ana valdivia
@anavaldi.bsky.social
Lecturer in AI, Government & Policy at the OII (University of Oxford) | Associate Editor at Big Data & Society | Investigating algorithmic accountability and environmental impacts | Writing a book on the Materiality of AI
Reposted by ana valdivia
I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.
November 18, 2025 at 3:23 AM
I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.
Reposted by ana valdivia
Loved this bit : “The most lucrative users – English-speaking professionals willing to pay $20-200 monthly for premium AI subscriptions – become the implicit template for ‘superintelligence’.”
November 18, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Loved this bit : “The most lucrative users – English-speaking professionals willing to pay $20-200 monthly for premium AI subscriptions – become the implicit template for ‘superintelligence’.”
Reposted by ana valdivia
Join us online this Thursday!
📌 Utrecht University's CDH online lecture:
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
November 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Join us online this Thursday!
🤖 "Holes in the web: Huge swathes of human knowledge are missing from the internet. By definition, GenAI is shockingly ignorant too."
Excellent essay on algorithmic epistemological knowledge and the collapse of knowledge throughout mean-driven data machines.
aeon.co/essays/gener...
Excellent essay on algorithmic epistemological knowledge and the collapse of knowledge throughout mean-driven data machines.
aeon.co/essays/gener...
Generative AI has access to a small slice of human knowledge | Aeon Essays
Huge swathes of human knowledge are missing from the internet. By definition, generative AI is shockingly ignorant too
aeon.co
November 18, 2025 at 8:43 AM
🤖 "Holes in the web: Huge swathes of human knowledge are missing from the internet. By definition, GenAI is shockingly ignorant too."
Excellent essay on algorithmic epistemological knowledge and the collapse of knowledge throughout mean-driven data machines.
aeon.co/essays/gener...
Excellent essay on algorithmic epistemological knowledge and the collapse of knowledge throughout mean-driven data machines.
aeon.co/essays/gener...
Reposted by ana valdivia
Public Data Cultures is out today on @politybooks.bsky.social! 📗🎊 jonathangray.org/2025/10/23/p...
It aims to nurture critical and creative engagements with public data as cultural material, medium of participation and as site of transnational politics. Happy to see it out in the world! 🦔🌌💜
It aims to nurture critical and creative engagements with public data as cultural material, medium of participation and as site of transnational politics. Happy to see it out in the world! 🦔🌌💜
October 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Public Data Cultures is out today on @politybooks.bsky.social! 📗🎊 jonathangray.org/2025/10/23/p...
It aims to nurture critical and creative engagements with public data as cultural material, medium of participation and as site of transnational politics. Happy to see it out in the world! 🦔🌌💜
It aims to nurture critical and creative engagements with public data as cultural material, medium of participation and as site of transnational politics. Happy to see it out in the world! 🦔🌌💜
Reposted by ana valdivia
🌐🚨 CALL FOR PAPERS 🚨🌐
'The Visual Politics of Digital Ecologies'
🗓️ 2-3 February 2026
📍 @oxfordgeography.bsky.social
We invite one-word titles (e.g. hallucinating, zooming, obscuring, glitching, generating)
Deadline: 14th November
Full info: digicologies.com/cfp
'The Visual Politics of Digital Ecologies'
🗓️ 2-3 February 2026
📍 @oxfordgeography.bsky.social
We invite one-word titles (e.g. hallucinating, zooming, obscuring, glitching, generating)
Deadline: 14th November
Full info: digicologies.com/cfp
October 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
🌐🚨 CALL FOR PAPERS 🚨🌐
'The Visual Politics of Digital Ecologies'
🗓️ 2-3 February 2026
📍 @oxfordgeography.bsky.social
We invite one-word titles (e.g. hallucinating, zooming, obscuring, glitching, generating)
Deadline: 14th November
Full info: digicologies.com/cfp
'The Visual Politics of Digital Ecologies'
🗓️ 2-3 February 2026
📍 @oxfordgeography.bsky.social
We invite one-word titles (e.g. hallucinating, zooming, obscuring, glitching, generating)
Deadline: 14th November
Full info: digicologies.com/cfp
📌 Utrecht University's CDH online lecture:
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
November 17, 2025 at 10:17 AM
📌 Utrecht University's CDH online lecture:
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
"Following the thing AI – from ecological ruinations to ecofeminist imaginations"
👉Thursday 20/11 at 15:30
cdh.uu.nl/event/cdh-on...
