Rosamunde Van Brakel
@rosamundevb.bsky.social
assistant prof criminology teaching legal, ethical & social issues AI/sociology of law @VUB research: digital & more-than-human criminology, surveillance & AI, youth justice, human rights
https://researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/rosamunde-elise-van-brakel
https://researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/rosamunde-elise-van-brakel
Pinned
Our article on rhizomatic harms of algorithmic policing is now published in print in a great new issue of @theoreticalcrim.bsky.social 😊 #criminology #surveillance #digitalcriminology journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
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 9:48 AM
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...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
The Authoritarian Stack: how tech billionaires are building a post-democratic America and why Europe is next.
My new project is an interactive investigation and open data platform to expose tech authoritarianism and mobilize collective power for democratic alternatives.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
My new project is an interactive investigation and open data platform to expose tech authoritarianism and mobilize collective power for democratic alternatives.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
The Authoritarian Stack: how tech billionaires are building a post-democratic America and why Europe is next.
My new project is an interactive investigation and open data platform to expose tech authoritarianism and mobilize collective power for democratic alternatives.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
My new project is an interactive investigation and open data platform to expose tech authoritarianism and mobilize collective power for democratic alternatives.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
Automation bias
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/waze-...
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/waze-...
Waze-gebruikers rijden zich massaal vast in Antwerpen, de oplossing is nochtans simpel: ‘De omleiding wordt echt ondermaats gebruikt’
Het verkeer op lokale wegen rond de Antwerpse Ring staat al enkele dagen muurvast door werken aan de Oosterweelverbinding, terwijl er amper verkeer is op de officiële omleidingsroute. Het Vlaams Verke...
www.demorgen.be
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Automation bias
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/waze-...
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/waze-...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
This town has officially decided to fight against the construction of an AI data center that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
Amber Fellows, a Ypsilanti Township councilmember, tells us why:
Story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co/a-small-town...
Amber Fellows, a Ypsilanti Township councilmember, tells us why:
Story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co/a-small-town...
November 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
This town has officially decided to fight against the construction of an AI data center that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
Amber Fellows, a Ypsilanti Township councilmember, tells us why:
Story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co/a-small-town...
Amber Fellows, a Ypsilanti Township councilmember, tells us why:
Story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co/a-small-town...
These examples of harm caused by AI show so clearly how the traditional focus on crime within criminology falls short and why a shift is needed to focus on harm #rhizomaticharm journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Dr Ougrin says the transcripts appear to show ChatGPT encouraging an exclusive relationship that marginalises family and other forms of support, which are vital in protecting young people from self-harm and suicidal ideation. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
I wanted ChatGPT to help me. So why did it advise me how to kill myself? - BBC News
ChatGPT wrote a woman a suicide note and another AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with children, BBC finds.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
These examples of harm caused by AI show so clearly how the traditional focus on crime within criminology falls short and why a shift is needed to focus on harm #rhizomaticharm journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Dr Ougrin says the transcripts appear to show ChatGPT encouraging an exclusive relationship that marginalises family and other forms of support, which are vital in protecting young people from self-harm and suicidal ideation. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
I wanted ChatGPT to help me. So why did it advise me how to kill myself? - BBC News
ChatGPT wrote a woman a suicide note and another AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with children, BBC finds.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Dr Ougrin says the transcripts appear to show ChatGPT encouraging an exclusive relationship that marginalises family and other forms of support, which are vital in protecting young people from self-harm and suicidal ideation. www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
“They would knock on the door, bang on the windows with their torches, shine torches through the windows. It was relentless,” says Megan, who is using a pseudonym for legal reasons. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
150 police visits in 20 months: Indigenous mother takes action after her boys subjected to ‘relentless’ checks
Exclusive: A family has launched a court case against NSW police alleging racial discrimination is behind excessive bail checks
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘How is this possible?’: a new film looks inside the appalling abuses of the Alabama prison system
In the year’s most shocking documentary, The Alabama Solution, prisoners share astonishing footage in a plea for help
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
A new study from researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute suggests that most of the popular benchmarking tools that are used to test AI performance are often unreliable and misleading. gizmodo.com/ai-capabilit...
AI Capabilities May Be Overhyped on Bogus Benchmarks, Study Finds
They're dumber than you think and they might be cheating.
gizmodo.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:45 PM
A new study from researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute suggests that most of the popular benchmarking tools that are used to test AI performance are often unreliable and misleading. gizmodo.com/ai-capabilit...
