Peter Campbell
@petersoc.bsky.social
Reader @ Dept. of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology, University of Liverpool.
'It looks like you're trying to read. Would you like help?'
November 12, 2025 at 11:44 AM
'It looks like you're trying to read. Would you like help?'
Reposted by Peter Campbell
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
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.
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 8:30 AM
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
NEW: I learned a lot talking to Alex Karp's biographer, Michael Steinberger. Namely, that Palantir has ambitions to become what IBM used to be for the U.S. government: its de facto operating system.
www.inc.com/sam-blum/ale...
www.inc.com/sam-blum/ale...
Alex Karp Wants to Make Palantir the De Facto Operating System of the U.S. Government, Says Biographer
A new book explores how a liberal academic became the CEO that now embraces the Trump administration and ICE.
www.inc.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM
NEW: I learned a lot talking to Alex Karp's biographer, Michael Steinberger. Namely, that Palantir has ambitions to become what IBM used to be for the U.S. government: its de facto operating system.
www.inc.com/sam-blum/ale...
www.inc.com/sam-blum/ale...
Reposted by Peter Campbell
I use Claude (an AI) to scan my posts for spelling and grammar errors. On the most recent post (about the East Wing, link below), I got a really amazing addendum.
www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...
www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...
October 30, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I use Claude (an AI) to scan my posts for spelling and grammar errors. On the most recent post (about the East Wing, link below), I got a really amazing addendum.
www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...
www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...
Mavis Staples - "Sad and Beautiful World"
YouTube video by ANTI- Records
youtu.be
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Peter Campbell
The fact that these are the numbers the company will put on the record … www.wired.com/story/chatgp...
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM
The fact that these are the numbers the company will put on the record … www.wired.com/story/chatgp...
Reposted by Peter Campbell
I'm old enough to remember when parents groups put warning stickers on CDs because they worried suggestive lyrics might lead to anything from drug use to teen sex to suicide.
But if a robot explicitly takes you through the steps rather than a subtle Judas Priest lyric, I guess it's okay.
But if a robot explicitly takes you through the steps rather than a subtle Judas Priest lyric, I guess it's okay.
Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.
Perry: How can AI be used ethically when it’s been linked to suicide?
"It’s not on us, on you and me, to use AI ethically or responsibly. It’s on the companies to build safe, reliable, ethical products," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
October 26, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I'm old enough to remember when parents groups put warning stickers on CDs because they worried suggestive lyrics might lead to anything from drug use to teen sex to suicide.
But if a robot explicitly takes you through the steps rather than a subtle Judas Priest lyric, I guess it's okay.
But if a robot explicitly takes you through the steps rather than a subtle Judas Priest lyric, I guess it's okay.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
"We all knew a while ago just how badly the promise of this Labour government was failing when it comes to our sector. This white paper simply reinforces that we are on our own, that government is not interested in proactively reforming the HE system and has no new ideas to offer"
I wrote about the stupid white paper.
In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.
In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.
Somewhere in the Department for Education, a phone is ringing
On October 20th at a bit after 5pm, the UK government introduced its Education and Skills white paper to Parliament, to absolutely no…
hitchcockian.medium.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:25 AM
"We all knew a while ago just how badly the promise of this Labour government was failing when it comes to our sector. This white paper simply reinforces that we are on our own, that government is not interested in proactively reforming the HE system and has no new ideas to offer"
Reposted by Peter Campbell
A family’s lawsuit against OpenAI over their teen son’s death has taken an even darker turn, with their amended complaint alleging that the company intentionally softened protections against user self-harm in the months before his suicide, prioritizing engagement instead of safety.
Wrongful Death Suit Against OpenAI Now Claims Company Removed ChatGPT's Suicide Guardrails
First wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI over teen's suicide amended to allege that company deliberately weakened protections against self-harm.
www.rollingstone.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:28 AM
A family’s lawsuit against OpenAI over their teen son’s death has taken an even darker turn, with their amended complaint alleging that the company intentionally softened protections against user self-harm in the months before his suicide, prioritizing engagement instead of safety.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
ChatGPT’s new Atlas browser doesn’t just see what you read — it remembers it.
@eff.org’s Lena Cohen showed me it even logged “memories” of her looking for *abortion care* and her doctor’s name. Out-surveils even Chrome.
My @washingtonpost.com column: wapo.st/49bOcVC
@eff.org’s Lena Cohen showed me it even logged “memories” of her looking for *abortion care* and her doctor’s name. Out-surveils even Chrome.
My @washingtonpost.com column: wapo.st/49bOcVC
Column | ChatGPT just came out with its own web browser. Use it with caution.