Reposted by ana valdivia
This is going to be a big old thread where I dump thoughts, reactions, charts etc from the @iea.org World Energy Outlook 2025 :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkP...
www.iea.org/commentaries...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkP...
www.iea.org/commentaries...
World Energy Outlook 2025
YouTube video by International Energy Agency
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:17 AM
This is going to be a big old thread where I dump thoughts, reactions, charts etc from the @iea.org World Energy Outlook 2025 :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkP...
www.iea.org/commentaries...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkP...
www.iea.org/commentaries...
Reposted by ana valdivia
“A recent response from the European Commission to our access to documents request not only revealed that the President of the Commission was repeating the words of tech CEOs, but it also accidentally divulged the Commission’s use of generative AI in public documents.”
🤦♂️
🤦♂️
The European Commission uses ChatGPT outputs in public documents.
@iccl.bsky.social has filed a complaint to the European Ombudsman as this use likely violates Commission's own guidelines and its obligation under EU treaties
www.iccl.ie/news/europea...
@iccl.bsky.social has filed a complaint to the European Ombudsman as this use likely violates Commission's own guidelines and its obligation under EU treaties
www.iccl.ie/news/europea...
European Commission breaches own AI guidelines by using ChatGPT in public documents
ICCL has filed a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the European Commission for its use of generative AI in public documents, which likely violates its own guidelines and its obligation under...
www.iccl.ie
November 14, 2025 at 7:19 AM
“A recent response from the European Commission to our access to documents request not only revealed that the President of the Commission was repeating the words of tech CEOs, but it also accidentally divulged the Commission’s use of generative AI in public documents.”
🤦♂️
🤦♂️
Reposted by ana valdivia
"People have to have a language to speak about what other possible futures are available to them,” Hall wrote. One task...is therefore to devise a language that expands the sense of what is possible"
NEW: Casey A. Williams reads Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
NEW: Casey A. Williams reads Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
Reading Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
Stuart Hall’s politics of culture offers the left a blueprint for confronting the climate crisis.
www.break-down.org
November 14, 2025 at 8:58 AM
"People have to have a language to speak about what other possible futures are available to them,” Hall wrote. One task...is therefore to devise a language that expands the sense of what is possible"
NEW: Casey A. Williams reads Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
NEW: Casey A. Williams reads Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
Reposted by ana valdivia
Fantastic interview with @anavaldi.bsky.social pointing out the risks of facial recognition. But, lo and behold, the caption is very misleading. Gracias Ana por hablar sobre este tema tan importante para quienes migramos a UK.
November 11, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Fantastic interview with @anavaldi.bsky.social pointing out the risks of facial recognition. But, lo and behold, the caption is very misleading. Gracias Ana por hablar sobre este tema tan importante para quienes migramos a UK.
Reposted by ana valdivia
Really good, short, LRB blog by @michaelchessum.bsky.social abt the rise of the Greens...
Spoiler - his conclusion -
"For more than a hundred years, the Labour Party has had a monopoly on political representation on the British left. That is now breaking down."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Spoiler - his conclusion -
"For more than a hundred years, the Labour Party has had a monopoly on political representation on the British left. That is now breaking down."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Michael Chessum | Green New Left
As Starmer drove Labour to the right, the Greens argued for a wealth tax and against the genocide in Gaza. Zack Polanski...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Really good, short, LRB blog by @michaelchessum.bsky.social abt the rise of the Greens...
Spoiler - his conclusion -
"For more than a hundred years, the Labour Party has had a monopoly on political representation on the British left. That is now breaking down."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Spoiler - his conclusion -
"For more than a hundred years, the Labour Party has had a monopoly on political representation on the British left. That is now breaking down."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Reposted by ana valdivia
Matthew Gandy (@cam.ac.uk) will present on “Attentive Observation: Walking, Listening, Staying Put” tonight at 18:00 as part of the interdisciplinary lecture series “On Environment.”
Find out more: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_...
#lectureseries #rccevents #envhum #envhist
Find out more: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_...
#lectureseries #rccevents #envhum #envhist
November 5, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Matthew Gandy (@cam.ac.uk) will present on “Attentive Observation: Walking, Listening, Staying Put” tonight at 18:00 as part of the interdisciplinary lecture series “On Environment.”
