Here is some interesting insight into how that narrative is spun: cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st... >>
Who's Who of AI
Emily M. Bender
Professor of linguistics at the University of Washington
Why they matter
Professor of linguistics at the University of Washington with public evidence across NLP & language, AI research.
- AI signals
- 62 past 30d
- Sources
- 48 distinct domains
- Discusiones
- 47 past 30d
- Latest signal
- 1d ago
Book: https://thecon.ai
Web: https://faculty.washington.edu/ebender
What they're sharing
cims.nyu.edu
science.org
The AI Slop Backlash Is Actually Having an Impact wired.com
Researchers Wanted Preschool Teachers to Wear Cameras to Train AI 404media.co
Could AI be conscious? theguardian.com
Google Search as you know it is over | TechCrunch techcrunch.com
edition.cnn.com
Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype technologyreview.com
Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains 404media.co
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You can no longer Google the word 'disregard' | TechCrunch techcrunch.com
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What Emily Bender Really Meant by "Stochastic Parrots" spectrum.ieee.org
The AI Resist List airesistlist.org
Articles & links
This article ends with a good conclusion, but it is extremely misguided along the way. It is also a rich text for exploring how clear language helps make the point better. A thread: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... >>
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...
AI Weekly's analysis
→
- WIRED argues the anti-slop backlash is producing real platform changes rather than just complaint threads, with tools and policies to flag AI content spreading.
- Substack, YouTube and Pinterest have all added detection, labels or user controls, with Substack partnering with the detection firm Pangram.
- Merriam-Webster and the Macquarie Dictionary named 'slop' word of the year, and one anti-slop Facebook group has nearly 250,000 members.
Read full analysis →
Absolutely horrified at this planned study from my own institution: www.404media.co/researchers-... >>
How about a jet-lagged live posting while I read? Trying to read this because I keep getting tagged in posts about it, but the first paragraph already contains synthetic text (a quote from Claude). I will skip that bit and persevere... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Wow some terrible reporting about Google's latest horrible ideas about how to distort information access in the name of "convenience" (or something): techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/g... A short thread 🧵>>
I have been yelling since 2021 about how using synthetic text extruding machines for information access is a TERRIBLE IDEA. And yet and yet and yet: they are marketing so heavily that way that people keep falling for it. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
From @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me on what we should take from the 2026 summer of AI hype: www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/22/1...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- Timnit Gebru and Emily M. Bender argue the summer's AI 'breakthroughs' on hacking, math and superintelligence fall apart under expert scrutiny.
- They cite cybersecurity experts recasting the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident as OpenAI negligence rather than models 'gone rogue.'
- NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster is quoted saying OpenAI 'stole' work, undercutting claims about the Astra math result.
Read full analysis →
Emily M. Bender reposted
"Predictably, the huge spike in productivity that these companies claim their own AI products have enabled hasn’t resulted in more or better products, shorter work weeks, or better consumer experiences." www.404media.co/software-dev...
Emily M. Bender reposted
“I have been a tech journalist for nearly 15 years, and before today, I cannot think of a single time when a Bing search result was more valuable than the Google equivalent. There really is a first time for everything!” Thanks, AI! techcrunch.com/2026/05/22/y...
Emily M. Bender reposted
“The message that I always bring when I have a chance is that, when the text that comes out of one of these systems makes sense, it’s because we are making sense of it. This is also in the stochastic parrots paper.”
AI Weekly's analysis
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- Bender says the 'stochastic parrots' metaphor was meant to describe large language models specifically, not all AI systems.
- The 2021 paper was co-authored with Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell, both later fired by Google before its publication.
- Bender says the paper's biggest omission was the exploitative labor practices underlying large language models.
Read full analysis →
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Emily M. Bender reposted
A new project educators can use to teach the many ways AI resistance takes shape: "Now people around the world are mobilizing to resist the empires of AI and to nourish visions of the future that work for all of us. Amid an onslaught of negative news, this project centers hope."
AI Weekly's analysis
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- Karen Hao launched the AI Resist List on the one-year anniversary of her book Empire of AI as a publicly accessible, community-contributed database.
- The database organizes entries by 'Pillars of Support' sustaining AI empires, a framework adapted from Choose Democracy's authoritarianism resistance model.
- Entries span labor actions, legal challenges, and grassroots campaigns across gig work, healthcare, education, and law enforcement sectors.
Read full analysis →
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Their own posts
Recent commentary
Between the PRs of (largely likely stolen) math breakthroughs, claims of "rogue AI" (actually cybercrimes by companies, but whatevs), and doomerist "whistleblowers", it feels like we've been subjected to a gish gallop of hype recently. >>
Really tried of the genre of bsky discourse that goes: "Here is an incredibly pointless thing I use LLMs for, now please bsky be normal about it." >>
A phenomenon I've noticed recently is people trying to occupy some untenable middleground wrt to the use of systems sold as "AI" -- this is a position where people try to recognize the harms of this tech but also hold space for "responsible" or "ethical" use. 🧵>>
This sign is a great example for helping to explain why chatbots present such a potent illusion. A probably not short thread 🧵>>
There seems to be a coordinated talking point among the EA folks that the "standard" approach to "AI" on "the Left" is "AI is just stochastic parrots so no need to worry about it". (Sorry for all the scare quotes, but y'know) >>
So many conversations where otherwise serious people throw around the term "AI" without defining it, despite it being notoriously ill-defined. Thinking about why this might be >>
AI Doomerism has been in the news lately, especially with the loud, viral resignation of Jacob Coxon from Anthropic. Maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen any statements from CEOs and other execs who are more on the AI Booster side of the ledger. >>
Thinking about the selling point of "AI" supposedly "freeing up time" to do important things. Beyond devaluing the tasks that we can supposedly offload to software systems, it occurs to me that this is kind of opposite of mindfulness/being in the moment. >>
Lol -- over on X Nate Silver is apparently holding me up as an example of how "the Left" is anti-AI regulation, and proving his point by posting screen caps of ch 7 of The AI Con, where @alexhanna.bsky.social and I outline some proposals for what to do about the harms done in the name of "AI". >>
Is there something in the water this week? It seems like the "AI" stans are more upset than usual at the thought that their chatbot idols are no more than interactive fiction and a large dollop of marketing?
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