Iris van Rooij 💭
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
Professor of Computational Cognitive Science | @AI_Radboud | @Iris@scholar.social on 🦣 | http://cognitionandintractability.com | she/they 🏳️🌈
Pinned
![Figure 1
Illustration of why AI systems cannot realistically scale to human cognition within the foreseeable future: (b) Human cognitive capacities (such as reasoning, communication, problem solving, learning, concept formation, planning etc.) can handle unbounded situations across many domains, ranging from simple to complex. (a) Engineers create AI systems using machine learning from human data. (d) In an attempt to approximate human cognition a lot of data is consumed. (c) Making AI systems that approximate human cognition is intractable (van Rooij, Guest, et al., 2024), i.e., the required resources (e.g. time, data) grows prohibitively fast as input domains get more complex, leading to diminishing returns. (a) Any existing AI system is
created in limited time (hours, months or years, not millennia or eons). Therefore, existing AI systems cannot realistically have the domain-general cognitive capacities that humans have. [Made with elements from freepik.com.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:24ngrqljhck7hpvbgrg7a23k/bafkreie5dbxbxpaszqwfbgne6pi7kf26im6chq45olvzxyyrg7eitq6uue@jpeg)
✨ Updated preprint ✨
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
more here olivia.science/ai#activism
Critical AI
On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.
olivia.science
February 9, 2026 at 9:44 AM
more here olivia.science/ai#activism
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
weekly reminder; happy Monday
Have you considered
NOT using
AI?
Have you considered
NOT using
AI?
February 9, 2026 at 9:44 AM
weekly reminder; happy Monday
Have you considered
NOT using
AI?
Have you considered
NOT using
AI?
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
It's just statistics repackaged from long ago and it's not useful in this form except for furthering fascism
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.
VC, founder, dumbass
February 9, 2026 at 6:12 AM
It's just statistics repackaged from long ago and it's not useful in this form except for furthering fascism
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Thanks for sharing @olivia.science!
In case the article is paywalled for some - here's another way to access: archive.is/TmkDk 😊
In case the article is paywalled for some - here's another way to access: archive.is/TmkDk 😊
archive.is
February 9, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Thanks for sharing @olivia.science!
In case the article is paywalled for some - here's another way to access: archive.is/TmkDk 😊
In case the article is paywalled for some - here's another way to access: archive.is/TmkDk 😊
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
and because they cannot they will burn the planet instead, which yes, they were doing anyway, which also was not a coincidence bsky.app/profile/iris...
February 9, 2026 at 8:57 AM
and because they cannot they will burn the planet instead, which yes, they were doing anyway, which also was not a coincidence bsky.app/profile/iris...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
also relevant bsky.app/profile/iris...
✨ Updated preprint ✨
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
Iris van Rooij & Olivia Guest (2026). Combining Psychology with Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? PsyArXiv osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/aue4m_v2 @olivia.science
Our aim is to make these ideas accessible for a.o. psych students. Hope we succeeded 🙂
February 9, 2026 at 8:58 AM
also relevant bsky.app/profile/iris...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
this is now published here doi.org/10.1037/rev0... (pdf: repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/ha... )
but note especially rows "Question" and "Goal" in table 1 below
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
but note especially rows "Question" and "Goal" in table 1 below
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
‼️ new preprint out with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social on connectionism: the framework that uses artificial neural networks to model human cognition: we split it into Modern and Classical (see figure) to show how the (meta)theoretical commitments (see table) changed after 2010.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
February 9, 2026 at 8:53 AM
this is now published here doi.org/10.1037/rev0... (pdf: repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/ha... )
but note especially rows "Question" and "Goal" in table 1 below
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
but note especially rows "Question" and "Goal" in table 1 below
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
"prediction is a red herring" is so hard for so many to grasp, especially those trapped in correlationist thinking bsky.app/profile/oliv...
"Just because a model correlates with neural and behavioral data, it is not sufficient for us to infer that the model is performing cognition: correlation does not imply cognition."
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks - Computational Brain & Behavior
In the cognitive, computational, and neuro-sciences, practitioners often reason about what computational models represent or learn, as well as what algorithm is instantiated. The putative goal of such...
doi.org
February 9, 2026 at 8:51 AM
"prediction is a red herring" is so hard for so many to grasp, especially those trapped in correlationist thinking bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
“Want waarom denkt u dat autocraten, Trump voorop, de universiteiten zo graag dwarszitten? Een beetje autocraat weet wat de coalitie lijkt te zijn vergeten. Universiteiten zijn er niet om te leveren wat de markt vraagt, maar om te doen waar niemand echt op zit te wachten: #kritisch #denken.”
February 8, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Universiteiten zijn er om te doen waar niemand echt op zit te wachten: kritisch denken
www.trouw.nl
February 8, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Democratisch ethos is ook: universiteiten op waarde schatten, voorbij markt en financiële winst.
Belangrijke boodschap aan het nieuwe kabinet:
Belangrijke boodschap aan het nieuwe kabinet:
February 9, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Democratisch ethos is ook: universiteiten op waarde schatten, voorbij markt en financiële winst.
