David Berreby
@davidberreby.bsky.social
Author, Writer, Journalist. Robots, Identity, AI. Brooklyn husband and dad
In the face of #AI onslaughts, the editors of @nplusonemag.com say "it's OK to be a Luddite." Here's why I think that is wrong.
The AI Revolution Asks Us: What Kind of People Do We Want to Be?
Deciding You Can Skip This Question Is Tempting, But It’s a Dead End
robots4therestofus.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
In the face of #AI onslaughts, the editors of @nplusonemag.com say "it's OK to be a Luddite." Here's why I think that is wrong.
Why do people work on AI when they think it could harm us long-term? Let’s not underestimate the appeal of creating beautiful things for their own sake. Also: AI used to recreating a murder victim to testify in court, the impact of AI college-cheating. In the latest Robots for the Rest of Us post.
Why Build AI? Maybe Because It's Fun for the Builders
The underrated allure of exercising one's talent to do cool things
robots4therestofus.substack.com
May 9, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Why do people work on AI when they think it could harm us long-term? Let’s not underestimate the appeal of creating beautiful things for their own sake. Also: AI used to recreating a murder victim to testify in court, the impact of AI college-cheating. In the latest Robots for the Rest of Us post.
Could #AI interpreters let us talk (and listen) to animals? More importantly, would we like what we hear? Also this week: Why economists think robots cause crime. robots4therestofus.substack.com/p/talking-to...
April 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Could #AI interpreters let us talk (and listen) to animals? More importantly, would we like what we hear? Also this week: Why economists think robots cause crime. robots4therestofus.substack.com/p/talking-to...
Good idea.
I sincerely think that universities should suspend their productivity standards for scientists and ask them instead to hold town halls in schools, public libraries, museums, shopping malls, and anywhere else and communicate what is being lost with the collapse of the research ecosystem.
“The ecosystem of research and the creation of new knowledge in universities has been so powerful for American prosperity, American freedom, American ingenuity. To have that disrupted by government overreach is a disaster for this country.” —Wesleyan University President Michael Roth on
@msnbc.com
@msnbc.com
March 18, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Good idea.
Reposted by David Berreby
NEW: As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, our analysis found that this expanding media ecosystem is overwhelmingly right-leaning.
The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces
As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, the influence of this media ecosystem becomes more prominent — and Media Matters has found that the most popular of this conte...
www.mediamatters.org
March 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
NEW: As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, our analysis found that this expanding media ecosystem is overwhelmingly right-leaning.
A cowardly publisher is a sad sight -- even when I agree with the views of those who intimidated that publisher.
Elon Musk's brand has become so toxic that a publisher pulled what was to be the first of a series of new novels over a character's admiring reference to him
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/b...
A Publisher Pulled a Romance Novel After Criticism From Early Readers
The novel, “Sparrow and Vine” by Sophie Lark, was due out in April from Bloom Books. Readers with advance copies criticized passages that they found racist — or that praised Elon Musk.
www.nytimes.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
A cowardly publisher is a sad sight -- even when I agree with the views of those who intimidated that publisher.
More & more I find myself treating LLMs as commodities. Some Perplexity for this, a bit of Claude for that, Grok now, NotebookLM later. With so many flooding the zone I don't feel loyal to one over another. Am I unusual?
March 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
More & more I find myself treating LLMs as commodities. Some Perplexity for this, a bit of Claude for that, Grok now, NotebookLM later. With so many flooding the zone I don't feel loyal to one over another. Am I unusual?
Authoritative perspective on all the recent "robots are ready" hype.
Sitting in SFO United Club with a Bear robot wandering about for people to put dirty dishes on. Has been here for two years. I built the first robot that could safely roll around among people 40 years ago at MIT. This is how long it takes to get from demos of technology to deployment. Remember that.
March 12, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Authoritative perspective on all the recent "robots are ready" hype.
Is there any reason for Senate Dems to vote for keeping the gov't open? Shouldn't they hold out for some concessions, like restored NIH and USAID funding? Not seeing how a shutdown is worse than letting Trump's rampage continue
March 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Is there any reason for Senate Dems to vote for keeping the gov't open? Shouldn't they hold out for some concessions, like restored NIH and USAID funding? Not seeing how a shutdown is worse than letting Trump's rampage continue
Amazed people who are cheering b/c they hate today's victim of the gov't ignoring its own laws. Do people really think it could never happen to them?
Spare a thought for your green-card holding and naturalized colleagues, many of whom are now doing risk-benefit calculations before speaking on anything that could be considered remotely political
March 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Amazed people who are cheering b/c they hate today's victim of the gov't ignoring its own laws. Do people really think it could never happen to them?
At the Women's March in Manhattan today, police presence was pretty unobtrusive and chill. Except for the 8 or 9 cops standing close around a parked Tesla truck. Ready to spring to its defense, I guess.
March 8, 2025 at 11:42 PM
At the Women's March in Manhattan today, police presence was pretty unobtrusive and chill. Except for the 8 or 9 cops standing close around a parked Tesla truck. Ready to spring to its defense, I guess.
Reposted by David Berreby
Yet another dedicated scientist and public servant, this time from US Fish and Wildlife, showing up unpaid after she was fired to volunteer to protect an endangered species.
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
After Elon Musk Fired Her, She Kept Showing Up to Work—for Free
The billionaire and his followers are out to cull federal employees they think are lazy and overpaid. But without people like Bianca Sicich, the Attwater’s prairie chicken could go extinct.
www.texasmonthly.com
March 6, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Yet another dedicated scientist and public servant, this time from US Fish and Wildlife, showing up unpaid after she was fired to volunteer to protect an endangered species.
