The Data Fix

This episode is about care, attentiveness and the skill of being in relationship(s). (Jennifer) Jill Fellows and I discuss the rise of AI intimacy and the programmed sycophancy of generativeAI today, and what it reveals is that our emotional attachments to chatbots might be more about how easily we can convince ourselves of its significance than about any sophisticated technology. That said, when you talk to these chatbots, you enter into a relationship with a corporation that always already has money as a bottom line, not your wellbeing. This serves as an analysis and a warning. Recorded Sept 4, 2026. Released Sept 14, 2026.

Trigger warning -- we discuss self-harm and harm to others.

Joseph Weizenbaum on ELIZA:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/365153.365168

Sherry Turkle:

https://sherryturkle.mit.edu/

Hilde Lindemann's book on identity work:

https://academic.oup.com/book/4499?login=false

Joan Tronto:

https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/jctronto

Shannon Vallor on Moral Deskilling:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-014-0156-9

Helen DeCruz on Believing to Belong:

https://helendecruz.net/docs/DeCruz_belongbelief.pdf

Simone Natale et. al. on chatbot relationships:

https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221119021

Rosanne Ramos on her relationship with Eren:

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-romance-1820752

Michael Geoffrey Asia on his life as a chatbot:

https://data-workers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/The-Emotional-Labor-Behind-AI-Intimacy-1.pdf

Ruo-Ning, Li, et. al. “Is a random human peer better than a highly supportive chatbot in reducing loneliness over time?” Journal of Expermental Sociology, Vol. 125.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2026.104911

CBC Understood Artificial Intimacy:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1353-the-naked-emperor

Pullback Podcast Episode on Relationships with Chatbots:

https://pullback.podbean.com/e/computer-love/

Paranormal Programming:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16133623-we-believe-artificial-intelligence-believe-ghosts

CBC Front Burner on Relationships with Chatbots:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/can-you-have-a-real-relationship-with-an-ai-1.7206945

CBC Spark on Relationships with AI:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/bots-like-chatgpt-aren-t-sentient-why-do-we-insist-on-making-them-seem-like-they-are-1.6761709

A Harem of Computers:

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6564912

(Jennifer) Jill Fellows website:

https://jenniferjillfellowsphd.opened.ca/

Cyborg Goddess Podcast:

https://cyborggoddess.opened.ca/

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When is AI 'going rogue' and when is it just sloppy oversight by the companies designing the models? The answer won't surprise you -- probably -- but in this episode we discuss why we can both not believe the doom-hype marketing hype of AI companies and still be a bit worried about where this is all taking us. Erik Salvaggio unpacks and explains all of this better than anyone I know. Recorded Aug 27, 2026. Released Aug 31, 2026.

Eryk Salvaggio’s website

cyberneticforests.com

Linked In: Eryk Salvaggio’s Post

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eryk-salvaggio_when-you-see-a-headline-claiming-that-ai-activity-7485551550107656192-d-tq 

The System From Nowhere

https://mail.cyberneticforests.com/the-system-from-nowhere/

On Stochastic Flocks & The Critical Problem of Useful AI

https://www.techpolicy.press/stochastic-flocks-and-the-critical-problem-of-useful-ai/ 

On RLVR (the verifiable rewards bit) - "It's Not X, It's Y"

https://mail.cyberneticforests.com/its-not-just-data-its-post-training/ 

The Data Fix: Soulless, with Eryk Salvaggio

https://shows.acast.com/the-data-fix/episodes/639d6648b0a821001040e0e2

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Tracy Valcourt and I discuss this strange new AI phenomenon of using ads to sell both conservative veering on fascist ideology and AI production in itself, as a package. We meander through the strange worlds of advertising and AI and (re)consider the plausible. Recorded July 30, 2026. Released August 10, 2026.

That white guy who can’t get a job at Tim Hortons? He’s AI | Visual investigations -- CBC 2025

No Camera. No Crew. Just AI | Toyota Tundra Commercial

Being a Luddite Is Fun Again -- Janus Rose,Jul 27, 2026, 404

New Yorkers Are Defacing This AI Startup’s Million-Dollar Ad Campaign -- Rae Witte, Sep 30, 2025, Futurism

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The Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development co-released the Data Center Opposition Report in April 2026, which we discuss in this episode with Kris Akin and Matthew Shaw. Recorded June 23, 2026. Released July 27, 2026.

Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development

Our Research — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development

Data Center Opposition Report — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development

Map of Community Organizations Focusing on Data Centers — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development

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This episode was a recap of an event called How to Stop a Data Center that took place at Swathmore College in April 2026. I was able to listen via Zoom and then later asked available panelists to come on the podcast to discuss community-based activism against AI data centers. Recorded June 17, 2026. Released July 13, 2026.

Fight Data Centers

https://www.kairosfellows.org/fightdatacenters

For more info on Stop the Data Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan:

Stop the Data Center Campaign link tree

https://linktr.ee/stopthedata 

Stop the Data Center substack for major updates and calls to action

https://stopthedatacenter.substack.com/ 

How to Stop a Data Center

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/10/how-to-stop-a-data-center/ 

For more info on Steph Jordan

https://stephaniebethjordan.com/ 

'PENNSYLVANIA IS PERFECT'

https://newint.org/science-and-technology/2026/pennsylvania-perfect

PENNSYLVANIA’S POWER

Why Local Authority Is the Key to AI Infrastructure Decisions

 https://datasociety.net/library/pennsylvanias-power/

DATA AS DESTINY IN THE STEEL CITY

How Pittsburgh’s Industrial Past Is Being Leveraged for an AI Future

https://datasociety.net/points/data-as-destiny-in-the-steel-city/

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This episode is a recording of an event that took place at Concordia University: So an AI Data Centre is coming to your community? Don't panic! A roundtable on strategies for building community power. We discuss tactics and strategies for pushing back against Big Tech and their AI data centers -- seen as monstrosities by those who know how much humanity stands to lose by and through AI logics and their instantiations in infrastructure. Recorded June 12, 2026. Released June 29, 2026.

Featuring: Adam Wilkins and Lauren Stephens Smith (Save Lorneville), Rania Masri (NC Environmental Justice Center), Simon Enoch (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). Hosted by the Social Justice Centre.

So you’re getting a data centre! Here’s what to know

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/so-youre-getting-a-data-centre-heres-what-to-know/

In New Brunswick, residents battle the government over a planned AI data centre

https://thenarwhal.ca/lorneville-ai-data-centre/

Dr. Rania Masri

https://ncejn.org/staff/dr-rania-masri/

Event Sponsors: Social Justice Centre (Concordia), SCPA Student Association (SCPSA), School for Community and Public Affairs (Concordia), Climate Justice Montreal, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Time, Technology, and Capitalism (Concordia), Confronting Emergent Dystopia Working Group (Concordia).

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This episode covers the role of fiction -- literal readings and total misreadings of sci-fi -- in how they shape tech CEOs ideas about the future. Teresa Hefffernan is incredible at communicating the problems with AI today. Please listen to the podcast/lecture linked below, too, for more. Recorded June 10, 2026. Released June 15, 2026.

CBC Ideas Literature Versus the AI Industry

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16208906-literature-versus-ai-industry

The 2026 Wiegand Lecture featuring Teresa Heffernan — Literature Versus the AI Industry

https://youtu.be/hPV-Ql_KGzM?si=XperXIzFO5ydcStU

Teresa Hefffernan website

https://www.socialrobotfutures.com/publicationsmedia/publications/

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This episode is with the amazing Valerie Veatch, director of Ghost in the Machine -- a documentary that serves as a critical takedown of "AI". It's the best argument against "AI" that I've seen, highlighting the voices of scholars across various academic disciplines. You can watch the film via the link below and listen to the director explain her process and ideas for continuing the conversation... as a trilogy. Recorded May 12, 2026. Released May 25, 2026.

Ghost in the Machine 2026 • 1h 30m • Documentary • Valerie Veatch (dir)

https://kinema.com/films/ghost-in-the-machine-pvxg4p

Not AI

https://notaidoc.com/

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In this episode, in front of a live audience at Carleton University for their "The Ends of AI: A symposium on technopolitics and intellectual culture", I spoke about strategies and outlooks on environment justice with policy expert, Sonja Solomun. Recorded Apr 2, 2026. Released May 11, 2026.

The end of accountability: How autonomous AI could supercharge climate disinformation

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/27/opinion/ai-conspiracies-climate-disinformation

Polarization as the technological goal – not the error

https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/all-work/polarization-as-the-technological-goal-not-the-error

From Tech to Justice: A Call for Environmental Justice in AI

https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/collection/a-new-ai-lexicon-sustainability

Beyond Technology: The Role of Information Interference in Climate and Election Obstruction

https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/all-work/beyond-technology-the-role-of-information-interference-in-climate-and-election-obstruction

“You will be in positions that matter. Positions in which you can decide the

nature and quality of other people’s lives. Your errors may be irrevocable.

So when you enter those places of trust, or power, dream a little before you

think, so your thoughts, your solutions, your directions, your choices about

who lives and who doesn’t, about who flourishes and who doesn’t will be

worth the very sacred life you have chosen to live. You are not helpless.

You are not heartless. And you have time.”

― Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

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In this episode with Dan McQuillan, we discussed the current AI moment as/within the polycrisis, and also as a temporary period between illusion and simulation. Dan proposes a series of countermeasures to AI under the umbrella of 'decomputing'. We also spend some time talking about illusion, shame, authenticity, and a slew of other contradictions that are important to note in relation to this AI moment. Recorded Apr 7, 2026. Released Apr 27, 2026.

Preprint: AI, Decomputing and the Interregnum

https://www.danmcquillan.org/ai_decomputing_interregnum.html 

Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence (2022)

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/resisting-ai 

Meta Security Researcher's AI Agent Accidentally Deleted Her Emails

https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-security-researchers-openclaw-ai-agent-accidentally-deleted-her-emails

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