DM Howcroft 🦔
@davehowcroft.com
Computational linguist teaching computers to use their words. Queer. Catholic. Immigrant. they/them
Languages: en, de, fr, sv
Also available at https://mastodon.social/@_dmh
Languages: en, de, fr, sv
Also available at https://mastodon.social/@_dmh
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
If you read the replies you’ll see that Pinker was always a race science supporter, it’s just that nobody paid any attention. Maybe we should start noticing when celebrity scientists are fans of pseudoscientific ideas, and adjust our opinion of their competence accordingly
What happened to Steven Pinker? I only felt free to write this because he blocks me:
www.thenerve.news/p/steven-pin...
www.thenerve.news/p/steven-pin...
From celebrity intellectual to anti-woke outlaw: how Steven Pinker lost his way
The pop psycholgist’s new book seems to betray a lurking fear of others’ criticism – about his Epstein links, his manosphere admirers and his discredited former field of study, writes Virginia Heffern...
www.thenerve.news
September 19, 2026 at 11:18 AM
If you read the replies you’ll see that Pinker was always a race science supporter, it’s just that nobody paid any attention. Maybe we should start noticing when celebrity scientists are fans of pseudoscientific ideas, and adjust our opinion of their competence accordingly
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Antek, obligatory reading in primary school, a novella about hardships of 19th c rural life. Includes a scene where a girl is burned alive in the oven to cure her fever. I wish I could forget it.
please tell me a book that fucked your shit up when you were a kid. I will go first, a book nobody's ever heard of, Lost Magic by Berthe Amoss. to this day I am legitimately terrified of mandrakes because of that book.
September 18, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Antek, obligatory reading in primary school, a novella about hardships of 19th c rural life. Includes a scene where a girl is burned alive in the oven to cure her fever. I wish I could forget it.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
New blog post: "Cluster analysis: A skeptic’s guide".
In which I ask a few questions that social scientists wishing to identify hidden classes in their data ought to address.
janhove.github.io/posts/2026-0...
In which I ask a few questions that social scientists wishing to identify hidden classes in their data ought to address.
janhove.github.io/posts/2026-0...
September 18, 2026 at 7:14 AM
New blog post: "Cluster analysis: A skeptic’s guide".
In which I ask a few questions that social scientists wishing to identify hidden classes in their data ought to address.
janhove.github.io/posts/2026-0...
In which I ask a few questions that social scientists wishing to identify hidden classes in their data ought to address.
janhove.github.io/posts/2026-0...
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
“AI allows you to get to a bad idea faster”
I have been yelling since 2021 about how using synthetic text extruding machines for information access is a TERRIBLE IDEA. And yet and yet and yet: they are marketing so heavily that way that people keep falling for it.
edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
edition.cnn.com
September 19, 2026 at 2:18 PM
“AI allows you to get to a bad idea faster”
Lol, massive job cuts looming at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, but funds for two temporary hired guns to come spend 2 years "managing change". Wonder how much their consultants charged them to advise adding these roles...
September 19, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Lol, massive job cuts looming at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, but funds for two temporary hired guns to come spend 2 years "managing change". Wonder how much their consultants charged them to advise adding these roles...
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
You can’t just deport people to third countries because you paid off that country’s government for an assurance no rights violations will occur.
That’s just not what US law says and not how the Refugee and Torture conventions work.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
That’s just not what US law says and not how the Refugee and Torture conventions work.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Main Document – #00108510897 in D.V.D. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1st Cir., 26-1212) – CourtListener.com
OPINION issued by Lara E. Montecalvo, Appellate Judge; Jeffrey R. Howard, Appellate Judge; and Seth Robert Aframe, Appellate Judge. Published. [26-1212] (AVN) [Entered: 09/18/2026 03:22 PM]
storage.courtlistener.com
September 18, 2026 at 9:55 PM
You can’t just deport people to third countries because you paid off that country’s government for an assurance no rights violations will occur.
