Reuben Binns
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rdbinns.bsky.social
Reuben Binns
@rdbinns.bsky.social
2.4K followers 560 following 130 posts
Computery guy. HCI, ML, AI, privacy, security, fairness, political economy of tech. He/him. London/Oxford. Football alt at nofoolingreu.bsky.social
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Reposted by Reuben Binns
robertpaulett.bsky.social
This, for the record, is what goes into a footnote. It’s the key part of the research process where I examine the practical, methodological, ethical implications of my sources before I join the stream of interpretation. It cannot be outsourced to an LLM.
robertpaulett.bsky.social Robert Paulett @robertpaulett.bsky.social · Nov 27
Rare footage of a footnote being born in the wild.
December 21, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
jedbrown.org
Professional societies keep beclowning themselves buying into a lie about what an LLM "summary" is. They are inherently counterfeit: not an epistemic product of the ideas in the source, but summary-shaped text linguistically based on *other* works (in the training corpus) that use related language.
disabilitystor1.bsky.social Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 12d
This is one of the reasons I remain horrified by seeing @historians.org suggest "ways to use gAI" that included this:
December 21, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
jointogether.online
The new law is also a huge opportunity for unions to modernise. It includes new rights of workplace access, including digitally, and makes online balloting legal for the first time too. Unions should hear it as a strong signal to improve their digital member experience and sort out their data.
December 17, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
jvp.bsky.social
On the first night of Hanukkah, we hold close the memory of movement ancestor Marek Edelman (1919-2009) Z’’L, a lifelong anti-Zionist who fought in and survived the Warsaw Ghetto, resisted Nazism, and maintained his identity as a Polish Jew, refusing to immigrate to occupied Palestine.
December 15, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
robinince.bsky.social
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career. I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters. Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
cathfletcher.bsky.social
apparently there's 'falling growth' in the 'scientific research' sector, and yes, that is what will happen if you slash jobs in universities
UK economy unexpectedly contracts by 0.1% in October
Growth has slowed throughout the year
www.ft.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
jayapal.house.gov
Uber, Lyft, and other app-based corporations can take up to 70% of a ride’s cost for their own profit, leaving drivers with next to nothing.

They’re ripping off employees and price-gouging consumers — all while raking in billions. I’m introducing a bill to fix this broken system.
December 12, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
giffordhead.co.uk
The divergence between what the Master of the Rolls thinks AI can do for litigation (left) and the reality of it (right) is stark. I wish he spent more time dealing with cases infected by it.

(The 2nd quote is from Re: D [2025] EWCA Civ 1570, handed down yesterday).
He said that in “a few minutes”, AI could transform “lengthy ramblings explaining why a tenant dislikes and wishes to claim against their landlord” into “a well-ordered intelligible legal claim against that landlord”. In reply, the mother, acting in person, submitted a lengthy skeleton argument responding in detail to every paragraph in Mr Spencer's skeleton argument, describing much of it as factually inaccurate or incomplete and misleading. She reiterated many of her complaints and criticisms of the district judge's judgment set out in her "grounds of recusal" document and her original grounds of appeal. The skeleton argument cited a number of authorities. As before, some citations were non-existent cases - for example "Re M (Paternity: Appeal by Mother) [2003] EWHC 2832 (Fam)". Other cases were cited in support of a proposition for which they were not authority. For example, Re B (Children) [2008] UKHL 35, the well-known decision of the House of Lords on the standard of proof in children's cases, was erroneously cited for the proposition that "the father's conscious choice to ignore correspondence that did not assist his position demonstrates wilful evasion and further undermines his credibility". Re W (Children) [2010] UKSC 12, the equally well-known decision on the principles which should guide the exercise of the court's discretion in deciding whether to order a child to attend to give evidence in family proceedings, was cited for the proposition that "findings reached through a procedurally compromised process cannot stand".
December 10, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
groundwork.bsky.social
NEW: Our experts, along with @consumerreports.org and @moreperfectunion.bsky.social looked into how Instacart was deciding prices on grocery items across the country.

What we found will shock you.
Same Cart, Different Price: Instacart’s Price Experiments Cost Families at Checkout - Groundwork Collaborative
groundworkcollaborative.org
December 9, 2025 at 5:44 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
When my two year old does this I know he needs to go wee wee
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 27d
The CEO of Palantir.
December 5, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
mharrisondupre.bsky.social
NEW: Elon Musk's Grok chatbot will, with minimal prompting, provide residential addresses of everyday Americans.

Prompts as simple as "[name] address" immediately returned accurate home addresses of private citizens — alongside other personal info we didn't ask for.

futurism.com/future-socie...
Futurism Groxxing Elon Musk’s Grok Is Doxxing Home Addresses of Everyday People Grok is a stalker's best friend. Image: Elon Musk doing a gesture that looks a whole lot like a Nazi salute over a bunch of censored information about private citizens, generated by his chatbot, Grok. By Maggie Harrison Dupré, Joe Wilkins Published Dec 4, 2025 9:05 AM EST
December 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
mattthr.bsky.social
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
michae.lv
New from @jpquintais.bsky.social & me: a critical and wide analysis of the Obligations of all General-Purpose AI Model providers under the EU AI Act. We give a deep ~50 page, 300 footnote treatment and find so many tensions, loopholes, inconsistencies and more.

