that tech has dug around its favourite toys to keep anyone deemed "non-tech" out of the conversation.
In-persona attendees can sign up now: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
Save the date! We have three Critical AI seminars upcoming on March 05, March 10 and March 16!
Ethical AI is an oxymoron, like automated science
There is absolutely no good faith reason to use the term “AI” for any technology one is selling.
It serves only for dazzling people into thinking the technology has capabilities that it doesn’t.
If one wants a technology to be trustworthy, just use a transparent, informative term without hype.
Gen AI challenges the idea that tech under capitalism means increased productivity, so trade unions should demand a greater share of the benefits. It reveals instead the underlying truth of an all out attack on workers and planet, and a lust for for power at any cost.
ChatGPT cannot write and is an automated plagiarism machine irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2022/12/29/a...
For anyone publishing research here, have you had any experience with AI submissions or AI reviews recently? I have grown a thick skin when it comes to reviews, but a recent AI-written review hit me much harder than any mean review I've received in my 15 years of publishing.
Join us online tonight or in person if you're in London!
As part of the Birkbeck Science Week (www.bbk.ac.uk/annual-event...) I will be giving a talk on "Machine Commands: Society in the Age of AI" on June 11. If you're interested, register here www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Managers who think AI can replace human workers usually simply don't understand the nuance of the work. Case in point: fortune.com/2025/05/09/k...
Gareth Watkins' (@garethwatkins.bsky.social) article on AI aesthetics and fascism has a great explanation for the right's embrace of AI slop newsocialist.org.uk/transmission...
'Careless People' Is the Book About Facebook I've Wanted for a Decade
The Institute of Philosophy, UoL, is hosting an event on "Responsible AI" (philevents.org/event/show/1...) which might be of interest to some. Check it out.
yeah! what is it about them? 🤔
Apple just paused its AI LLM Siri upgrade indefinitely.
The writing is on the wall.
I think here we have the raw, unfiltered view of how the powerful plan to wield AI systems: as bureaucratic systems with little human oversight.
This is an excellent primer on some of the privacy dangers posed by large scale AI, from a cybersecurity perspective. Written in clear language, it's the most accessible rundown I've seen yet on these topics!
desfontain.es/blog/privacy...
