💥 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/...

🚨New article🚨 Why has the promise of universal ownership been broken, as @benbraun.bsky.social has suggested? Our argument: because the Big Three are hardly universal. They mainly invest in those that can insulate themselves from environmental harm - big tech & financials in the Global North. 🧵

Rethinking urban AI: a critical posthumanist perspective on intelligence, autonomy, and agency by @fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social and @casey-lynch.bsky.social in Urban Geography www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Excited to share a new open access article with @casey-lynch.bsky.social, just out in @urbangeography.bsky.social: "Rethinking urban AI: a critical posthumanist perspective on intelligence, autonomy, and agency": www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New article in Urban Geography! @fabio-iapaolo.bsky.social and I question concepts of intelligence, autonomy, and agency in urban AI literature through a discussion of the critical posthumanisms of Braidotti, Latour, and (in particular) Hayles to multiply the sites and actors of urban AI politics.

Governance can't be automated. A new one from me in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

If you’re comfortable, here’s a form to submit info on terminated NSF grants for greater collective transparency and insight among grantees: Kudos to @scott-delaney.bsky.social for putting together. airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

It's pruning season in the wine vineyards. on CAs Central Coast. Gerardo is grinding the branches and trunks that other workers pruned to make mulch that will be used to control weeds, improve soil health, and help the vines withstand extreme temperatures. #WeFeedYou

Iveson, K., & Melo Zurita, M. de L. (2025). The ups and downs of telecommunications infrastructure: the urban geopolitics of communications cabling in colonial Sydney. Australian Geographer, 1–31. #geosky

First proper article in five years, due to life stuff. If you’re interested in work, automation, the future & imagination this may be of interest #geosky doi.org/10.1177/0263...

@sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social and I are hoping to organize a session on the theme of 'Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI' at this year's RGS-IBG (26-29 August 2025, Birmingham, UK). Please consider submitting! #geography #rgs

Have you always wanted to learn about social and ethical dimensions of geotechnologies? #GéoTechE free online course now open for sign up! www.geoversity.io/courses/geot... Including introduction to #CriticalRemoteSensising #GeoAIEthics #CriticalDataStudies and much much more!

“African Tech Workers Rising is organising for better wages, mental health protections and professional standards in Kenya and beyond. We are doing this because AI is not magic. Behind every algorithm are thousands of hidden workers labelling, training & moderating data under precarious conditions.”

📣 CfP ALGORITHMIC REFUSAL: CREATIVITY AND CODEABILITY IN DIGITAL URBAN GOVERNANCE @rgsibg.bsky.social conference in Birmingham. Organisers: @ayonadatta.bsky.social @fennaimara.bsky.social and Mariana Reyes DEADLINE for abstracts: 21st February 2025. 👇 www.regionalfutures.org/all-outputs/...

I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing @erinmcel.bsky.social “Silicon Valley Imperialism” published by @dukepress.bsky.social. Spoiler alert: it’s excellent! You can read my review in Dialogues in Urban Research here: doi.org/10.1177/2754...

May we stop entertaining industry self-regulation as a viable constraint now?

Are you thinking through questions about authoritarianism & AI? Do you like geographers? If so, please consider this session on ‘Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI’ by @casey-lynch.bsky.social & @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social & myself which we are hoping to get up at this year’s RGS-IBG.

@sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social and I are hoping to organize a session on the theme of 'Authoritarianism and the Geographies of AI' at this year's RGS-IBG (26-29 August 2025, Birmingham, UK). Please consider submitting! #geography #rgs

👆Presentations by fantastic scholars @samkinsley.uk @sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @marxist.af @casey-lynch.bsky.social Matt Zook, Jingya Dai, Sanjana Krishnan, Otello Palmini, Luis Lozano-Paredes, Elizabeth Resor.

Thrilled to announce our triple session on 'Urban AI Spectrums' in the @geographers.bsky.social #AAG2025 meeting in Detroit. Co-organised with Federico Cugurullo and Caprotti. Join us on 26 March 2025, Room 330A, Level 3, Huntington Place. www.regionalfutures.org/all-outputs/...

Cualquier posibilidad de negociación colectiva desaparece. Una especie de espiral del silencio. Se debe considerar la culminación del modelo socioeconómico neocapitalista. Al menos, hasta ahora… ¿Podría comenzar a cambiar?

#GenteConClase Nº 79 “Caso Glovo o el principio del fin de la precariedad pedaleante” #PincharElGlovo genteconclase.ccoo.es Las personas empleadas en las plataformas como Glovo no establecen una relación de dependencia en el trabajo respecto a otras personas, sino respecto a un algoritmo opaco.

“While SB 1120 does not entirely prohibit the use of AI technology, it mandates that human judgment remains central to coverage decisions. Under the new law, AI tools cannot be used to deny, delay or alter health care services deemed medically necessary by doctors.”

