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dylnbkr.bsky.social
dylan baker
@dylnbkr.bsky.social
680 followers 370 following 210 posts
Lead research engineer @dairinstitute.bsky.social, social dancer, aspirational post-apocalyptic gardener 🏳️‍🌈😷

I run workshops @dairfutures.bsky.social. Always imagining otherwise.

dylanbaker.com

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dylnbkr.bsky.social
It's why I'm coming to see these kinds of imagination exercises as foundational— I'm finding that removing ourselves from everyday constraints makes our common ground so much easier to see.

Thank you to everyone who attended this weekend ✂️🎨✨

Stay tuned for the final zine soon!
A collage with handwritten text and a red background with flowers behind a cut-out image of a person walking up stairs in a rubble-filled building. The handwritten text reads: "Imagine what we could build together if we weren't so busy starving each other. I imagine a world where we treat artists like philosophers. Human speakers translating from the sky to the soul. Inspiration as mana. Nourishment is bittersweet but we must feed and house the sacred. Literally."
November 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
The Possible Futures workshops are so centering for me. They always bring me back to what any of this is for.

People approach this from so many angles, and still the same themes emerge: we want connection, belonging, healing, purpose, safety. 🧵
A table covered with strewn-about collaging materials. People wearing masks are making collages around the table. A cropped detail from a pen drawing on white paper. Across the image are colored Buddhist prayer flags, a small collection of stick figures, and the written words "systems centered compassion". A cropped detail from a collage. In the background are shades of green and plant details outlined in sharpie— braided grass, a spider web, flowers, and berries. On the right is a black-and-white cutout of a person pointing a gun in the air, set in front of grainy images of a colosseum. In the foreground on the left is a bright red butterfly. A cropped detail from a collage. In the background is grid paper covered in chaotic black pen scribbles, hashing out the area around a few cropped pieces of printed text. The text reads "Everybody's going to have"/"undersatnding"/"I need legacy thinking"/"you need it". A the bottom of the image is a cropped picture of tree leaves.
November 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Finally, and most importantly, I appreciate the scope: nowhere do they claim to want to churn out a million and sell them to the whole planet.

They partnered specifically with Tribal schools and Indigenous educational institutions to get students the robots for free. And they do a ton of outreach.
A line of 6 Indigenous young women, Danielle Boyer, and 4 adults all stand in front of the Anahuacalmecac International Baccalaureate World School, an Indigenous Mexican charter school. Danielle and one of the young women are holding a small pink robot together.
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Speaking of data collection, a detail I always look for in projects like this is the data: where does it come from? Who benefits from it? Who decides how it's used? I can't find specific info on their methods, but I think their stated principles are spot-on:
A screenshot from the SkoBot website. It reads: DATA SOVEREIGNITY: Our communities have been taken advantage of by language organizations: we have had our languages copyrighted behind our back, have had our resources misused, and we haven't been listened to regarding our own information. Because of things like this, the development of the SkoBots follows the lead of the communities that we work with regarding their own language information. We will never own recordings, we will never publish them, we will never profit off of them. It will always be up to the discretion of the communities we work with and we always defer to them.
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
First, this looks like a stellar example of "classic" ML— the creator emphasizes that they don't use LLMs and runs offline, so (I assume) everything happens locally. This is categorically different from the monster of 2020s genAI; it's the kind of tech solution I frequently advocate for!
A small, clear robot being held in someone's hand. Inside the robot are some electronic components and wires.
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Normally "here's an AI robot that talks to kids to teach them a language" would be a hard no from me. But I found one that I think is great, and I want to talk about why.

The SkoBot is a language revitalization robot, led by Ashinaabe engineer @danielleboyer.bsky.social

Here's what I like: 🧵
Danielle Boyer stands in front of a slide that says "Tech Show & Tell". She has a small red robot on her shoulder.
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
We're seeing lots of headlines about the catastrophic impact of massive data center expansion. But what else could data centers look like?

In my perpetual quest to seek out alternative technofutures, I want to highlight the really cool work of Keolu Fox.

🧵
A worker sorts through a large pile of e-waste in an industrial facility, highlighting the environmental impact of discarded electronics.
October 22, 2025 at 2:18 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
As an aside, I'm particularly amused by this quote—"That sounds like a good idea, we should probably do it"— because this was pretty much verbatim what I heard from CV researchers who were actively developing these technologies in like 2018.

