Conor Linehan
@conorlinehan.bsky.social
Researcher in Applied Psychology and Human Computer Interaction. University College Cork
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Remember: if AI did even half of what it promises, tech firms wouldn't need to shove it down our throats, unasked for, at every opportunity.
It's snake oil. Resist.
It's snake oil. Resist.
November 13, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Remember: if AI did even half of what it promises, tech firms wouldn't need to shove it down our throats, unasked for, at every opportunity.
It's snake oil. Resist.
It's snake oil. Resist.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Please sign this excellent letter to Ursula vdL, so she can see that nonsense AI hype is neither true nor appropriate for anybody to believe or spread.
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Please sign this excellent letter to Ursula vdL, so she can see that nonsense AI hype is neither true nor appropriate for anybody to believe or spread.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Sign here bsky.app/profile/kris...
AI hype letter remains open for more signatures tinyurl.com/Sign-Letter-...
CryptPad
tinyurl.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Sign here bsky.app/profile/kris...
Reposted by Conor Linehan
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Reposted by Conor Linehan
I have my students co-develop class policies, and they pretty much unanimously chose to ban AI in the class. There were a few questions about using Grammarly, but those were the only real exceptions any students expressed (and even then, we talked about alternatives to that and they were open to it)
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 7, 2025 at 4:53 AM
I have my students co-develop class policies, and they pretty much unanimously chose to ban AI in the class. There were a few questions about using Grammarly, but those were the only real exceptions any students expressed (and even then, we talked about alternatives to that and they were open to it)
Reposted by Conor Linehan
We had fucking congressional hearings over Mortal Kombat.
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 AM
We had fucking congressional hearings over Mortal Kombat.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Conor Linehan
“We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically.”
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically.”
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Today, someone who has been surfing the AI hype wave to boost his career, got upset by our position paper.
He gave no substantive couinterargument. Just called it “activism”. As if that is an insult.
In a world where techno-fascism hollows out our institutions, I’m a proud scientific activist.
He gave no substantive couinterargument. Just called it “activism”. As if that is an insult.
In a world where techno-fascism hollows out our institutions, I’m a proud scientific activist.
Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia
Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these col...
zenodo.org
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Today, someone who has been surfing the AI hype wave to boost his career, got upset by our position paper.
He gave no substantive couinterargument. Just called it “activism”. As if that is an insult.
In a world where techno-fascism hollows out our institutions, I’m a proud scientific activist.
He gave no substantive couinterargument. Just called it “activism”. As if that is an insult.
In a world where techno-fascism hollows out our institutions, I’m a proud scientific activist.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.
October 31, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Most of Ireland's uplands are commonage, ie co-owned by local farmers.
The ONLY real income from commonage is via subsidies, almost always for ecosystem-killing sheep. This is why Irish mountains are all empty wastelands, kept that way by your taxes.
Why are we STILL not paying farmers to rewild??
The ONLY real income from commonage is via subsidies, almost always for ecosystem-killing sheep. This is why Irish mountains are all empty wastelands, kept that way by your taxes.
Why are we STILL not paying farmers to rewild??
October 31, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Most of Ireland's uplands are commonage, ie co-owned by local farmers.
The ONLY real income from commonage is via subsidies, almost always for ecosystem-killing sheep. This is why Irish mountains are all empty wastelands, kept that way by your taxes.
Why are we STILL not paying farmers to rewild??
The ONLY real income from commonage is via subsidies, almost always for ecosystem-killing sheep. This is why Irish mountains are all empty wastelands, kept that way by your taxes.
Why are we STILL not paying farmers to rewild??
Reposted by Conor Linehan
yes, really messed up stuff, see thus by me and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social (2025). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
and: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
and: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
![All AI, and indeed any technology in mental or other healthcare settings requires “keeping users safe [and this in turn] requires substantial input from clinicians and careful planning to
reduce risk.” (Abrams, 2025) This is key because it is not possible to keep people safe without a highly qualified human-in-theloop (Amironesei et al., 2021; El-Mhamdi et al., 2022; T. Liu et
al., 2025; Salecha et al., 2024; Sharma et al., 2025; Weidinger et al.,
2022) and even then the risk of deskilling is present (e.g. Budzyń
et al., 2025; recall section 4: Outsourcing Programming to Companies). Relatedly, and taking the example of the therapist-client
relationship, dehumanising parallels encoded in expressions such
as: “the country needs all the quality therapists we can get —
be they human or bot” (Riddle, 2025) cannot become normal
in our scientific discussions. No therapist under proper ethical
functioning would cause their client to be addicted to their therapy (Huntington, 2025) nor would they, as in the Replika example (The Luddite, 2024), introduce a sexual relationship between
them and their client (Pettit, 2024b). Any such suggestions to
use a chatbot as a therapist would go against professional codes
of conduct and possibly the law (e.g. Abraham, 2002; American
Psychological Association, 2017; Belanger, 2025; British Psychological Society, 2021; Cole, 2025; Illinois Department of Financial
and Professional Regulation, 2025; Mental health Foundation,
2022).