"We lived in intense silent fear as an algorithm meticulously tore our family apart," the boy's mother says. "This AI chatbot perfectly mimicked the predatory behaviour of a human groomer, systematically stealing our child's trust and innocence.”
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
Mothers say AI chatbots encouraged their sons to kill themselves - BBC News
In her first UK interview Megan Garcia speaks to Laura Kuenssberg about the death of her teenage son.
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:11 PM
"We lived in intense silent fear as an algorithm meticulously tore our family apart," the boy's mother says. "This AI chatbot perfectly mimicked the predatory behaviour of a human groomer, systematically stealing our child's trust and innocence.”
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
This is in two weeks join us in #Brussels for this great conversation! and don't forget to register. More information about the conference and project can be found here: futureproofinghumanrights.org/news/thicker... #humanrights #accountability
Join us in Brussels on Thursday 19 November for a great discussion with Sumi Madhok (LSE) and Başak Çali (University of Oxford) at the opening night of final conference of our iBOF-project Future-Proofing Human Rights: Developing Thicker Forms of Accountabilty. Registration form: shorturl.at/dx6ef
November 3, 2025 at 4:52 PM
This is in two weeks join us in #Brussels for this great conversation! and don't forget to register. More information about the conference and project can be found here: futureproofinghumanrights.org/news/thicker... #humanrights #accountability
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Also possible to join online!
This is in two weeks join us in #Brussels for this great conversation! and don't forget to register. More information about the conference and project can be found here: futureproofinghumanrights.org/news/thicker... #humanrights #accountability
Join us in Brussels on Thursday 19 November for a great discussion with Sumi Madhok (LSE) and Başak Çali (University of Oxford) at the opening night of final conference of our iBOF-project Future-Proofing Human Rights: Developing Thicker Forms of Accountabilty. Registration form: shorturl.at/dx6ef
November 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Also possible to join online!
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Environmental protesters are facing extraordinary licence conditions more commonly associated in terrorism cases on release from prison, in another serious abuse of rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
Jailed UK climate protesters facing conditions reserved for extremists on release
Exclusive: Just Stop Oil activist was banned from attending gatherings, including meeting a friend in a cafe, without permission
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Environmental protesters are facing extraordinary licence conditions more commonly associated in terrorism cases on release from prison, in another serious abuse of rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
Dit is ook een gevolg van een cultuur van nonchalantheid mbt nieuwe technologieën in België
Belgium faces security crisis as daily drone overflights spark alarm
Belgium faces security crisis as daily drone overflights spark alarm
The National Security Council met on Thursday to address a wave of aerial incursions, which have targeted military bases and airports across the country. The heightened tensions come amid political turmoil, as the prime minister struggles to pass a budget.
www.lemonde.fr
November 7, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Dit is ook een gevolg van een cultuur van nonchalantheid mbt nieuwe technologieën in België
The review concluded racial harm was "maintained through a repeated institutional sequence" within the force. Report author Dr Shereen Daniels said racism and "anti-blackness" were systemic "institutional design" within the force. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Anti-black discrimination systemic in Met Police, report finds
Report author Dr Shereen Daniels said systemic racism was "not a matter of perception".
www.bbc.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:26 AM
The review concluded racial harm was "maintained through a repeated institutional sequence" within the force. Report author Dr Shereen Daniels said racism and "anti-blackness" were systemic "institutional design" within the force. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
New paper from the team behind the BRAID Scoping project "AI in the street": Reciprocity Deficits: Observing AI in the street with everyday publics.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23342
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23342
November 7, 2025 at 9:06 AM
New paper from the team behind the BRAID Scoping project "AI in the street": Reciprocity Deficits: Observing AI in the street with everyday publics.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23342
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23342
Beste @demorgen.be in dit artikel hebben jullie het over "wetenschappers" terwijl alle auteurs van het artikel in Nature medewerkers zijn van Sony. Kritische berichtgeving in de media over AI blijft een probleem. Artikel in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.demorgen.be/tech-wetensc...
www.demorgen.be/tech-wetensc...
Discrimineert AI? Wetenschappers testten dat met foto’s van tweeduizend wereldburgers
Bij het herkennen en labelen van mensen ging AI nog weleens de fout in. Is dat nog steeds zo? Met een enorme, ‘representatieve’ fotocollectie onderwierp een internationale groep wetenschappers een aan...
www.demorgen.be
November 7, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Beste @demorgen.be in dit artikel hebben jullie het over "wetenschappers" terwijl alle auteurs van het artikel in Nature medewerkers zijn van Sony. Kritische berichtgeving in de media over AI blijft een probleem. Artikel in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.demorgen.be/tech-wetensc...
www.demorgen.be/tech-wetensc...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
"OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. The lawsuits filed Thursday in California state courts allege wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter and negligence."
