emmatonkin.bsky.social
@emmatonkin.bsky.social
Researcher, sometimes lecture - currently digital health, data ethics, misc other. Charity swimathons. Ink, fiction, occasional yarn. Zombologiste à temps partiel. Citoyenne de nulle part. Franglaise. πόλλ’ ἠπίστατο ἔργα, κακῶς δ’ ἠπίστατο πάντα.
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The idea that stealing the data would be better than faking it says everything that's wrong about this research culture
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
The idea that stealing the data would be better than faking it says everything that's wrong about this research culture
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Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
Seeing more reports and industry players blaming code reviews for slowing down the quick development done with AI. It's unclear whether anyone's asking if this is just moving the cognitive bottleneck of "understanding what's happening" around. "Add AI to the reviews" seems to be the end goal here.
November 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Seeing more reports and industry players blaming code reviews for slowing down the quick development done with AI. It's unclear whether anyone's asking if this is just moving the cognitive bottleneck of "understanding what's happening" around. "Add AI to the reviews" seems to be the end goal here.
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
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this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
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There is an extended version of it
November 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
There is an extended version of it
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
Not sure who made this, but probably the most accurate representation of the current state of tech to date
November 20, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Not sure who made this, but probably the most accurate representation of the current state of tech to date
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
I really think this kind of thing is a bad idea, because who wants to start a relationship *with a doctor’s office* by realizing the first thing that happened in that relationship is that they tried to trick you?
I went to make a doctor’s appointment today and got transferred to an AI “person” and I can’t overstate my revulsion when it fooled me for the first ten seconds, so that I was trying to be friendly and pleasant, and I realized it I was trying to be polite to a machine.
November 20, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I really think this kind of thing is a bad idea, because who wants to start a relationship *with a doctor’s office* by realizing the first thing that happened in that relationship is that they tried to trick you?
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Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
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Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
Misinformation sites have an open-door policy for AI scrapers
A new study highlights the information pollution risks inherent in an AI-enabled world.
www.fastcompany.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Websites are rightly locking out AI crawlers from accessing their content. But their attempt to protect copyrighted material has corollary damage: misinformation sites, which don't, are polluting training data. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91442627/mis...
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We’re often asked whether we’re optimistic or pessimistic about technologies. That’s the wrong question. If any of this matters, we need to stop seeing technology like the weather, to be merely forecasted, and instead see it like politics, to be collectively shaped.
November 16, 2025 at 11:22 AM
We’re often asked whether we’re optimistic or pessimistic about technologies. That’s the wrong question. If any of this matters, we need to stop seeing technology like the weather, to be merely forecasted, and instead see it like politics, to be collectively shaped.
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
London's giant AI artwork to be torn down
The bizarre story of why a much-talked-about creation is being torn down. Plus: Docklands Light Railway extension, giant laser stalks the night sky, and more tales of Android phone theft rejection.
www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 7:18 AM
It’s the exclusive everyone wanted, the story that will win next year’s Pulitzer…
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
I can reveal London’s giant AI generated Christmas artwork, the subject of much online mockery, is being torn down - and I honestly *genuinely* think you’ll never guess why. www.londoncentric.media/p/ai-artwork...
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Autocorrect has become our worst enema.
November 19, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Autocorrect has become our worst enema.
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The most annoying part of this word salad is that, as someone who has talked to policy folks in the AI space, I know *exactly* what people said to Trump, which he didn't understand, which got him to spew this utter nonsense.
It's like the dumbest game of "telephone" ever.
It's like the dumbest game of "telephone" ever.
Trump on AI: "You can't go through 50 states. You have to get one approval. 50 is a disaster. Because you'll have one woke state and you'll have to do all woke. You'll be back in the woke business. We don't have woke anymore in this country. It's virtually illegal. You'll have a couple of wokesters"
November 19, 2025 at 9:58 PM
The most annoying part of this word salad is that, as someone who has talked to policy folks in the AI space, I know *exactly* what people said to Trump, which he didn't understand, which got him to spew this utter nonsense.
It's like the dumbest game of "telephone" ever.
It's like the dumbest game of "telephone" ever.
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"The GEMA legal adviser Kai Welp said the organisation now hoped to negotiate with OpenAI on how rights holders could be compensated" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules
OpenAI ordered to pay undisclosed damages for training its language models on artists’ work without permission
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:30 AM
"The GEMA legal adviser Kai Welp said the organisation now hoped to negotiate with OpenAI on how rights holders could be compensated" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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Robots staggering around and falling over like they were too drunk ever to learn to walk is my new favourite genre of short form video.
November 11, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Robots staggering around and falling over like they were too drunk ever to learn to walk is my new favourite genre of short form video.
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Minority representation on TV causes outrage
From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
October 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Minority representation on TV causes outrage
From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
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I regret to inform everyone that my pedantic brain couldn’t let me live until I knew whether or not dodger blue and blue jays blue are the same blue. They are ONE PANTONE NUMBER APART.
October 29, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I regret to inform everyone that my pedantic brain couldn’t let me live until I knew whether or not dodger blue and blue jays blue are the same blue. They are ONE PANTONE NUMBER APART.
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I’m really starting to suspect that most of the tech bros haven’t actually read Tolkien, as they certainly don’t understand it.
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
Elon Musk: "It is time for the English to ally with the hard men, like Tommy Robinson, and fight for their survival or they shall surely all die" 29th October 2025. 2 million views in its first hour.
October 29, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I’m really starting to suspect that most of the tech bros haven’t actually read Tolkien, as they certainly don’t understand it.
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
BREAKING | Truck hauling monkeys carrying hepatitis C, herpes and Covid overturns in Mississippi
Truck hauling monkeys carrying hepatitis C, herpes and Covid overturns in Mississippi
www.independent.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
BREAKING | Truck hauling monkeys carrying hepatitis C, herpes and Covid overturns in Mississippi
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
I know nothing about Dr Who, but, for Londoners, the phrase "Going For Dinner With Billie Piper" is the absolute best way to remember the order of the vertical streets running east to west in Soho (Greek, Frith, Dean, Wardour, Berwick, Poland) and has saved many a late night out
October 28, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I know nothing about Dr Who, but, for Londoners, the phrase "Going For Dinner With Billie Piper" is the absolute best way to remember the order of the vertical streets running east to west in Soho (Greek, Frith, Dean, Wardour, Berwick, Poland) and has saved many a late night out
Reposted by emmatonkin.bsky.social
Emma Thompson expressing my feelings absolutely perfectly here (love her)
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Emma Thompson expressing my feelings absolutely perfectly here (love her)
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Took a look at the entry they have for me in Elon's Grokipedia.
There are some surprisingly deep details, dredged up from interviews I'd long ago forgotten about, and then there are some incredibly big points that are completely wrong.
Let's roll the tape.
There are some surprisingly deep details, dredged up from interviews I'd long ago forgotten about, and then there are some incredibly big points that are completely wrong.
Let's roll the tape.
October 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Took a look at the entry they have for me in Elon's Grokipedia.
There are some surprisingly deep details, dredged up from interviews I'd long ago forgotten about, and then there are some incredibly big points that are completely wrong.
Let's roll the tape.
There are some surprisingly deep details, dredged up from interviews I'd long ago forgotten about, and then there are some incredibly big points that are completely wrong.
Let's roll the tape.