Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James Muldoon

@jamesmuldoon.bsky.social

560 followers 530 following 10 posts

Associate Professor Essex Business School, Research Associate Oxford Internet Institute. Author of Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI (2024) jamesmuldoon.org

Videos

Political science 43%

History 32%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by James Muldoon

James Muldoon @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social · 18h

Really excited to announce that my new book, Love Machines will be coming out on 15 January 2026 with Faber!

Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 20h

Friends. Lovers. Therapists. Deathbots. AI is now fulfilling new roles for millions of us every single day. How are these new 'relationships' changing how we view technology - and each other?

Love Machines by James Muldoon is the first book on AI companions. Out January: linktr.ee/lovemachinesbook

3 8

Reposted by James Muldoon

Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 20h

1 3

Substack

California Passes the World’s First AI Companion Law — And Why It Matters

New chatbot law doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a vital first step On 11 September 2025, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 243 (SB 243) — the world’s first piece of legislation aimed specifically at AI companions. The law, which if signed by the governor, would require chatbot platforms to shield minors from sexual content, and to put in place safety protocols to respond to signs of suicide and self-harm.

Reposts 0 29d

Reposted by James Muldoon

Reposted by Catherine Mitchell, Elizabeth Ellis, James Muldoon , and 1 more Catherine Mitchell, Elizabeth Ellis, James Muldoon, Clara Bermúdez‐Tamayo

Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social · Jan 27

As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/

210 2.4K 6.2K

Substack

Generative AI and Copyright Law: An Update

Training AI on copyrighted works ruled "fair use" by Californian judge Copyright infringement lawsuits have loomed large over the future of generative AI—but now, for the first time, a U.S. court has delivered a landmark ruling that could shape how similar cases are decided going forward. U.S. District Judge William Alsup has ruled that Anthropic’s use of millions of copyrighted books to train its AI model qualifies as “fa…

Reposts 0 Jun 26

James Muldoon @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social · May 28

My new article with Tongyu Wu and Bingqing Xia is out, 'Global data empires: Analysing artificial intelligence data annotation in China and the USA'

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

1 6

Reposted by James Muldoon

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · May 22

Jonas Valente and I have just published a new @lbc.co.uk opinion piece, drawing on our @towardsfairwork.bsky.social cloudwork study to warn that a UK–EU youth mobility scheme could inadvertently funnel young people into exploitative gig roles: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...
@jonasvalente.bsky.social

A UK-EU youth mobility scheme could feed a generation into exploitative gig work

The UK–EU Youth Mobility Scheme offers real promise.

www.lbc.co.uk

6 11

Reposted by James Muldoon

Ashique Ali T @ashiquealit.bsky.social · May 16

A very valuable meeting point in academic journey.

Team 'platform without borders'

Thank you @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social, @grohmannrafael.bsky.social, @andretwp.bsky.social & Denise Kasparian for putting this together.

2 6

Reposted by James Muldoon

jen forestal @seejenspeak.bsky.social · May 5

CPT just published a symposium on my book! huge thanks to Susan Bickford, @pollysigh.bsky.social, @nicolecurato.bsky.social, @jgastil.bsky.social, Victor Bruzzone, @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social for contributions that critique, stretch, & apply the book's argument in such generous & productive ways

Thinking democracy in a digital age - Contemporary Political Theory

Contemporary Political Theory -

link.springer.com

4 4 25

Reposted by James Muldoon

Nikhil Venkatesh @nikvenkatesh.bsky.social · Apr 28

Really cool piece by @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social and Dougie Booth on Rosa Luxemburg's vision for socialist democracy journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Socialist democracy: Rosa Luxemburg’s challenge to democratic theory - James Muldoon, Dougie Booth, 2024

Contemporary democratic theorists have tended to assume that democracy is compatible with and even requires a capitalist economic system. Rosa Luxemburg offers ...

journals.sagepub.com

1 5

Reposted by James Muldoon

Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Apr 28

📣 28-29 May at QMUL @clasp-qmul.bsky.social End of Year Event on 'The Materialities of AI', feat. @katecrawford.bsky.social @anavaldi.bsky.social @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social @milamiceli.bsky.social @dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social

Register free: www.tickettailor.com/events/centr...

2 12 15

Reposted by James Muldoon

James Muldoon @jamesmuldoon.bsky.social · Apr 16

Many human-AI relationships and the companies that make them possible are like a Black Mirror episode come to life. I spoke with David Batty about them recently for this article:

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘She helps cheer me up’: the people forming relationships with AI chatbots

From virtual ‘wives’ to mental health support, more than 100m people are using personified chatbots

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by James Muldoon

Substack

Alexa+ and the Rise of AI Companions

The Slow Burn of Relationship AI How often do you use a chatbot not just for retrieving information but for social tasks like checking the tone of an email, asking for life advice, or venting about your day? It’s becoming an increasingly normal part of many people’s lives to check in with ChatGPT, Claude or Pi about a whole range of issues from relationship problems to mental health st…

Reposts 0 Feb 28

Reposted by James Muldoon