Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
@criticalai-journal.bsky.social
Critical AI's new issue is out! https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Email us at criticalai@sas.rutgers.edu
Our website and blog: https://criticalai.org/
Email us at criticalai@sas.rutgers.edu
Our website and blog: https://criticalai.org/
Pinned
From today's @nytimes.com:
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
We're not rooting for a bubble which harms working ppl, but wtf?
Logic seems to be: don't worry abt an AI house of cards; the monopolies duking it out will survive a wipeout should it come, and no one else has a chance to make (or lose) a dime. As for antitrust, chill: Prez has it under wraps.
Logic seems to be: don't worry abt an AI house of cards; the monopolies duking it out will survive a wipeout should it come, and no one else has a chance to make (or lose) a dime. As for antitrust, chill: Prez has it under wraps.
December 9, 2025 at 7:56 PM
We're not rooting for a bubble which harms working ppl, but wtf?
Logic seems to be: don't worry abt an AI house of cards; the monopolies duking it out will survive a wipeout should it come, and no one else has a chance to make (or lose) a dime. As for antitrust, chill: Prez has it under wraps.
Logic seems to be: don't worry abt an AI house of cards; the monopolies duking it out will survive a wipeout should it come, and no one else has a chance to make (or lose) a dime. As for antitrust, chill: Prez has it under wraps.
None of us has read the Georgetown Law Journal essay - but it looks very interesting!
howdy!
the Georgetown Law Journal has published "Less Discriminatory Algorithms." it's been very fun to work on this w/ Emily Black, Pauline Kim, Solon Barocas, and Ming Hsu.
i hope you give it a read — the article is just the beginning of this line of work.
www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-l...
the Georgetown Law Journal has published "Less Discriminatory Algorithms." it's been very fun to work on this w/ Emily Black, Pauline Kim, Solon Barocas, and Ming Hsu.
i hope you give it a read — the article is just the beginning of this line of work.
www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-l...
December 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM
None of us has read the Georgetown Law Journal essay - but it looks very interesting!
Friends of #criticalai@rutgers and #criticalai have told us that the Rutgers English Dept. Statement on AI has been circulating on Facebook and some have questioned if it can be used as a template. It can! We post it here for that purpose. english.rutgers.edu/about-us/dep...
December 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Friends of #criticalai@rutgers and #criticalai have told us that the Rutgers English Dept. Statement on AI has been circulating on Facebook and some have questioned if it can be used as a template. It can! We post it here for that purpose. english.rutgers.edu/about-us/dep...
Please share with all musicians and allies of musicians! actionnetwork.org/petitions/we...
We Need a Union
The AFM (American Federation of Musicians) claims to represent all musicians. In practice, it doesn’t. AFM contracts with the major film companies and labels (UMG, WMG, Sony) provide excellent benefi...
actionnetwork.org
December 5, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Please share with all musicians and allies of musicians! actionnetwork.org/petitions/we...
MTG discovers that sexism is a thing. Good.
Perhaps Johnson's "waffle" brain is not what his wife thinks it means?
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Perhaps Johnson's "waffle" brain is not what his wife thinks it means?
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The Revolt of the Republican Women
Speaker Mike Johnson’s sexism is fueling an unexpected uprising within the GOP caucus.
www.thenation.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:27 PM
MTG discovers that sexism is a thing. Good.
Perhaps Johnson's "waffle" brain is not what his wife thinks it means?
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Perhaps Johnson's "waffle" brain is not what his wife thinks it means?
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
reminder that as activity picks up in places like Twin Cities, Louisiana, Alabama etc, my @propublica.org colleagues & I are still investigating immigration enforcement
I'm particularly interested in use-of-force & am still tracking the detention of citizens
Reach out ⬇️ if you have info to share
I'm particularly interested in use-of-force & am still tracking the detention of citizens
Reach out ⬇️ if you have info to share
December 5, 2025 at 11:52 AM
reminder that as activity picks up in places like Twin Cities, Louisiana, Alabama etc, my @propublica.org colleagues & I are still investigating immigration enforcement
I'm particularly interested in use-of-force & am still tracking the detention of citizens
Reach out ⬇️ if you have info to share
I'm particularly interested in use-of-force & am still tracking the detention of citizens
Reach out ⬇️ if you have info to share
From today's @nytimes.com:
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
December 5, 2025 at 4:06 PM
From today's @nytimes.com:
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
Teaching #criticalAIliteracies means recognizing that such "writing" marks a catastrophic loss for human cultural diversity and an individual student's chance for self-efficacy and judgment.
Fortunately, higher ed has begun to get the memo.
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Not coincidentally this is a pretty good list of Most Important Companies to Unionize.
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Not coincidentally this is a pretty good list of Most Important Companies to Unionize.