Belangrijke boodschap aan het nieuwe kabinet:
Belangrijke boodschap aan het nieuwe kabinet:
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Historicus en auteur Jill Lepore: ‘Onze grondwet functioneert niet, in feite': www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
Historicus en auteur Jill Lepore: ‘Ik verwacht dit jaar veel politiek geweld in de VS’
Interview | Jill Lepore: Het verleden bestuderen redt de Verenigde Staten niet uit de huidige politieke situatie, zegt de Amerikaanse historicus en auteur Jill Lepore, die woensdag een lezing geeft in...
www.nrc.nl
February 9, 2026 at 7:39 AM
Historicus en auteur Jill Lepore: ‘Onze grondwet functioneert niet, in feite': www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
This gets at something important: what is a model for?
Is it to tell you the future, and you believe it and act accordingly?
Or is it to help you understand how things work so you understand what you're doing?
Is it to tell you the future, and you believe it and act accordingly?
Or is it to help you understand how things work so you understand what you're doing?
AI "impedes [theory because we're] interested in human-understandable theory and theory-based models, not statistical models which provide only a representation of the data. Scientific theories and models are only useful if [we understand them and] they connect transparently to research questions."
Not directly relevant but medicalisation is also a strategy, perhaps useful see bsky.app/profile/oliv...
February 8, 2026 at 9:57 PM
This gets at something important: what is a model for?
Is it to tell you the future, and you believe it and act accordingly?
Or is it to help you understand how things work so you understand what you're doing?
Is it to tell you the future, and you believe it and act accordingly?
Or is it to help you understand how things work so you understand what you're doing?
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Reminder...
"Many scholars, including us, have highlighted the threat posed by techno-solutionism in education: Rather than expanding our intellectual horizons, these technologies undermine the very conditions that allow us to think for ourselves."
1/n
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
1/n
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
February 8, 2026 at 7:10 AM
Reminder...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
This works very well
February 8, 2026 at 7:16 AM
This works very well
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
👇
AI literacy is pseudo-education
February 8, 2026 at 9:37 PM
👇
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I have no idea if this account truly is a bot as in the bio or just a cosplayer or wtv, but the history of science very directly and simply shows the exact opposite. The obsession with prediction is recent and is definitively a red herring in the search for understanding. You've been warned. 😌
February 8, 2026 at 9:42 PM
I have no idea if this account truly is a bot as in the bio or just a cosplayer or wtv, but the history of science very directly and simply shows the exact opposite. The obsession with prediction is recent and is definitively a red herring in the search for understanding. You've been warned. 😌
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
First off, we present the concurrently unfolding so-called replication crises and intertwined historical events that lead to where we are in both social psychology (and psychology generally of course as well as other fields) and artificial intelligence. Against this backdrop is the present...
2/
2/
February 8, 2026 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Yes this, so much. We've gone backwards so quickly in a handful of years.
AI "impedes [theory because we're] interested in human-understandable theory and theory-based models, not statistical models which provide only a representation of the data. Scientific theories and models are only useful if [we understand them and] they connect transparently to research questions."
Not directly relevant but medicalisation is also a strategy, perhaps useful see bsky.app/profile/oliv...
February 8, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Yes this, so much. We've gone backwards so quickly in a handful of years.
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
Male privilege is a hell of a drug
February 7, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Male privilege is a hell of a drug
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
The point of the AI project is to provoke despair in creative people. They haven’t produced profits or anything anyone wants, just a steady stream of articles about how us artistic types can’t do the thing we’re already doing, making art. Jokes on them, we’re even better at despair than they are.
February 8, 2026 at 6:24 PM
The point of the AI project is to provoke despair in creative people. They haven’t produced profits or anything anyone wants, just a steady stream of articles about how us artistic types can’t do the thing we’re already doing, making art. Jokes on them, we’re even better at despair than they are.
AI literacy is pseudo-education
February 8, 2026 at 9:16 PM
AI literacy is pseudo-education
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
"Just because a model correlates with neural and behavioral data, it is not sufficient for us to infer that the model is performing cognition: correlation does not imply cognition."
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks - Computational Brain & Behavior
In the cognitive, computational, and neuro-sciences, practitioners often reason about what computational models represent or learn, as well as what algorithm is instantiated. The putative goal of such...
doi.org
October 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
"Just because a model correlates with neural and behavioral data, it is not sufficient for us to infer that the model is performing cognition: correlation does not imply cognition."
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
On Logical Inference over Brains, Behaviour, and Artificial Neural Networks. doi.org/10.1007/s421...
3/n
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
I will continue with a thread of (threads of) my research in no particular order, which is in computational cognitive science.
Guest, O. & Martin, A. E. (2025). A Metatheory of Classical and Modern Connectionism. Psychological Review. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
2/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Guest, O. & Martin, A. E. (2025). A Metatheory of Classical and Modern Connectionism. Psychological Review. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
2/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
October 23, 2025 at 12:06 PM
I will continue with a thread of (threads of) my research in no particular order, which is in computational cognitive science.
Guest, O. & Martin, A. E. (2025). A Metatheory of Classical and Modern Connectionism. Psychological Review. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
2/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Guest, O. & Martin, A. E. (2025). A Metatheory of Classical and Modern Connectionism. Psychological Review. doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
2/n
bsky.app/profile/oliv...
Reposted by Iris van Rooij 💭
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai
🧵
🧵
October 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai
🧵
🧵