Mastodawn

Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)

Almost a year ago, I was described in the FT as "a Cassandra with a wry grin and twinkling eye", and was entertained because Cassandra (famously) was right.

It's actually not fun, though, to watch the world do things you've been warning against:

https://www.newstatesman.com/technology/2026/04/the-silent-coup

The silent coup

On 20 April 2025, an official in the British government emailed their colleagues a story from that day’s Financial Times. The headline read: “UAE set to use AI to write laws in world first”. The offic

New Statesman

Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)3d ago

Source for the Cassandra quote:
https://www.ft.com/content/9029cc1c-4a3f-42ca-9939-f3ef8e8336ae

AI sceptic Emily Bender: ‘The emperor has no clothes’

The computational linguist on her motivations for taking on Big Tech, the dangers of chatbots — and why AI is just a ‘glorified Magic 8 Ball’

Financial Times

@emilymbender
I really did not want to read that AI generated text had already made its way into Brutish legislation.

I'm not surprised, the algorithm has been King for a while.

But I am disappointed.

Kierkethumbs up convincingly 3d ago

@emilymbender and she was famously chopped to death by agamemnon’s wife and her lover for warning agamemnon about the plot that he ignored

@Kierkegaanks @emilymbender I don't think anybody is chopped to death any time soon. At least I hope not

Kierkethumbs up convincingly 3d ago

@Huubje @emilymbender that was 2500 years ago. Different folks with different strokes

Mike McCaffrey 3d ago

@Kierkegaanks @Huubje @emilymbender Now it is just your employment contract that is chopped to death, and then you die from not being able to pay for healthcare. The modern world is much more humane.

@emilymbender Religious AI fanatics in one end and desperatet politicians with litterally whole countries of funding in the other. But mostly I'm depressed that normal people use these brainwashing machines. Apparently Social Media didn't ruin people enough; we need a digital sycophant in every pocket whispering sweet nothings and changing opinions or killing the user while trying.

Only the conforming shall survive(!).

Good article.

GhostOnTheHalfShell 3d ago

@aanee @emilymbender

You could argue Larry Niven‘s famous line “think of it as evolution in action“

The catch in all this is surviving them

mx alex tax1a - 2020 (6)3d ago

@emilymbender @ireneista we had a similar situation with the Snowden leaks. when they happened someone at the 2600 group we attended was like, "well, alex, do you feel vindicated?" and we were like "YES, but that doesn't feel GOOD."

Passwordsarehard4 3d ago

@atax1a @emilymbender @ireneista i will admit, it does feel good for just a second. Just be getting more and more mad as the news goes on and then someone comes in with “I bet you’re loving this, just like you said”. YES, THANK YOU. YOU ACTUALLY WERE LISTENING. Then back to mad as the next detail comes up in the news.

Irenes (many)3d ago

@passwordsarehard4 @atax1a @emilymbender remember

Cassandra, Pandora, all those figures

they were set up to fail by the patriarchy. it was never their fault

in this age, in this lifetime, we should refuse to accept that

Bruno Nicoletti 3d ago

@emilymbender I’ve read the article, was frankly horrified and written a letter to my Member of Parliament. I hope it achieves something, but I doubt it.

Get in line - folks warning about #climatechange have been facing this situation for decades!!

Death by Lambda 3d ago

@emilymbender
Tell me about it...

Mike McCaffrey 3d ago

@emilymbender At least people appreciate your wry grin and twinkling eye. All people point out about me is my relentless negativity.

@emilymbender I think an awful lot of us have become Cassandra lately...

You'd think the tale would serve as a warning to people. It wasn't just that people simply didn't believe her. They were *MADE* not to believe her... And the result was positively horrendous. Just as we're fast careening to in the real world today.

The answer is, as always, for people just to utilize their own brains on their own and apply critical thinking. Why *couldn't* a kingdom be attacked by others?

Cyberlyra 2d ago

Indeed. I have been called a Cassandra since I went off Google products in 2012 and started railing against the "personal data economy." It's not fun or nice to be right when that means watching all your nightmares come true.

Koen Hufkens, PhD 2d ago

@emilymbender As a climate scientist I can relate. One of the reasons I got out, because it felt so useless (to the point that warnings turned into documenting the negative effects - mostly). Even a return to more fundamental research offered no escape as everything is now touched by climate change (from plant ecology to economics). I fear that the same scenario is rolling out for AI. It becomes this inescapable -thing-, regardless of topic matter.

@emilymbender #paywall

Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)2d ago

@abeorch Yes, journalists deserve to be paid for their work. This is one way that that happens.

CassandraVert 2d ago

From one "Cassandra with a wry grin and twinkling eye"* to another, no, it's no fun to see people stride into what you warned against-or to see someone else finally believed when you were not.

*kind of looks like my avie

@emilymbender "Reeves herself had already presented policy formed with the help of AI to parliament in her June 2025 Spending Review.... it also allocated £2bn in new funding to AI."

The paperclip maximizer is already here, and it's mind-numbingly prosaic.

@emilymbender I'm having trouble using reader mode for that article.

#RSS may have worked if caught early enough
https://www.newstatesman.com/feed

@emilymbender @dgold If I ever set up my own company I would call it Cassandra Services.