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Fake news liberada
MPF vai para cima da Meta após Zuckerberg sugerir desrespeito à Justiça brasileira
Saiba mais:
MPF vai para cima da Meta após Zuckerberg sugerir desrespeito à Justiça brasileira
Saiba mais:
MPF vai para cima da Meta após Zuckerberg sugerir desrespeito à Justiça brasileira
Dono do grupo que controla Facebook, Instagram e WhatsApp anunciou fim do sistema de checagem de informações e falou em
revistaforum.com.br
January 8, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Fake news liberada
MPF vai para cima da Meta após Zuckerberg sugerir desrespeito à Justiça brasileira
Saiba mais:
MPF vai para cima da Meta após Zuckerberg sugerir desrespeito à Justiça brasileira
Saiba mais:
Nicolas Malevé and Katrina Sluis review THE BIRTH OF COMPUTER VISION (Dobson), highlighting how the book reconstructs the early history of computer vision and its ties to military funding, computational methods, and changing ontologies of the image.
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
The Birth of Computer Vision | Critical AI | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Nicolas Malevé and Katrina Sluis review THE BIRTH OF COMPUTER VISION (Dobson), highlighting how the book reconstructs the early history of computer vision and its ties to military funding, computational methods, and changing ontologies of the image.
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
The environment and human costs of data centers abounds.
The environment and human costs of data centers abounds.
‘It’s hell for us here’: Mumbai families suffer as datacentres keep the city hooked on coal
As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
The environment and human costs of data centers abounds.
The environment and human costs of data centers abounds.
In "Rethinking Error," historian Johan Fredrikzon goes to the very heart of a large language model's incapacity to "know": a problem the industry likes to call hallucinations, but which Fredrikzon calls "epistemological indifference."
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Rethinking Error: “Hallucinations” and Epistemological Indifference | Critical AI | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 25, 2025 at 6:34 PM
In "Rethinking Error," historian Johan Fredrikzon goes to the very heart of a large language model's incapacity to "know": a problem the industry likes to call hallucinations, but which Fredrikzon calls "epistemological indifference."
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Apple is anti-union.
Tesla is anti-union.
Amazon is anti-union.
McDonald's is anti-union.
Starbucks is anti-union.
Google is anti-union.
Walmart is anti-union.
These mega-corporations aren’t on workers’ side and their actions make it painfully clear.
Tesla is anti-union.
Amazon is anti-union.
McDonald's is anti-union.
Starbucks is anti-union.
Google is anti-union.
Walmart is anti-union.
These mega-corporations aren’t on workers’ side and their actions make it painfully clear.
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Apple is anti-union.
Tesla is anti-union.
Amazon is anti-union.
McDonald's is anti-union.
Starbucks is anti-union.
Google is anti-union.
Walmart is anti-union.
These mega-corporations aren’t on workers’ side and their actions make it painfully clear.
Tesla is anti-union.
Amazon is anti-union.
McDonald's is anti-union.
Starbucks is anti-union.
Google is anti-union.
Walmart is anti-union.
These mega-corporations aren’t on workers’ side and their actions make it painfully clear.
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
“Constant lying is not about making people believe a lie, but about ensuring that no one believes anything. A people who no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between good and evil: a people deprived of the power to think,”
Hannah Arendt.
Are we there yet?
Hannah Arendt.
Are we there yet?
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
“Constant lying is not about making people believe a lie, but about ensuring that no one believes anything. A people who no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between good and evil: a people deprived of the power to think,”
Hannah Arendt.
Are we there yet?
Hannah Arendt.
Are we there yet?
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Post-smart cities come to the UK? I was also struck by how much of the imagery for the #ForestCity proposal seemed recycled from Sidewalk Lab's failed Toronto "smart neighbourhood" venture. #smartcities #platformcities #chartercities
Critical Update! The Guardian’s Failure: Questions Not Asked
Just days before my Canary investigation is published, The Guardian ran a feature (Helena Horton, Sun 23rd Nov 2025) on Forest City that asked none of the questions that matter.
Please read
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Just days before my Canary investigation is published, The Guardian ran a feature (Helena Horton, Sun 23rd Nov 2025) on Forest City that asked none of the questions that matter.
Please read
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Post-smart cities come to the UK? I was also struck by how much of the imagery for the #ForestCity proposal seemed recycled from Sidewalk Lab's failed Toronto "smart neighbourhood" venture. #smartcities #platformcities #chartercities
Jakko Kemper examines how generative AI makes aesthetic production seem frictionless while relying on extractive infrastructures, linking everyday creative work to the “imperial mode of living.”
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
AI Snake Oil: What AI Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference | Critical AI | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 20, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Jakko Kemper examines how generative AI makes aesthetic production seem frictionless while relying on extractive infrastructures, linking everyday creative work to the “imperial mode of living.”
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
In #CriticalAI 3.1, Purnima Mankekar’s article reframes data and algorithms through postcolonial genealogies of knowledge production in India. From development projects to the state’s Aadhaar biometric ID system, she shows how data is never neutral.
