DAIR's Timnit Gebru on how doomers and their "machine-god narrative" are feeding the hype machine and distracting us from the real harms of AI:
https://www.wired.com/story/one-of-ais-fiercest-critics-says-all-the-doom-talk-is-meant-to-distract-us/
Remote
DAIR
@DAIR@dair-community.social
mastodon 4.7.3We are an interdisciplinary AI research institute consisting of scientists, engineers, organizers and activists who believe that AI is not inevitable. We DAIR to imagine, build & use AI deliberately.
Our Avatar is DAIR written in black, with a white background.
9158 Followers
48 Following
39 Posts
Joined November 10, 2022
Website:
Twitter:
Peertube:
"I imagine myself as a small stone in a powerful gear mechanism, so that data workers are not completely run over without any resistance."
Our latest from Data Workers' Inquiry is a firsthand account of conditions and resistance from Apple's outsourced data workers.
New from Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000!
@alex@dair-community.social and @emilymbender@dair-community.social react to Sam Altman's claims that we're already in the Singularity. They tear up the AI boosters' latest claims of mathy maths combusting into consciousness.
“‘AI’ might not be good for xyz, but you can’t deny that it’s helpful for programming” -- sound familiar?
In the latest episode of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social challenge the bullshit.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19387382-beware-the-20x-engineer-2026-05-11
New on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000!:
AI boosters want to hand off emergency services to the bullshit generators.
@emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social take on the latest automated horrors threatening our collective health and safety.
Listen here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19535278-state-of-emergency-2026-06-29
“‘AI’ might not be good for xyz, but you can’t deny that it’s helpful for programming” -- sound familiar? On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 @alex@dair-community.social and @emilymbender@dair-community.social will be digging in to this dubious claim!
Join the livestream:
Monday, May 11, noon PT
twitch.tv/dair_institute
TODAY!
Tune in to the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 live stream to hear @emilymbender@dair-community.social, @alex@dair-community.social and @sava@mastodon.social discuss how “responsible use” of LLMs isn’t a thing & AI “harm reduction” frameworks in edtech.
July 6, noon Pacific
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
"This year’s Indaba felt like a transformation, moving away from mostly teaching the latest AI algorithms to having more urgent and rigorous discussions about the current state of sovereign African AI."
https://dair-institute.org/blog/3-takeaways-ai-sovereignty-in-africa/
Was the Anthropic hullabaloo ultimately an example of an AI company finally standing up to the Trump regime and doing the “right thing” when it comes to concerns about the lethal entanglement between the military and “AI”? Sadly, no.
To find out why Anthropic isn’t the hero here, what our recent guest Naomi Klein had to say about tech and the military, and which podcast episodes to listen to, read the rest of the @mystery_ai_hype_theater newsletter at
Friends don't let friends use "AI" to legislate..."AI"! Via Nyalleng Moorosi
"the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies published a draft Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy [...] It was not long before it emerged that the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies used AI to generate the document, or at least part of it [...] News24 published an article revealing that the department used fake & made-up research in its AI policy."
Come Work With Us!
We are hiring for a Communications Lead role to support our ongoing and emerging needs across owned media, website, social media and events. Interested?
Read the detailed job description and apply on Greenhouse.
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/distributedairesearchinstitute/jobs/4130897009
🔇🔇🔇 Are you in the Portland area? Looking to exercise your imaginative muscles and take a break from doom scrolling?
Join our in person Possible Futures workshop with Data & Society Research Institute.
⏰ This Saturday April 11, 1pm-3pm.
☘️ Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dair-data-society-present-imagining-possible-futures-portland-tickets-1985401613672
Thought gig work couldn’t get more horrifying? Well, what if your employer was secretly the US military....On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Niamh McIntyre joins @emilymbender@dair-community.social
and @alex@dair-community.social to discuss her latest investigation.
Mon, Mar 30, noon PT
Starting soon! Tune into the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 live stream...
@emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social dig into the latest nonsense: Altman proclaims the “singularity”; the Guardian blathers about possible AI consciousness; OpenAI and Anthropic blame their cybercrimes on “rogue models”
Today, noon PT
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
🔇 🔇 🔇 Are you in New York City this Wednesday May 6?
Join us for an in person Possible Futures session at Columbia University's Journalism School.
⏰ 6pm-8pm Lecture Hall, 3rd Floor, Pulitzer Hall, 2950 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
🪴Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/imagining-possible-futures-tickets-1987636459155
TODAY on the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Livestream:
@emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social will peer into what the tech companies say the impact of "AI" on labor is & what they are actually doing with their mathy maths:
August 10, noon Pacific
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
NEW - Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Episode 77: Hotter Than (AI) Hell
Looking at the latest in "who asked for this?!" news @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social dig into more "AI" Hell!
Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19167650-hotter-than-ai-hell-2026-04-20
Congratulations to @timnitGebru@dair-community.social for being awarded the 2025 Miles Conrad Awardee!
"The award recognizes her critical work on the dangers of biases in AI as the information community grapples with ethics and rapidly advancing technologies."
Dr. Gebru will deliver the Miles Conrad Lecture at #NISOPlus25.
https://niso.plus/2024/12/dr-timnit-gebru-to-receive-the-2025-miles-conrad-award/
New! Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 episode 73: Data Centers In Space?!
In which @adambecker.bsky.social joins @alex@dair-community.social and @emilymbender@dair-community.social to laugh at tech bro's sci-fi space dreams.
On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000...
@emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social will be speaking to author Carmen Maria Machado about the use of LLMs in writing, from language arts classes to the publishing industry.
Listen live:
Monday, April 13, noon PT,
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
RE: @timnitGebru@dair-community.social
Join us this Friday. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refugees-and-ai-tickets-1986369914887?aff=oddtdtcreator. More information below 👇
NEW: Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 - Data Centers Go Nuclear
In which Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo of Data & Society join @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social to get into data center infrastructure build out and resistance in Pennsylvania.
TODAY: tune in live to Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000!
Handing off emergency medical services to the bullshit generator? What could go wrong!? Join @emilymbender@dair-community.social and
@alex@dair-community.social for a deep dive on the issues with automated ER tools.
Monday, June 29, noon PT
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
RE: @emilymbender@dair-community.social
TODAY!
Tune into the Mystery AI Hype Theater live stream to hear @alex@dair-community.social and @emilymbender@dair-community.social chat with Nathalie Maréchal about Bernie's descent into doomerism...
Tune into the next livestream of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000:
@emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social will be bringing you a very special round-up of the most recent Fresh "AI" Hell!
Watch live:
Monday, April 20, noon PT,
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
Today!
Join the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream to hear @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social chat with very special guest Carmen Maria Machado
noon PT,
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
We are alarmed by this. Many people use dropbox for highly sensitive communication.
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
Today!
Catch the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream at noon PT for a special "All Hell" episode:
Our very own @milamiceli@dair-community.social and Krystal will be at this free, virtual Sundance event with Valerie Veatch, director of the movie Ghost in the Machine.
⏰ Friday January 30 at 7am PST/4pm CEST/6pm EAT.
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
Today!
Catch the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 live stream at noon PT
twitch.tv/dair_institute
RE: @emilymbender@dair-community.social
If you're in NYC on April 30th, then come hang out with us. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mystery-ai-hype-theater-3000-live-tickets-1986920944030
NEW: Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Episode 76: There's No Ghost in the Machine
In which @alex@dair-community.social and @emilymbender@dair-community.social are joined by author Carmen Maria Machado to unpack what writers are missing when they hand off their work to chatbots...
"Experts who reviewed the policy changes at The Intercept’s request said OpenAI appears to be silently weakening its stance against doing business with militaries. “I could imagine that the shift away from ‘military and warfare’ to ‘weapons’ leaves open a space for OpenAI to support operational infrastructures as long as the application doesn’t directly involve weapons development narrowly defined,” said Lucy Suchman, ...
https://theintercept.com/2024/01/12/open-ai-military-ban-chatgpt/
Congratulations to our very own @alex@dair-community.social for being named in Business Insider's 2024 "AI Power List."
https://www.businessinsider.com/alex-hanna-dair-ai-power-list-2024
🎧On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000...🎧
Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo of @datasociety@birb.stream join @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social to dig into the reality of data center construction.
Tune in live:
Monday, March 9, noon PT,
https://www.twitch.tv/dair_institute
The listed authors of #StochasticParrots (@emilymbender@dair-community.social Angelina McMillan-Major & @mmitchell_ai@mastodon.social) which was referenced in a letter calling for a six-month pause on "training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4," have written a statement.
"The harms from so-called AI are real & present and follow from the acts of people & corporations deploying automated systems. Regulatory efforts should focus on transparency, accountability & preventing exploitative labor practices."
https://www.dair-institute.org/blog/letter-statement-March2023
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
TODAY ⬇️
Tune into the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream, featuring @adambecker.bsky.social !
Monday, March 2, noon PT
twitch.tv/dair_institute
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
Today!
Catch the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream with special guest Niamh McIntyre
Noon, PT
RE: @DAIR@dair-community.social
Tune into the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream today at 12 PT to catch @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social with special guests Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo of @datasocietyl discussing data centers.
⬇️