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Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this companion newsletter, linguist Prof. Emily M. Bender and sociologist Dr. Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science from bloviation. They talk about everything "AI", from machine consciousness to science fiction, to political economy to art made by machines.
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“AI” skepticism went mainstream this week
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/ai-skepticism-went-mainstream-this-week/
Published: August 22, 2025 21:27
After years of non-stop hype and bloviation, a flood of recent news stories suggest the tide may be turning on “AI”. Headlines this week announced AI is a “mass delusion event,” “a big nothing,” and even warned readers to “get ready for the crash.” A…
Friends Don't Let Friends Prompt
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/how-to-keep-friends-and-influence-people-away/
Published: August 20, 2025 13:00
By Emily Alex and I were at WorldCon (the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention) last week, talking about The AI Con with people whose livelihood (and/or passion projects) are threatened by "AI" and people who are experts in exploring possible…
OpenAI Does a Sinophobia
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/openai-does-a-sinophobia/
Published: July 16, 2025 13:00
By Emily The book tour and other summer travel have been keeping us busy recently, hence the low frequency of posting on this newsletter, but I wanted to return to a news item from early June that has continued to bother me. On June 5, NPR reported "OpenAI…
THE AI CON Publicity Tour
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/the-ai-con-publicity-tour/
Published: June 2, 2025 13:00
It has been a wild few weeks with non-stop media work as we do our best to get the word about about The AI Con. It's been super interesting, too, to experience the different kinds of questions we get asked in different venues, and to hone our answers as we…
The AI Con Book Release
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/the-ai-con-book-release/
Published: May 12, 2025 13:00
It's book release week and we couldn't be more excited. The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want officially drops Tuesday, May 13 (in US & affiliated markets) and May 22 (in UK & affiliated markets). We have been super busy…
I Hate Wasting Time on Identifying AI Slop
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/i-hate-wasting-time-on-identifying-ai-slop/
Published: April 16, 2025 13:00
I Hate Wasting Time on Identifying AI Slop By Alex I hate spending time trying to decipher if something is AI slop or not. I do not enjoy that I need to commit a portion of my cognitive energy in staring at ads to try to figure out what I'm looking at. I…
Calling All Mad Scientists: Reject "AI" as a Framing of Your Work
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/calling-all-mad-scientists-reject-ai-as-a-framing/
Published: April 8, 2025 13:00
By Emily tl;dr: Every time you describe your work that involves statistical modeling as "AI" you are lending your power and credibility to Musk and DOGE. Mad scientists at #HandsOff2025 protests On Saturday, April 5, I joined approximately 25,000 other…
Upcoming talks & events
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/upcoming-talks-events/
Published: March 13, 2025 13:00
We are really looking forward to our book launch events in May and June, and also want to let you know about some earlier events where we are each speaking: March 18, 2025: Alex will speaking virtually about The AI Con at the Milner Library at Illinois…
Pushback and accountability
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/pushback-and-accountability/
Published: February 5, 2025 14:00
By Emily In the midst of all of the political chaos these past few weeks have brought, the drumbeat of AI hype continues unabated, and indeed, it is often interwoven with the havoc that Trump, Musk, their allies in the GOP, and the rest of the tech…
THE AI CON — available for pre-order!
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/the-ai-con-available-for-pre-order/
Published: December 10, 2024 14:00
We are beyond excited to announce that our book, The AI CON: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want is now available for pre-order. It'll be released on May 13, 2025. Look at that gorgeous cover! It will be released next year, but if…