Finally, as scientists we have to analyse situations carefully, so](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreidaj5awuicczysnxja7pzwl6ztw22uziz2hzy2swqwgpzitl5ucei@jpeg)
October 28, 2025 at 7:45 AM
yes, really messed up stuff, see thus by me and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social (2025). Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy for Psychologists. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
and: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
and: bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Feeling existential weariness today at so much academic effort promising to create AI systems and design frameworks that "augment rather than replace", support wellbeing sustainable just etc etc etc –– and yet, and yet, all it will achieve is Gutmenschen shelfware.
October 28, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Feeling existential weariness today at so much academic effort promising to create AI systems and design frameworks that "augment rather than replace", support wellbeing sustainable just etc etc etc –– and yet, and yet, all it will achieve is Gutmenschen shelfware.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
In Ireland
• Nature is haemorrhaging
• Water bodies are sick and dying
• Greenhouse gas emissions from land are soaring
• Flooding is ever more catastrophic
• Etc...
Because we've turned nearly all wild, natural habitat into barren monocultures of grass or shitka.
Mass REWILDING is the solution.
• Nature is haemorrhaging
• Water bodies are sick and dying
• Greenhouse gas emissions from land are soaring
• Flooding is ever more catastrophic
• Etc...
Because we've turned nearly all wild, natural habitat into barren monocultures of grass or shitka.
Mass REWILDING is the solution.
October 26, 2025 at 5:47 AM
In Ireland
• Nature is haemorrhaging
• Water bodies are sick and dying
• Greenhouse gas emissions from land are soaring
• Flooding is ever more catastrophic
• Etc...
Because we've turned nearly all wild, natural habitat into barren monocultures of grass or shitka.
Mass REWILDING is the solution.
• Nature is haemorrhaging
• Water bodies are sick and dying
• Greenhouse gas emissions from land are soaring
• Flooding is ever more catastrophic
• Etc...
Because we've turned nearly all wild, natural habitat into barren monocultures of grass or shitka.
Mass REWILDING is the solution.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
No reading, no writing, no learning
"what does it mean to ‘learn how to use ChatGPT’? What are you teaching them? Copying and pasting the output of a chatbot? My advice would be to teach them how computers work, how to code, how to think about the processes behind all this”
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
"what does it mean to ‘learn how to use ChatGPT’? What are you teaching them? Copying and pasting the output of a chatbot? My advice would be to teach them how computers work, how to code, how to think about the processes behind all this”
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 24, 2025 at 11:52 AM
No reading, no writing, no learning
"what does it mean to ‘learn how to use ChatGPT’? What are you teaching them? Copying and pasting the output of a chatbot? My advice would be to teach them how computers work, how to code, how to think about the processes behind all this”
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
"what does it mean to ‘learn how to use ChatGPT’? What are you teaching them? Copying and pasting the output of a chatbot? My advice would be to teach them how computers work, how to code, how to think about the processes behind all this”
apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Reposted by Conor Linehan
I realized yesterday one reason I am so angry at "AI" is because the companies behind it stole my words to make the monster they worship. I don't want my words to be part of this, but they gave me no choice. May the monster they created eat them and destroy them. 🧙🏻♀️
October 24, 2025 at 10:55 AM
I realized yesterday one reason I am so angry at "AI" is because the companies behind it stole my words to make the monster they worship. I don't want my words to be part of this, but they gave me no choice. May the monster they created eat them and destroy them. 🧙🏻♀️
Reposted by Conor Linehan
built on theft and at massive environmental cost and most importantly, numerous studies keep demonstrating that genAI tools often work a little better than by chance. how is it that we can’t expunge these slop machines out of our institutions and communities
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM
built on theft and at massive environmental cost and most importantly, numerous studies keep demonstrating that genAI tools often work a little better than by chance. how is it that we can’t expunge these slop machines out of our institutions and communities
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Reposted by Conor Linehan
The Critical Thinking About Conspiracies (CTAC) Test: Development and Validation
by Cian O'Mahony Mike Murphy @conorlinehan.bsky.social @gillian-murphy.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Cian O'Mahony Mike Murphy @conorlinehan.bsky.social @gillian-murphy.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
