Kate Devlin
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drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Kate Devlin
@drkatedevlin.bsky.social
14K followers 1.5K following 1.2K posts
Academic; writer. Professor of AI & Society, Chair-Director @kings-dfi.bsky.social, King’s College London. Come for the sex robots; stay for the eye-rolling at AI nonsense on a daily basis. #academicsky . Norn Irish in Norwich.
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drkatedevlin.bsky.social
@ginasue.bsky.social Look what has arrived in my life!
A really rather nice coated linen small backpack in a forest green colour.
November 2, 2025 at 11:29 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
My morning walk in the woods; not sticking around for nighttime, thanks.
A wooden door between two brick posts is set into a bank of earth in the woods. It looks creepy af. There are two large pumpkins outside the door: one white and one orange.
October 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Am off to Kraków soon for a talk on Thursday as part of @unsoundfestival.bsky.social — awesome music festival (with talking bits too). www.unsound.pl/en/unsound-w...
Kate Devlin IDISCOURSE PROGRAMME] 09.10 13:15 Patac Krzysztofory - Sala Miedziana Discussion: Future Sex unsound. [web] 7-12October Kraków
October 6, 2025 at 9:35 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Just what every woman wants: an unsolicited pic from some guy they don’t know.
A leaflet with a big read heart on it and the text “An intimate message from God to you.”
September 16, 2025 at 7:54 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Sarah Hall’s new book, Helm, is in bookshops now and the icing on the cake is this “HUMAN WRITTEN” maker’s mark on the cover to denote that AI was not used in writing this book. Nice one, @faberbooks.bsky.social .
My hand holding a copy of Sarah Hall’s new book, “Helm”. In the blurry background, a scruffy lurcher is snoozing on a quilt on a sofa. A maker’s mark and the text: “The author has created a maker's mark to assert the organic, bio-logical, non-Al-generated nature of the novel's creative composition and artistry. The author offers this as an affirmation of her craft.” The corner of the front of the book showing the maker’s mark “HUMAN WRITTEN”.
August 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
“How do you feel about seagulls, Kate?”
A hand flips the bird at a bird. The teal bird is a really annoying gull. They’ve been waking us up at 4:30am every morning and I hope they fuck off soon.
August 25, 2025 at 6:22 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
The “graphic design is my passion” meme: an image of terrible, terrible graphic design. Don’t expect the AGI to have any merit either.
August 22, 2025 at 4:57 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Bouba and kiki but it’s coffee cup choice time.
A cafetière and two coffee cups are next to a cooker. One coffee cup is round and smooth and the other is ridged and rougher. This is a bit like the bouba/kiki effect where people associate more rounded shapes with the made-up word “bouba”, and spikier shapes with the made-up word “kiki”. It’s a form of cross-modal symbolism and holds across many different languages.
August 8, 2025 at 8:52 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Noted but ignored.
A label describing some decorative plasterwork. It reads: “Ladies inclined to marry youth should not overlook the values of an older man.” Blickling, Norfolk.
July 27, 2025 at 11:23 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
My unconference scribbled quotes from today include “polygenic scores”, “reason as a sense of grace (Protestantism)”, “London underground-underworld”, “the age of marvels”, and “Alain de Botton fanfiction”. Thank you, colleagues, for these contributions that will haunt me for the next few weeks.
Graphic recording sketch notes from the opening of the King’s Digital Futures Institute unconference. The key question illustrated is “How do we navigate the complex relationships between technology and humanity in ways that enhance rather than diminish our lives?”.
July 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
I’ve had such good experiences at unconferences to the point where I now actively prefer them to regular conferences. We got to run our own one today, ably facilitated by @64millionartists.bsky.social, bringing together colleagues from across @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social. A lovely experience.
Four people stand by a scheduling board for an unconference. One person is sticking a post-it to the board while the others look on. A sign is visible. It reads “Digital Futures Institute, King’s College London.”
July 14, 2025 at 6:39 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
We’re running Digital Futures Institute Unconference today King’s. Around 50 people from across all nine faculties of the College are here to meet and talk and think about how we might live well with technology.
@kings-dfi.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kingsartshums.bsky.social
A stage with a banner at each end bearing the words “Digital Futures Institute: Living Well with Technology”. There is a large multicoloured grid of giant post-it notes which represent the sessions that attendees have proposed. At the front is a canvas where a scribe has drawn sketch notes of the opening session.
July 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
MAYBE DON’T EMAIL ME AT THE WEEKEND, THEN.