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:43 AM
"OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. The lawsuits filed Thursday in California state courts allege wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter and negligence."
By believing in the AI / AGI hype/conspiracy theory and uncritical adoption of genAI tools and integrating them in their policy and infrastructures, universities are accepting a new social order whereby ethics, law and scientific method are thrown out of the window for convenience and profit.
I had a long conversation with MIT Tech Review’s @willdouglasheaven.bsky.social about AGI; it fed into this very good read on the rise of AGI orthodoxy
How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time
The idea that machines will be as smart as—or smarter than—humans has hijacked an entire industry. But look closely and you’ll see it’s a myth that persists for many of the same reasons conspiracies d...
www.technologyreview.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:04 AM
By believing in the AI / AGI hype/conspiracy theory and uncritical adoption of genAI tools and integrating them in their policy and infrastructures, universities are accepting a new social order whereby ethics, law and scientific method are thrown out of the window for convenience and profit.
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 1:50 AM
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
A new paper suggests a photo can tell a recruiter much about an applicant’s personality
Should facial analysis help determine whom companies hire?
A new paper suggests a photo can tell a recruiter much about an applicant’s personality
econ.st
November 6, 2025 at 7:32 PM
The deaths from pollution caused by Europe’s biggest plastic plant, which is being built in Antwerp, will outstrip the number of permanent jobs it will create, lawyers will argue in a court challenge issued on Thursday www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Pollution from Ineos’s Antwerp plastic plant ‘could cause more deaths than jobs created’
Lawyers challenge €4bn Project One development, saying emissions and health impacts vastly underestimated
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The deaths from pollution caused by Europe’s biggest plastic plant, which is being built in Antwerp, will outstrip the number of permanent jobs it will create, lawyers will argue in a court challenge issued on Thursday www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
The Mannheim Centre at the LSE is holding a PhD symposium in May '26. The details are here lse.ac.uk/social-polic... and I would encourage all interested PhD students to apply. Should be a great, great event
Mannheim Centre for Criminology | PhD Symposium 2026
The LSE’s Mannheim Centre for Criminology is pleased to announce the inaugural PhD Symposium taking place 18-19 May 2026
lse.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The Mannheim Centre at the LSE is holding a PhD symposium in May '26. The details are here lse.ac.uk/social-polic... and I would encourage all interested PhD students to apply. Should be a great, great event
Mapping #surveillance in French-speaking Belgium. Great investigation @lesoir.be , le Vif, la Ligue des droits humains and Technopolice.be
www.lesoir.be/709078/artic...
www.lesoir.be/709078/artic...
En dix ans, la vidéosurveillance a conquis plus de trois communes sur quatre à Bruxelles et en Wallonie (carte interactive)
« Sous surveillance », c’est une enquête collaborative du « Soir », du « Vif », de la Ligue des droits humains et de la plateforme Technopolice.be visant à disséquer l’expansion fulgurante de la vidéo...
www.lesoir.be
November 5, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Mapping #surveillance in French-speaking Belgium. Great investigation @lesoir.be , le Vif, la Ligue des droits humains and Technopolice.be
www.lesoir.be/709078/artic...
www.lesoir.be/709078/artic...
‘Walter Benjamin warned that fascism aestheticizes politics, turning domination into spectacle. AI operates similarly. We are trapped, engaging with the different varieties of AI spectacle instead of engaging with political urgency. Magicians call these kinds of options a “forced choice.”’
Seance and Technology Studies is for real, read the intro published by @asapjournal.bsky.social as part of "Algorithms and the Occult, or Chatbots are the New Psychic Friends Network" edited by @tamigraph.bsky.social @briana-v.bsky.social @jeffreymoro.com 🔮
asapjournal.com/node/seance-...
asapjournal.com/node/seance-...
Séance and Technology Studies - ASAP/Review
My friends who visit San Francisco always comment on how different our advertising is. Step off the plane at SFO and you’re immediately surrounded by billboards promising AI solutions. They say it fee...
asapjournal.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:04 PM
‘Walter Benjamin warned that fascism aestheticizes politics, turning domination into spectacle. AI operates similarly. We are trapped, engaging with the different varieties of AI spectacle instead of engaging with political urgency. Magicians call these kinds of options a “forced choice.”’