Thrilled to have been awarded a @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant for the project "Thinking Metal: The Material Production of AI's Cognition". #AI #harware #microchips #ERCStG

After a shamefully long (entirely my fault) review process, finally out in the world "What the Edge Tells the Cloud: Decentralized Geographies of AI" t.co/N8bLysoCIr Our focus on AI has been on algorithms that are mostly cloud-based and taken as a self-enclosed computational unit.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @benedetta.bsky.social @ludovico-rella.bsky.social Alessio Giacometti

Nuclear clouds: the infrastructural convergence of AI and energy systems

This short commentary maps the convergence of industrial AI infrastructures and national energy systems, with a focus on the role that nuclear power plays in these ambitions. Drawing from examples ...

tandfonline.com

This @threadinburgh is phenomenal 🛤️ Rails to Trails: the thread about how North Edinburgh got its cycle paths. Esp. after all the ghost ruins infrastructure chat last week @ludovico-rella.bsky.social threadinburgh.scot/2026/06/01/r...

Rails to Trails: the thread about how North Edinburgh got its cycle paths

On this day, 40 years ago, a councillor cut the ceremonial ribbon and opened a section of cycle path in north Edinburgh. This was a rather special bit of cycle path however as it hadn’t been …

threadinburgh.scot

Last June, @susanaaires.bsky.social, @ludovico-rella.bsky.social, and I organised a panel on “Simondon and AI” at the 10th STS Italia Conference. We’ve now published a short report for 4S Backchannels, reflecting on key themes that emerged from our two sessions: 4sonline.org/news_manager...

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... What's up with AI and energy? In this article we explore the growing hunger of AI for energy and the growing intertwining of the energy industry and the AI infrastructure investment through power purchase agreements, especially for nuclear power

Nuclear clouds: the infrastructural convergence of AI and energy systems

This short commentary maps the convergence of industrial AI infrastructures and national energy systems, with a focus on the role that nuclear power plays in these ambitions. Drawing from examples ...

tandfonline.com

So happy to have @profgillian.bsky.social (alongside other great speakers) joining this workshop on ‘Techno-geographies of AI’ in Milan on Friday 27 March. Co-organised with @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and Darío Negueruela del Castillo. @fabianlferrari.bsky.social

gillian rose@profgillian.bsky.social · 7mo ago

really looking forward to this workshop on the techno-geographies of AI in Milan next week - if you're nearby and interested, register here: www.meta.polimi.it/internationa...

💥 New publication out on the alignment of AI & authoritarianism 💥 We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes. rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Want to know more about #syntheticdata #assetization, #blockchain and #cloudinfrastructures in #finance? In this paper for @financeandspace.bsky.social , I talk about those topics, plus how synthetic data might be reworking financial #subjectivities! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The tiny numnber of far-right and just one of the anti-racist groups.

When 150 far-right tried to march through Newcastle yesterday, 3000 Geordies stopped them. I’m proud of our city and its people. My article is a first-hand account of the day. www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...

Geordies weren't letting far-right fascists spout hate in their city this weekend

A far-right rogues gallery of racists came to Newcastle on Saturday 27 September - and yes, racists is the correct term. Or fascists...

thecanary.co

Majority@majorityuk.bsky.social · last yr.

Today Newcastle stood united. ✊🏼 The far-right were in town trying to spread their hate and division. Only about 200 turned up. Over 3000 canny geordies, including dozens of Majority members stopped them marching and sent them packing! #TheyDidNotPass #NaePasaran

📣Victory! 📣 Advance UK conference in #Newcastle cancelled. Their leader convicted drug dealer & violent thug, Tommy Robinson, won’t appear - huge thanks to Majority members on the frontline & community groups & campaigners leading the fight. #NotInOurCity #WeAreTheMajority

If you missed our sold out conference on Saturday, this is a brilliant summary from @northeastbylines.co.uk If you’re done sitting on the sidelines join us today 👇🏼

I am very excited and honoured to be the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant, starting January 2026 🔆 @erc.europa.eu. The five-year project will explore the broader social, political, and ethical implications of training algorithmic models on synthetic data. www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

New project to investigate societal consequences of using synthetic data to train algorithms

Researchers in the University of York’s Department of Sociology will lead one of the first large-scale, systematic social science studies of synthetic data.

york.ac.uk

Congratulations to @zackpolanski.bsky.social for winning the Green party leadership with a stunning 84.6% of the vote. There is a real appetite for genuine change in this country, and a broad progressive coalition will bring it. We look forward to working with Zack and the Greens in the future!

Our paper finally has a house in Distinktion's Volume 26, Issue 1 (2025): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... We investigate how general purpose technologies AI&blockchain produce hybridization of 1. material infrastructures 2. power, politics and institutional arrangements 3. domain expertise.

