Ivan Herman

@ivan_herman@w3c.social
247 Followers
132 Following
993 Posts
Retired; emeritus W3C team member, still active in digital publishing, semantic web, data, verifiable credentials; also interested in history, arts (painting, sculpture, architecture), photography, international politics, literature, music (mostly classical).
Home pagehttps://www.ivan-herman.net/
Lives inAix-en-Provence, France
Githubhttps://github.com/iherman
Ivan Herman16h ago
George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽21h ago
The Trump regime is engaging in ethnic cleansing. We need to say it aloud.
Ivan Herman5d ago
JA Westenberg6d ago
People are shocked to discover they need to fact-check ChatGPT and I'm having the uncomfortable realization that they never fact-checked their uncle's Facebook posts, their friend's medical advice, or literally anything Google's top result told them, and suddenly the last decade makes sense...
Ivan Herman6d ago

If you make EPUB documents, or build tools for EPUBs, do you think EPUBs should continue requiring the XML syntax for HTML? Tell W3C what you think by filling the simple survey by the W3C Publishing Maintenance Working Group. 4 questions, responses anonymized:

https://www.w3.org/wbs/1/epubhtml/

#publishing #ereader #ebook #kindle #kobo #pocketbook #boox #nook

Information needed to answer Survey on the usage of HTML syntax in EPUB - Web-Based Straw-poll and Balloting System

Ivan HermanJul 1
daniel:// stenberg://Jun 30

I've been talking to GitHub and giving them feedback on their "create issues with Copilot" thing they have in the works.

Today I tested a version for them and using it I asked copilot to find and report a security problem in curl and make it sound terrifying.

In about ten seconds it had a 100-line description of a "catastrophic vulnerability" it was happy to create an issue for. Entirely made up of course, but sounded plausible.

Proved my point excellently.

Ivan HermanJul 1
Natasha JayJun 30
They are starting to get it ...
Ivan HermanJul 1
World Wide Web ConsortiumJun 30

The Math Working Group has published MathML Core as a W3C Candidate Recommendation.

This spec defines a core subset of MathML, that is suitable for browser implementation. MathML is a markup language for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. The goal of MathML is to enable mathematics to be served, received, and processed on the World Wide Web, just as HTML has enabled this functionality for text.
https://www.w3.org/news/2025/w3c-invites-implementations-of-mathml-core/

Ivan HermanJun 30
Daniel AppelquistJun 30

Digital Identities that Benefit Humans

Today I’ll be traveling to Geneva to attend the Global Digital Collaboration Conference which seeks to “foster wallets, credentials and trusted infrastructure for the benefit of all humans.” I want to make sure that whatever comes out of this discussion really does benefit humans, and is therefore rooted in human rights. I have spoken publicly about how we incorporate ethics into our standards and specifications in order to make sure we ground them in human rights and “avoid […]

https://www.torgo.com/blog/2025/06/digital-identities-that-benefit-humans.html

Digital Identities that Benefit Humans – Dan's Blog

Ivan HermanJun 30

Authors petition publishers to curtail their use of AI

#ai #publishing

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/28/nx-s1-5449166/authors-publishers-ai-letter

Ivan HermanJun 29

Just for the fun of it: the Belphegor's prime, i.e.,:

1000000000000066600000000000001

'How a Mathematician Turned an Obscure Number Into a Scary Story"

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/belphegors-prime-number-superstitions

How a Mathematician Turned an Obscure Number Into a Scary Story

Beware the prime Number of the Beast.

Atlas Obscura
Ivan HermanJun 29

Denmark copyrights faces in deepfake war ​ | Cybernews

https://cybernews.com/denmark-deepfake-cybercrime-eu/

×
Natasha JayJun 30
They are starting to get it ...
Show threadRRBJun 30

@Natasha_Jay The main AI application is sycophancy.

Since about 80% of jobs in North America involve countless hours of kissing up to the boss, it is clearly possible to achieve cost savings by locking up thin skinned neurotics in a room with a machine that strokes their egos non-stop.

Why else do you think they find "in person" work so essential?

