NEW SITE UP!
The shift from Pagecord is finished so this site won't be updating any more, nor will the newsletter be going out. Instead you can see the new one and sign up again at SayYesDoNo.com ! Anyway, as you were.
Say Yes - Do No
A site for AI resistance tactics, reclaiming agency and organising for better technology. “They all say ‘yes’, but they do ‘no’. That has to be it. There’s no other way to explain these figures. If they would do ‘yes’, the figures would have improved by now. [sigh] It would be easier if they would just say ‘no’. Then you could have a conversation about it [staring blankly].” (Anon.)
Latest posts
IMPORTANT(ish) New Say Yes, Do No Site & Newsletter
Just a quick note to say that this week I've switched the Say Yes, Do No site from Pagecord to WordPress. This is in no way a judgement on Pagecord, which I think is a great platform and one I plan to keep on using for other projects but for some things I kind of need the depth of features WordPress offers. Unfortunately they do try to spam you with AI stuff but obviously none of that will be…
AI Solutionism - Three Questions and Two Answers
When AI is presented as a miracle cure for all the ills of the world the first question I always ask is 'how else could we solve this problem?' More or less every time there's an answer waiting in that question, usually one which isn't just well known but often one which has been advocated for by those most inescapably tied to the issues in the first place. When Prince William says that AI is the…
Local Luddism - The Quiet Front
I'm inherently biased towards the everyday forms of resistance, because it's what I research, but even allowing for there does seem to be a growing sense that the best battles to fight when it comes to big tech are the local ones. This case of push back against AI enabled surveillance in a (very) small Colorado town is indicative I think. AI with its data centers and their auxiliary of…
Is AI profitable yet?
Something that sounds like it should be the title of a long and arduous exploration of big tech finances culminating in some hedging about the future and the wonders of AI but no is pretty much the only answer you need. And to remind you of that there's Is AI Profitable Yet? A concise little reminder of how much money is currently being burnt on the varying ponzi schemes, scams, environmental…
Fire! I'll take you to burn... your tokens...
After this report from Axion about an unnamed company managing to torch half a billion dollars in the span of a month through unregulated Claude token usage it's unsurprising that more and more companies are starting to reconsider the wild productivity gains they were rambling about not so long ago. Is it the start of some sanity within the bubble? Well, with the gazillion dollar IPOs apparently…
Anti-AI Anthology Update
Just a quick update on how things are progressing with the upcoming anti-AI anthology. First off - apologies to anyone still waiting for a reply to their submissions, one is coming in the next day or so but between a hectic few weeks and me just looking at things and going 'yeah, that's good' the actual action bit got a bit lost. On the plus side there has been some very good stuff through so far…
Event - Breaking Down AI: Technologies, Myths, Realities (King's College London, Strand Campus)
As part of the Reclaiming Futures project at KCL I'll be on a panel on the 8th of July for London Data Week along with some colleagues with similarly critical eyes for AI. The aim is to explore some of the imaginaries (and practicalities) around 'AI' with a view to de-mystifying them a bit. It's open to the public so feel free to sign up and we'll be approaching it in as accessible a way as…
We're not just fighting AI...
There's a definite contrast amongst those who are openly critical of 'AI' at the moment - and it centres on the perception of the fight. It's an interesting one to approach from a (very) resistance focused position given that, on the one hand, I've no desire for tactical differences to negate broader coalitions but on the other I do fear for the misplaced hopes of some who stand close, but not too…
Dark Patterns in AI Chatbots
Just a quick note to highlight this new report on the use of 'dark patterns' in chatbot design. This is something I've touched on before (and have a paper relating to, in the deep abyss of academic procedure) but it's really good to see these things being highlighted from people with a far deeper focus on the purely design side than I have. There's a lot of insidious, anthropomorphisation behind…
Human Data Sensors - The Abyss is Looking Back
It's an increasingly less heard argument (in my experience at least) that AI companies would eventually run out of training data and, with the ever degrading quality of synthetic data, some kind of brick wall of development would be hit. It was never a good argument, relying as it did on domain specific imaginations (well they will run out of online art to steal) and naivety (they can only scrape…
Call for Papers: Topical Collection on AI Resistance, Refusal, Reclamation and Reimagining: Ethical Imperatives and Emerging Practices
Happy to be involved in this one given the potentials to get anti and AI critical voices involved. The deadline for submissions is the 31st of July and we're looking for a broad range of voices and part of that is the potential for guest editors to provide support with your work if accepted. We made this choice out of an awareness of how easily people can be driven to AI tools by their own…
Tech Bros Stole My Friend: Faux-Social LLMs Meet the Market
Sometimes even I, as an ardent Luddite, wish AI companies would be slower in driving their own failure. Recently I've been working on a paper relating to faux-social LLMs - those which mimic relationships, therapy, care etc. In part of the paper I suggest viewing those 'relationships' built with LLMs as toxic or insecure in part because whatever a user can experience from them (which isn't a lot…
Old Tactics, Neo-Luddites: We're all the problem now...
This article from Wired is well worth a read as it outlines the increasing attempts in the US to problematise and criminalise AI resistance movements. Amongst the Trump administrations fevered politicisation of the intelligence services tech resistance is, seemingly, getting the full Luddite treatment with even peaceful, mundane opposition being highlighted as a threat. This is, above all, an…
Monday AI Resistance Update #10
A random sampling of stuff I've come across this week... A day late this time because we had a Bank Holiday here alongside a heatwave, so who wants to be thinking about AI? -- Resource - The AI Resist List Created by We & AI, DAIR, the Refugee Law Lab and working with Karen Hao the AI Resist List is something I've already mentioned this one on the blog but it's worth bringing up again. This has…