Yeah probably!!
A screenshot from the Verge article. It reads [Block quote]: X doesn’t currently support the standard, but Elon Musk has previously said the platform “should probably do it” [Main text]: A cornerstone of this plan involves getting online platforms to adopt the standard. X, which has attracted regulatory scrutiny as a hotbed for spreading misinformation, isn’t a member of the C2PA initiative and seemingly offers no alternative. But X owner Elon Musk does appear willing to get behind it. [Highlighted portion]: “That sounds like a good idea, we should probably do it,” Musk said when pitched by Parsons at the 2023 AI Safety Summit. “Some way of authenticating would be good.”
October 7, 2025 at 7:03 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Saw this article linked by @wonkish.bsky.social in the replies here and wanted to expand on it a little, because this really does feel like a place where a tech solution *is* warranted to help address a major problem. 🧵

www.theverge.com/2024/8/21/24...
A screenshot of the title of an article from The Verge. It reads: This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it? Big tech companies are backing the C2PA’s authentication standard, but they’re taking too long to put it to use. by Jess Weatherbed Aug 21, 2024, 6:00 AM PDT A screenshot from the linked The Verge article. It reads: Step one: the industry adopts a standard A body like C2PA develops an authentication and attribution standard. Parties across photography, content hosting, and image editing industries agree to the standard. Step two: creators add credentials Camera hardware makers offer to embed the credentials. Editing apps offer to embed the credentials. Both hardware and software solutions work in tandem to ensure creators can confirm the origins of an image and how / if it’s been altered during edits. Step three: platforms and viewers check credentials Online platforms scan for image credentials and visibly flag key information to their users. Viewers can also access a database to independently check if an image carries credentials.
October 7, 2025 at 7:03 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
A small detail they did here that I'm thinking a lot about in my own work: talking about "AI use disclaimers" in their work.

I've been toying with adding a little handwritten "a human wrote this" image at the bottom of my email signature with a link to more information. Are other folks doing this?
A red banner that reads "AI TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT" crosses the page. Below that is the text: "Identity 2.0 did not use generative AI to: Write any of these words or design any of these pages Edit this zine for clarity, readability or style based on text already written Assess any gaps or make any summaries of our work This was made with human hands so there may be human mistakes here too!" Text reading: The power of labels is important for yourself too - the luddite movement is back in full force thanks to the work of writers like Brian Merchant. Start claiming and owning that label, that shows that we’re fighting for workers rights. So why not make your own “made by human” label? Below the text are two identical yellow rectangles that look like stickers that read "Made by a human" with a small figure of a person.
October 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
all of Possible Futures is basically
An image of Kirby eating half a rectangle labeled "Frame F". Next to Kirby is a pink box labeled: Kirby. K is happening. That's why they're saying F. In that box is the text: OTHER THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
September 30, 2025 at 9:53 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Across the top of the image is a fractured black rectangle where the left half is labeled "Frame: F is happening!" and the right side is labeled "Negation: F is not true!" left side of the box: "AI*" is so useful, it's revolutionizing everything. *massive, generative commercial "AI" models. right side of the box: "AI" capabilities are overblown, it's mostly slop. Below the box is a large image of Kirby, a pink blob inhaling and the "Frame F" fragment. In a box next to Kirby is the text: Kirby. K is happening. That's why they're saying F. In the pink box is the text: "AI" is functioning to fuel mass surveillance, exploitation of workers & the environment, and the consolidation of wealth and power on a massive scale.
September 30, 2025 at 9:49 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
The first in-person Possible Futures workshop was amazing!

