James Aylett
@james.tartarus.org
He/him. Working on privacy and responsible AI; usually worried about both. The pandemic isn't over. If I don't follow you it doesn't mean I don't like you. I've built things you've forgotten.
Reposted by James Aylett
My first batch of mince pies didn't turn out great (too much filling that then escaped and they stuck to the tin) so I threw them all in a bowl and smushed them up, added some heavy cream and now I don't care what anyone says I just invented Mince Pie Mess and it's amazing.
November 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
My first batch of mince pies didn't turn out great (too much filling that then escaped and they stuck to the tin) so I threw them all in a bowl and smushed them up, added some heavy cream and now I don't care what anyone says I just invented Mince Pie Mess and it's amazing.
"Pay up" should totally be sama's new nickname
We'll be keeping a close eye on any developments. (BTW: as with the Anthropic case, you may eventually be able to claim compensations for stolen or scraped work. That's right—Pay up, Altman.)
November 29, 2025 at 4:58 PM
"Pay up" should totally be sama's new nickname
Reposted by James Aylett
The OpenAI ruling writers should know about 👀 (if your work was scraped for LLM training, this affects you). www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...
OpenAI Loses Key Discovery Battle as It Cedes Ground to Authors in AI Lawsuits
The issue has been a major battleground in discovery. OpenAI could be on the hook for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars if it was aware it was infringing on copyrighted material.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The OpenAI ruling writers should know about 👀 (if your work was scraped for LLM training, this affects you). www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...
Reposted by James Aylett
I have been reading all the "students these days" threads from various sides and I have an essay's worth of thoughts -- there's a lot of complexity and heterogeneity that is hard to communicate on social media. There are a couple of things I will say here though. 1/
November 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I have been reading all the "students these days" threads from various sides and I have an essay's worth of thoughts -- there's a lot of complexity and heterogeneity that is hard to communicate on social media. There are a couple of things I will say here though. 1/
Reposted by James Aylett
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
November 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
Reposted by James Aylett
“stop dying! choose cycling!”
November 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
“stop dying! choose cycling!”
Reposted by James Aylett
There are so many competent people in the world who are good at their jobs and I'm tired of constantly seeing the results of those people not being put in charge of things.
November 29, 2025 at 7:04 AM
There are so many competent people in the world who are good at their jobs and I'm tired of constantly seeing the results of those people not being put in charge of things.
Reposted by James Aylett
It’s now been revealed that Surveillance Santa is the mastermind behind elf on the shelf.
Home Depot is running a surveil Santa ad that also has Santa dropping off more surveillance gear for the family, in this world there is only surveillance
November 29, 2025 at 7:05 AM
It’s now been revealed that Surveillance Santa is the mastermind behind elf on the shelf.
Reposted by James Aylett
jesus. this thread about modern college students is terrifying
(click thru and scroll up)
(click thru and scroll up)
At this point, our intro comp/first-year English course has been so heavily revised, it no longer includes a novel, or "extended reading" of any kind, no "specialized" or "historical" reading, mostly in-class assignments, no research essay...and we are still seeing a 40-50% rate of AI misconduct.
November 28, 2025 at 11:32 PM
jesus. this thread about modern college students is terrifying
(click thru and scroll up)
(click thru and scroll up)
Reposted by James Aylett
hey the handbasket is 90 paid subscribers away from a huge goal—think we could get there today??
thehandbasket.co/upgrade
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
thehandbasket.co/upgrade
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
November 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
hey the handbasket is 90 paid subscribers away from a huge goal—think we could get there today??
thehandbasket.co/upgrade
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
thehandbasket.co/upgrade
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Reposted by James Aylett
Great, now they've got low-cal hazing
November 28, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Great, now they've got low-cal hazing
Reposted by James Aylett
Support independent bookstores
San Francisco has a new independent bookstore (disclaimer: run by friends) in Union Square
bestbookstore.com
bestbookstore.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Support independent bookstores
Reposted by James Aylett
For the 0.01% of germs not killed by bleach, the worst part is the crippling survivors guilt
November 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
For the 0.01% of germs not killed by bleach, the worst part is the crippling survivors guilt
Reposted by James Aylett
Epic CEO wants Steam to remove AI game disclosures
Just as Call of Duty’s AI slop causes refunds
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B62... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251127-epi... - podcast
time: 6 min 58 sec
Just as Call of Duty’s AI slop causes refunds
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B62... - video
pivottoai.libsyn.com/20251127-epi... - podcast
time: 6 min 58 sec
November 27, 2025 at 11:00 PM
San Francisco has a new independent bookstore (disclaimer: run by friends) in Union Square
bestbookstore.com
bestbookstore.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
San Francisco has a new independent bookstore (disclaimer: run by friends) in Union Square
bestbookstore.com
bestbookstore.com
Reposted by James Aylett
“Pallas is the director of the award-winning short film Clankers, which explores the rise of AI sex influencers and the blurring of consent.”
