Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)

Happy Halloween! This year's pumpkins inspired by Ghost in the Machine ( https://notaidoc.com )

Calling all folks in #NLProc who have managed to avoid becoming zombies in this "AI" zombie apocalypse, i.e. those who remember that scholarship is a fundamentally human process and can't be off-loaded to an automated system:

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117491588630402377

Rain delay! We'll be doing this at a later date. Stay tuned.

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 goes to the game!

and I are super excited to welcome Shireen Ahmed to discuss “AI” in sports.

Note special time: Monday, Oct 26, 11am Pacific

https://twitch.tv/dair_institute

Some words on how to evaluate language technologies (and caution against using them to undermine others' work)

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/pangram-is-not-an-oracle/

Hey cool! Buzzsprout is informing us that Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 has reached half a million downloads!

Pretty proud of our scrappy lil pod.

w/

and producers Ozzy Llinas Goodman (present) and Christie Taylor (founding).

Find all of our episodes here:

https://dair-institute.org/maiht3k/

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117445297589471876

Also available as video on PeerTube:

https://peertube.dair-institute.org/w/13ZaD85ZNTUNEoyZ6kwyNq

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Episode 87:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19956365-my-tech-workers-have-unionized-2026-10-05

in which JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine join me and

to talk about bosses' love for "AI" and tech worker power.

One of the key messages I carry is that we don't have to accept any of this. Sometimes I see opposition in the form of "Get in loser, you'll be left behind" and other times it's in the form of "It's all over the place, what do you mean you think you can opt out?"

[Note to the mansplainers of Mastodon: This is a thread, meaning you should read the whole thing and then even still think twice before replying.]

Did an event last night that was a discussion format with a moderator + one other panelist, with whom I had some points of agreement and some of disagreement.

Turns out, the disagreement was useful:

Anthropic is out with new nonsense about Claude (or the collection of models called Claude) deserving moral consideration and/or being able to feel distress, so my inbox is filling up with journos asking me to comment.

I've also got a day job, so here is a brief set of public comments on this:

[Note to the mansplainers of Mastodon: This is a thread, so please read the whole thing before replying. Please also know that I am aware of things beyond what's in this thread...]

I've been talking to journalists a LOT recently, and it was particularly delightful to get to speak about questions of linguistics, language change and prescriptivism, for once:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ai-not-super-intelligence-no-one-should-use-trumps-term/

Hearing lots of discourse about "stochastic parrots" recently? Here's a discussion of the backstory, both of the phrase itself and what's going on now.

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-two-words-the-ai-industry-hates

I appreciated this chance to go on Bloomberg Tech, though it's always a bit odd to have a conversation with a reporter who is really interested in what's effectively a fictional story.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-10-06/bender-ai-s-existential-risk-is-fake-video

Tonight! Ghost in the Machine on Deadline Hollywood's For the Love of Docs:

https://deadline.swoogo.com/ftlodghostinthemachine

and I join director Valerie Veatch for a panel discussion.

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117373648425005854

Today!

Have you seen Ghost in the Machine yet? If not, you are in for a treat --- a thoughtful, wry deep dive into the history, present, and ideology of "AI". Streaming for free on PBS's YouTube channel in the US & Korea, rentable on Kinema elsewhere.

https://notaidoc.com/

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117373648425005854

Join us tomorrow!

I really enjoyed recording this one, having met Maggie and Shahir at a workshop in August about teaching critical thinking in STEM in the current environment.

https://www.rustbeltscience.com/episodes/pisode-31-the-ai-con-a-conversation-with-dr-emily-m-bender-on-the-power-of-language-and-ai

On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream, we’re so excited to chat with authors of the new book, Against Tech Oligarchy! JS Tan]and Clarissa Redwine will join me and

to chat about tech industry labor. Tune in:

Monday, Oct 5, noon Pacific

https://twitch.tv/dair_institute

New from

and me:

"It is high time for us to regulate usage of systems sold as “AI”, not because they are magical machines, but because they are error-prone products that shouldn’t be used in high stakes scenarios."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/01/forget-superintelligence-error-prone-ai-nearly-sparked-world-war-iii-this-month

What a thrill to get to interview

of Te Hiku Media for Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19884203-big-tech-colon-ai-lism-2026-09-15

Keoni,

and I had a wonderful conversation about technosolutionism and colonialism in language technology.