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
What are we even doing here.
🎁 link: 🧪
As robots appear more frequently in ordinary lives, there are going to be times when people bash the machines. And times when robots bash people. Here’s what I think such incidents tell us about human-robot relations. (Spoiler: Nothing to do with uprisings and dystopias.)
Every Robot Has a Plan, Until It Gets Punched in the Face
Inevitably, now and then, a robot will smack a human (due to error). And a human will smack a robot (due to human nature)
robots4therestofus.substack.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:58 PM
As robots appear more frequently in ordinary lives, there are going to be times when people bash the machines. And times when robots bash people. Here’s what I think such incidents tell us about human-robot relations. (Spoiler: Nothing to do with uprisings and dystopias.)
What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing to see here, just Nature advocating LLM peer review.
“Feed your dictated notes into an offline large language model (LLM) to clarify and organize your feedback. A simple prompt such as “Write a critical reviewer letter based on the following notes. Maintain a professional tone throughout”
“Feed your dictated notes into an offline large language model (LLM) to clarify and organize your feedback. A simple prompt such as “Write a critical reviewer letter based on the following notes. Maintain a professional tone throughout”
Three AI-powered steps to faster, smarter peer review
Tired of spending countless hours on peer reviews? An AI-assisted workflow could help.
www.nature.com
March 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
What could possibly go wrong?
There are times in life when you don't want to give 100 % at work. When you just want to be adequate and leave on time. And maybe even make a little trouble. If this is you, don't fear #AI. It can be a great accomplice in your quest for non-excellence.
Sometimes AI Mediocrity Is Just What You Want
If your strategy at work is to spare yourself for other purposes, AI can help
robots4therestofus.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
There are times in life when you don't want to give 100 % at work. When you just want to be adequate and leave on time. And maybe even make a little trouble. If this is you, don't fear #AI. It can be a great accomplice in your quest for non-excellence.
Never too early to start making summer plans.
Here’s What a General Strike Would Take
Investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, analysis of national and world affairs, and cultural criticism that matters.
inthesetimes.com
February 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Never too early to start making summer plans.
Had a great talk with @anatperry.bsky.social about when/why people want human effort, not just a product, in their relationships. Important for deciding how and when to regulate AI therapists, AI friendship, AI romance, AI "ghosts" (recreations of deceased loved ones).
How to Manage AI Therapists, Robot Friends, AI Ghosts
Anat Perry on how to decide where an AI or robot can help humans with emotional labor -- and where the machines can't.
open.substack.com
February 16, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Had a great talk with @anatperry.bsky.social about when/why people want human effort, not just a product, in their relationships. Important for deciding how and when to regulate AI therapists, AI friendship, AI romance, AI "ghosts" (recreations of deceased loved ones).
An "#AI in 2025" moment: My pdf app has a #LLM "copilot" that can summarize a document and suggest questions about it. But it can't tell me how many words are in it.
February 12, 2025 at 8:41 PM
An "#AI in 2025" moment: My pdf app has a #LLM "copilot" that can summarize a document and suggest questions about it. But it can't tell me how many words are in it.
Reposted by David Berreby
A hallmark of a state that is coming apart is when regular people have to think about the government all the time.
Government when it's running well is invisible.
Government that is failing? It is omnipresent.
Government that is failing? It is omnipresent.
January 30, 2025 at 2:23 AM
A hallmark of a state that is coming apart is when regular people have to think about the government all the time.
Reposted by David Berreby
Also, to be specific here (because it does matter) DeepSeek is *not* open source — it’s open _weights_ with the difference being that you can run it on your own machine with the code, but you don’t know what material exactly it was trained on. An important distinction, worth emphasizing.
January 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Also, to be specific here (because it does matter) DeepSeek is *not* open source — it’s open _weights_ with the difference being that you can run it on your own machine with the code, but you don’t know what material exactly it was trained on. An important distinction, worth emphasizing.
Well, @deepseek.bsky.social is an impressive LLM. But let's not forget that compared to other #AI, it has certain unusual limitations.
January 27, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Well, @deepseek.bsky.social is an impressive LLM. But let's not forget that compared to other #AI, it has certain unusual limitations.
Life's tools when I was a kid were understandable (from cars to typewriters to phones etc). Now I, like most people, experience #AI and other tech as, basically, magic. I think that has some not-obvious consequences.
On AI's Blank Face, We Project Our Psyche
Magical thinking comes naturally. But it doesn't inspire trust or self-confidence
open.substack.com
January 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Life's tools when I was a kid were understandable (from cars to typewriters to phones etc). Now I, like most people, experience #AI and other tech as, basically, magic. I think that has some not-obvious consequences.
Can the person who stepped on the butterfly back in the Cretaceous please come forward so we can shoot you? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sound...
January 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Can the person who stepped on the butterfly back in the Cretaceous please come forward so we can shoot you? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sound...
Data-hoovering companies already know you frighteningly well, & baking #AI tools into daily life will give corporations even more intimate data. We need a New Deal for privacy before it’s too late. Data maven WesChaar
has a plan, and we had a great talk about it.
has a plan, and we had a great talk about it.
Before AI Permeates Our Lives, We Need a New Deal for Privacy
Data expert and author Wes Chaar on how to reclaim control over all the intimate information we're now giving away to corporations -- before it's too late
robots4therestofus.substack.com
January 14, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Data-hoovering companies already know you frighteningly well, & baking #AI tools into daily life will give corporations even more intimate data. We need a New Deal for privacy before it’s too late. Data maven WesChaar
has a plan, and we had a great talk about it.
has a plan, and we had a great talk about it.