As I run more of these, it strikes me how many themes are so consistent: desire for ecological restoration. Connection. Autonomy. Privacy. Dignity. Leisure. Peace. Again and again, we find common ground and shared visions. 🌱
In the foreground, a group of 3 people (cropped from the torso down) are gathered around a wooden table, flipping through magazines and cutting out pages. The person on the left is wearing a denim jacket and jeans, has light skin, and is wearing bracelets. The person behind them is light-skinned and wearing a pink shirt. On the right, there is another light-skinned person wearing a patterned button-down and black jeans. In the background, more people are seated around a table covered in magazines. Handwritten sharpie scribbled notes that read "In 2050, we are - Default disconnected - Cryptographically secure - No one drives a fucking car ever again - Autonomic (?)". Around the notes are scraps of paper. A collage on a light blue background. At the top of the collage, there is text reading "Click the close button to close the window". In a different font, there is text reading "For we are wild beings. Wild to the core." There is a border of a 2000s-looking Windows Vista image viewer window that has been cut to be breaking open on the left side. Inside the window is an image of a dog about to jump off of a pier into the water, also facing the left, as if it was to jump out of the broken computer window.
September 9, 2025 at 7:48 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Was just served this ad, great news for any researchers recently out of work! 🙃
An ad from reddit user u/afpiofra that reads "Join the America First movement as a Researcher. Use your analytical skills to make good policies for America! Apply:". Under that is the logo for the America first Policy Institute. A screenshot from Wikipedia article section titled "policy positions". The text reads: According to New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger, key policy proposals from the AFPI's policy book, The America First Agenda, include eliminating most civil service protections for federal employees, allowing summary dismissals without appeal; expanding domestic oil and gas production by opening up new federal lands for fast-tracked petroleum exploration and drilling, and resumed construction of the Keystone pipeline; imposing supervised ultrasound requirements and mandatory waiting periods before abortions, as well as ending federal funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood; opposing red flag laws that restrict gun ownership for high-risk individuals; and supporting nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry permits, enabling a permit from any state to authorize concealed carry across all 50 states.[12] Other policy proposals include imposing tariffs on imports, reducing corporate taxes, rolling back climate change initiatives and getting out of the Paris climate agreement, opposing transgender rights, adding work requirements for Medicaid and limiting U.S. involvement in global conflicts. It proposes the restriction of immigration by completing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, boosting funding for border agents, and ending legal immigration programs like family-based visas and the visa lottery.
August 10, 2025 at 10:47 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Fun announcement: I'll be running a Possible Futures workshop in-person in Seattle in a month! Details are in the event link.

Space is VERY limited so go snag a seat now (they're free)! I would love to meet y'all and make art with you :)

www.eventbrite.com/e/dair-prese...
A flyer that reads "Imagining Possible Futures Seattle" and below "Saturday September 6 1pm-3pm, Pipsqueak Gallery, 173 16th Ave, Seattle WA 98122". It is teal with a stylized background of the Seattle skyline.
August 9, 2025 at 2:15 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Today in "AI slop polluting the news ecosystem", just ran into @yahoonews.com reprinting garbage from a scammy website. It reported, as fact, a gag that comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan recently posted.

It's funny, but I hate that clearly no human was involved in this process in any way that matters 🫠
Screenshot from ComingSoon.net, reposted by Yahoo! News. At the top is author Vritti Johar, date Mon, July 14, 2025 at 9:49pm PDT. There is a photo of comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan followed by the beginning of the article which reads "Curious why Brennan Lee Mulligan is leaving Dropout TV? In a surprise announcement, the longtime Dimension 20 gamemaster revealed an unexpected career shift that left fans both confused and amused. With no signs..." Screenshot from the article. There is a YouTube embedded still of a video of Brennan Lee Mulligan, titled "Why I'm Leaving Dropout". The article text reads "Here’s why Brennan Lee Mulligan is leaving Dropout TV In a video posted to Game Changer Shorts on July 15, 2025, Brennan Lee Mulligan announced, “Effective immediately, I will no longer be with Dropout.tv.” He clarified early on, “There is no bad blood between us. There’s no drama.” Mulligan said he had chosen to dedicate himself fully to “the craft and profession of making custom shoes for American Girl dolls.”"
July 21, 2025 at 9:22 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
but now we're living in These Times, and I study this stuff for a living. And no future I am interested in "belongs", to quote Emergent Garden's conclusion,"to people who are good with computers".
Artist Chavis Mármol standing in front of his artwork, which is a nine-ton replica of an Olmec head crushing a real blue Tesla.
June 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
It took me a minute to remember why it this video still leaves me feeling yucky.

It's that these kinds of neat projects just feel like a byproduct;

they're a side effect of what the industry is actually currently structured to do and produce (which you are certainly aware of).
A still from the movie "Finding Nemo", where two fish (the orange Nemo and blue Dory) are wide-eyed, swimming in the dark ocean up to a glowing ball of light. On the right side of the frame, you can see that the light is attached to the antennae of an angler fish, which emerges from the darkness with a wide-open mouth full of enormous sharp teeth.
June 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
All that said... you know what my job entails, lol. Because I spend so much time unpacking the AI industry— and the ways in which it is quickly becoming world-changingly exploitative to give a small number of people a lot of wealth and power—I gotta get on my soapbox.
Clipart of a small 3D person standing on a podium and reading from a book, gesturing as if to an audience.
June 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Pssst you should come to Possible Futures day this Friday and make art with us!

www.eventbrite.com/e/possible-f...