Dear Colleague It appears that your Wellbeing Awareness training has not yet been completed. This e-learning forms part of the University's strategy to improve health and wellbeing amongst its staff and is an important means of providing you with key information on how to manage work-life pressures.
July 12, 2025 at 2:14 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
I filled in the “Future of the BBC survey”.
A survey form. It reads as follows: Anything else that the BBC should offer less of? (optional) Please tell us here if there are other types of programmes and content not mentioned above that you'd like the BBC to do less of. Between 1 and 25 words My reply: Less content about celebrities going on trips round the world that most can't afford to go on. Less about men in sheds or on trains. 0/25
July 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
The sketch notes from my talk at #Amplify2025 today. Love this!
A large sheet of paper with my talk represented in drawings and handwritten notes. The notes say things like: BeaNS? AI Hope VS Hype AI : Like Magic Beans Prof Kate Devlin Chat GPT USeRs are 85% Male AI Hallucinations Getting Worse? Energy Footprint My wishlist: More diverse representation Mitigation of Bias Smaller LMs Governance and Regulation Training and awareness An Ability to Reject AI Responsible AI UK- People, Social and Cultural Impact A human in the loop!
June 19, 2025 at 2:55 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
It’s @dermotcasey.bsky.social opening Amplify 2025 in Kilkenny with a great talk about Ireland’s cultural positioning in innovation: we’ve long been told not to “have notions” but we have to (and we need to) show audacity, to re-enchant.
A man stands at a lectern which bears the word “Amplify” and a colourful lightbulb logi. There are screens behind him saying “IRDG innovation”.
June 19, 2025 at 8:31 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
A "Human Written" stamp will be featured on the front cover of Helm (Faber), the 10th book by Booker Prize-nominated author Sarah Hall, which will be published on 28th August 2025. Faber has developed this stamp following a request by the author, who wants to ensure that readers are aware that the book does not include any machine-generated content. Hall has claimed that her published body of work has been used to train large language models without consent or compensation, a practice she described as "creative larceny at scale". The author is calling for increased regulation to protect writers and their work.
June 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
I’m at the @humanists.uk annual convention today and, as always, the talks are incredibly interesting. Up now is @drcarpineti.bsky.social talking about his next book, Invisible Rainbows, (currently in limbo due to the Unbound/Boundless publishing fiasco) about the universe beyond our senses.
Two people sit on chairs on a stage. Behind them, above their heads, is a large screen with the words: INVISIBLE RAINBOWS — THE UNIVERSE BEYOND OUR SENSES.
June 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
The face that launched a thousand books (or so we hope). Cracking evening with @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social and friends. You too can own a copy: geni.us/BreakingMicW...
Mic Wright at a bookshop counter, signing copies of his book (“Breaking: How the media works, when it doesn’t, and why it matters”)
June 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
A picture of a peacock with text that reads “I JUST ROLLED ALL 100 OF MY ASS EYES”
June 10, 2025 at 11:44 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
These delicious creatures
A photo of a bag of SMOKED PAPRIKA POPPED RED LENTIL TORTILLAS.
June 9, 2025 at 9:43 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Had an absolute blast doing my inaugural lecture (or Naugy Lec, as we’re calling it, mostly because my husband said that was an unforgivable phrase to use) last night. Thank you to all who came along to listen and to have a wee bit of a party.
Photo by Steve Cross. It shows me standing, talking, gesticulating with one hand while the other hand holds a microphone. Behind me is the corner of a projector screen and the visible words are “not really intelligent & not artificial”.
June 7, 2025 at 1:34 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
I’m back to work today after a week off. You know what else is back? The tic in my left eye that signals tiredness and stress. I really like my job but there’s just so much of it right now and then there’s [gestures expansively at the world] all this.
This Is Fine meme
June 2, 2025 at 10:21 AM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
Found my Cocks Not Glocks t-shirt again today: a throw back to 2016 when UT Austin students protested at people being allowed to carry concealed handguns on campus, whereas dildos on campus were prohibited. (Campus carry is still permitted today.) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016...
My torso clad in a magenta coloured t-shirt on which there is printed a gold cockerel and the hashtag “cocks NOT glocks”.
May 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
drkatedevlin.bsky.social
"Let's give our paint some lovely evocative colour names!"
Are you effin' kidding me?
A paint chart of lovely colours with names that include: Cherrywood, Clover Leaf, Eminence, Fall Straw, Gingerbread, Lapis Lazuli, Onsidian, Rain Forest, Rose Smoke, Toasted Almond, Wild Grape, and... Speculum. A grey-ish colour from a paint chart with the colour name "Speculum".
May 14, 2025 at 6:47 AM