How is AI changing sex work?
Documentary filmmaker Naomi Pallas speaks to Dazed about her new film investigating the rise of AI-generated sex workers – and the troubling questions it raises about consent, exploitation and the fut...
www.dazeddigital.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
“Pallas is the director of the award-winning short film Clankers, which explores the rise of AI sex influencers and the blurring of consent.”
Reposted by James Aylett
Men are running courses to teach other men to steal the content of real sex workers and deepfake the likenesses of real women to create new Al-constructed influencers and generate a lot of money for themselves.
November 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Men are running courses to teach other men to steal the content of real sex workers and deepfake the likenesses of real women to create new Al-constructed influencers and generate a lot of money for themselves.
Reposted by James Aylett
The Middle English Reading Group I set up this semester has been reading Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. For our last session of the year, a student baked excellent biscuits. Of course, we started by eating the green knight’s head!
November 28, 2025 at 3:27 PM
The Middle English Reading Group I set up this semester has been reading Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. For our last session of the year, a student baked excellent biscuits. Of course, we started by eating the green knight’s head!
Reposted by James Aylett
Medieval English laws categorized eels by size. The most common types were:
Pimpernell / Pimper eels: very small
Shaft / Dole eels: medium
Stub eels: larger
Red: ??
No one knows for sure what red eels were. But they were bad, & customs officers threw them out if they found any.
🗃️🧪
Pimpernell / Pimper eels: very small
Shaft / Dole eels: medium
Stub eels: larger
Red: ??
No one knows for sure what red eels were. But they were bad, & customs officers threw them out if they found any.
🗃️🧪
November 28, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Medieval English laws categorized eels by size. The most common types were:
Pimpernell / Pimper eels: very small
Shaft / Dole eels: medium
Stub eels: larger
Red: ??
No one knows for sure what red eels were. But they were bad, & customs officers threw them out if they found any.
🗃️🧪
Pimpernell / Pimper eels: very small
Shaft / Dole eels: medium
Stub eels: larger
Red: ??
No one knows for sure what red eels were. But they were bad, & customs officers threw them out if they found any.
🗃️🧪
If you see this, I IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you are using without explanation.
November 28, 2025 at 5:12 PM
If you see this, I IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you are using without explanation.
Reposted by James Aylett
OK, who narced?
November 28, 2025 at 4:44 PM
OK, who narced?
Reposted by James Aylett
Look, if you're not an expert you wouldn't know, but this chart is bullshit. They could not possibly measure this as 1. How can you tell for sure? There's no reliable automated way. 2. You're not counting the many sites that are blocking crawlers now.
But there's an even more important reason...
But there's an even more important reason...
November 28, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Look, if you're not an expert you wouldn't know, but this chart is bullshit. They could not possibly measure this as 1. How can you tell for sure? There's no reliable automated way. 2. You're not counting the many sites that are blocking crawlers now.
But there's an even more important reason...
But there's an even more important reason...
Reposted by James Aylett
Support your local bookstore and other independent bookstores you love!
Book Moon is working on buying their building so they can stay bookselling for a long time to come in Easthampton, MA, USA.
Book Moon is working on buying their building so they can stay bookselling for a long time to come in Easthampton, MA, USA.
November 28, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Support your local bookstore and other independent bookstores you love!
Book Moon is working on buying their building so they can stay bookselling for a long time to come in Easthampton, MA, USA.
Book Moon is working on buying their building so they can stay bookselling for a long time to come in Easthampton, MA, USA.
Reposted by James Aylett
I could fill this up with Doctor Who quotes that have more meaning to me than anything Starmer could come up with:
“Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.”
“Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.”
"Demons run when a good man goes to war.
Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war.
Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise...
... when a good man goes to war."
Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war.
Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise...
... when a good man goes to war."
November 28, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I could fill this up with Doctor Who quotes that have more meaning to me than anything Starmer could come up with:
“Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.”
“Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.”
Reposted by James Aylett
hello internet! i am nora and i have a glass shop focused on jewelry, ornaments, and little baubles you can hold and stim with. nora.jewelry
i am giving 10% of my sales from today to sunday to distribute aid's harm reduction toolkit program, which provides trans people with safe injection supplies.
i am giving 10% of my sales from today to sunday to distribute aid's harm reduction toolkit program, which provides trans people with safe injection supplies.
November 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
hello internet! i am nora and i have a glass shop focused on jewelry, ornaments, and little baubles you can hold and stim with. nora.jewelry
i am giving 10% of my sales from today to sunday to distribute aid's harm reduction toolkit program, which provides trans people with safe injection supplies.
i am giving 10% of my sales from today to sunday to distribute aid's harm reduction toolkit program, which provides trans people with safe injection supplies.