This recording captures my talk on “Genre and GenAI” at Sciences Po last week. This is work toward a formal and material critique of instruction-fine tuned models that present what I call the “instructional-conversational” genre. [INST]

If you’re local stop by!

Can the human sciences exist w/out the human? Proposals for using AI as human research subjects suggest yes. But @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I respond with, ‘not so fast.’ In fact, silicon subjects say more about the problems of the research paradigm than the promises of AI. 🚨New article, thread 1/

We write, the “conditions upon which AI tools are built inherently exclude the same people who are already underrepresented in CogSci… AI Surrogates perpetuate an illusion of generalizability where researchers believe these models represent a broader swathe of humanity than they actually do.” 5/

La vidéo de la présentation de @jeddobson.bsky.social lors du séminaire du médialab est en ligne ! Une discussion autour des normes, idéologies et attentes intégrées dans les architectures linguistiques contemporaines. A regarder dès maintenant sur Vimeo 👇

This recording captures my talk on “Genre and GenAI” at Sciences Po last week. This is work toward a formal and material critique of instruction-fine tuned models that present what I call the “instructional-conversational” genre. [INST]

A book for our times, DISASTER TOURISM by Rena J. Mosteirin offers readers a gritty view of our darkening world, shifting perspectives and transporting us at a needfully dizzying pace. Purchase your very own copy of DISASTER TOURISM today at boaeditions.org! #PubWeek #BoaEditions#PoetryCollection

"Your Father Came from a Movie" by @renamosteirin.bsky.social from her brand new collection, Disaster Tourism. #poetry #poems

"Disaster Tourism" by @renamosteirin.bsky.social from her brand new collection, Disaster Tourism. #poetry #poems

Pub day for a new book from my favorite poet!

That pub day feeling

Most of all, I recommend you check out all the incredible articles in this special issue (culturalanalytics.org/issue/12788), with work by Tess McNulty, Laura Chapot, @jeddobson.bsky.social, Alexandre Miller et al, and @katelelkins.bsky.social.

Excited to share my latest publication, "Generative Aesthetics: On formal stuckness in AI verse." It's published in a special issue in the Journal of Cultural Analytics, expertly edited by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot, on "Computation and Form, Reconsidered." culturalanalytics.org/article/1448...

MIT says "NOPE, we stand for peer review, merit, and academic freedom" in reply to the Trump Regime's proposed "compact" with Higher Ed. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Demain, @jeddobson.bsky.social explorera les chatbots IA à travers le prisme du genre conversationnel-didactique. 📍 Rendez-vous à Sciences Po Paris ou en ligne pour suivre le séminaire.

🗓️ Let's talk about the instructional-conversational genre of LLMs with James E. Dobson (@jeddobson.bsky.social), Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College, on "Genre and GenAI"! Tomorrow, 2-4pm (CET), at Sciences Po and online ⤵️

📆 Le médialab accueille @jeddobson.bsky.social pour son prochain séminaire, le mardi 7 octobre 2025. Il explorera les chatbots IA à travers le prisme du genre conversationnel-didactique, en analysant les normes, idéologies et attentes intégrées aux architectures linguistiques contemporaines. ⬇️

Job posting: Critical Artificial Intelligence Librarian at Dartmouth College. searchjobs.dartmouth.edu/postings/83154

On the Good Fight podcast w substack.com/@yaschamounk I give a quick but careful primer on how modern AI works. I also chat about our responsibility as machine learning scientists, and what we need to fix to get AI right. Take a listen and reshare - www.persuasion.community/p/david-bau

Looking forward to giving this talk next week! This is work in progress and I’m excited to show it and receive feedback.

Gave this a closer look today and wow it really benefits from the many hands that touched it. Every point -- every sub-point -- is thoughtfully substantiated by connecting it to multiple discourses in CS and humanities. The rigorous thought at scale, so to speak, is truly impressive.

📐 "Beyond Computational Formalism or, Architecture Matters" by James E. Dobson (@jeddobson.bsky.social) examines how neural network architectures materially shape the capacities, outputs, and interpretive possibilities of machine learning models. culturalanalytics.org/article/1339...