Show threadRRB5d ago

@Natasha_Jay AI is also good at racism, too. This is another way that ML will take away burdensome repetitive jobs from humans. Instead of people being annoyed at having to continuously repeat the same racist (sexist, homophobic, ...) actions daily at work, the AI assistant can do it for them. While kissing up to the boss!

https://www.pcmag.com/news/tiktok-flooded-with-racist-ai-videos-likely-made-by-google-veo-3

Show threadjnpn3d ago

@rrb @Natasha_Jay

the issue will come when the bosses will require all the llm agents to work in office

Show threadAndrew3d ago
@jnpn @rrb @Natasha_Jay can we get the machines to buy fancy sandwiches from the local pret a manger too
Show threadRRB3d ago
@andrewt @jnpn @Natasha_Jay Instead of the machines doing the drudgery, they are playing music, writing poetry and driving racing cars. The people have to run and fill out the CAPCHAs and remove orange cones from the cars when necessary.
Show threadItoshi no FoxyDonuts 🏳️‍⚧️Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay It's like Tannhaus' book from the series Dark that was never written by him but exists because it came from the future where it already existed.
Show threadFalling forward 🌵Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay
Hint: none of those folks had ever generated any business value.
Show threadWill Berard 🫳🎤🫶Jun 30

@AnnyJoe @Natasha_Jay

Yeah, sadly the conclusion is "business value" is an illusion in most knowledge work.

Show threadmikeTesteLinuxQlubJun 30
@AnnyJoe @Natasha_Jay O you mean managers? 😆
Show threadBranch Predictor Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay Nope, it's just ai-generated post to drive attention to particular linkedin account.
Show threadHuman 3500Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay @nixCraft This sounds like a lot of reports i wrote for the government.
Show threadCaptainMaluJun 30
@Natasha_Jay I mean the conclusion isn't fully right. They generated business value for the AI company. And their reports and presentations weren't valuable before so it's only a lose for the environment and the company they are working for but a win for the AI company and their energy supplier.
Show threadkolyaJul 1
@CaptainMalu
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/how-to-use-theyre-there-their
How to Use They're, There, and Their

They are among the most commonly confused words.

Show threadmuggebatscherJun 30
@Natasha_Jay how much power was produced for... just nothing?
Show threadfelis_catus_domesticusJul 1
@muggebatscher @Natasha_Jay
Show threadDopes The FrogmanJun 30

@Natasha_Jay AI IS NOT THE WAY!

Do👏not👏listen👏to👏techbros👏

Show threadRozNonofurbsnsJun 30
@Natasha_Jay
So hilariously funny and true that it’s sad.
Show threadKuoJun 30

@Natasha_Jay

AI adds negative Business value in such cases as persons who are paid to work do not produce, just create expensive useless rubbish. Good management would read the crap understand the uselessness and dismiss the non creators on the spot.

Show threadSterlingJun 30
@Natasha_Jay
Absolutely
Show threadcrazyeddieJun 30
@Natasha_Jay Is this guy notorious for being an AI shill or something?
Show threadIanJun 30
@Natasha_Jay This is business cosplay and AI is the foam latex in lieu of metal armour.
Show threadWinchell Chung ⚛🚀Jun 30

@Natasha_Jay

I vaguely recall a joke along those lines.

Something about two guys who are ship wrecked on a remote island, with nothing but a hat. To pass the time, they trade the hat back and forth. When they are finally rescued, both are millionaires...

Show threadPatrick Morris MillerJun 30
@nyrath @Natasha_Jay Heinlein told that one in *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*, except set on the Moon. (Unsurprisingly.)
Show threadWinchell Chung ⚛🚀Jun 30

@kentenmakto

IIRC H. Beam Piper told a variation of that joke in his novel Space Viking.

Show threadAmro has beenJun 30
@nyrath @kentenmakto
Yes and yes. It was basically a racist joke about that some "people" (often Asian) could sell each other rocks in the desert and make a profit.
Show threadranmatoranmaJun 30
@Natasha_Jay @nyrath Isn't that kinda how millionaires are made to begin with?
Show threadWinchell Chung ⚛🚀Jun 30

@ranmatoranma @Natasha_Jay

Yes, that was my point. Using AI to write, read, and interpret business reports is the new becoming billionaires by trading rocks.