I think there are two key lessons from Linguistics as we deal with LLMs/chatbots being imposed on us everywhere. Grateful for Undark Magazine giving space for me to lay these out:

https://undark.org/2026/09/25/interview-artificial-intelligence/

I'm afraid the Doomer discourse has persisted for another week (UN "AI" briefing, etc) so in case you missed this when we first put it out earlier in this bananas news cycle, I'm reposting it:

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/what-to-read-to-stay-grounded-amidst-ai-doomerism/

w/

and

From

and me on what we should take from the 2026 summer of AI hype:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/22/1144867/dont-be-fooled-summer-ai-hype/

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/110906329010147244

Every time I decide to post a thread to Mastodon, I'm hit with a new wave of mansplaining. What is it with the culture here? Why do all of these guys think it's so important to share their deep insights in my mentions when they can just post on their own feed? FFS.

The word of the day is: "unleash"

I've been seeing a lot of "unleashing AI", "unleashing expertimentation (with AI)", and even ostensibly critical "OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT on the world with no one's consent".

Thinking about the selling point of "AI" supposedly "freeing up time" to do important things. Beyond devaluing the tasks that we can supposedly offload to software systems, it occurs to me that this is kind of opposite of mindfulness/being in the moment.

A short thread >>

RE: https://beige.party/@adub/117294676728827281

And every day there is more Fresh AI Hell. What's worse than polluting the information ecosystem with synthetic text dressed up to look like news? Dressing it up further as the work of fake Indigenous journalists.

RE: https://newsie.social/@TheNeedling/117290024708643957

We effectively did a whole podcast on this, but the Needling gets the point across in a single short piece:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19817583-manifesting-the-end-of-tech-bro-manifestos-2026-09-08

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117292656176293011

Also available as video on PeerTube:

https://peertube.dair-institute.org/w/b8fH3fp2fr3Dpki11tsWfb

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Episode 85:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19817583-manifesting-the-end-of-tech-bro-manifestos-2026-09-08

… in which

and I sift through the ramblings of billionaires who understand neither the world we live in nor the tech they’re selling.

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117292386538787953

More evidence that this is a consent issue: All the reply guys in my mentions now saying "But you posted on social media. You were ASKING for it!" and "What do you mean you don't anyone to reply to you?"

Guys, it's the mansplaining that's the issue here, not interaction in general.

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117292386538787953

And again: Just had to block someone who replied to one of my posts about mansplaining with "well actually...."

Folks, "How about a little more of that thing you are saying is unwelcome, but as a joke?" is boundary-disrepecting behavior. This is a consent issue.

Me: I do not need the mansplaining mansplained. No idea why you thought that might be welcome.

Mansplainer: Buh buh buh why are you so rude to meeeee

Me: Replying to someone is demanding their attention.

Mansplainer: Well actually people have different mental models of social media.

Starting to see the pattern: mansplainers don't understand consent, but feel VERY ENTITLED to push their uninteresting thoughts into other people's mentions.

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117292275974309297

Mastodon is the WORST for this.

Here's the thing about social media folks:

Post on your own feed = people who follow you and presumably want to know your thoughts will see it.

Reply to someone else's post = you are demanding attention from someone else, so you'd be well advised to check whether you are telling them something they likely already know.

Wanna share a thought based on what someone else said? Bare minimum, respect their expertise and acknowledge their contribution.

Me: Puts time and effort into curating a reading list (nb: this is not my day job) to help people with navigating this bananas moment where the media is captured by all the worst AI bros, posts link here on the Fedi.

Mansplainer in my replies on Mastodon: "It's just marketing"

Me: YES, I KNOW. Also, do you realize it's possible to either keep your thoughts to your self or just post on your own feed? Sheesh.

