For reasons mysterious to me, Will Stancil is continuing his crash out about language used to describe LLMs, moving on from raning about "stochastic parrots" to picking up on this piece that @nannainie.bsky.social and I published earlier this summer: buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch... >>

How to talk about "AI" without adding to the anthropomorphization

Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie In our op-ed for Tech Policy Press ("We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI'"), we made the case against the...

buttondown.com

Just when I think I can’t hate OpenAI and Sam Altman any more, new details come out about how ChatGPT helped a shooter plan one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI made an explicit decision not to report the user to authorities.

ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals

OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.

motherjones.com

The Trump Administration has very loudly and publicly told the Australia got to basically to rip up the (currently in draft) Digital Duty of Care legislation: au.usembassy.gov/u-s... #DigitalDutyofCare #auspol #socialmedia

The new EU KIDS act won't just limit social media, it'll also "ban chatbots from simulating emotions or interpersonal relationships in interactions with anyone under the age of 18". www.wired.com/story/the-eu...

The EU Wants to Break Up Kids and Their Chatbots

ChatGPT, Character.ai, and Snapchat’s My AI will all be in the crosshairs as the EU Kids Act aims to strip minor-facing chatbots of all the things that make people love them.

wired.com

Again, AI companies can slow down without waiting for regulation. Releasing models without adequate safeguards is a choice, not an inevitability. “Someone should make us stop” is a strange position for the people with their foot on the gas.

Michael Zimmer@michaelzimmer.bsky.social · 2w ago

They could just… not do it. Or turn it off. Deploying AI tools in uncontrolled ways is a choice. The risks tech companies keep struggling to “manage” are risks they choose to create. Why It’s Tough for Tech Companies to Keep A.I. Out of Trouble www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/t...

It was a pleasure to be on the BBC's Asia Specific podcast, joining host Mariko Oi & BBC Australia correspondent Katy Watson to discuss the Australian Government's Digital Duty of Care legislation and what 'turning off the algorithm' might actually mean. 🎧 BBC website: www.bbc.com/audio/play/p...

Australia’s ‘opt out’ algorithm plan - Asia Specific podcast, BBC World Service

YouTube video by BBC World Service

youtu.be

The PBS showing is tonight, but if you want it via YouTube, that's available as of a couple of hours ago! www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLQz...

Ghost in the Machine | What is Artificial Intelligence? | Full Documentary

YouTube video by PBS Documentaries

youtube.com

Happy Social Sciences Week 2026! ARC CEO Professor Ute Roessner shares why social sciences research matters, and how it helps us better understand people, communities and society.

I sincerely hope they don’t do this. If it can go in Hansard it can go on the Internet. Parliamentary hearings are on the public record. Additionally, if politicians/bureaucrats feel targeted for harrassment, we have several state & federal laws to deal with that www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Bureaucrats urge Albanese to ban social media clips taken from parliament to save them from ‘ridicule’

Secretaries board concerned material posted without proper context as Greens warn ban could result in lack of transparency

theguardian.com

Yes we all think this is stupid but we, the ppl brushing our teeth, are not the customers The customers are the investors who in ~1yr will be enticed to fund Dyson's smart dental AI spinoff, featuring models trained on "the world's largest real time floss dataset" gizmodo.com/dysons-smart...

Dyson’s Smart Toothbrush Uses a Camera to Floss Your Teeth

Yes, you can watch the camera feed from an app.

gizmodo.com

I learnt a lot working on this piece with my @netstudies.bsky.social colleagues from the #AudioDescription Past, Present & Futures project. Uneven advances: a decade of audio description provision for blind and low vision Australians doi.org/10.1080/0968... (🔓#OpenAccess)

Uneven advances: a decade of audio description provision for blind and low vision Australians

Audio description (AD) has become increasingly available internationally, suggesting improved access to visual media for people who are blind or have low vision. This article asks whether “things h...

tandfonline.com

#Meta settling the big case about child safety in the US looks like it will meaningfully improve teen safety on Instagram & Facebook, but will also put a lot of onus on parents to actively use Meta's parenting tools, & seeks to force TikTok & YouTube make similar changes.