That’s just not what US law says and not how the Refugee and Torture conventions work.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
That’s just not what US law says and not how the Refugee and Torture conventions work.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
So now there are stories travelling like ‘Edinburgh cutting Scottish Literature’, which is a real threat to the reputation of the institution they are supposedly trying to save. Very difficult to have trust in management when it can’t do the basics!
September 18, 2026 at 6:42 AM
So now there are stories travelling like ‘Edinburgh cutting Scottish Literature’, which is a real threat to the reputation of the institution they are supposedly trying to save. Very difficult to have trust in management when it can’t do the basics!
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
I see submissions from people who are trying to learn how to do research using LLMs. This is dubious, and do not expect TACL (etc) to teach research skills! I suggest you get involved with local research: attend workshop, join seminar series, help in a research project, etc
September 17, 2026 at 2:47 PM
I see submissions from people who are trying to learn how to do research using LLMs. This is dubious, and do not expect TACL (etc) to teach research skills! I suggest you get involved with local research: attend workshop, join seminar series, help in a research project, etc
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
"What is uniquely African about the African AI landscape? Is it because those working on it are from/based in the African continent? Because it focuses on African languages/datasets? Or does it adhere to distinctly African values?" @hellinanigatu.bsky.social
aial.ie/blog/worksho...
aial.ie/blog/worksho...
An Introspective Look at the African AI Landscape: An organizer’s reflection
Key takeaways from “An Introspective Look at the African AI Landscape” workshop at the 9th inaugural Deep Learning Indaba
aial.ie
September 17, 2026 at 11:54 AM
"What is uniquely African about the African AI landscape? Is it because those working on it are from/based in the African continent? Because it focuses on African languages/datasets? Or does it adhere to distinctly African values?" @hellinanigatu.bsky.social
aial.ie/blog/worksho...
aial.ie/blog/worksho...
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
When I visited SF this summer, I stayed at an apartment in Hayes Valley owned by an artist (i.e. not a tech person). When I introduced myself, she said “Oh, well, you chose the right neighborhood! Welcome to AI Valley! The cult lives here!”
Context for how weird things are there.
Context for how weird things are there.
"[T]he ability to dismiss an argument with a “that sounds nuts,” without needing recourse to a point-by-point rebuttal, is anathema to the rationalist project. But it’s a pretty important skill to have if you want to avoid joining cults." (from @maxread.info)
maxread.substack.com/p/the-zizian...
maxread.substack.com/p/the-zizian...
The Zizians and the Rationalist death cults
What is the deal with Rationalism and cults?
maxread.substack.com
September 16, 2026 at 5:42 PM
When I visited SF this summer, I stayed at an apartment in Hayes Valley owned by an artist (i.e. not a tech person). When I introduced myself, she said “Oh, well, you chose the right neighborhood! Welcome to AI Valley! The cult lives here!”
Context for how weird things are there.
Context for how weird things are there.
Mengxuan's thesis was a fun read! Very cool interdisciplinary work bringing together medical practice and CS to summarize multidisciplinary teams' summaries of cancer status and treatment for patients -- check it out when you have a minute!
Congratulations to my student Mengxuan Sun for passing her PhD viva with minor corrections! Mengxuan's thesis was on Designing and Evaluating Natural Language Processing Tools for Patient-Centred Communication in Cancer Care
September 17, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Mengxuan's thesis was a fun read! Very cool interdisciplinary work bringing together medical practice and CS to summarize multidisciplinary teams' summaries of cancer status and treatment for patients -- check it out when you have a minute!
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Students asked me how to get rid of AI Overview in Chrome, and this method has worked for me so here's a PSA! It's SO nice to not have to scroll past that nonsense! tenbluelinks.org
How to Turn Off Google AI Overview and Set "Web" as Default
tenbluelinks.org
September 16, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Students asked me how to get rid of AI Overview in Chrome, and this method has worked for me so here's a PSA! It's SO nice to not have to scroll past that nonsense! tenbluelinks.org
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
🎉 Review time for the CL Journal: "Computational Linguistics maintains a rigorous yet efficient editorial process. As of 2025, the average time to first decision is 16.5 days (including desk rejections) and 55.0 days (excluding desk rejections)." So it is less than 2 months!
