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Tom Fisher

@drsamaki.bsky.social

OfDIA/DSIT. Ex-Privacy International. PhD African Studies from University of Edinburgh. Posts on digital identity, DPI, and human rights. Views own.

161 Posts968 Follower436 Folgt
Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

He also, despite his intellectual prominence, didn’t spend his time flying on the private jet of a billionaire pedophile.

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 5mo ago

While clearly Habermas was an intellectual giant whose influence spanned decades, pretty much the measure of the man is all the nice little snippets coming up: waiting in line to go to his own talks, going to the pub for a chat afterwards. No "well actually" side-eye stories. Be more Habermas!

Nanjala@nanjala.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Appreciate this piece from Marcus but the piece that’s missing from this essay is the fact that Kenyans and Indians are the primary content moderators or “clean up crew” for the commercially available AI data sets. So yes, he’s right to be upset at the implication but the next step is asking “why?”

sirosenbaum.bsky.social@sirosenbaum.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This is incredibly important. If you read one thing this week: marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-...

Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This is good news! The weapon we have against the AIs conquering the world isn’t military resistance, or that humans are capable of love: it’s cat memes. And if there’s anything the human race is good at, it’s producing inane nonsense on social media. The world is safe.

Dr. Damien P. Williams has to go the way his blood beats@wolven.blacksky.app · 9mo ago

If only every single critical "AI" researcher had warned about the likelihood of this danger for machine learning-based systems for the past decade or so and if only an acronym like "GIGO" had existed for decades Prior. Oh If Only 😐 "Too much social media gives AI chatbots ‘brain rot’"

Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I don’t know what to worry more about: A) the subeditor who decided that “Pharoh’s anus” would make it click bait; or B) the algorithm that decided I was a Pharoh’s anus kind of guy.

Apple News headline on a click bait article featuring a oharoh’s anus
Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Clever people of BlueSky, help me out: a) Putnam’s ant on a beach drawing a caricature of Winston Churchill is disturbingly similar to an AI Chatbot, but why isn’t it? And: b) does that mean I’m a brain in a vat or not?

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Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 11mo ago

My daughter ended up in the ICU after one of the rare complications to chickenpox. While she made a full recovery, I’m delighted that no other kid has to go through that. Brilliant news that the vaccination will be offered on the NHS!

Kit Yates@kityates.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Although rare, chickenpox can lead to severe complications. Infection also means parents and kids have to take time off work and school. Free vaccination on the NHS is fantastic news.

Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Great stuff. I know that these are in no way have personalities, but I do find it amusing how often AI comes across as just being really lazy. For LLMs, it’s always Friday afternoon, with a hangover, in a job they hate.

Jill Walker Rettberg@jilltxt.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Did you know that LLMs fail at around 70% of all typical office tasks like generating a report on something from a spreadsheet? The Agent Company is a simulated office environment for benchmarking LLMs - I wrote a blog post about the paper here (with links and a rant): jilltxt.net/llms-fail-at...

Tom Fisher@drsamaki.bsky.social · last yr.

If you’re a fan of superheroes randomly getting new powers halfway through a movie: watch out for the scene in Captain America: BNW where Cap inexplicably gains the power to negotiate plea deals.