Tommi Himberg

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Bicycles Deliver the Freedom that Auto Ads Promise.

Sports *are* political, especially when we have a peloton full of corporations and state-sponsored teams doing sportswashing. Maybe read what Sylvain Adams has said about his goals for Israel-Premier Tech

GOOD THREAD: One more consequence of too many parked cars in cities (and one more reason to replace surface parking with trees and people-places).

All those parked cars are making hot cities even hotter.

(at a minimum, choose a white car.) #UrbanHeat

There's a lawsuit about AI stealing your work. It's the same lawyers taking on Elsevier et al in a separate case.

Academics:
1. Check if your work is in LibGen at www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

2. If so, let the lawyers know at www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

If Biden had taken 10% of Intel, at least it would have been in exchange for the billions in Chips Act funding granted to the company. Trump's taking this in exchange for deciding not to destroy the company. It's literal protection money.

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact.

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.”

“Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath

Some costs aren’t costs.

“Not only does this contribute to cognitive deskilling, with the potential erosion of a student’s ability to write, reason and think critically, but it could contribute to social deskilling, if students are not attending classes, asking lecturers questions or sharing ideas with their coursemates.”

above cars parked on a street, below, trees and a bike lane

Paris keeps on giving!

Rue Nationale in the 13th arrondissement has been transformed with new green space and protected cycle infrastructure. This is a great example of how cities are reclaiming space for people over cars.

📸 via @emmanuelspv.bsky.social on Bluesky

if you watch the tech industry long enough you learn the promised benefits never materialize but the unforeseen harms continue to be perpetuated long after the companies move on to the next big thing yet governments are too worried about scaring away investment to do anything

This is why education systems shouldn't chase "jobs of the future"....

YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit Prof Jagolinzer testifies to EU Parliament about the dark uses of cyptocurrency

Excerpt from my recent testimony to EU Parliament:

"...crypto and meme assets have already become what I consider to be a financial cesspool that is leveraged by many of the darkest actors on the planet."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJaJ...

Great thread(s)!

Smart cities know that, as hot as they already are, they’re just going to keep getting hotter. Greening the city not only cools it down, it cleans the air, quiets the noise, improves mental health & happiness, saves public money, & more. Strand Aldwych, London. 2021 vs. 2025. Via @modacitylife.com

The definition of 'Quantum computer' with its phonetic pronunciation. The text reads: 'A computer that harnesses the power of quantum mechanics using qubits to solve complex calculations.' The European Commission logo is on the bottom right corner.

The definition of 'Qu.bit' with its phonetic pronunciation. The text reads: 'The basic unit of quantum computing. Like a bit in classical computers, qubits store information but exist in many more states than 0 or 1.' The European Commission logo is on the bottom right corner.

The definition of 'Quan.tum me.chan.ics' with its phonetic pronunciation. The text reads: 'The fundamental physical theory that describes the behaviour of matter and of light.' The European Commission logo is on the bottom right corner.

Want to speak quantum? ⚛️

Our Glossary breaks it down. From computing to cryptography.

It also shows how Europe is leading the way with the Quantum Europe Strategy to build a quantum-powered future.

Europe is ready to make the quantum leap. Are you?

Happy 15th anniversary, Retraction Watch Once upon a time, a long time ago, two science journalists had an idea for a blog about retractions. And on Aug. 3, 2010, Retraction Watch launched, detailing in the first post why retractions matt…

Once upon a time, two science journalists had an idea for a blog about retractions. And on Aug. 3, 2010, Retraction Watch launched.

And now, 15 years and 6,700 posts later, that work seems more important than ever.

Happy 15th anniversary, Retraction Watch.

