Say Yes - Do No

A site for AI resistance tactics, reclaiming agency and organising for better technology.

“They all say ‘yes’, but they do ‘no’. That has to be it. There’s no other way to explain these figures. If they would do ‘yes’, the figures would have improved by now. [sigh] It would be easier if they would just say ‘no’. Then you could have a conversation about it [staring blankly].” 

(Anon.)

IMPORTANT(ish) New Say Yes, Do No Site & Newsletter

Just a quick note to say that this week I've switched the Say Yes, Do No site from Pagecord to WordPress. This is in no way a judgement on Pagecord, which I think is a great platform and one I plan to keep on using for other projects but for some things I kind of need the depth of features WordPress offers....
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AI Solutionism - Three Questions and Two Answers

When AI is presented as a miracle cure for all the ills of the world the first question I always ask is 'how else could we solve this problem?' More or less every time there's an answer waiting in that question, usually one which isn't just well known but often one which has been advocated for by those most inescapably...
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Local Luddism - The Quiet Front

I'm inherently biased towards the everyday forms of resistance, because it's what I research, but even allowing for there does seem to be a growing sense that the best battles to fight when it comes to big tech are the local ones. This case of push back against AI enabled surveillance in a (very) small Colorado town is...
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Is AI profitable yet?

Something that sounds like it should be the title of a long and arduous exploration of big tech finances culminating in some hedging about the future and the wonders of AI but no is pretty much the only answer you need. And to remind you of that there's Is AI Profitable Yet? A concise little reminder of how much money...
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Fire! I'll take you to burn... your tokens...

After this report from Axion about an unnamed company managing to torch half a billion dollars in the span of a month through unregulated Claude token usage it's unsurprising that more and more companies are starting to reconsider the wild productivity gains they were rambling about not so long ago. Is it the start of...
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Anti-AI Anthology Update

Just a quick update on how things are progressing with the upcoming anti-AI anthology. First off - apologies to anyone still waiting for a reply to their submissions, one is coming in the next day or so but between a hectic few weeks and me just looking at things and going 'yeah, that's good' the actual action bit got a...
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Event - Breaking Down AI: Technologies, Myths, Realities (King's College London, Strand Campus)

As part of the Reclaiming Futures project at KCL I'll be on a panel on the 8th of July for London Data Week along with some colleagues with similarly critical eyes for AI. The aim is to explore some of the imaginaries (and practicalities) around 'AI' with a view to de-mystifying them a bit. It's open to the public so...
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We're not just fighting AI...

There's a definite contrast amongst those who are openly critical of 'AI' at the moment - and it centres on the perception of the fight. It's an interesting one to approach from a (very) resistance focused position given that, on the one hand, I've no desire for tactical differences to negate broader coalitions but on...
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Dark Patterns in AI Chatbots

Just a quick note to highlight this new report on the use of 'dark patterns' in chatbot design. This is something I've touched on before (and have a paper relating to, in the deep abyss of academic procedure) but it's really good to see these things being highlighted from people with a far deeper focus on the purely...
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Human Data Sensors - The Abyss is Looking Back

It's an increasingly less heard argument (in my experience at least) that AI companies would eventually run out of training data and, with the ever degrading quality of synthetic data, some kind of brick wall of development would be hit. It was never a good argument, relying as it did on domain specific imaginations...
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Call for Papers: Topical Collection on AI Resistance, Refusal, Reclamation and Reimagining: Ethical Imperatives and Emerging Practices

Happy to be involved in this one given the potentials to get anti and AI critical voices involved. The deadline for submissions is the 31st of July and we're looking for a broad range of voices and part of that is the potential for guest editors to provide support with your work if accepted. We made this choice out of...
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Tech Bros Stole My Friend: Faux-Social LLMs Meet the Market

Sometimes even I, as an ardent Luddite, wish AI companies would be slower in driving their own failure. Recently I've been working on a paper relating to faux-social LLMs - those which mimic relationships, therapy, care etc. In part of the paper I suggest viewing those 'relationships' built with LLMs as toxic or...
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Old Tactics, Neo-Luddites: We're all the problem now...

This article from Wired is well worth a read as it outlines the increasing attempts in the US to problematise and criminalise AI resistance movements. Amongst the Trump administrations fevered politicisation of the intelligence services tech resistance is, seemingly, getting the full Luddite treatment with even...
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Monday AI Resistance Update #10

A random sampling of stuff I've come across this week... A day late this time because we had a Bank Holiday here alongside a heatwave, so who wants to be thinking about AI? -- Resource - The AI Resist List Created by We & AI, DAIR, the Refugee Law Lab and working with Karen Hao the AI Resist List is something I've...
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Reclaiming Futures - King's College London

A bit of a niche one given that it's based specifically out of KCL but there's a new (unofficial) group working there to challenge the uncritical narratives around AI in Higher Education. Reclaiming Futures is focusing specifically at King's for now but hopefully there'll be scope for crossover with other institutions,...
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