Doomscrolling Babel

In Favor of (Some) Anthropomorphization of AI Systems

“To a first approximation, the intentional strategy consists of treating the object whose behavior you want to predict as a rational agent with beliefs…

Sep 8 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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July 2026

Science Should Be Open, For LLMs Too

Even if you think LLMs are bad for science, you should let them have access to research papers

Jul 25 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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June 2026

AI Slop Isn’t

AI slop is a silly term, and we should abandon it

Jun 19 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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AI Is Already Giving Medical Conclusions. Are They Any Good?

Today I will share a guest post by my student Hayoung Jung — he just started his own Substack, Systems Under Test, which you may want to follow if you…

Jun 12 • Hayoung Jung

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May 2026

The Slow Unmaking of the Web: From Short-Form Video to AI

“Kids these days” are alien to the optimistic origins of the Web.

May 31 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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The Anti-AI Trap

We shouldn't pretend that AI is only hype.

May 19 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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When the AI Assistant Becomes the Ad

This post describes our recent paper: Commercial Persuasion in AI-Mediated Conversations

May 9

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April 2026

Qualitative Research After the Interviewer Bot

A new hot take

Apr 18 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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February 2026

Brandon Sanderson’s Case Against AI Art

Is anti-AI the new “back in my day”?

Feb 15 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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December 2025

The Empiricism Gap in Computer Science

So far, I have argued that there is a dissonance between, on the one hand, CS’s founding myths, curricula, and self-image, and, on the other hand, the…

Dec 26, 2025 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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The Empiricization of Computer Science

Scientific disciplines, like nations, have their own founding myths.

Dec 17, 2025 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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October 2025

Labeling Data with Language Models: Trick or Treat?

Large language models are now labeling data for us.

Oct 25, 2025 • Manoel Horta Ribeiro

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