UNREAL. A very well-written and rather unsettling must-read...

harpers.org/archive/2025...

Yet another *excellent* episode of The Data Fix!

“Any attempt to encourage people to treat AI systems with respect should be understood as an attempt to make people defer to corporate interests. It might have value to corporations, but there is no value for you.”
lareviewofbooks.org/article/life...

My follow-up article on synthesis in gen AI is now out 💥💥💥
 
Responding to @shanedenson.bsky.social
response, I expand on my transcendental argument about LLMs and develop the case for a structuralist reading of Kantian synthesis.

Available Open Access ⬇️

journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/ph...

A remarkable archive of early computer art (80 individual works!?) up for auction, drawn from Grace C. Hertlein's personal collection. Very curious where this will end up...

www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...

Really looking forward to this: www.eventbrite.ca/e/progressiv...

Full Statement by UK FM Lammy:

"Israel’s actions are intolerable"

"repellent"

"monstrous"

"I condemn it"

"morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive"

"The world is judging. History will judge them."

"This is indefensible and it must stop."

An accessible and informative read for anyone interested in learning more about the particularities of the housing crisis in Canada. Highly recommended!!

Thank you @cwhitzman.bsky.social !!

www.ubcpress.ca/home-truths

New publication with Philosophy of Photography questions what it means to look at images of atrocity within contexts defined by their financialization, instrumentalization, and deployment within machine learning and AI applications.

intellectdiscover.com/content/jour...

Somehow managed to miss this when it first came out:

knowingmachines.org/models-all-t...

Well worth the read, if you haven't already!

And many thanks to @bildoperationen.bsky.social and/on The Data Fix podcast (@melhogan.bsky.social) for bringing it to my attention!

Promise vs reality: "Time saved by AI offset by new work created, study suggests" arstechnica.com/ai/2025/05/t...

As we talk about Microsoft and Amazon pulling back on data center projects, don’t ignore what’s happening in China, where “projects are failing, energy is being wasted, and data centers have become ‘distressed assets’ whose investors are keen to unload them at below-market rates.”

Nothing captures the pathologies of mainstream media quite so clearly as the intimate relationship between the New York Times and far-right activist Christopher Rufo - who relies on the NYT to launder his disingenuous crusades, has said so himself publicly, and yet they keep obliging.

Great thread:

The below walks you through how to delete your DNA data from 23andMe before it goes bankrupt.

Anyone know of dataset audits/analyses that consider inclusion/use/role of non-photographic images within machine vision modelling?

I was sick with the flu recently and tried to cure myself with rest and a generous dose of bad reality tv. I still can't get into housewives series/spin-offs/similar, but whenever I try, I'm reminded of this fun and worthwhile NYT read from about six-ish years ago: www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/s...

I am collecting examples of the most thoughtful writing about generative AI published in 2024. What’s yours? They can be insightful for commentary, smart critique, or just because it shifted the conversation. I’ll post some of mine below as I go through them. #criticalAI

Special Issue of Afterimage on Art and the Algorithmic (Summer 2023) now open access!

online.ucpress.edu/afterimage/i...

We're hiring! Open expertise! Application due in 5 days - DM with any questions!

can242.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePor...