Excellent analysis of how to think about AI as a social technology (rather than as an individual intelligent agent)

Always flattering to get email from people who absolutely, definitely read my book

Excellent thread "We risk all of science if we rush to build 'AI Scientists' before we understand the value of human science." ⬇️

@mjcrockett.bsky.social is totally killing it (pun intended) in talk about DEAD cognitive benchmarks. DEAD = Decontextualized, Engineered, Anonymized, Disembodied Super insightful talk at @sfiscience.bsky.social 's annual Science Symposium.

As part of SFI’s broader Nature of Intelligence project, a recent working group explored AGI, or artificial general intelligence, from the perspective of cognitive science, asking how current definitions of AGI overlap with how researchers understand natural intelligence.

So sad to hear that Michael Rabin passed away. One of the most brilliant computer scientists ever, and a very caring, thoughtful teacher. I was lucky to be able to take a theory of computation class from him, way back in the day. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael...

Philosopher click-bait, par excellence:

Very good article what it would take for AI to have "agency" and self-preservation goals (w/ a few quotes from me). & I appreciate the reiterated debunking of the "GPT-4 on its own lied to a TaskRabbit worker to solve a captcha" story. www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-we-te...

While we wait for the end of civilization, I'm stuck at the Denver airport, and the music they're playing on the speakers is Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire. Incredible song.

👍 🎧

The Causality in Cognition Lab -- a supportive, bluesky-colored team -- is looking for a predoc to join us! Here are infos about the lab (cicl.stanford.edu) and the position (careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/iriss-p...). The application deadline is May 1st. Please share, thank you 🙏

The Experts in question are babies 3 months and older

I enjoyed this discussion with @benjaminjriley.bsky.social ⬇️ buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/reflection...

Pittsburgh! #NoKings

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202... Good article about the dangers of trusting "almost perfect" technology ⬇️

Friends, please come to this one if you can: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=5...

Can attest to this -- just underwent such a nightmare myself. A "half hour" is a vast underestimate....

I'm looking forward to visiting Carnegie Mellon University this week. I'll be giving a talk on 3/26 at noon at the AI Institute for Social Decision Making. For people in Pittsburgh, here's the link: events.cmu.edu/ai-sdm/event... I don't know if there will be an option for virtual streaming.

3000 No Kings events. That’s because America is at an inflection point. Communities are hurting. People are afraid, and they can’t afford the basics. 3,000 No Kings events are already planned across the country & more are being added every day. That’s people power. www.nokings.org/news/over-30...

A very good article on AI and coding from the NYT by @clivethompson.bsky.social Here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/m...

Back in the 1980s-2000s, there was an organization called Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility that worked to oppose irresponsible and dangerous uses of computers in warfare. Maybe it needs a reboot, in our new age of AI. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compute...

This is really good

Every sentence in this post is a masterpiece of anthropomorphic absurdity: substack.com/home/post/p-...

I enjoyed talking with @kensycoop.bsky.social on the Many Minds podcast about the metaphors we use to conceptualize AI. manyminds.libsyn.com/seven-metaph...

👀 I'm looking forward to seeing what Dileep will do at Astera!

I'm always interested in reading what @quiltydunn.bsky.social and @johnwkrakauer.bsky.social think about thinking.

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

Pop quiz: Name the American academic whose career had this trajectory of positions at US institutions:

New acronym just dropped.

Analogy and metaphor galore! I was interviewed by the @nightsciencepod.bsky.social podcast about metaphor and analogy in science: open.spotify.com/episode/1hqU... Pairs well with @sflusberg.bsky.social's interview on metaphor on the @manymindspod.bsky.social podcast disi.org/the-aura-of-...

Mood: (h/t @lettersofnote.com)

I enjoyed this fun discussion with Meghna Chakrabarti and @kmahowald.bsky.social about thinking, human or machine, on WBUR's On Point show. (Top of page is condensed version, scroll down to "On Point Full Broadcast" for full version.) www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026...

How can I convince Chris Hayes to read my Substack?

I wrote about the late philosopher Brian Cantwell Smith, and his profound thinking about AI and the nature of intelligence. aiguide.substack.com/p/on-brian-c...

On the eve of the University of Toronto's festschrift honoring the late philosopher (and overall wonderful human) Brian Cantwell Smith, I'm re-reading his 2019 book, "The Promise of Artificial Intelligence". (1/4) ischool.utoronto.ca/festschrift-...

The #ACMBookClub is back! We’re kicking things off on Sunday, Feb 22, w/ a deep dive into Melanie Mitchell’s acclaimed Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans, and a finale conversation w/ the author on March 24. Register today: buff.ly/a8L7qzA

Anybody remember this from 2017? www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... Plus ça change, plus c'est la même BS.

Good take on the "Moltbook" story from @benjedwards.com arstechnica.com/information-... Another good take I saw on the other site: "more of a fanfic for AGI than actual AGI". This could describe a whole lot of AI misalignment red-teaming....

This was a lot of fun and @melaniemitchell.bsky.social's newsletter is a rare island of coherence & measured discussion on AI aiguide.substack.com

I'm excited that the ACM book club will be reading and discussing my book on AI! I'll be joining on March 24 for the final discussion. www.acm.org/articles/edu...

My UCSB colleague Gurusha Juneja wrote a python tool to auto-check your bibtex for hallucinated citations: pypi.org/project/harcx/ It supports papers, books, and URLs. Usage: pip install harcx harcx references.bib

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The Waymos mistook them for stopped ostriches. (ML in-joke, sorry)

"There is no need to go on about the lunacy of this letter. Not even the president’s most eager apologists could spin this as anything other than what it is: a disgrace." @jamellebouie.net knocks this one out of the park. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...

NeurIPS reviewers typically review 6+ papers, each with 100 or so citations. The reviewers can't possibly check that every citation is real. But why don't we have an automated way to do this checking (and desk-rejecting if fake citations found) *before* the papers are sent to reviewers?

Super interesting results!

DO YOU HAVE ANY TROPHIES OR AWARDS I CAN HAVE?

My latest on Substack -- a write-up of the talk I gave at NeurIPS in December. aiguide.substack.com/p/on-evaluat...

This is what our government is tweeting to its ICE employees.