Show threadranmatoranmaJun 30
@Natasha_Jay @nyrath Welp, at least we can solve the problem by getting rid of the billionaires.
Show threadNiniJun 30
@Natasha_Jay When the illusion of productivity is more important than producing anything of value.
Show threadAtrapado🌴🍫Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay AI is just smoke
Show threadecho ex machinaJun 30
@Natasha_Jay huh, my AI summary of this post is just "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED"
Show threadmage_of_dragonsJun 30
@Natasha_Jay I kinda want to see this happen
Show threadEarthshineJun 30
@Natasha_Jay strongest evidence yet for #bullshitjobs IMHO.
Show threadAlessandro Corazza 🇨🇦Jun 30

@earthshine

My thoughts exactly. David Graeber would point out they were doing the same before AI.

@Natasha_Jay

Show threadWEBmadmanJun 30
@alessandro @earthshine @Natasha_Jay Me as well. This is an amplification of a pre-existing issue, like a lot of the issues raised with these systems.
Show threadErwan 🚄Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay second step : there was no value in this kind of report before AI...
Show thread^[[200~MichaelJun 30

@Natasha_Jay

Just finished reading 😬

https://www.wheresyoured.at/make-fun-of-them/

Make Fun Of Them

Have you ever heard Sam Altman speak? I’m serious, have you ever heard this man say words from his mouth?  Here is but one of the trenchant insights from Sam Altman in his agonizing 37-minute-long podcast conversation with his brother Jack Altman from last week: “I think there will

Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At
Show threadfotoFiJun 30
@mnf @Natasha_Jay Reading this piece by Ed Zitron is like sunbathing in a radioactive decontamination unit. He swipes away every bit of hype and bullshit around the mythology of AI that Big Tech spreads. The truth he lays bare is almost too painful but in fact is exhilarating. Talk about the Emperor and clothes.
Show threadGockLeak タマネギJun 30
@Natasha_Jay but the line...the line go up, right?
Show threadRyek DarkenerJun 30

@Natasha_Jay

One point is missing. The important one. No one will feel or be made responsible for whatever will happen based on this workflow.

Show threadRaymond RussellJun 30
@Natasha_Jay
I don't know what it was like in the rest of the world but when the UK had its Covid lockdown and furlough scheme so that only essential workers could go out to work we found out who the really important workers were. None of them used or will AI as an essential part of their jobs.
The real stuff that keeps society running is very different for what the Techbrosphere imagine it is.
Show threadWulfyJun 30

@Natasha_Jay

The last couple sentences are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that post.
Let me run that past the AI to see if it checks out...

Show threadSteph à véloJun 30

@Natasha_Jay 8) the colleague who knows what it is about reads it and there's at least one mistake

like here

IA et fausse information : comment je me suis bagarré avec Gemini - Next
https://next.ink/190383/comment-je-me-suis-bagarre-avec-gemini/

IA et fausse information : comment je me suis bagarré avec Gemini - Next

Je me suis battu récemment avec Gemini pour lui faire admettre une erreur. Utilisé en renfort de la rédaction d’une actualité, l’assistant de Google m’a assuré qu’une information existait, preuve à l’appui. Mais ni l’information ni la preuve n’étaient réelles. Le 20 juin, j’ai publié un article à l’occasion de l’entrée en application de deux […]

Next
Show threadENIGMATICO  Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay Right now they are making the employees operate the LLMs. The next step will be to have an AI to tell the AI to write a report, and then tell the AI to summarize the report, and then tell it to take notes and al that, so that all these people get replaced by an AI. And not long after, most of the management (Except the CEO) will also be replaced by an AI. And so on until all the companies are 99.99% AI driven. No more salaries, pure profit.
Show threadDimly Lit CornersJun 30
@enigmatico @Natasha_Jay The trillion $$$ problem they try to solve is "human labour" because the ideal corporation is a wealth extracting autonomous machine costing nearly nothing to run
Show thread⛩️稲荷大神の狐⛩️ Jun 30
@enigmatico @Natasha_Jay oh they will replace the CEO too when the company board of directors, shareholders, and the company president realize that AI can do the job of the CEO. this would save them even more money.
Show threadDimly Lit CornersJun 30