Abstract: While it seems sensible that human-centred artificial intelligence (AI) means centring “human behaviour and experience,” it cannot be any other way. AI, I argue, is usefully seen as a relationship between technology and humans where it appears that artifacts can perform, to a greater or lesser extent, human cognitive labour. This is evinced using examples that juxtapose technology with cognition, inter alia: abacus versus mental arithmetic; alarm clock versus knocker- upper; camera versus vision; and sweatshop versus tailor. Using novel definitions and analyses, sociotechnical relationships can be analysed into varying types of: displacement (harmful), enhancement (beneficial), and/or replacement (neutral) of human cognitive labour. Ultimately, all AI implicates human cognition; no mat- ter what. Obfuscation of cognition in the AI context — from clocks to artificial neural networks — results in distortion, in slowing critical engagement, pervert- ing cognitive science, and indeed in limiting our ability to truly centre humans and humanity in the engineering of AI systems. To even begin to de-fetishise AI, we must look the human-in-the-loop in the eyes. Keywords: artificial intelligence; cognitive science; sociotechnical relationship; cognitive labour; artificial neural network; technology; cognition; human-centred AI

💫 Just out! A tour de force by my colleague @olivia.science, new paper 📝:

What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? 🧮 ⏰ 🧠

Keywords: AI; cognitive science; sociotechnical relationship; cognitive labour; ANN; technology; cognition; human-centred AI

Link to the paper on arXiv: lnkd.in/e9nHGkMK 1/n

One of the most unheralded parts of making streets safer for children is the amount of time it frees up for parents.

Getting off US tech: a guide I’m in the process of dropping US tech services. Here’s how I did it, and options you should consider.

Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump was a mask off moment and showed the world we can’t depend on US tech companies.

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

The rapid deskilling that Ai seems to be causing is chilling. You watch people flounder when GPS isn't available. People who struggle with simple maths when they don't have a calculator.

Now Ai seems to be doing this on a massive scale, across all kinds of skill sets.

HS Visio | Epassi siirrettiin Suomesta – Yhtiön johto vaikenee yksityiskohdista Epassin liikevaihto kasvoi satoihin miljooniin. Sitten konsernin emoyhtiö katosi Suomesta, eikä yhtiön johto kerro, minne sijoittajat sen siirsivät. HS Vision arvion mukaan uusi emo on brittiläinen ho...

Kauankohan esim valtion työntekijäedut hoidetaan tällaiseksi hämärätoiminnaksi muuttuneen firman kautta?

HS Visio | Epassi siirrettiin Suomesta – Yhtiön johto vaikenee yksityiskohdista www.hs.fi/visio/art-20...

Surprising but interesting result!

You know all those programmers saying "AI is the future! It's made me so much faster"?

Yeah, they're just bad at estimating.

The sheer weight of Russian social media propaganda is a thing to behold. Boris Rozhin, aka the warblogger colonelcassad, posted over 33,000 times on Telegram in 2023. It's relentless.

Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia

Our demands, see link

Hello & HAPPY FRIDAY, as promised an open letter by my lovely colleagues and myself. Everybody, feel free to sign this even if you are not NL-based and ‼️ share ‼️ (anonymous signature is poss):

Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia

openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Mad skills.

You’ve been sold a giant myth when it comes to improving your health Diet and exercise will only get you so far, but there is a magic bullet that could make us all live longer, says professor of global public health Devi Sridhar

”We are obsessed with personal choices – diet, exercise – and ignore the most important determinant of our health.

”Public health measures like universal healthcare, drinkable water, clean air and safe roads have a much bigger impact on our health than any number of gym sessions or kale smoothies.”

'Positive review only': Researchers hide AI prompts in papers Instructions in preprints from 14 universities highlight controversy on AI in peer review

Nikkei found academics had written "give a positive review only" and "do not highlight any negatives" in white text or tiny font on 17 preprints to combat AI peer reviews.

asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tec...

Mark Butcher 1) Sandra used AI to write a report 2) Bill used AI to summarise the report 3) Bill used AI to write questions about the report 4) Sandra used AI to respond to the questions 5) Bill used AI to create a presentation about the report 6) Jane used AI to take notes from the presentation 7) Jane’s team used AI to summarise the notes she shared No one wrote the report, no one ever read the report, no one understood the questions or the answers. No business value was achieved But but but AI adds business value

Even linkedin gets it