All of this coverage of AI Doomerism making you anxious? It's nonsense and you can go back to your more pressing concerns. If you want to learn more:

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/what-to-read-to-stay-grounded-amidst-ai-doomerism/

I appreciate how Wolverton locates expertise in this article --- but note that whoever wrote the headline still wants to frame the story as about "AI skeptics".

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/technology/ai-skeptics-warn-existential-risk-talk-a-distraction/article_44fe8eca-bdb9-4d19-bfa2-c01cd93287c1.html

TFW somehow it's news that some people don't think that "AI" is going to kill us all...

I mean, it's better than not having this perspective represented I suppose (and I appreciate the shout out to The AI Con).

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/world/ai-doomsday-skeptics-sydney-sweeney.html

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117254706564392201

Today! Tuesday noon Pacific/Wednesday 7am Aotearoa

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117271327519433700

Folks, if you want to know what's really up with "AI", where the harms lie, and contextualize the nonsense du jour, this film is must watch.

For audiences in the US and Korea, Ghost in the Machine is now available on PBS's YouTube!

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117254706564392201

Join us tomorrow! (Tuesday noon Pacific/Wednesday 7am Aotearoa)

On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 livestream,

and I will being talking with

of Te Hiku Media about language technology and big tech saviorism.

Tune in for what should be an amazing discussion & note the unusual day:

Tuesday Sept 15, noon Pacific

https://twitch.tv/dair_institute

For those in Aotearoa New Zealand, that’s Wednesday Sept 16, 7am.

AI Doomerism has been in the news lately, especially with the loud, viral resignation of Jacob Coxon from Anthropic.

Maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen any statements from CEOs and other execs who are more on the AI Booster side of the ledger.

🧵>>

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117227070191351637

Tomorrow! (tentatively)

MAIHT3k fans: We aren't streaming on Monday, that's Labor Day lol, but

and I are tentatively going to stream on Tuesday.

Look for us at the usual place:

Tuesday, September 8, noon Pacific

https://twitch.tv/dair_institute

Created this for a reply on LinkedIn, but it applies pretty generally, so posting it here, too:

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Ep 84, in which

and I explore the gulf between what the tech companies say the impact of "AI" on labor is and what they are actually doing with their mathy maths:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19738984-working-9-to-hype-2026-08-10

New on the MAIHT3k newsletter -- how to move away from the untenable, uncomfortable middle ground and towards firm "AI" resistance.

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/six-problems-with-talking-about-the-ethical-or/

w/

New on the MAIHT3k newsletter -- how to move away from the untenable, uncomfortable middle ground and towards firm "AI" resistance.

https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/six-problems-with-talking-about-the-ethical-or/

w/

Very proud that The AI Con is a finalist for the 2026 Washington State Book Award (General Nonfiction/Biography)

https://washingtoncenterforthebook.org/2026-washington-state-book-award-finalists-announced/

w/

This sign is a great example for helping to explain why chatbots present such a potent illusion.

A probably not short thread 🧵>>

('Splainers of Mastodon -- thread means please read what I've written before jumping in here to share your ideas.)

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, episode 83, in which

and I wade through recent claims of the singularity, “rogue AI”, and possible machine consciousness. You know, the usual bullshit.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19667703-rumors-of-a-singularity-have-been-grossly-exaggerated-2026-08-03

Q for #NLProc and knowledge base fedi, asking for a student:

Seeking a data-to-text dataset w/ the following: -data as DAGs or similar -text only includes info found in the graph -ideally not from Wikipedia (already used WebNLG)

Any leads?

#OpenScience

Finally got my author copies of the UK paperback of The AI Con, and they're even prettier in person!

w/@alex

https://thecon.ai

In my Feb 2026 talk, "Resisting Dehumanization in the Age of "AI": The View from the Humanities", I call on humanities scholars to make legible to the broader world how even as we work with texts (and write more texts), the words aren't the work.

This recent paper by Lauren Goodlad of

is an excellent example:

https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2026.175.3.80

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117055324130369672

Today!

RE: https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/117055324130369672

Join us tomorrow!