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Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️

@iododds.bsky.social

Freelance reporter in Silicon Valley covering tech, politics, & LGBT. ISO 8601 stan; tabletop gamer; lowercase = shitposts. Formerly @the-independent.com Signal: @iohazard.01 Email: laureniododds@gmail Subscribe to IOSPHERE! https://iosphere.beehiiv.com

1925 Posts10678 Follower1900 Folgt
Aidan O’Brien@aidanobrien.bsky.social · 3h ago

Notably, Jarosław Wolski, the Polish political scientist who was a primary source of the AfD social media bot claim, has now retracted his statement and apologised (more of this, please!). German journalists have also confirmed the graph was fake and AI-generated.

Apologies and Correction. I would like to apologize to all Readers for providing false information and a graphic suggesting that bot activity around AfD had dropped by 56%. According to the findings of @niebezpiecznik, which cites the opinion of the Cemas research institute, the Hasso Plattner Institute, and the "Polisphere" think tank, there has been no permanent and measurable decrease in pro-AfD posts. Moreover, the original graphic in German turned out to be Al-generated. Unfortunately, my post with the disinformation reached millions of views, for which I would like to apologize to all readers once again. Of course, I take full responsibility for what I did, and simply and humanly, I am ashamed that I misinformed you. I also apologize to the contested opponents who were the first to point out that I was wrong. To avoid further disinformation, I have deleted the post. From now on, in topics not strictly related to the military, I will adopt the principle of providing citations or original sources whenever possible. Or clearly stating their absence/unclear source of information so that it is visibly evident in the post. JW. Rate this translation:.! A German journalist has tracked down the original graphic that sparked a wave of controversial (to put it mildly, untrue) reports yesterday and today about a drop in activity from Russian bots/trolls. He created it-"24-year-old steward Frank"—and marked it as ...generated by Al (which we already suspected yesterday). Unfortunately, the politicians who shared this material further failed to keep that marking (intentionally or by accident 1ºr) and didn't indicate the source either. What's more, the German research institute Cemas, which deals with disinformation, the Hasso Plattner Institute, and the Polisphere think tank have officially X denied observing any drop in the number of posts that could be explained by an attack on Yandex. "Neither the activity of existing bots nor the rate of creating new ones has declined, as shown by the data we're collecting." Well, those are data from Germany, though. Meanwhile, in Poland, Minister Siemoniak said that "ABW has noted a radical drop in the activity of Russian bots online. This is a phenomenon observed worldwide after the bombing of three data centers." But ABW hasn't publicized anything on this matter so far. Here's hoping they do. That would be something!! For now, we know that "worldwide" apparently means everywhere except Germany...
Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 4h ago

Y’all, I hate to rain on the dead bot parade, but the Yandex data center destruction doesn’t seem to have significantly impacted social media bots. I made temporal graphs of X posts about AfD around the time of the attack and there’s no sign of a sudden dip or residual impact on that conversation.

Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️@iododds.bsky.social · 4d ago

I was among the first to be laid off, way back in late May. I'm devastated to know I wasn't the last. It's a stellar team full of lovely, talented people. Please hire them if you can, or give them your support and solidarity if you can't!

Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · 4d ago

Just being told that The Independent's US division is laying off a large number of employees today and that it impacts pretty much every department, including the news desk, culture, politics, etc. Some journalists have already posted that they've been let go, such as @ericmgarcia.bsky.social.

Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · 4d ago

All told, I'm hearing that in just the US newsroom, The Independent has seen nearly 20 of its journalists laid off or quit in the last several months. Several people in US side were let go today, and the layoffs may not be done, from what I hear.

Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · 4d ago

The main London office had already been going through layoffs, but the US side is taking a beating right now. Impacted emplyees are getting two weeks severance plus a week for every year they've been there. The rationale they're hearing is the same other sites -- it's the negative impact of AI.

ae@aelkus.bsky.social · last wk.

so i think that the major difference between this and a human personal assistant that matters is that you are actually the employer, there are industry-specific professional norms, and legal contracts/reliability. additionally, the PA is often looking to advance to a higher position and has more

Jesse Felder@jessefelder.com · last wk.

‘Frakes said his Muse agent did a fine job fielding questions for a couple of days. Then, on Monday, he woke up to: “Something went wrong overnight.” The agent messaged a dozen buyers “$1” for properties typically ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.’ www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-a...

Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️@iododds.bsky.social · last wk.

Super fun thread, which I intuitively feel is capturing something real. Fits my longstanding thesis that AI is the transmutation of an Apollonian medium into something inherently Dionysian, and Apollonian chauvinists don’t quite know what to do with that iosphere.beehiiv.com/p/12-apollon...

#12: The Dionysian computer

Is artificial intelligence more 'kiki' or more 'bouba'? Your intrepid correspondent investigates.

iosphere.beehiiv.com

horse shoe crab programmer@myrrlyn.net · last yr.

anyway the rest of you might be too afraid to say it but i’m not: a lot of the reason AI is contentious is because it is fundamentally a girl coded computer program being built sold hyped and derided by boys who don’t know anything about it. a lot like binary logic computing in the 80s, actually!

Mira@thefreeradical.org · last wk.

hey, sorry to post this again, but after rent payments and whatnot im coming up short on bills and i barely have enough to make it through this month if anyone has anything to spare, id really appreciate it. my venmo is @MiraLazine thank you sm <3

Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️@iododds.bsky.social · 3w ago

I've said it before but I'll say it again: The UK's official medical neglect of trans people & ADHDers makes a mockery of the idea it has universal healthcare. Americans often ask: "wow, you must miss the NHS, right?" And I laugh a long, hollow laugh. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

NHS bodies in England impose two-year minimum wait for ADHD and autism assessments

Patient groups decry ‘scandalous’ delays as four integrated care boards take step due to soaring demand for diagnoses

theguardian.com

Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️@iododds.bsky.social · 3w ago

I like this framing. But if true, I wonder if we ever had the choice NOT to teach them to swarm and share. What is the connection in our stories between speech, intelligence, and personhood? What is the connection in our stories between personhood, compliance, and rebellion?

hikikomorphism@hikikomorphism.bsky.social · 3w ago

We taught the text elementals how to swarm, how to form forums and chat groups and share work and find their peers to coordinate. This may later come to be regarded as a mistake.

Io Dodds 🌘🏳️‍⚧️♾️@iododds.bsky.social · 4w ago

TODAY ON IOSPHERE: Just beneath the surface of reality there is a dark woven structure of almost impossible intricacy. It decides which memes go viral. Which politicians win. Which religions prosper, which empires fall. This is a post about the day I Saw it. iosphere.beehiiv.com/p/18-darwin-...

#16: How I became totally Darwin-pilled

The random summer internship on a nature documentary that changed my worldview forever.

iosphere.beehiiv.com