Gabriela Femenia
@gfemenia.bsky.social
Law Library Director and Associate Professor at Temple Beasley School of Law. Former medievalist and fan of archaic information technologies. She/her/hers
This had increasingly been my experience: students not knowing how to establish a thesis, locate and analyze relevant sources, and support that thesis through those sources. There's only so much librarians can remediate without a basic foundation
ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/g...
ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/g...
Guest Post: What Our Incoming Law Students Don’t Know About Research (And Why It Matters)
Guest Post by Heather Agnew, Ph.D., MLIS, Research/ Instructional Librarian at the Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, Dale E. Fowler School of Law Chapman University as part of regular contribut…
ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This had increasingly been my experience: students not knowing how to establish a thesis, locate and analyze relevant sources, and support that thesis through those sources. There's only so much librarians can remediate without a basic foundation
ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/g...
ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/g...
Is it just me or are there Winchester Mystery House vibes around certain public works projects?
October 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Is it just me or are there Winchester Mystery House vibes around certain public works projects?
LLMs are not search engines. LLMs are not search engines. Rinse, repeat.
NPR was one of 22 public service media organizations to participate in a global research study on news integrity in AI assistants. The study, led by the BBC and European Broadcasting Union (EBU), identified multiple systemic issues in how news is represented across four leading AI tools.
October 22, 2025 at 5:28 PM
LLMs are not search engines. LLMs are not search engines. Rinse, repeat.
I'm glad my alma mater finally found its spine
PENN IS OUT! That means both institutions that signed prior agreements with the administration have said no. We're at 3 rejections.
I told y'all once the second one hit yesterday, the clock started for the rest.
www.thedp.com/article/2025...
I told y'all once the second one hit yesterday, the clock started for the rest.
www.thedp.com/article/2025...
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I'm glad my alma mater finally found its spine
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Peak millennial culture is putting the good china you inherited in the basement because you need room in the hutch you inherited for the good LEGO sets
October 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Peak millennial culture is putting the good china you inherited in the basement because you need room in the hutch you inherited for the good LEGO sets
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Read this thread for a frankly breathtaking example of the utter garbage you get when Techbrahs try their hand at law.
Although if you say "I have an issue that's important to me, huh, I guess I will try Vibe Lawyering," I am basically ok with whatever happens to you.
Although if you say "I have an issue that's important to me, huh, I guess I will try Vibe Lawyering," I am basically ok with whatever happens to you.
The bros are at it again! and make no mistake, they are LITERALLY calling it "Vibe Lawyering"
October 8, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Read this thread for a frankly breathtaking example of the utter garbage you get when Techbrahs try their hand at law.
Although if you say "I have an issue that's important to me, huh, I guess I will try Vibe Lawyering," I am basically ok with whatever happens to you.
Although if you say "I have an issue that's important to me, huh, I guess I will try Vibe Lawyering," I am basically ok with whatever happens to you.
In my ongoing efforts to detoxify my commute listening, this morning's episode of #pchh was both a fun listen and question.
My nominees: Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, The Who's Baba O'Riley, and There She Goes (both The La's original and the Sixpence None the Richer cover).
www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...
My nominees: Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, The Who's Baba O'Riley, and There She Goes (both The La's original and the Sixpence None the Richer cover).
www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...
Most overused songs in movies : Pop Culture Happy Hour
Some great songs are so overused in movies, they’ve become cliches. Everyone’s mileage is bound to vary, but we’re rounding up a few songs we love that need to be retired and suggesting a few worthy r...
www.npr.org
October 9, 2025 at 2:41 PM
In my ongoing efforts to detoxify my commute listening, this morning's episode of #pchh was both a fun listen and question.
My nominees: Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, The Who's Baba O'Riley, and There She Goes (both The La's original and the Sixpence None the Richer cover).
www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...
My nominees: Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, The Who's Baba O'Riley, and There She Goes (both The La's original and the Sixpence None the Richer cover).
www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
🫡
How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports
AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.
www.consumerreports.org
October 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
🫡
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Some brief thoughts on the Anthropic settlement, and why I think most authors should claim their share of the settlement if they can, inadequate though I think it is:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/02/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/02/a...
Authors, Time to Get That (Anthropic) Bag
To begin, for those of you who do not follow such things with intense interest, a little context about the “AI” company Anthropic being sued for stealing authors’ works and reachi…
whatever.scalzi.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Some brief thoughts on the Anthropic settlement, and why I think most authors should claim their share of the settlement if they can, inadequate though I think it is:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/02/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/02/a...
This is the advice I consistently give people about trying AI: use something you know very well already, so you can actually determine the quality of the output for yourself, and get some idea of how the sausage is being made
The "AI" responses that Google gives about me and my work are consistently error-prone, which I know because I am me. If I know Google's "AI" responses give incorrect answers about things I know about, I can't trust it to give correct answers about things I don't know. So, no, I don't use it.
I’m surprised you don’t use ai answer engines in research you currently do with Google
October 2, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This is the advice I consistently give people about trying AI: use something you know very well already, so you can actually determine the quality of the output for yourself, and get some idea of how the sausage is being made
Shame clearly isn't enough; there should be more sanctions
When the second case of a lawyer getting caught using synthetic text extruding machines hit the news, I wondered: Don't these people gossip?? I would have thought the first case would be so embarrassing as to make things very clear.
www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...
>>
www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...