Our Agreement With Bipartisan Attorneys General: Calling on TikTok and YouTube to Join Us in Supporting Teens | Tama Leaver

Meta have clearly started to pay attention to the global sentiment that the company have never done enough to protect their youngest users, and have settled the massive court case in the US, agreeing to make significant changes to their apps (Facebook and Instagram), but escaping the legal precedent that would be set if they'd lost the case. The changes agreed to include time limits for teens (2hrs max, but that can be disabled by parents), blocking notifications at night and during 'school time', the choice to have a feed "that isn’t personalized by our recommendation systems", the option to disable autoplay on videos, likes/reactions hidden by default, and some smaller changes. These changes are a significant step in the right direction. They also put a huge onus on parents to actively have parental supervision set up and be on top of what might be a quite complicated parenting dashboard. That presumes a level of digital literacy not all parents have, so a lot of support (ideally funded by Meta) will be needed as parents take this on. Meta also tried to make their problem also TikTok and YouTube's problem by having over $US5 billion that's conditional on those platforms making similar changes. It very strategically distributes the load and is there to stop teens just going to less regulated spaces. It's cynical on one level, but may actually do a lot to help teens have better experiences across more of the big platforms, which is probably a net positive. Lots more to digest, but the big takeaway is that Meta is now responding to global calls to make their platforms safer for under18s. That's so important. Other platforms should follow and perhaps competing to have the best balance of safety and privacy should be the new competitive advantage to seek! Many adults will likely want these options, too. Meta's Post about the Settlement: https://lnkd.in/gndY9kGy Clear Summary of the Settlement from The Verge: https://lnkd.in/ges2aeQb [#meta #settlement #childrensrights ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child Curtin University Faculty of Humanities]

lnkd.in

🤖 Long before PCs were commonplace, software like ELIZA & Little Computer People used clever programming to create the illusion of machines that could think, talk & act on their own. Examples? Explore the new Vintage Artificial Intelligence collection! blog.archive.org/2026/08/16/v... 🧵

New from me in The Conversation today: More than half of children and teens are using AI for personal reasons. This comes with risks doi.org/10.64628/AA.... #generativeAI #digitalchild #childrights

More than half of children and teens are using AI for personal reasons. This comes with risks

Navigating personal problems are a normal part of growing up. Young people are now turning to AI for help.

doi.org

Finally got around to updating my media page with links to all the media interviews and commentary I've done this year: tamaleaver.net/media/ It's basically AI and social media bans all the way down!

Media

I am an expert media commentator on a range of issues including uses of social media, generative AI, online communication, birth and early childhood online (including ‘sharenting’), dig…

tamaleaver.net

It was a pleasure part of @aljazeera.com's @ajlisteningpost.bsky.social episode this week discussing the Australia's teen social media ban and the global pushes to replicate it, alongside child rights research superstar @katejsim.bsky.social. The ban story starts at 13.45: ▶️ youtu.be/EFYO-JmbN_k

How xenophobia went viral in South Africa | The Listening Post

YouTube video by Al Jazeera English

youtu.be

The Listening Post@ajlisteningpost.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This week: • South Africa’s anti-migrant movement - built online, amplified by mainstream media • Post-earthquake in Venezuela, officials are tightening their grip on information • Govts say social media bans will protect children - critics say they solve the wrong problem ▶️ youtu.be/EFYO-JmbN_k

Digital Intimacies 12 is at the University of Sydney this year from 4-5 Dec! Submit your abstracts on the (broad) theme of Intimately Disconnected by 28 Aug. Digital Intimacies is such a wonderful and generous gathering of scholars - get along if you can 👩‍💻✨💕🖱️💌 digitalintimacies12.wordpress.com

digitalintimacies12

digitalintimacies12.wordpress.com

Go and listen to the new TED Talk from @candiceodgers.bsky.social, explaining what the data really says about teens and social media, and why bans are the wrong answer. What we're getting wrong about teens and tech go.ted.com/candiceodgers