The Critical Thinking About Conspiracies (CTAC) Test: Development and Validation
How should we measure people's vulnerability to unreasonable conspiracy theories? This is a key question for those designing interventions that aim to limit the spread of inaccurate beliefs. We argue...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:30 AM
The Critical Thinking About Conspiracies (CTAC) Test: Development and Validation
by Cian O'Mahony Mike Murphy @conorlinehan.bsky.social @gillian-murphy.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
by Cian O'Mahony Mike Murphy @conorlinehan.bsky.social @gillian-murphy.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Conor Linehan
People treat it like there’s some kind of competition for who’s been victimized the most and not a collaboration to make sure we’re all victimized as little as possible
October 13, 2025 at 12:29 AM
People treat it like there’s some kind of competition for who’s been victimized the most and not a collaboration to make sure we’re all victimized as little as possible
Reposted by Conor Linehan
Probably the only "truth" that has come to me simply by being around long enough to see it is that anything you can do, right down to throwing pocket lint in a bin, comes with a due amount of care, and the more of it you disregard, the more you will slide until you habitually fuck up easy things
I still think the most accurate and consistent way to think about generative AI is that, in every instance, people exclusively use it for tasks that they don't have any respect for or give a shit about.
October 10, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Probably the only "truth" that has come to me simply by being around long enough to see it is that anything you can do, right down to throwing pocket lint in a bin, comes with a due amount of care, and the more of it you disregard, the more you will slide until you habitually fuck up easy things
Reposted by Conor Linehan
I still think the most accurate and consistent way to think about generative AI is that, in every instance, people exclusively use it for tasks that they don't have any respect for or give a shit about.
October 10, 2025 at 6:14 AM
I still think the most accurate and consistent way to think about generative AI is that, in every instance, people exclusively use it for tasks that they don't have any respect for or give a shit about.
Reposted by Conor Linehan
There's good reason why the oil and gas industry lobbies so hard for carbon capture - because it's the one 'climate solution' that wouldn't necessarily require shutting down the oil and gas industry
But it doesn't work. They need to be shut down
But it doesn't work. They need to be shut down
📢 🚨New Report - How the UK oil and gas industry spent 15 years pushing for subsidies & incentives for Carbon Capture and Storage rather than regulatory accountability or science-based emissions reductions; maintaining a funding pipeline for a technology yet to deliver on its promises 👇
The UK Oil and Gas Industry's Advocacy on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
New analysis from InfluenceMap suggests that for more than 15 years, the oil and gas industry has systematically pushed the UK government to adopt a costly, emissions-intensive energy policy agenda de...
influencemap.org
October 8, 2025 at 10:22 AM
There's good reason why the oil and gas industry lobbies so hard for carbon capture - because it's the one 'climate solution' that wouldn't necessarily require shutting down the oil and gas industry
But it doesn't work. They need to be shut down
But it doesn't work. They need to be shut down
Reposted by Conor Linehan
everything about the attempt to co-opt the language of social justice to promote AI personhood makes my skin absolutely crawl
that people are doing it in the current political environment, where the most basic human rights are crumbling before our eyes, is as bleak as it gets for me
that people are doing it in the current political environment, where the most basic human rights are crumbling before our eyes, is as bleak as it gets for me
October 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
everything about the attempt to co-opt the language of social justice to promote AI personhood makes my skin absolutely crawl
that people are doing it in the current political environment, where the most basic human rights are crumbling before our eyes, is as bleak as it gets for me
that people are doing it in the current political environment, where the most basic human rights are crumbling before our eyes, is as bleak as it gets for me
Reposted by Conor Linehan
If people want to read more, I suggest starting here:
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
11/
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
11/
I collected some materials on critical AI from my perspective; hope it's useful: olivia.science/ai
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
October 4, 2025 at 7:05 AM
If people want to read more, I suggest starting here:
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
11/
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically."
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
11/