Barcelona now the European spyware centre, especially for Israeli experts avoiding the live war for cybercrime thinly disguised www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

«Por definición, las empresas, no importa las buenas intenciones que tengan, no se pueden autorregular. Eso tiene que venir de fuera. Lo raro sería que, en la historia, todas las industrias se hayan regulado menos esta» www.mujerhoy.com/actualidad/s...

“Algorithm glitches are one facet of a dilemma that computer scientists and doctors have long acknowledged but that is starting to puzzle hospital executives and researchers: Artificial intelligence systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and to keep them working well.”

BREAKING: Amazon warehouse workers in Garner, NC have filed for a union election after three years of organizing. If they win, RDU1 would be the second unionized warehouse in the U.S.

Happening now: Amazon Labor Union workers and supporters are rallying outside JFK8 on Staten Island ahead of a midnight strike due to Amazon refusing to come to the bargaining table following a Dec. 15 deadline. #STRIKEMAS

🔴 ARA SÍ. El Congrés admet a tràmit la nostra proposta per regular els lloguers de temporada i d'habitacions. Però el que cal ara és que s'aprovi. Cada dia que passa sense acabar amb aquesta estafa són persones forçades a signar contractes escombraria i famílies expulsades.

A new @rooseveltinstitute.bsky.social report is sounding the alarm on “Uber for nursing.” Hospitals are using gig apps for nursing, with some nurses paying to bid on shifts and offering to work for less to win those bids. The full extent of this 'gig nursing' is unknown.

Worrying piece by @sarahoconnorft.bsky.social about the gig economy employment model moving to retail. The risk for workplace domination looks rampant: retailers review workers after every gig and these reviews determine workers’ chances at future gigs. www.ft.com/content/0998...

Delighted to share that Federico Cugurullo, Federico Caprotti and myself have organised 3 sessions on 'Urban AI Spectrums' @geographers.bsky.social annual meeting. Includes presentations by @sophiamaalsen.bsky.social @casey-lynch.bsky.social @marxist.af @samkinsley.uk Matt Zook and others

BREAKING: Amazon workers in NYC are going on strike right before Christmas—the company's busiest time. The first unionized Amazon warehouse is going to shut down in a historic walkout. Workers plan to hit the company where it hurts to win their first union contract. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI1k...

Writing a piece on AI in the workplace and I can’t stop thinking about McDonald’s failed attempt at fully automated drive-thru. Just customers screaming at an AI to beg for some water and an ice cream, and getting packages of butter and ketchup instead. www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonal...

Les treballadores i els treballadors de Sanejament Urbà de Barcelona convoquem 3 dies de vaga coincidint amb festes de Nadal! Exigim que l’Ajuntament intervingui per desbloquejar la negociació i cobrar els endarreriments. 

📢‼️ ¿Trabajas en Glovo? ¡Esto te interesa! Glovo ha anunciado que abandonará el modelo de falsos autónomos. Esto se debe a la aplicación de la Ley Rider, una normativa clave que desde CCOO llevamos al diálogo social para proteger a las personas trabajadoras de las plataformas digitales. 👇🏻

Escuela para todos. School for Everyone. CNT, Valencia, 1936. By Vicente Ballester Marco

From the algorithmic societies team, “A world model: on the political logics of generative AI”, #PoliticalGeography #AI #machinelearning www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Keep pushing! The ocean should not be a mine. www.cnbc.com/2024/12/02/n...

“This banal tapestry of AI advertisements depicts the industry more accurately than any one company can. Most companies don’t really know what AI is good for, and the ways people use AI today are somewhat discomfiting, automating many of the very tasks that make us human.”

Important win for platform workers’ rights in Spain.

Yes. We should not have to restructure education because of ChatGPT, we should close down ChatGPT.

Peter Thiel has been going “democracy is bad because women vote against libertarianism” for like a quarter century and people are still doing this “Silicon Valley was forced right” thing

I wrote about UNION, the gripping and much-needed documentary about the Amazon Labor Union, and why it hasn't gotten a distribution deal (spoiler: Bezos has too much money/power). You can stream it on Gathr this weekend and you should! slate.com/culture/2024...

Happy thanksgiving to everyone except those using generative AI to erase jobs for personal profit

Hi ✨ Together with Anna Schjøtt Hansen and Tobias Blanke, I organize the #CriticalAI Seminar Series @uvahumanities.bsky.social. This is the 24-25 program🙌 ⚡The sessions are online and open to everyone, find more info and sign up here: t.co/ScqpC7ZDrT

apropos of uh some things...

With input from friends, I’ve made a starter pack of early-career researchers across digital geography, STS, and critical AI studies. It isn’t meant to be definitive or exhaustive (though somewhat arbitrary at this stage), so please feel free to comment your own or others’ names for inclusion!