>>
18 Lawyers Caught Using AI Explain Why They Did It
Lawyers blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more.
www.404media.co
September 30, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Shame clearly isn't enough; there should be more sanctions
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Stanford researchers found that AI-generated "workslop" is actually making people less productive, in part because workers have to correct errors or decode the useful information/intent buried in a flood of auto-generated garbage:
AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity
Despite a surge in generative AI use across workplaces, most companies are seeing little measurable ROI. One possible reason is because AI tools are being used to produce “workslop”—content that appea...
hbr.org
September 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Stanford researchers found that AI-generated "workslop" is actually making people less productive, in part because workers have to correct errors or decode the useful information/intent buried in a flood of auto-generated garbage:
Yesterday I had the singularly GenX satisfaction of playing one 80s song on Apple Music, and then correctly guessing what else the algorithm would supply based on shared characteristics. I may have to make a mix tape for old times' sake next.
September 24, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Yesterday I had the singularly GenX satisfaction of playing one 80s song on Apple Music, and then correctly guessing what else the algorithm would supply based on shared characteristics. I may have to make a mix tape for old times' sake next.
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Shocked, I tell you.
For a while there, the news made it seem like like AI was going to swallow every job whole but the AI gold rush is hitting a wall.
⚠️ Big firm AI pilots are failing
🧠 Turns out, trust and expertise matter more than ever.
fortune.com/2025/09/10/a...
#AI #Cybersecurity #HumanSkills
⚠️ Big firm AI pilots are failing
🧠 Turns out, trust and expertise matter more than ever.
fortune.com/2025/09/10/a...
#AI #Cybersecurity #HumanSkills
'Human skills' are at a premium again now that big companies are backpedaling on error-prone AI | Fortune
AI adoption rate among large companies has dipped from a peak of 14% earlier this year to 12% as of late summer.
fortune.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Shocked, I tell you.
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
article from today's daily journal
September 16, 2025 at 4:09 PM
article from today's daily journal
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
You know what else is being affected by the tariffs on parcels worth less than $800? International interlibrary loan. I'm hearing reports of libraries overseas that won't lend to the US anymore. (That's in addition to the libraries here that have shut down their ILL b/c of lost IMLS funding.)
September 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
You know what else is being affected by the tariffs on parcels worth less than $800? International interlibrary loan. I'm hearing reports of libraries overseas that won't lend to the US anymore. (That's in addition to the libraries here that have shut down their ILL b/c of lost IMLS funding.)
The whole thread, and the cited Guardian article, is a must-read but this is the heart of everything.
The next time someone tells you this is just how it is/"AI" is inevitable/this junk is here to stay, please remember that the future is not yet written and we don't have to put up with this.
September 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The whole thread, and the cited Guardian article, is a must-read but this is the heart of everything.
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Forty-five local preservation and historical organizations have convened to send a message to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Removing or editing Philly slavery exhibits is “ahistorical and un-American.” (1/3)
Removing or editing Philly slavery exhibits is ‘un-American,’ 45 local historical groups tell Trump’s Interior secretary
It's the first time a major coalition of Philadelphia's preservationist groups have coordinated a widespread opposition to President Trump and Secretary Doug Burgum's threats to Independence Park.
inquirer.com
September 9, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Forty-five local preservation and historical organizations have convened to send a message to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Removing or editing Philly slavery exhibits is “ahistorical and un-American.” (1/3)
It is one of the tragedies of my academic life that social media was not around when I was a medievalist grad student so I could be the one to go viral with the manuscript memes
September 9, 2025 at 4:09 PM
It is one of the tragedies of my academic life that social media was not around when I was a medievalist grad student so I could be the one to go viral with the manuscript memes
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Here’s my write up on the most racist decision to come out of the Supreme Court in a while. The court approved of Trump’s racial profiling of Latinos with Brett Kavanaugh saying being harassed based on the color of your skin is “common sense.”
My latest in @thenation
My latest in @thenation
The Supreme Court Just Gave the OK to Racial Profiling
The court’s ruling allowing ICE to resume its indiscriminate round-ups of LA’s Latino residents can only be described as one thing.
www.thenation.com
September 8, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Here’s my write up on the most racist decision to come out of the Supreme Court in a while. The court approved of Trump’s racial profiling of Latinos with Brett Kavanaugh saying being harassed based on the color of your skin is “common sense.”
My latest in @thenation
My latest in @thenation
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Can researchers stop AI making up citations?
OpenAI’s GPT-5 hallucinates less than previous models do, but cutting hallucination completely might prove impossible.
www.nature.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
How many times, in how many contexts, from how many internal and external researchers, or from how many CEO's are people going to have to receive this message before they believe it:
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"Hallucinations" are an inherent part of the large language model architecture.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Do not use a spicy autocomplete tool to do a librarian's job.
But my overall thoughts on using an LLM to help with finding scholarly literature is:
(1) Assume anything in the output could be incorrect
(2) Don't assume the output is comprehensive (i.e., omg don't use an LLM for a systematic lit review)
i.e. maybe it can help, but it can't do this for you.
(1) Assume anything in the output could be incorrect
(2) Don't assume the output is comprehensive (i.e., omg don't use an LLM for a systematic lit review)
i.e. maybe it can help, but it can't do this for you.
August 27, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Do not use a spicy autocomplete tool to do a librarian's job.
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death.
Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...
Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...
A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.
www.nytimes.com
August 26, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death.
Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...
Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...
Reposted by Gabriela Femenia
August 25, 2025 at 9:47 PM