🗓️ We are thrilled to announce the Call for Papers for the conference+journal track of the 5th annual Conference of Computational Literary Studies, May 28-29, 2026, in #Potsdam, #Germany! #CCLS26 #CfP Submit your article by January 8, 2026, and be part of our big 5-year jubilee edition! 🥳🥳🥳

these are cable management geniuses--how did they do that?

📣 New Article Alert: Here's a potentially 🌶️ essay on the lack of formalism in humanistic writing about neural networks (or "AI"). Form matters. Architecture matters.

This is a fantastic special issue of Cultural Analytics that comes out of a truly amazing workshop convened by Tess McNulty and Laura Chapot in April 2023!! Looking forward to reading all the essays. Check it out.

👾 "Beyond Plot: How Sentiment Analysis Reshapes Our Understanding of Narrative Structure" by Katherine Elkins (@katelelkins.bsky.social) culturalanalytics.org/article/1436...

Never thought I would come across Dilthey and Gadamer in a paper on LLMs. It's on 'computational hermeneutics'. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... One should not forget Philipp Wegener who first developed a 'Situationstheorie' of meaning/interpretation in 1885!

New preprint on "Computational Hermeneutics," co-authored by too many people to list in one post. TL;DR: GenAI is a cultural technology, and needs to be evaluated in ways that recognize situatedness, plurality, and ambiguity as the conditions of meaning — not noise to be minimized.

Victoria K. Holt, published in Ethics & Int'l Affairs on #UN peace operations & renewable energy. "A Positive Legacy?" explores how missions can use clean energy to improve effectiveness, build stronger communities, and leave a positive legacy. #Peacekeeping #RenewableEnergy #Ethics zurl.co/68LI3

What's in those files?

And there goes time wasted on planning for the NEH Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence grant program because it's now been canceled. Might officially be at "why even bother?" on federal grants, between my work being filled with special dirty words and last-minute cancellations.

Why was Marvin Minsky such a jerk?

Visiting @renamosteirin.bsky.social’s poem at the @poetrysociety.org in Brooklyn today! So happy and proud of her. Read “Your Father Came from a Movie.”

It’s a bit of a personal liberation day for folks with my name and a doctorate.

I've got a new essay out. "Early Machine Learning and Artificial Animal Intelligences" appears in the latest volume of the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association in a special issue titled “Intelligence” and edited by Naomi Michalowicz and Nathan Jung. muse.jhu.edu/pub/140/arti...

I've got a new essay out. "Early Machine Learning and Artificial Animal Intelligences" appears in the latest volume of the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association in a special issue titled “Intelligence” and edited by Naomi Michalowicz and Nathan Jung. muse.jhu.edu/pub/140/arti...

New paper from me at Cognition and Emotion! "Deep neural network models of emotion understanding" I discuss how deep nets can be used as cognitive models of emotion perception, prediction, and regulation: doi.org/10.1080/0269... (h/t @ltjaql.bsky.social for the illustrations!)

i spoke with Rick Kleffel for his podcast The Narrative Species about Language Machines, if you need a weekend listen - this was wide-ranging and very fun www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpe6...

This is going to be the best book of poetry published this year! Preorder now! Congratulations, @renamosteirin.bsky.social!!! ❤️

What conditions foster the use of offshore finance? Excited to share our work on how elites across 65 countries use the offshore financial system to keep their assets hidden. Coverage: home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/07... Paper Link: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Excited to share Martha Pollack's Montgomery Fellow presentation "AI and the Mission of Higher Education" with Phil Hanlon, delivered at Dartmouth College on April 21, 2025. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Lb...

In which I suggest that contemporary AI is a culture machine that we might be taking too seriously

"The Mesh We’re In," a review of Aden Evens's The Digital and its Discontents (2024) by John Cayley. computationalculture.net/the-mesh-wer...

Leif Weatherby in the NYT today with a provocative op-ed titled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Have Fun With A.I." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/o... @leifw.bsky.social

My follow-up article on synthesis in gen AI is now out 💥💥💥   Responding to @shanedenson.bsky.social response, I expand on my transcendental argument about LLMs and develop the case for a structuralist reading of Kantian synthesis. Available Open Access ⬇️ journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/ph...

I am excited to share Luciano Floridi's Montgomery Fellow lecture "AI and the Future of Content," delivered on February 26, 2025 at Dartmouth College as part of a lecture series of AI. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nX4... @floridi.bsky.social