OpenAI’s Atlas promises AI-powered convenience. The price? Letting ChatGPT track and store “memories” of what you do online.
wapo.st
October 22, 2025 at 4:19 PM
ChatGPT’s new Atlas browser doesn’t just see what you read — it remembers it.
@eff.org’s Lena Cohen showed me it even logged “memories” of her looking for *abortion care* and her doctor’s name. Out-surveils even Chrome.
My @washingtonpost.com column: wapo.st/49bOcVC
@eff.org’s Lena Cohen showed me it even logged “memories” of her looking for *abortion care* and her doctor’s name. Out-surveils even Chrome.
My @washingtonpost.com column: wapo.st/49bOcVC
🎵'Everybody knows the scene is dead/
There'll be a GitHub repo for your bed'🎵
There'll be a GitHub repo for your bed'🎵
The AWS outage bricked people's $2,700 smartbeds, leaving them in a reclining position or with the heat up. People were unable to use them, basically. A GitHub repo exists that lets people operate their beds without reliance on the normal infrastructure
www.404media.co/the-aws-outa...
www.404media.co/the-aws-outa...
The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds
When Amazon Web Services went offline, people lost control of their cloud-connected smart beds, getting stuck in reclined positions or roasting with the heat turned all the way up.
www.404media.co
October 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM
🎵'Everybody knows the scene is dead/
There'll be a GitHub repo for your bed'🎵
There'll be a GitHub repo for your bed'🎵
Reposted by Peter Campbell
"Idi Amin x 20" - this is Tory policy now.
Idi Amin deported 80,000 Asians from Uganda in 1972. So although the Conservatives want to propose the first mass deportation of legal migrants since Idi Amin - especially with the retrospective changes in ILR - Lam is proposing to deport 20 times as many people as Idi Amin.
October 22, 2025 at 9:41 AM
"Idi Amin x 20" - this is Tory policy now.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
Reposted by Peter Campbell
The entire "free speech on campus" moral panic was manufactured to blackmail us into making space in intellectual life for bigots and charlatans who couldn't get there on their own merits. Its a DEI scheme for fascism. Congratulations to everyone who took it at face value.
“Following his lecture, Yarvin will debate the legendary British historian David Starkey on history and the future of conservatism.” Everything about this is so cursed. Masks off at the University of Oxford.
October 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The entire "free speech on campus" moral panic was manufactured to blackmail us into making space in intellectual life for bigots and charlatans who couldn't get there on their own merits. Its a DEI scheme for fascism. Congratulations to everyone who took it at face value.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
As yes British football in the 1980s. Well known for its good-natured fun. He's a ridiculous person.
Jenrick casting 1980s British football hooliganism as something that was easily dealt with by police and not an era defining issue which we're still living with the consequences of today... He's genuinely the most unserious person in British politics rn
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
As yes British football in the 1980s. Well known for its good-natured fun. He's a ridiculous person.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Reposted by Peter Campbell
Sam Altman went from “AI will cure cancer" to "ChatGPT porn" in less than a month
October 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Sam Altman went from “AI will cure cancer" to "ChatGPT porn" in less than a month
Reposted by Peter Campbell
The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”
OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT
GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.
www.theverge.com
October 11, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The administration “is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”
Reposted by Peter Campbell
Great (paid) PhD opportunity. Excellent environment, conditions, and supervisors. And a topic close to my heart. (Selfish reason for promoting this: I fear there won't be enough concerts for retired me to go to. Geen dag zonder Bach.) vacatures.knaw.nl/job/The-Hagu...
PhD position "Is the audience for classical music concerts fading out?"
PhD position "Is the audience for classical music concerts fading out?"
vacatures.knaw.nl
October 10, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Great (paid) PhD opportunity. Excellent environment, conditions, and supervisors. And a topic close to my heart. (Selfish reason for promoting this: I fear there won't be enough concerts for retired me to go to. Geen dag zonder Bach.) vacatures.knaw.nl/job/The-Hagu...
Reposted by Peter Campbell
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
October 9, 2025 at 4:42 AM
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
Reposted by Peter Campbell
🧵🚨
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
🧵🚨
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
Reposted by Peter Campbell
We’ve obtained data showing that more than 7,000 workers have gone to the government’s employment tribunal penalty enforcement scheme since it was launched in 2016 – 75% of them did not get their money
That’s £36m in unpaid funds
That’s £36m in unpaid funds
October 2, 2025 at 9:31 AM
We’ve obtained data showing that more than 7,000 workers have gone to the government’s employment tribunal penalty enforcement scheme since it was launched in 2016 – 75% of them did not get their money
That’s £36m in unpaid funds
That’s £36m in unpaid funds
Reposted by Peter Campbell
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.