Find out more: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_...
#lectureseries #rccevents #envhum #envhist
Find out more: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_...
#lectureseries #rccevents #envhum #envhist
Reposted by ana valdivia
Our paper on clusters of schools across the UK is out.
We find five clusters: multi-racial & super-diverse middle & working-class schools of towns & cities, suburban white middle class schools, established elite schools & (post-)industrial white working class schools.
doi.org/10.1002/berj...
We find five clusters: multi-racial & super-diverse middle & working-class schools of towns & cities, suburban white middle class schools, established elite schools & (post-)industrial white working class schools.
doi.org/10.1002/berj...
August 5, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Our paper on clusters of schools across the UK is out.
We find five clusters: multi-racial & super-diverse middle & working-class schools of towns & cities, suburban white middle class schools, established elite schools & (post-)industrial white working class schools.
doi.org/10.1002/berj...
We find five clusters: multi-racial & super-diverse middle & working-class schools of towns & cities, suburban white middle class schools, established elite schools & (post-)industrial white working class schools.
doi.org/10.1002/berj...
Reposted by ana valdivia
Wim Vanderbauwhede: “You give an input and it ‘guesses’ the answer a user would want to get, based on the input and the data it was trained on. The ‘machines’ don’t think; they generate something plausible, something that seems acceptable.” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 24, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Wim Vanderbauwhede: “You give an input and it ‘guesses’ the answer a user would want to get, based on the input and the data it was trained on. The ‘machines’ don’t think; they generate something plausible, something that seems acceptable.” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Reposted by ana valdivia
Reposted by ana valdivia
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
October 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
Reposted by ana valdivia
It's perhaps pertinent to note that people in reply *don't believe* these numbers. Yet they are from a UKRI spreadsheet. So is UKRI wrong? Or are the numbers just unbelievably bad?
Given that people is asking me for the numbers, here the table provided by UKRI:
October 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
It's perhaps pertinent to note that people in reply *don't believe* these numbers. Yet they are from a UKRI spreadsheet. So is UKRI wrong? Or are the numbers just unbelievably bad?
Reposted by ana valdivia
Last time I checked those were at roughly 5% success rate as per the AHRC website.
October 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Last time I checked those were at roughly 5% success rate as per the AHRC website.
Reposted by ana valdivia
But column two says "Year application received". This to me suggests that the success rate is "the probability that you would have been successful by Oct. 2025, given that you submitted in 2025", which is different from "the probability that you will be successful, given that you submitted in 2025"
October 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
But column two says "Year application received". This to me suggests that the success rate is "the probability that you would have been successful by Oct. 2025, given that you submitted in 2025", which is different from "the probability that you will be successful, given that you submitted in 2025"
Reposted by ana valdivia
This is at a time when universities are turning more to grant capture as the primary currency for promotion etc (usually regardless of what you do with it)
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
This is at a time when universities are turning more to grant capture as the primary currency for promotion etc (usually regardless of what you do with it)
Reposted by ana valdivia
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai
🧵
🧵
October 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
CAIL = prerequisite knowledge for a critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims. For example, the idea that human-like systems are a sensible or possible goal is the result of circular reasoning and anthropomorphism. olivia.science/ai
🧵
🧵
Reposted by ana valdivia
Makes the ERC Starting Grants look very attainable in comparison (12.2% success rate for latest round)
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Makes the ERC Starting Grants look very attainable in comparison (12.2% success rate for latest round)
Reposted by ana valdivia
My performance (and employability, let alone promotability) is based on my ability to win these grants. Even if i did nothing but wrote them (+ all the networking & other prep work) I could easily go years - decades - without winning one, according to these stats.
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 11:57 AM
My performance (and employability, let alone promotability) is based on my ability to win these grants. Even if i did nothing but wrote them (+ all the networking & other prep work) I could easily go years - decades - without winning one, according to these stats.
Reposted by ana valdivia
1% for new investigator is particular obnoxious as it would seem to directly undermine the core aims of the scheme. You're not helping ECRs develop if you won't give any of them money to manage as PIs
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
1% for new investigator is particular obnoxious as it would seem to directly undermine the core aims of the scheme. You're not helping ECRs develop if you won't give any of them money to manage as PIs