Hybrid materialities, power, and expertise in the era of general purpose technologies

This article proposes three distinct perspectives on and approaches to the study of hybridisation across society, industries, and academia enabled by General Purpose Technologies like AI and blockc...

tandfonline.com

OpenAI will not “embed” its tools in college life, it is already changing the nature of what it means to learn, to read or think critically. It does not embed in the world, it makes the world in its image. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

nytimes.com

The 10th STS Italia Conference kicks off tomorrow, 11 June, in Milan. If you’re around, you’re very welcome to join @susanaaires.bsky.social, @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and me for our two sessions on ‘Simondon & AI’ in the afternoon. Abstract details here: stsitalia.org/wp-content/u...

fabio iapaolo@fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social · 2y ago

CfA: "Simondon and AI: A Collective Individuation in the Year of His Birth Centenary". Join @susanaaires.bsky.social, @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and me at #STSItalia2025 in Milan next June! Abstracts due 3 February 2025. For submission guidelines and panel details (Panel No. 3): bit.ly/49xJP5m

I’m straight, but for years I’ve flown the Pride flag behind me in every TV interview because I support freedom, tolerance and solidarity.🏳️‍🌈 The decision by the County Durham RefUK administration to take it down signals hostility. This letter from Bishop Auckland Pride explains it beautifully.

“Labour has become the oppressor…..Labour’s oh-so-clever strategists are moronically gift wrapping the country for Nigel Farage.” Majority puts people at the heart of politics. The political class are not going to save us, we have to save ourselves. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How we can smash Britain’s two-party system for good at the next election | George Monbiot

Labour is beyond repair. Time for a co-ordinated strategy to support progressive parties committed to electoral reform, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

Don’t miss @selinnugent.bsky.social’s great piece in the AI & Society special issue that @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and I are guest editing, exploring evolutionary analogies in AI research and how biological diction shapes imaginaries of AI as individuated systems link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Darwin in the machine: addressing algorithmic individuation through evolutionary narratives in computing - AI & SOCIETY

This paper examines the application of evolutionary analogy in AI (artificial intelligence) research, focussing on narratives that perpetuate individuated and autonomous imaginaries of AI systems thro...

link.springer.com

Dr Selin Nugent@selinnugent.bsky.social · last yr.

The new season of Black Mirror introduced us to Peter Capaldi’s plague of evolutionary Thonglets. Craving more? Coincidentally, my article on evolution in computing is out now! I explore the history of scientists presenting machines as evolving creatures and discuss distinguishing science from hype

Really exciting and timely stuff on the materiality of computing infrastructures. Thanks so much @ludovico-rella.bsky.social for sharing your work with us and to our brilliant audience for an engaging discussion! 🙏

Ludovico Rella@ludovico-rella.bsky.social · 2y ago

This was a fantastic event with a great and engaged audience. I have learned so much from the questions I received and I have now a lot of food for thought on topics of AI's materiality, environmental impact, edge and cloud infrastructures, and much more

This was a fantastic event with a great and engaged audience. I have learned so much from the questions I received and I have now a lot of food for thought on topics of AI's materiality, environmental impact, edge and cloud infrastructures, and much more

Ludovico Rella@ludovico-rella.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited to present about this in a couple of hours! Stay tuned!

Excited to present about this in a couple of hours! Stay tuned!

AI Ethics & Society@aies-edinburgh.bsky.social · 2y ago

📢 Come join our next in-person talk by @ludovico-rella.bsky.social, who will use energy consumption to trace the material political economy of EdgeAI and the effects, tensions, and epistemological tradeoffs produced by different hardware configurations ⬇️ sign up here: shorturl.at/uVTdO

📢 Come join our next in-person talk by @ludovico-rella.bsky.social, who will use energy consumption to trace the material political economy of EdgeAI and the effects, tensions, and epistemological tradeoffs produced by different hardware configurations ⬇️ sign up here: shorturl.at/uVTdO

Between Dark and Green Silicon: Geographies of Cloud and Edge AI

This talk by Ludovico Rella discusses how tracking energy consumption traces the material political economy of Edge and Cloud AI

eventbrite.co.uk

In their fascinating exchange, @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and colleagues argue that technologies like AI and blockchain cause hybridisation in the realms of materiality, power and expertise www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Hybrid materialities, power, and expertise in the era of general purpose technologies

This article proposes three distinct perspectives on and approaches to the study of hybridisation across society, industries, and academia enabled by General Purpose Technologies like AI and blockc...

tandfonline.com

The deadline in next Monday, 3 February @susanaaires.bsky.social @ludovico-rella.bsky.social

fabio iapaolo@fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social · 2y ago

CfA: "Simondon and AI: A Collective Individuation in the Year of His Birth Centenary". Join @susanaaires.bsky.social, @ludovico-rella.bsky.social and me at #STSItalia2025 in Milan next June! Abstracts due 3 February 2025. For submission guidelines and panel details (Panel No. 3): bit.ly/49xJP5m

Excited to be heading to Paris for this fantastic lineup of scholars on #AI #materiality and #infrastructures! Thank you Loup, Valentin, Hugo, Adrien and Theo for inviting me! @ana_valdi, Anne-Laure Ligozat, Aurélie Bugeau, @Algosoc_ERC

Some thoughts on the #DeepSeek storm: first of all, what they actually innovated from the vanilla Transformer is well summarized here t.co/l6NNx938TI