Kate Devlin
@drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Academic; writer. Professor of AI & Society, Chair-Director @kings-dfi.bsky.social, King’s College London. Eye-rolling at AI nonsense on a daily basis. #academicsky . Norn Irish in Norwich.
On August 5, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is predicted to crash onto the Moon. What has crashed on the Moon before? The very first human object to touch the Moon - Luna 2 in 1959. A probe, 3 bombs, and a rocket body! 🧪 🔭
1959: Luna 2 (USSR)
YouTube video by International Astronautical Federation
m.youtube.com
I'm on annual leave. Yesterday was spent running a longish distance, reading, going to the gym, and drinking wine (not all at once). Today I did a million loads of laundry and some gardening in my tiny yarden. I am thoroughly enjoying this as a holiday. Next up: cleaning blitz + sanding the stairs.
Bede's World! Bede's World! Party time! Venerable!
ʻNo means no’: freelancers push back on AI - long read on our Parliament meet. Huge thanks to all our speakers and everyone who came - brilliant questions! 🙏 @rosesrebellion.bsky.social @nujofficial.bsky.social @the-aop.org @drkatedevlin.bsky.social @johnmcdonnellmp.bsky.social
ʻNo means no’: freelancers push back on AI | The Freelance
Our meeting in the House of Commons on 8 June
buff.ly
Australia’s eSafety commissioner buried a report (released Friday afternoon) that shows the under 16 social media ban didn’t tangibly reduce teen social media use, and also resulted in parents tuning out of kids usage. We traded our privacy for no reason. theconversation.com/more-than-80...
More than 80% of kids still using social media despite ban, new eSafety report finds
The report provides more evidence Australia’s world-leading social media ban isn’t going to plan.
theconversation.com
This is a properly nuanced piece on AI and worth a read
Kate Devlin@drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 2w agoI did an interview with the fab @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social from @bylinetimes.bsky.social and here it is, for those who have not yet heard my lengthy discourse on why genAI often sucks, why techbros definitely suck, and why a U16 social media ban is downright stupid: bylinetimes.com/2026/07/21/t...
Who's doing dinner? What's for dinner? Are you doing dinner or am I? Do we have stuff for dinner? Is it my turn to cook? Is there chicken? Can you cook? Is pasta okay? Can we not make the kid cook? Should we just get pizza?
The Times and Sunday Times@thetimes.com · last wk.The ten questions my husband hates me asking
Today I had my Personal Development Review with my manager: in the past year I've only had 1 death threat plus am no longer blacklisted by the UK government. None of this is REFable.
I've gone from being "I'm not all that keen on fizzy drinks" to "the only thing getting me through this heatwave is Diet Coke with pickle juice and olive brine". I swear it is, as the kids say, the tits.
The OpenAI/Hugging Face incident is worthy of your time—it's an important warning sign about the weird moment we're in with AI, with a side order of US-China rivalry. Most of all, though, it's a reminder that AI is a story about humans, not technology. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/welcome-to...
Welcome to the Danger of Digital Flubber
The weirdest story in tech right now is a story about humans—not tech.
doomsdayscenario.co
You work as a PhD student or postdoc? Welcome to the factory line of our little academic press. You work as a tenured professor? Congrats on having made it to lower management! And both: thanks, we couldn´t keep profit margins higher than big tech without all of your unpaid writing and editing!
Caroline Ball@heroicendeavour.eurosky.social · last wk.This article estimated global APC spend in 2023 to be around $2.5 billion, which was THREE TIMES the amount just four years earlier in 2019, at around $910 million.
Ah yes, a classic from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Right up there with the paperclip maximiser.
Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · last wk.“What we need to explain to the world: Number one, we are close to creating a genie that can grant any wish. Number two, we are going to make sure that our first wishes broadly benefit humanity” - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI — This is definitely the opposite of Anthropic’s AI kills all jobs pitch.
Shadow use of genAI as a reviewer is shitty because you're putting someone else's work into the machine w/o consent, and as an author I'd rather hear Reviewer 2's bad attitudes than LLM platitudes. But if you sanction reviewers you'll just have no reviewers. It's a lose-lose situation.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last wk.'IOP Publishing...does not allow the use of AI in its peer review policy, but it believes that generative AI use has skyrocketed nonetheless. As a result, the publisher is trying out a new system that sees reviewers receive a warning where AI use is suspected.' 1/3
Ok but have you heard the story of the man who 1000x’d his fish and bread metric while establishing engagement with 1000’s of sticky eyeballs?
dame@dame.is · last wk.the only thing worse than sitting in a coffee shop next to evangelicals talking about jesus is being next to tech bros talking about artificial intelligence i’d prefer not to hear about your mission trip to africa or how agentic workflows are 10x-ing a metric
If you see this, quote a pic of you in sunglasses
Dr Phoenix CS Andrews@thatdocphoenix.com · 2w agoIf you see this, quote a pic of you in sunglasses
I did an interview with the fab @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social from @bylinetimes.bsky.social and here it is, for those who have not yet heard my lengthy discourse on why genAI often sucks, why techbros definitely suck, and why a U16 social media ban is downright stupid: bylinetimes.com/2026/07/21/t...
‘There’s a Value in What We Produce Because We Feel – and an AI Chatbot Can’t Feel’
Byline Times' Editor in Chief meets Kate Devlin, Professor of AI and Society at King’s College London, to explore how relationships with AI companions aren’t particularly new, why she believes the und...
bylinetimes.com
This is a great read.
Angelos Arnis 🏴@arn.is · 2w agoFreedom is a complex concept and not even close when it comes to promises of emancipation through technology that billionaire techbros are trying to sell to us. Read my latest on freedom and the tech industry. If you like it, do share - it helps a ton! collectivefutures.blog/whose-freedo...
It's called The Humanities and it's being systematically dismantled due to HE cuts. 😡
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2w agoUniversities should arm students with AI ‘eval’ powers ft.trib.al/KP8p07e | opinion
Visiting my folks and i did the village Gala Week 10 mile race because I needed a long training run and now my smartwatch is FURIOUS at me because I went faster than I was supposed to. Fuck you, watch: I got a medal. (Everyone got a medal. All shall have prizes.)
"There's a value in what we produce because we feel – and an AI chatbot can't feel... But I don't find anything wrong with someone who finds genuine happiness with an AI companion" For my new 'Human Interview', I met AI & Society Prof at KCL @drkatedevlin.bsky.social to explore connection & tech 👇
‘There’s a Value in What We Produce Because We Feel – and an AI Chatbot Can’t Feel’
Byline Times' Editor in Chief meets Kate Devlin, Professor of AI and Society at King’s College London, to explore how relationships with AI companions aren’t particularly new, why she believes the und...
bylinetimes.com
Well, it was very nice to be appointed to the new DSIT College of Experts for *glances at watch* a whole 32 days.
Gutted to be leaving #emfcamp early: got 6hrs of trains to get home to Norwich then have to be in London tomorrow morning to fly to Norn Ireland to visit the parents. It has been wonderful and my heart is so full and I now have 1047 new projects to start. See you in 2028. Mwah!
I wish this one didn’t have a paywall. Here’s the opening:
Byline Times@bylinetimes.bsky.social · 3w ago🟡 MAGAZINE: The News No Longer Exists By @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social Twenty-four-hour news channels killed The News. They turned it from something to be compiled and considered into a constant stream of events. Nothing ever happens; now it is happening. Read the full story below.
@jonty.bsky.social If I don't bump into you around the site before I disappear tomorrow lunchtime, thank you again times a million. This marks 10 years since my first EMFcamp and it feels like a homecoming every time.
