Toph Allen

@toph
221 Followers
688 Following
1.1K Posts
Queer. Public health & epidemiology. Raver, occasionally makes music. Writes code. Terminally sociology-brained. Finishing things is hard (ADHD lol). Continually rethinking. Abolish ICE, free Palestine, Black Lives Matter, fuck fascism, etc. they/he.
Pronounshe/they
LocationManhattan
Twittertwitter.com/toph
Instagraminstagram.com/toph
Toph Allen4d ago

In the age of AI, I've started to like the term “expressive” rather than "creative" to describe the arts.

Maybe it's just because “creative” has become so burdened by, idk, corporate ideas.

But I actually think it gets at the heart of what differentiates art made by humans from art made by a model. It’s not just that you’re creating something, it’s not just about the output; it’s that the process itself expresses your humanity, your inner life, your perspective.

Toph AllenApr 10
The New RepublicApr 9

RFK Jr.’s CDC Delays Report Proving the Covid Vaccine Worked
https://newrepublic.com/post/208886/rfk-jr-cdc-delays-report-covid-vaccine-worked?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Breaking News @breaking-news-thenewrepublic

RFK Jr.’s CDC Delays Report Proving the Covid Vaccine Worked

Anti-vax nonsense has infiltrated every corner of America’s public health agencies.

The New Republic
Toph AllenMar 24
BenRiceMMar 24
Every meeting at Apple should have one person who’s only job is to let out a blood curdling scream whenever someone suggests junking up their UIs with ads https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/introducing-apple-business-a-new-all-in-one-platform-for-businesses-of-all-sizes/
Introducing Apple Business — a new all‑in‑one platform for businesses of all sizes

Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that allows companies to manage devices and reach more customers.

Apple Newsroom
Toph AllenMar 24
If there's one thing Apple needs, it's more money https://www.theverge.com/tech/899597/apple-maps-ads-launch-summer-2026
Apple Maps will introduce ads this summer

Apple is launching ads in Maps across the US and Canada this summer. The ads will appear in search results, as well as in a new “Suggested Places” list.

The Verge
Toph AllenMar 24
Martin SkrodzkiMar 24
Before looking at today's second day of the third #illustratingMath workshop at the Institut Henri Poincaré, I would like to share some of yesterday's results. Here are two images by @bernatree and @henryseg, respectively, using Voronoi cells for visualization. (1/3)
Toph AllenMar 24
Steve RudolfiMar 23

Welllllll this isn't great.

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

"...a system that evaluates your company’s landing page in real time and, if it decides the page won’t perform well enough for a specific user, replaces it with an AI-generated version assembled on the fly. The user never sees what your team built, they see what Google's machine learning model thinks they should see instead."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joetoscano1/2026/03/06/google-just-patented-the-end-of-your-website

#SEO #Google #AI #enshittification

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

A newly granted Google patent could let the search giant replace your brand's landing page with an AI-generated version you have no control over and only your buyers see.

Forbes
Toph AllenMar 24
Mike PiontekMar 24

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@EmilyEnough/116258821633964028

I’ve had a lot of similar thoughts about LLMs and this is a good way to describe them. I’m not necessarily attached to programming itself, but I am very attached to making things. Programming languages let me describe exactly what I mean and get a consistent response. I’m all for reducing complexity, but not at the cost of predictability. The worst thing about computers is when they behave in a way that doesn’t make sense to me and I lack the knowledge or ability to understand why.

Toph AllenMar 24
Em Mar 24

Whether you are concerned or not about the harm caused by the technologies pushed on us with the current AI Hype, I highly recommend watching this excellent interview by 404 Media's @samleecole with @alex and @emilymbender from the DAIR Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwBZiuH-1QY

And I say "whether you are concerned or not" because this will affect you one way or another, whether you care about it or not. In fact, it very likely already does.

#AI #NoAI #DigitalRights #HumanRights

The Marketing Tricks of "Artificial Intelligence"

YouTube
Toph AllenMar 23
Kyle Memoir 🍉🐧Mar 23

AI, what does 'hypocrisy' mean?

14-day gift read

@pluralistic

#ai #technology

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/03/hypocrisy-ai-industry/686477/?gift=rMst1BY9gP1HWgkOEVmAK_pbvSf6lI_dTpOBwnyhuSc&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

The Hypocrisy at the Heart of the AI Industry

Tech companies believe in intellectual property, but not yours.

The Atlantic
Toph AllenMar 23
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerMar 1

Ready for a horror show that is different than the current news cycle?

This is code that @hannorein, Aaron Boley, and I put together for modelling Starlinks. We scaled up the brightness based on what we think could be the size of these stupid new "AI datacenters" that SpaceX says they will launch a million of, and used the orbits posted on @planet4589.bsky.social's website

I'll walk you through this plot in the following posts.