Researchers say Meta’s patent for simulating dead users could be a “turning point” in “AI resurrections.”

Good. Always in favour of strict standards for food labelling and promotion. Carney's recent push towards unit price labelling was a good start; next, we need to have a discussion about digital ink price tags (pictured) and dynamic pricing. www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

Tomorrow! Starting from 10 EST — lounge and latch onto @michaeliantorno.com ENDLESS WINTERS! #ROM Hack of #Earthbound by #Nintendo that captures the nostalgic essence of Michael’s game memories.

I have found truly the worst vending machine. Even worse than the pizza one.

Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”

Join the ICCIT from March 4-5 for Trip Out!, our third annual graduate-faculty research symposium. This year, invited scholars and graduate students will consider human relationships to technologies of altered perception. www.utm.utoronto.ca/iccit/upcomi...

There's a lot of fluff in this announcement, but the introduction of unit price labelling for grocery products is a big win for Canada. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

"Notes Toward a Digital Workers' Inquiry," published by Common Notions Press, includes first-hand accounts from the tech sector’s resurgent labour movement as artificial intelligence gains ground in every facet of our lives. www.commonnotions.org/buy/notes-to...

Join ICCIT professors Julie Chen and Alessandro Delfanti on February 12 for the launch of their new book, "Notes Toward a Digital Workers' Inquiry," co-authored with members of The Capacitor Collective. www.tickettailor.com/events/panit...

Pleased to announce that I'll be leading a Monday Night Seminar at the Centre for Culture and Technology this March. Stay tuned for more details. www.cultureandtech.utoronto.ca/events

Good. It'll be interesting to see where other creator-focused platforms and venues land on the generative AI issue over the next few years... and if they actually enforce the rules. www.404media.co/comic-con-ba...

The career of Professor Julie Yujie Chen was recently celebrated in a full-length article published by @utm-research.bsky.social. Her research projects, such as her recent role as co-editor of the Sage Handbook of Digital Labour, continue to enrich the ICCIT. www.utm.utoronto.ca/research-inn...

Looks like there's a snow day at U of T today (on all three campuses!). Everyone stay home and stay safe!❄️

I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures". Open panel submissions portal is open! ls! Deadline: 2nd February 2026 www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...

Did a dive into corporate micro-market social media posts today. It's a lot.

Jeffrey Boase, a faculty member at the ICCIT, will be having a book talk tonight at Victoria College. There's still time to sign up!

Canada's federal gov has a new program to bring researchers to Canada & my uni is starting an internal nomination process for chairs. If you are a full or associate prof working on AI/democracy/community engagement/environmental justice and you may be interested in moving to Canada, dm me

The Sage Handbook of Digital Labour, edited by my amazing supervisor Julie Yujie Chen, is out in the world! 📖✨

In what has inadvertently become an annual tradition, I've redesigned my website. 💻✨ mathewiantorno.com

Your periodic reminder that I host a Labour & Technology Scholars starter park. It's a good way to connect with people studying AI, platforms, unions, etc. if you're new to Bluesky. go.bsky.app/UMaa7T3

Generative AI has made Amazon’s knockoff problem more inescapable than ever. Authors tell Rolling Stone it’s leaving them frustrated— and the internet worse in the process.

“Don’t walk in” instead of “just walk out.”

Expect a lot more of these in 2026 as I hack through the dissertation.

I've joined LinkedIn! What a Christmas gift to give myself. Connect with me if you feel like it. www.linkedin.com/in/mathew-ia...

“Accepting this story of AI’s inevitability — or that of any technology — is a grave mistake for educators. Not only does it cede tremendous power to tech companies that are unaccountable to teachers, students, or school communities…” 1/2 kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...

It's always great when the conference comes to you.🍁

A spiritual sequel to the article I posted earlier this week about AI making up books.

Join the ICCIT on January 8th for a discussion with Professor Jeffrey Boase on his recently released book, "The Digital Bind: Constant Connectivity and the Reconfiguring of Family, Work, and Friendship." www.eventbrite.ca/e/iccit-book...

Finally, the overlap between my research and AI research. The Venn diagram isn't just two floating circles anymore! www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

End of year interview! 🗞️ I'm quoted in Dazed Media's coverage of the "performative male" & our digital fixation with fakes. A decade of researching the losing game of gendered "authenticity" in games has prepared me for this moment... 🛍️📚👩

I don't have a lot of faith in Canada's grocery code of conduct. Similar to housing affordability, we need major governmental oversight and intervention to fix food affordability in the country. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

It sounds like a very exhausting time to be a librarian. gizmodo.com/librarians-a...

🚨 𝐂𝐅𝐏 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭: 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 & 𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐚𝐥𝐞 Theme: Workers Building, Using, and Resisting AI 📅 Date: April 29, 2026 📍 Loc: Yale University (In-person) 💰 Funding: Scholarships available for grad students & organizers! 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: Jan 18, 2026 Submit here: indl-na.sciencesconf.org

Was invigilating an exam at UTM yesterday and spotted this in a campus food court. I can't escape the automatic 'za.

Remember, you have until December 12th to claim compensation from Loblaws for their involvement with the industry-wide price fixing of bread in Canada. 🍞😠 www.canadianbreadsettlement.ca?lid=09cq2it0...

I reference this Canadian grocery monopoly diagram so frequently that I should print it out and hang it on my wall at this point.

The deadline for the Canadian Communication Association's 2026 conference is extended to Dec. 15. Happy to share the @alicetiara.bsky.social will deliver our keynote lecture. Hope to see many colleagues in Windsor in June.

Just submitted my abstract to CCA 2026.🍁 FYI the December 1st deadline is fast approaching! acc-cca.ca/index.php/co...

Inspired by lo-fi study beats and driven by my desire for peaceful winter ambience, Endless Winters is a simple hack of EarthBound that perpetually pans over a snowy landscape. Designed for original hardware, it functions as a installation piece that can be quickly installed using a SNES and a CRT.

What is a ‘performative male’ and how can you spot them? #UTM ICCIT assistant prof Kate Maddalena discusses with CTV News how the “performative male” meme highlights male behavior patterns and more 📰 https://bit.ly/43qogC0

Dating myself here, but this reminds me of old school Flash animation slop on Newgrounds or Albino Blacksheep. Although that had the excuse of being made by 15-year-olds drawing with a computer mouse. I guess Y2K really is back.

✨ Join the Jackman Humanities Institute’s Circle of Fellows in 2026-27! Apply for our Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellowship 🧩 Annual Theme: Doubles, Doppelgangers 📅 Deadline: Nov 25, 2025 | 4pm EST 🔗 Details & FAQs: uoft.me/vph26-27 #PublicHumanities #ResearchFellowship

AI-powered searches continue to co-opt and corrupt much more substantive, moderated sources of knowledge. www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

📣🧪📚 The CFP for EASST 2026 is now open!

📣🎮🍁 Attention Canadian video game nerds! The CFP for CGSA 2026 has been released.

The 5th annual DURF Jam has begun! ✨ itch.io/jam/durf-jam...

It seems like every day Adobe is shoving another AI feature into Acrobat's interface that is enabled by default. I can't even search for words in a PDF without an AI suggestion now.

These stores were always more of a marketing stunt for Loblaws than a real business venture. I'm not surprised to see them go. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The physical infrastructure of the Internet is so fascinating. I was talking to my students this morning about how we tend to imagine technology through big metaphors like "the cloud," but at the end of the day, it's all wires and boxes.

Stumbled into a PizzaForno vending machine on my way back from a wedding in Barrie last month. Most of these machines have disappeared from downtown Toronto, but they're still deploying them in more rural areas of Ontario.