Dr Clea Bourne

tbh I think Microsoft is going to blink right before October 14, and if they don’t… well, that’s a very, very bad decision on their part.

Politics of the prompt: Government in the age of generative AI This paper addresses the politics of the technique of prompting in machine learning, at a time when bureaucratic and democratic government is undergoing transformation. Drawing on the case of the U...

Our article on the politics of AI prompts is out now @econsocjournal.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/n

On the anniversary of his murder, when he was hacked to death by mercenaries hired by Saudi Arabia, Jamal Khashoggi is beautifully remembered by another writer they have tried to silence, Karen Attiah. Important reading for us all.

Join us this evening at @mediacomgold.bsky.social @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social for a fascinating discussion and film-screening on how to find the tools to do the essential work of #journalism. Details 👇🏽 complete with empanadas! There’s a livestream too on this link: www.youtube.com/live/IHf4Iue...

Fucking amazing.

Deloitte issues refund for error-ridden Australian government report that used AI Big Four firm will repay final instalment after incorrect references and citations found in document

Story filed by Ellesheva Kissin from the FT: www.ft.com/content/934c...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

Either real-time bidding data or app SDK data is being bought and used by ICE to seize people from the streets. If you didn’t believe that the adtech stack is a human rights concern, I’m not sure what more evidence you need. www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

We are delighted to welcome four new members to our Editorial Board:

- Kimberly Chong (UCL)
- Sarah El-Kazaz (SOAS)
- Paul R. Gilbert (Sussex)
- Joy Y. Zhang (Kent)

Their disciplinary expertise and research interests will broaden and deepen our editorial collective.

@kimberlychong.bsky.social
@joyzhang.bsky.social
@iliasalami.bsky.social
@cleabourne.bsky.social
@will-davies.bsky.social
@hyoyoonkang.bsky.social
@ft-highbury.bsky.social

Freelance Researchers: Safe Adoption of AI — Careful Industries We are looking for freelance researchers to conduct literature searches on the impacts of AI on worker safety, infrastructural safety, and environmental safety.

🔔 freelance researcher call

At @carefultrouble.bsky.social we're looking for freelance researchers to deliver a literature search on the impacts of AI adoption, looking at worker safety, infrastructure resilience, and environmental safety

www.careful.industries/blog/2025-9-...

‘Land makes me feel so secure’: Property, dependence and escape from ‘wageless life’ on Nairobi’s peri-urbanizing peripheries With reference to Michael Denning’s concept of ‘wageless life’, this paper illustrates the social and economic conditions under which young men in central Kenya attempt to escape precarious lives o...

Now available in Latest Articles. Peter Lockwood investigates property's promise of escape from a life of labour in Nairobi
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Walt Disney Testifies at HUAC (1947) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Walt Disney Testifies at HUAC

Apropos of nothing in particular, here's Walt Disney's testimony to HUAC in 1947, where he named employees he believed were communists, condemned labor unions, and accused "commie" groups, including the League of Women Voters, of smearing him. 🗃️

archive.org/details/walt...

It’s the same “culture war” they’ve been waging since Reconstruction.

Matthew McConaughey says he wants a private LLM, fed only with his books, notes, journals, and aspirations, so he can ask it questions and get answers based solely on that information, without any outside influence.

this exists it is called thinking

It was never about “freedom.” It was always about who was in control.

Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (Published 1939)

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning

www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

My first academic article was on the dictatorship of Uzbekistan inventing a group called "Akromiya" that did not really exist but which they used to arrest anyone with whom they disagreed under the pretext of "terrorism". Just bringing this up for no reason whatsoever!

Music platforms pushing back against AI music with the use of detection software. Deezer calculate 33% of tracks uploaded are AI (!), but account for only 0.5% of streams. But if one gets through, & makes a playlist, it can generate a lot of income.
www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/nearly-a-thi...

'"You can’t have hobbyist research that’s unfunded going on in institutions. We can’t afford it.”'

Such a badly formulated phrasing of the issues, so open to so many misinterpretations. If this is the level of thinking about research among sector leaders and policy-makers, be very afraid.

Media and Instability - MeCCSA PGN Conference 2025 Join us for the 2025 MeCCSA PGN Conference and delve into research at the intersection of media and instability.

Our wonderful PhD students are organising the MECCSA PGN conference this year @mediacomgold.bsky.social on Friday September 12th - if in London join us! www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...

Submit your article to Economy and Society How to submit your paper to Economy and Society. Share your work with us to maximise your readership and make your mark in your area of research.

The Economy and Society Early Career Paper Prize 2026 is now live 🙌
£1000 prize
Submission deadline: 15/12/25
Details: spr.ly/63321fnmoz

spr.ly/63328fnmoy
@econsocjournal.bsky.social

haha oh no

Oh I am going to have read this, as someone who constantly wonders A: How anyone else doing the job that I do makes a living, and B: Also, actually, how do I make a living?

people love bringing up japan when it comes to deporting immigrants/ creating a homogenous society, but if you bring up japan's anti-gun laws it's "woah woah woah"

For the EU, this should be a very urgent matter of national security. All EU member states should build on Denmark's wise strategy to phase out Microsoft products

Historian Mar Hicks on why nothing about AI is inevitable The author of Programmed Inquality peers through the AI hype by recalling the rise of past technologies.

I spoke with @histoftech.bsky.social about AI hype, how tools are used to amass power and reshape systems, expertise, and more! www.fastcompany.com/91384078/not...

Can relate.😏 Envy your tour though!

Never mind the botlickers, ‘AI’ is just normal technology We desire existential certainty in this world of complexity and amid our sense of powerlessness, but turning to the new oracles isn’t a solution

<3 this review of The AI Con, not least for the phrase "Slopholm Syndrome"

mg.co.za/thought-lead...

I’ve never seen it, but I’m sure other ‘critters’ have.

😅😂🤣 Bless you for this!