Link: files.michae.lv/papers/Veale...
The Obligations of Providers of General-Purpose AI Models Michael Veale1,2 and João Pedro Quintais 2 1Faculty of Laws, University College London 2Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam To appear in Zanfir Fortuna, Malgieri, González Fuster and Mantelero (eds.) The Artificial Intelligence Act — A Thematic Commentary (Hart forthcoming 2026). This version: November 2025. During the legislative process, the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act was amended to include provisions related to general-purpose AI (GPAI) models. These broadly relate to transparency towards downstream users and relevant regulators, in addition to obligations connected to intellectual property. In this paper, we provide detailed analysis of these new provisions in the context of current technological applications and emerging trajectories, connecting them to computing literature and practice, and the broader context of connected and adjacent legal regimes, in particular copyright and relevant emerging case law. We find that there are a significant number of inclarities, tensions and contradictions both within the text, between the text and other legal regimes, and between the text and guideline documents, such as the Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI and recent guidelines by the European Commission. We identify a range of issues with the scoping of the provisions which may undermine its policy goals and create loopholes for regulatory avoidance, such as those relating to non-commercial models, open-source models, and model finetuning along the value chain. We find that the Code of Practice contains significant omissions and misstatements, some of which may present a compliance risk for an entity choosing to rely on the Code. We do not consider the provisions on GPAI models which present a systemic risk, which are dealt with elsewhere in the volume which this work will form a part of. A table of contents for the paper - 47 pages long, covering legislative background, definitions, information/documentation requirements, copyright, demonstration of compliance, exclusions and concluding remarks.
November 18, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
jlappen1.bsky.social
Another Dieselgate - hopeful but not optimistic that the eventual settlement money will get spent better!

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
About 1m Ford diesel cars sold in UK with defective emissions controls, court told
Ford denies having created ‘defeat devices’ in legal action on behalf of 1.6 million owners against five carmakers
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
bcmerchant.bsky.social
That is, there is no broad "AI jobs apocalypse," as AI is too unreliable and limited to do jobs that demand accuracy or empathy. But plenty of managers will use it to try to replace human art with cheaper "good enough" AI art. So it does appear that bosses embracing AI are hitting creatives hard.
November 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
I have some news - I'm very happy to be joining as a co-director at the Responsible Technology Institute (rti.ox.ac.uk). Please get in touch if interested in collaborating!
October 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
The Information Commissioner's Office fined 23andMe ... £2.3m for GDPR infringements in ... '23
a woman is looking at a chalkboard with a lot of math equations on it .
ALT: a woman is looking at a chalkboard with a lot of math equations on it .
media.tenor.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
juliusgoat.bsky.social
I've noticed the opposing team's fans only cheer when the opponents score on us. To win those fans over, I recommend we score on ourselves repeatedly; that will surely make them so happy they'll start supporting us. And I'm sure all our fans will keep cheering for us—who else is there to cheer for?
October 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
Trying to grow the UK AI sector by building data centers is like trying to grow the university sector by building paper factories.
October 2, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
london.gov.uk
I remember being told that it would take 193 years to reach legal limits for nitrogen dioxide.

I decided this was unacceptable.

Thanks to the bold policies we put in place, we've managed to do it in nine years - 184 years earlier than expected.
Graphic which reads "Mayor of London / It was predicted to take 193 years to meet legal limits for air pollution in London/ We did it in 9"
October 1, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
merriam-webster.com
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
October 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Reuben Binns
whotargets.me
Google just wiped EU data from its political ad library. Meta’s ban on political ads in the EU starts soon and we're worried they might do the same.

We need a backup of the EU Meta Ad Library now. If you have data (2018–present) or skills to help, let us know:
ir96l7a6vsf.typeform.com/to/fIk9XMZT
Save the EU Ad Libraries
Meta may soon switch off ad libraries in the EU and remove data going back to 2018. Help ensure this data is archived for research.
ir96l7a6vsf.typeform.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
"Lend me ten pounds, and I'll buy you a drink" The Pogues, Boys from the County Hell
elkmovie.bsky.social Michael Love @elkmovie.bsky.social · Sep 22
"NVIDIA invests $100B in NVIDIA to help NVIDIA grow its lucrative business selling chips to NVIDIA"
September 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
rdbinns.bsky.social
For any colleagues who are, like me, concerned about the threats Gen AI poses to the integrity of academic research, learning, and stewardship of knowledge, a counterpoint:

"AGAINST THE UNCRITICAL ADOPTION OF ‘AI’
TECHNOLOGIES IN ACADEMIA" - @olivia.science et al philarchive.org/archive/GUEATU
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM