The audience have won #bbcqt

AI needs social science. Cosmina Dorobantu and I explain why in a new blog post @lsedatascience.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

"The risk of inequity is always there, wherever you've got AI" Anya Pearson asks @helenmargetts.bsky.social, Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, about digital government and the opportunities and challenges of AI.

AI needs social science. Cosmina Dorobantu and I explain why in a new blog post @lsedatascience.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

What can AI do for policy making and public services? Cosmina Dorobantu and I @oii.ox.ac.uk forward key possibilities in this new blog - great to be at the Labour Party Conference to discuss @lsedatascience.bsky.social @labourlist.bsky.social labourlist.org/2025/08/arti...

This is a huge story. Don't let him get away with it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

We’re bears, Margaret, not drunks news.sky.com/video/colora...

New paper alert! ‘The levers of political persuasion with conversational AI’, lead author @kobihackenburg.bsky.social co-author @helenmargetts.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk @socsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk.

I am so proud of the brilliant @oii.ox.ac.uk DPhil @kobihackenburg.bsky.social and this wonderful “bees-knees” paper on conversational AI and political persuasion @AISecurityInst - it is a “must-read”, comments welcome!

Earlier today, we hosted Danielle Allen, @helenmargetts.bsky.social and @ciaranm.bsky.social to discuss how AI could affect democracy. Watch a recording of the event 👇

Those big, beautiful eyes! A tiny owl braving the winter snow, perfectly camouflaged in its snowy perch. Nature's little marvel. 📸 mon_regard_sur_la_nature

How could AI affect democracy? Are there opportunities as well as dangers? And how should policy-makers respond? On 15 May, our star-studded panel made up of Danielle Allen, @helenmargetts.bsky.social and @ciaranm.bsky.social will discuss just this. Sign up for this free, online event 👇

I just want to tip my hat to the crack team of White House economists who were able to discover--in just a few short days--that the U.S. is dependent on China for smartphones, computers and semiconductors.

If you are posting about migrants applying for visas, why would you use a stock photo of people arriving on small boats, clearly without visas? Come on guys. This is beneath you.

This morning my phone asked me insistently whether I wanted to send a ‘running late’ message to the person I am meeting at lunch time tomorrow. Is that predictive capability - will I be late? Or is it a sign that the age of useful agentification is not quite here?

A lovely two days @wepsocial.bsky.social Anniversary Workshop, thank you everyone!

📈Out today in @PNASNews!📈 In a large pre-registered experiment (n=25,982), we find evidence that scaling the size of LLMs yields sharply diminishing persuasive returns for static political messages.  🧵:

Don’t know your DeepMind from your DeepSeek? I’m chairing this upcoming ‘Ask the Experts’ event on AI featuring @amoorelouise.bsky.social, @helenmargetts.bsky.social & Giles Pavey. In person tix all gone but you can still register online www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/the-a...

It was great fun making this podcast with @uclspp.bsky.social @conunitucl.bsky.social ‘s Alan Renwick @dorobantu.bsky.social & Jonathan Bright talking about our work at the Alan Turing Institute and @oii.ox.ac.uk

We've partnered with @ucl.ac.uk @uclpolicylab.bsky.social for this exciting new episode on AI and Public Services, with @helenmargetts.bsky.social, Cosima Dorobantu and Jonathan Bright. Listen on apple podcasts (or other podcast platforms!) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/u... @ox.ac.uk

So grateful for @abeba.bsky.social on stage at the AI Action Summit, challenging us to be honest about the fact that we’re moving backward, not forward toward a shared social contract as Big Tech have now walked back nearly every voluntary commitment they once made to be responsible social actors.

Taiwan digital minister @audreyt.org argues that competence should replace digital literacy when tackling disinformation and deepfakes - great panel on AI and Democracy at make.org welcome event to AI Action Summit in Paris

A free and frank discussion of open source models in an excellent panel Advancing the Science of AI Safety at the Tony Blair Institute event in Paris w/ @alondra.bsky.social @yoshuabengio.bsky.social @jakobmokander.bsky.social and Prof Fu Ying

A brilliant article by the great @dacemoglumit.bsky.social - especially for those, like me, on the way to Paris for the #AI Action Summit - gives us all something to think about, re what is needed for AI to fulfil its promise.

rage re-skeeting

what an absolutely spectacular waste of everyone's time, energy, and goodwill that was, then. And whether or not the tariffs last, the destabilising effects on alliances & economies do www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Wonderful time talking with Stan Grant and Jack Jacobs about our new book “Australia's Evolving Democracy - A New Democratic Audit” On the fabulous Yindyamarra Podcast on Spotify (I am on 3 minutes in!) open.spotify.com/episode/4oZQ...

Untitled (Red Painting) by Robert Rauschenberg, 1950 https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137710

A new @reuters.com poll finds Americans have a dim view of many of the Trump administration's blizzard of executive actions, including the Jan. 6 pardons and his effort to limit birthright citizenship. But they *really* don't like the Gulf of America thing. www.reuters.com/world/us/ame...

Me (@oiioxford.bsky.social & Alan Turing Institute) talking (a lot) about the government's AI Opportunities Action Plan w/ @drhannahwhite.bsky.social @instituteforgovernment & @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social @theifs.bsky.social - the Expert Factor: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/expe...

If you would like to hear me (@oiioxford talk about the government’s AI Opportunities Action plan www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/expe...

Nothing says serious national security concern than a 90 day extension for people to keep using such an apparently dangerous application. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Good morning, Bluesky! (and pink sky and yellow sky)

This is a thread about remaking the tech sector.

Bluesky might see a further boost after recent events?

I am so sad that Christopher Hood has died. He was the most brilliant Professor of Public Administration, a giant in the field, yet unbelievably modest & unassuming. I am honoured to have had him as a PhD supervisor & to have written The Tools of Government in the Digital Age with him, in 2007. RIP.

The censorship algorithm on Twitter reduced our audience by roughly 95%, and seriously, who does that to a wildlife biology & advocacy group ? So we moved 😇 over here to BlueSky If you could, please help us regain our following Follow Retweet and Repeat ;-) Together we can change the world.

Matt Frei, "Is the government doing enough to rebuff Elon Musk?" Sir Craig Oliver, "I think Keir Starmer's approach is the right one.. I'm reminded of the George Bernard Shaw quote: don't fight a pig, the pig likes it, and you get covered in mud"

Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), German Expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century

People getting v hung up on all the ways govt is not like a startup and ok it isn’t, but that’s just verbal shorthand to get press to write about something more interesting (and which if done right I think could make civil service a more attractive career not less) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Party in Damascus carrying on into the night

Finally proof that Jacob Rees-Mogg is some sort of antediluvian undead.

Although the hypocrisy and double standards are maddening, I would hate to see the police, courts or media treat protesting farmers like they treat climate activists No-one should should be arrested, let alone locked up, for peaceful protest

Good morning, Bluesky! Monochrome days ….. grey sky, grey meadow (well, currently a lake), grey dog and grey heron