❓Without looking at the CL journal website, can you guess how long does it take now for a submission to our journal to be reviewed?
1️⃣ Less than 20 days
2️⃣ Less than 2 months
3️⃣ 2months+ but < 1 years
4️⃣One year or more
1️⃣ Less than 20 days
2️⃣ Less than 2 months
3️⃣ 2months+ but < 1 years
4️⃣One year or more
September 16, 2026 at 2:22 AM
🎉 Review time for the CL Journal: "Computational Linguistics maintains a rigorous yet efficient editorial process. As of 2025, the average time to first decision is 16.5 days (including desk rejections) and 55.0 days (excluding desk rejections)." So it is less than 2 months!
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
More than any higher ed development in recent memory, institutional subsidies for AI at R1 universities prove that austerity is a choice. It is not “too expensive” to invest in a humanities research infrastructure; rather, it is a choice that R1 universities make not to & subsidize AI instead.
The amount of money I saw one department paying for several AI services in a school year could cover the University’s pay one price textbook costs for nearly their entire enrolled student body in said department
Colleges could subsidize books for students rather than paying for premium versions of ChatGPT
September 16, 2026 at 9:54 PM
More than any higher ed development in recent memory, institutional subsidies for AI at R1 universities prove that austerity is a choice. It is not “too expensive” to invest in a humanities research infrastructure; rather, it is a choice that R1 universities make not to & subsidize AI instead.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
American Samoans are nationals, but not citizens. Do you know what this distinction means? Neither did they, and the result was they were prosecuted for voting in a local AK election.
The good news is that the prosecutions were dropped, but when you hear about voter fraud, its often cases like this.
The good news is that the prosecutions were dropped, but when you hear about voter fraud, its often cases like this.
For years, Alaska officials prosecuted (& persecuted) a community of American Samoans in the city of Whittier, threatening them with years in prison for the crime of voting.
You may have read about this when we covered it in Bolts earlier this year.
HUGE NEWS: Alaska just dropped all charges.
You may have read about this when we covered it in Bolts earlier this year.
HUGE NEWS: Alaska just dropped all charges.
After a Yearslong Nightmare, Relief for American Samoans Punished for Voting - Bolts
Alaska officials for years accused American Samoans caught in a unique legal limbo of illegally voting, but finally dropped those charges this month.
boltsmag.org
September 15, 2026 at 5:57 PM
American Samoans are nationals, but not citizens. Do you know what this distinction means? Neither did they, and the result was they were prosecuted for voting in a local AK election.
The good news is that the prosecutions were dropped, but when you hear about voter fraud, its often cases like this.
The good news is that the prosecutions were dropped, but when you hear about voter fraud, its often cases like this.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
a TikTok account of a medical professional who can tolerate nasal laryngoscopies and can sing is a great find for my phonetics class
September 15, 2026 at 1:37 AM
a TikTok account of a medical professional who can tolerate nasal laryngoscopies and can sing is a great find for my phonetics class
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Now at KONVENS,Barbara Plank starts off with a keynote on how variability and disagreement is useful for NLP tasks.
September 15, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Now at KONVENS,Barbara Plank starts off with a keynote on how variability and disagreement is useful for NLP tasks.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
We never punished the people who authorized torture and the last 20+ years of our politics are a consequence of that.
September 14, 2026 at 4:17 PM
We never punished the people who authorized torture and the last 20+ years of our politics are a consequence of that.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
There is a lot of new info in this article, based on documents, Slack chats, instruction guides, and me seeing real ChatGPT user prompts in the review system. Firstly, a worker we spoke to thinks ChatGPT users have no idea their chats may be read by someone else www.404media.co/inside-proje...