What we're getting wrong about teens and tech

For years, the warning has been: smartphones are destroying a generation. But developmental psychologist Candice Odgers says that decades of data on teens tells a different story — violence, alcohol u...

go.ted.com

It's 4.30pm on Friday afternoon and I just finished yesterday's To Do list. I have a full list for today ... now I have to figure out which thing(s) will actually get done. Peer reviews? Maybe not. Grant review. I guess yes. Other things ... will be coming home for the weekend, I suppose. :(

Australia is tightening the rules on children’s privacy – here’s how it will work. @tamaleaver.bsky.social talks about the draft Children's Online Privacy Code for @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/australia-is...

Australia is tightening the rules on children’s privacy – here’s how it will work

A new code for children’s online privacy is currently open for consultation. Here’s what it contains.

theconversation.com

Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

Gig AI trainers worldwide are selling moments of their lives, including calls and texts, to AI companies for quick cash

theguardian.com

The Government released the final report of the Strategic Examination of R&D yesterday. It's called "Ambitious Australia"🙃 Haven't read much, yet, but it says we should fund the ARC more. Like every single previous review. Can we got on with it & do that, now? www.industry.gov.au/publications...

As voice AI becomes embedded in toys and everyday life, how do we help children not just use it, but question & help design it? www.admscentre.org.au/enhancing-pr... #AIethics #VoiceAI #CoDesign

Enhancing primary years AI literacy and ethics with a voice AI chatbot experience - ADM+S Centre

The ADM+S, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child (Digital Child), and QUT Gen AI Lab have partnered on a new project designed to help young children explore key ethical challenges associated ...

admscentre.org.au

Grammarly is no longer a friendly tool to help people become better writers, it is now a full on AI-plagiarism machine. I wrote a blog post showing how Grammarly's Expert review feature (discontinued yesterday) presented fake versions of academics without permission. jilltxt.net/grammarly-ge...

Grammarly generated fake expert reviews “by” real scholars

Grammarly is a full on AI plagiarism machine now, generating text, citations (often irrelevant), “humanizing” the text to avoid AI checkers and so on. If you’re an author or schol…

jilltxt.net

This remains vital to remember: nobody knows if Australian's Under16 Social Media Ban will actually work (ie have a positive impact on under16s) and nobody will be able to judge that meaningfully for years (not days, not months).

#AoIR2026 proposals in, #AoIR2025 papers OUT! AoIR SPIR 2025 Ruptures is now available. Check out the papers of our annual conference online 🔗 spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.ph... 🥳

I love the original Toy Story trilogy but, honestly, making screen time AKA 'tech' the villain for Toy Story 5 has the potential to really alienate kids and parents. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think this will be the Toy Story for me. youtu.be/c51ND9Hdbw0?...

Toy Story 5 | Official Trailer | In Theaters June 19

YouTube video by Pixar

youtu.be

♾️ CFP OUT NOW: M/C Journal '#immortality' issue, edited by Angelique Nairn and Deepti Bhargava. Article submissions due 17 Apr. 2026; issue launch date 17 June 2026. #mcjournal ♾️ journal.media-cultur...

🚨CFP: The ADM+S Generative Authenticity project is hosting a small scholarly symposium on Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media on 6-7 May at QUT Kelvin Grove (and hybrid node). Short abstracts due 9 March. All info and the submission form: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

CFP: ADM+S Generative Authenticity Symposium

Call for Papers Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media: An ADM+S Symposium 6-7 May 2026, QUT Kelvin Grove, Brisbane Authenticity is often at the centre of concer...

docs.google.com

Zoë Hitzig's piece in the NYTimes really hits home why OpenAI's inevitable, but even more intrusive, shift to deploying ads in ChatGPT shows (a) an exploitation of private data that eclipses even social media platforms; & (b) that there really are no new ideas coming out of AI companies at all.