@Natasha_Jay This is why "AI" will replace middle-management…

#BullshitJobs

Show threadJo with elbows up & chin upJun 30
@Natasha_Jay
Sandra Jane and Bill used AI to write their resumes to submit to an AI that wrote the job description, and an AI that filtered through all the AI replies, to find the candidate best suited to hire, according to AI.
It’s AI hiring AI. No one knows what’s going on.
Show threadDavid NashJun 30
@JoBlakely @Natasha_Jay I recently read about a new "AI" company that purports to create "AI"-based digital copies of yourself (or anyone, really) that you can ask questions anytime (no pesky downtime for sleep or whatever). I went and had a look. Naturally, they have job openings. Naturally, they tell you on the job description page to avoid all AI use in the job application.
Show threadPxl PhileJun 30
@Natasha_Jay the fun thing starts when AI hallucination adds or removes facts and all people start to talk about different aspects of wrong.
Show threadranmatoranmaJun 30

@Natasha_Jay But did the report ever actually need to be written? 'Cause if it wasn't, then AI is the symptom, not the root, of the problem.

Because nobody was reading, understanding, evaluating, or acting on the report to begin with. They just had to try harder to pretend to.

Show threadKid ManiaJun 30
@ranmatoranma @Natasha_Jay
No worries: AI generated an earlier report pointing out the (non?) problem...perhaps based upon an even earlier AI generated accounting sheet.
Show threadJeff GriggJun 30

@ranmatoranma @Natasha_Jay

Oh heck; that's not a new problem!

In the late 1980s, our team was pressured to implement some "vitally important functionality" report that some person was spending FULL TIME producing. We were being forced to, so we went to every person who received the report, to determine their real business needs.

NOT A SINGLE PERSON EVER USED THE REPORT!

Not at all. Not once. Not ever.

It was 100% filed, ignored, and then later discarded.

100% USELESS WASTE.

Show threadranmatoranmaJun 30

@Natasha_Jay @JeffGrigg Doesn't surprise me. A few years ago, I read a book titled Bullshit Jobs by an anthropologist who found, during a freak survey, that anywhere from thirty to forty percent of all people held jobs they honestly believed contributed nothing to society. A lot of these are professional-managerial positions that produce exactly those kinds of reports, and exist mostly to make upper management feel important.

I've had family members tell me they felt like they spent more time filling out paperwork about their work than actually working, that they felt useless when promoted to management because the team already knew what they were doing, and a friend of mine who went on to read the book claimed it explained so much of what went on at his tech workplace.

Show threadJeff GriggJun 30

@ranmatoranma @Natasha_Jay

The book, "Bullshit Jobs: A Theory"
by David Graeber

https://www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Jobs-Theory-David-Graeber-ebook/dp/B075RWG7YM/

Amazon.com

Show threadranmatoranmaJul 1

@Natasha_Jay @JeffGrigg That's the one!

Sounds like you might've read it already.

Show threadJeff GriggJul 1

@ranmatoranma @Natasha_Jay

Sorry; I have not read the "Bullshit Jobs" book. Seems too depressing. 😢

Show threadranmatoranma6d ago
@Natasha_Jay @JeffGrigg In my experience, it's revelatory. It's not a doom-and-gloom book bemoaning the evils of modern society. The author takes a very constructive approach to his subject matter and is among the most optimistic I've seen.
Show threadCarl O.S. ©Jun 30
@Natasha_Jay any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.
Show threadPeter BrownJun 30
@Natasha_Jay I wonder if anybody has actually used that sequence in reality?
It would be interesting to see if it did exactly the same as the old chestnut “send three and fourpence we’re going to a dance” which had started out as
“send reinforcements we are going to advance”