![“No,” someone who works with the prompts said when asked if they think ChatGPT users know that humans are reading their chats. “I don’t think they would imagine some contractor somewhere [...] is analyzing the conversations.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vk7rduhvom3rq6dyluce5wzf/bafkreiaqssqh54kurlc3jro3izmt7bjh72kzzo53keilkdqmqgp6jgltl4)
September 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM
There is a lot of new info in this article, based on documents, Slack chats, instruction guides, and me seeing real ChatGPT user prompts in the review system. Firstly, a worker we spoke to thinks ChatGPT users have no idea their chats may be read by someone else www.404media.co/inside-proje...
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
TBH the whole “AI is going to kill us all and must be slowed to save humanity” thing feels hella manufactured to me as an attempt to convince everyone AI is actually more then just a useless answer-bot that lies and steals stuff so they can stop the bubble popping and putting them out of business
TIL even the guy who wrote the book called "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" that everyone keeps talking about also isn't really sure what an AI apocalypse entails.
It's the No. 1 news story in the country and no one can even detail what it is!
It's the No. 1 news story in the country and no one can even detail what it is!
How the hell would AI actually kill us anyway?
September 14, 2026 at 3:21 PM
TBH the whole “AI is going to kill us all and must be slowed to save humanity” thing feels hella manufactured to me as an attempt to convince everyone AI is actually more then just a useless answer-bot that lies and steals stuff so they can stop the bubble popping and putting them out of business
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
I spent good part of this year thinking about the methods of evaluation, specifically the way they're used at scale such as WMT or IWSLT. Happy to announce that they will be presented at different places at EMNLP:
- Pearmut
- Dynamic Annotation Allocation
- cESA Annotation Protocol
- Pearmut
- Dynamic Annotation Allocation
- cESA Annotation Protocol
September 14, 2026 at 6:19 AM
I spent good part of this year thinking about the methods of evaluation, specifically the way they're used at scale such as WMT or IWSLT. Happy to announce that they will be presented at different places at EMNLP:
- Pearmut
- Dynamic Annotation Allocation
- cESA Annotation Protocol
- Pearmut
- Dynamic Annotation Allocation
- cESA Annotation Protocol
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
'Britain’s debate about universities has become strangely one-sided. We scrutinise the supply of graduate skills....Far less attention is paid to the demand side: whether Britain’s economy is creating enough high-skilled opportunities to make full use of the talent universities produce.'
Good stuff
Good stuff
Universities Produce Talent. Economies Produce Returns. - HEPI
Join the Policy Institute at King’s College London and HEPI on Tuesday 15 September, from 6.30pm to 7.45pm, at Bush House, London, for a free event exploring the future of higher education in England....
www.hepi.ac.uk
September 14, 2026 at 6:45 AM
'Britain’s debate about universities has become strangely one-sided. We scrutinise the supply of graduate skills....Far less attention is paid to the demand side: whether Britain’s economy is creating enough high-skilled opportunities to make full use of the talent universities produce.'
Good stuff
Good stuff
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Of interest too for scholars of the long history of British colonialism and decolonisation.
How AI ended Kenya’s essay-writing industry | The Observer
The arrival of ChatGPT put paid to thousands of businesses in Nairobi that wrote essays for western students – but LLMs won’t take all our jobs
observer.co.uk
September 14, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Of interest too for scholars of the long history of British colonialism and decolonisation.
Reposted by DM Howcroft 🦔
Hey all,
We have received way too many submissions for our workshop at NeurIPS and we are looking for reviewers. If you can help review a paper, within next month, then please let us know your Openreview ID!
We have received way too many submissions for our workshop at NeurIPS and we are looking for reviewers. If you can help review a paper, within next month, then please let us know your Openreview ID!
September 13, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Hey all,
We have received way too many submissions for our workshop at NeurIPS and we are looking for reviewers. If you can help review a paper, within next month, then please let us know your Openreview ID!
We have received way too many submissions for our workshop at NeurIPS and we are looking for reviewers. If you can help review a paper, within next month, then please let us know your Openreview ID!