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Genealogies of Knowledge Production: Information, Data, and Algorithmic World-Making | Critical AI | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
In #CriticalAI 3.1, Purnima Mankekar’s article reframes data and algorithms through postcolonial genealogies of knowledge production in India. From development projects to the state’s Aadhaar biometric ID system, she shows how data is never neutral.
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
Link: read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/...
In "Endangered Judgment," political theorist Luke Fernandez critiques the dominance of instrumental reason.
Drawing on Joseph Weizenbaum's (and
Hannah Arendt's) distinction between calculation and judgment, he warns machine logic replacement undermines
human responsibility.
Drawing on Joseph Weizenbaum's (and
Hannah Arendt's) distinction between calculation and judgment, he warns machine logic replacement undermines
human responsibility.
November 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
In "Endangered Judgment," political theorist Luke Fernandez critiques the dominance of instrumental reason.
Drawing on Joseph Weizenbaum's (and
Hannah Arendt's) distinction between calculation and judgment, he warns machine logic replacement undermines
human responsibility.
Drawing on Joseph Weizenbaum's (and
Hannah Arendt's) distinction between calculation and judgment, he warns machine logic replacement undermines
human responsibility.
Needlessly confusing "AI" story from @nytimes.com's #benjaminmullin and @katierobertson.bsky.social. They conflate a special purpose searchable database that collects political info w/ "AI" and eventually ChatGPT. The latter ISN'T what made the award-winning reporting possible.
Please do better.
Please do better.
November 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Needlessly confusing "AI" story from @nytimes.com's #benjaminmullin and @katierobertson.bsky.social. They conflate a special purpose searchable database that collects political info w/ "AI" and eventually ChatGPT. The latter ISN'T what made the award-winning reporting possible.
Please do better.
Please do better.
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Based on analysis of years of revenues, losses and funding, since 2023, OpenAI has taken in $28.6bn in cash and had $13.7bn in losses.
However, reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn in cash - suggesting OpenAI's losses are billions higher than reported.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
However, reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn in cash - suggesting OpenAI's losses are billions higher than reported.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
Where Is OpenAI's Money Going?
Soundtrack: Queens of the Stone Age - Song For The Dead
Editor's Note: The original piece had a mathematical error around burnrate, it's been fixed.
A few days ago, Sam Altman said that OpenAI’s rev...
www.wheresyoured.at
November 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Based on analysis of years of revenues, losses and funding, since 2023, OpenAI has taken in $28.6bn in cash and had $13.7bn in losses.
However, reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn in cash - suggesting OpenAI's losses are billions higher than reported.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
However, reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn in cash - suggesting OpenAI's losses are billions higher than reported.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
I’m feeling increasingly powerless to avoid it. Tools that are “opt-in” right now in Primo, Alma, etc. will soon not let you even opt out. The only cataloging records available are increasingly AI generated. They don’t seem to be asking anyone in the field if these tools are wanted or needed.
November 8, 2025 at 5:11 PM
I’m feeling increasingly powerless to avoid it. Tools that are “opt-in” right now in Primo, Alma, etc. will soon not let you even opt out. The only cataloging records available are increasingly AI generated. They don’t seem to be asking anyone in the field if these tools are wanted or needed.
This shallow essay argues that AI will become "conscious" when ppl succumb to the ELIZA effect: a known vulnerability since the 60s. Montero makes uninformed public views the gold standard in benchmarking tech.
In 2023, Judy Estrin called "AI" authoritarian intelligence. This completes the recipe.
In 2023, Judy Estrin called "AI" authoritarian intelligence. This completes the recipe.
November 8, 2025 at 1:34 PM
This shallow essay argues that AI will become "conscious" when ppl succumb to the ELIZA effect: a known vulnerability since the 60s. Montero makes uninformed public views the gold standard in benchmarking tech.
In 2023, Judy Estrin called "AI" authoritarian intelligence. This completes the recipe.
In 2023, Judy Estrin called "AI" authoritarian intelligence. This completes the recipe.
Reposted by Critical AI https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue
Once upon a time, American soldiers handed out food to Germans because *they* had followed a fascist madman into national ruin.
How times change.
How times change.
NEW: The US Army website for its bases in Bavaria, Germany told its soldiers and employees that it might need to obtain free food from the German government during the US government shutdown.
The Army later altered publication to remove a list of food banks, but we have the original text here:
The Army later altered publication to remove a list of food banks, but we have the original text here:
US Army Tells Soldiers to Go to German Food Bank, Then Deletes It
The initial 'Shutdown Guidance' for the US Army Garrison Bavaria included instructions to go to German food banks.
www.404media.co
November 5, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Once upon a time, American soldiers handed out food to Germans because *they* had followed a fascist madman into national ruin.
How times change.
How times change.