The first issue was EXTREMELY cool and utterly inspiring to be part of creating (ICYMI: zines.dair-institute.org/possible-fut...)
The cover of the first Possible Futures zine. The title reads "Possible Futures: vol 001" with squiggly purple lines around some of the letters. At the bottom is the DAIR logo and the text "A Community Zine". In the middle is a squiggly abstract line with art behind it, and a doodle of 5 abstract people holding hands.
June 17, 2025 at 10:13 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
To give them credit though, I am happy to see that they are requiring researchers disclose the most basic crowd work labor info, including meeting minimum payment standards.

The bar remains extremely low, but glad to see they're addressing it.
Crowdsourcing and research with human subjects Question: For crowdsourcing experiments and research with human subjects, does the paper include the full text of instructions given to participants and screenshots, if applicable, as well as details about compensation (if any)? Answer: [TODO] Justification: [TODO] Guidelines: • The answer NA means that the paper does not involve crowdsourcing nor research with human subjects. • Including this information in the supplemental material is fine, but if the main contribu- tion of the paper involves human subjects, then as much detail as possible should be included in the main paper. • According to the NeurIPS Code of Ethics, workers involved in data collection, curation, or other labor should be paid at least the minimum wage in the country of the data collector.
May 21, 2025 at 9:57 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Looking at NeurIPS submission format and... if you use an LLM to write your paper, you *do not even have to declare it*?

Implying that an LLM could synthesize text in a way that is somehow unrelated to scientific rigor is frankly embarrassing.
Declaration of LLM usage Question: Does the paper describe the usage of LLMs if it is an important, original, or non-standard component of the core methods in this research? Note that if the LLM is used only for writing, editing, or formatting purposes and does not impact the core methodology, scientific rigorousness, or originality of the research, declaration is not required. Answer: [TODO] Justification: [TODO] Guidelines: • The answer NA means that the core method development in this research does not involve LLMs as any important, original, or non-standard components. • Please refer to our LLM policy (https://neurips.cc/Conferences/2025/LLM) for what should or should not be described.
May 21, 2025 at 9:52 PM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
I'm really proud of the research philosophy zine in particular. Pauline did some RAD work here!!

& I'm picky about printing so I worked closely with a local print shop here in Seattle to make these and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. They're soooo pretty 🥹
A screenshot of the "community" zine page. In the middle is a stylized photograph of pixelated people standing in a circle holding hands. Text is scattered throughout the page in a web of scribbly dashed lines. The text reads: 1. Community The people with firsthand experience of technology’s harms should be the ones driving tech ethics research. There is a long history of researchers parachuting in and co-opting research. So much knowledge has been authored by specific communities but used for researchers’ own end. Resisting this requires consistent self-critique, a willingness to challenge power, and sustained, equitable relationship-building. We ask ourselves: Who considers us insiders? Who considers us outsiders? Can our relationship with collaborators be weaponized against them? How do we decide who to support, to listen to, to trust for information? Who do we have access to? Who can we not reach? How might we be in community in some ways (e.g. nationality) and not in others (e.g. class)? Are we using shared identity to ignore other power dynamics? Who is impacted by our work? Who are we trying to serve? Dylan, a light-skinned person wearing a beanie, glasses, and a septum ring, holding a copy of the zine open.
May 21, 2025 at 12:41 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
A fun update: DAIR quietly launched a little merch shop! We're doing a limited run of our research philosophy zine*, along with some really cool prints and postcards, designed with love by @paulinewee.bsky.social and myself ✨

store.dair-institute.org

*also free online, I'll link in the replies
A postcard that reads "whose imagination are you living in? Dare to imagine otherwise". On one side, there are images of a cybertruck, explosion, and grenade. On the other, there are people hugging, flowers, and birds. The back side of a postcard with a hand and birds printed on it. A screenshot of the store page showing several postcards for sale.
May 21, 2025 at 12:41 AM
dylnbkr.bsky.social
Using, for example, classical machine learning within the medical research process, is a *wildly* different thing than using LLMs to do "AI-assisted scientific review" (😫)

(The former has been around for a long time. I was doing it in pre-AlexNet 2012! Using software from 2008!)
A segment of an academic paper. There is a screenshot of a computer window with two pictures of cell clumps with different filters. The caption reads: "Fig. 1. (A) CellTracer Workflow. Grey regions indicate steps that can be manually and interactively intervened upon, if desired. (B) Software screenshot, with plot panels showing input image and segmentation result and cell lineage summary plot." Note: only Figure 1B is shown.
May 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM