Eerke Boiten
@eerkeboiten.bsky.social
Prof Cyber Security and Head of School Computer Science and Informatics at De Montfort University. Own views. He/him.
Formal methods (last ever books on Z or refinement). Cyber security. Privacy. Data politics. Not all hypes. DM:[email protected].
Formal methods (last ever books on Z or refinement). Cyber security. Privacy. Data politics. Not all hypes. DM:[email protected].
Pinned
Eerke Boiten
@eerkeboiten.bsky.social
· Nov 6
Does current AI represent a dead end?
Eerke Boiten, Professor of Cyber Security at De Montfort University Leicester, explains his belief that current AI should not be used for serious applications.
www.bcs.org
Most important thing I have written in ages.
Because none of the tools we have in software engineering to manage complexity are applicable, current AI is at a dead end, and it is irresponsible to use it for significant applications.
BCS website (next IT Now magazine): www.bcs.org/articles-opi...
Because none of the tools we have in software engineering to manage complexity are applicable, current AI is at a dead end, and it is irresponsible to use it for significant applications.
BCS website (next IT Now magazine): www.bcs.org/articles-opi...
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
‘Risk exiting the market’
what a way to package the complete collapse of higher education
what a way to package the complete collapse of higher education
November 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
‘Risk exiting the market’
what a way to package the complete collapse of higher education
what a way to package the complete collapse of higher education
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
Here's a thread from Twitter shared with Sophia's permission in which she finally is able to talk about Graham using the police as HIS personal goon squad and getting Sophia arrested at home by EIGHT armed police officers, somewhat putting the standard Heathrow armed cops in perspective.
November 25, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here's a thread from Twitter shared with Sophia's permission in which she finally is able to talk about Graham using the police as HIS personal goon squad and getting Sophia arrested at home by EIGHT armed police officers, somewhat putting the standard Heathrow armed cops in perspective.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Hello UK racist intimidation is winning. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Scottish school cancels Christmas play after ‘racist and abusive’ messages
Show at Cauldeen primary school in Inverness had included a scene explaining hardship faced by Syrian refugees
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Hello UK racist intimidation is winning. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
The BBC has, in the space of a few minutes, in its reporting about the innocent child victim in the Glinner case, completely destroyed any possible claim it is "too woke" or "not transphobic enough".
cc @fromtga.bsky.social
cc @fromtga.bsky.social
In the span of a hour, they stealth edited the article from trans woman to "biological male who identifies as a woman." The BBC isn't fit for purpose.
It looks like that BBC page has been updated in the last few minutes, so that's no longer the last sentence. I think part of it has been moved to this paragraph in the middle of the article, and the age is no longer mentioned:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 3:39 PM
The BBC has, in the space of a few minutes, in its reporting about the innocent child victim in the Glinner case, completely destroyed any possible claim it is "too woke" or "not transphobic enough".
cc @fromtga.bsky.social
cc @fromtga.bsky.social
Haha, Linehan's lawyer talks about a "momentary lapse of control".
It's over 7 years since his first police warning against harassing trans people.
It's over 7 years since his first police warning against harassing trans people.
Graham Linehan cleared of harassment but guilty of criminal damage to trans activist's phone
Graham Linehan cleared of harassment but guilty of criminal damage to trans activist's phone
Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been found guilty of criminal damage to the phone of a trans activist but not guilty of harassment.
news.sky.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Haha, Linehan's lawyer talks about a "momentary lapse of control".
It's over 7 years since his first police warning against harassing trans people.
It's over 7 years since his first police warning against harassing trans people.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
Today I learned that stalking a 17 year old girl, writing up a 400 page 'dossier' about her, falsely reporting her to the police and smashing her phone does not constitute 'harassment'.
One wonders what *would*.
One wonders what *would*.
Graham Linehan cleared of harassment but guilty of criminal damage to trans activist's phone
Graham Linehan cleared of harassment but guilty of criminal damage to trans activist's phone
Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been found guilty of criminal damage to the phone of a trans activist but not guilty of harassment.
news.sky.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Today I learned that stalking a 17 year old girl, writing up a 400 page 'dossier' about her, falsely reporting her to the police and smashing her phone does not constitute 'harassment'.
One wonders what *would*.
One wonders what *would*.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
I don’t like subtweeting people I consider online friends, but there is a subset of people who are very worried about the ongoing radicalisation of our political elite but won’t ever acknowledge the echoes with the radicalisation of their colleagues on trans rights
And few who are sympathetic to us, some who are friendly with me on here, will ever stick their head above the parapet
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I don’t like subtweeting people I consider online friends, but there is a subset of people who are very worried about the ongoing radicalisation of our political elite but won’t ever acknowledge the echoes with the radicalisation of their colleagues on trans rights
Fascinating talk, worth watching. It has convinced me that the situation on explainability for LLMs is much worse than I had been presenting it. The lens here is "plausibility" vs "faithfulness", and tensions between them. "plausibility" matters because it is akin to transparency phrasing in law 1/n
Pleased to note my Cambridge lecture on how technical approaches to the right of explanation have gone haywire in the LLM era, is already up!
youtu.be/wLxuq3I2d_s?...
Many thanks to @CIPIL who um may not be here? And to @jennifercobbe for her v kind invitation! 1/3
youtu.be/wLxuq3I2d_s?...
Many thanks to @CIPIL who um may not be here? And to @jennifercobbe for her v kind invitation! 1/3
Faithful or Traitor? The Right of Explanation in a Generative AI World: CIPIL Evening Seminar
YouTube video by Cambridge Law Faculty
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Fascinating talk, worth watching. It has convinced me that the situation on explainability for LLMs is much worse than I had been presenting it. The lens here is "plausibility" vs "faithfulness", and tensions between them. "plausibility" matters because it is akin to transparency phrasing in law 1/n
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
Re needles and haystacks. I've heard for many years that intelligence services need AI to combat the scale of communications data collected (even presented as a reassurance "no human looks at it") but still not any claims that AI analysis of large scale comms (meta)data prevented terrorist attacks.
Echoes of big data narratives ten years ago, Larry Page claiming large medical databases save lives, I paraphrased it then as any large enough medical data set includes the solution to cancer, just need to find it in the haystack.
Ok so.
"The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection ... — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs."
"The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection ... — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs."
November 25, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Re needles and haystacks. I've heard for many years that intelligence services need AI to combat the scale of communications data collected (even presented as a reassurance "no human looks at it") but still not any claims that AI analysis of large scale comms (meta)data prevented terrorist attacks.
Echoes of big data narratives ten years ago, Larry Page claiming large medical databases save lives, I paraphrased it then as any large enough medical data set includes the solution to cancer, just need to find it in the haystack.
Ok so.
"The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection ... — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs."
"The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection ... — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs."
"the president has directed the Department of Energy to launch an AI project called the genesis mission" sounds like something out of a technothriller
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
November 25, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Echoes of big data narratives ten years ago, Larry Page claiming large medical databases save lives, I paraphrased it then as any large enough medical data set includes the solution to cancer, just need to find it in the haystack.
When asked about being racism, his response is phrased in terms of "on the basis of where they're from".
Is this hedging (he only abused 2nd generation+?), generous inclusivity (also never abused white foreigners), a racist gotcha ("being from" setting the scene for "sending back to"), rhetorical?
Is this hedging (he only abused 2nd generation+?), generous inclusivity (also never abused white foreigners), a racist gotcha ("being from" setting the scene for "sending back to"), rhetorical?
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 9:13 AM
When asked about being racism, his response is phrased in terms of "on the basis of where they're from".
Is this hedging (he only abused 2nd generation+?), generous inclusivity (also never abused white foreigners), a racist gotcha ("being from" setting the scene for "sending back to"), rhetorical?
Is this hedging (he only abused 2nd generation+?), generous inclusivity (also never abused white foreigners), a racist gotcha ("being from" setting the scene for "sending back to"), rhetorical?
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
If someone tricked me into spending an hour of my life reading code they pulled out of a scrabble bag, I'd demand they be banned from contributing to the project.
November 24, 2025 at 8:02 PM
If someone tricked me into spending an hour of my life reading code they pulled out of a scrabble bag, I'd demand they be banned from contributing to the project.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
you don't pay all that money for roads or hospitals! what you *really* wanted was to subsidise AI "startups" arstechnica.com/information-...
UK government will buy tech to boost AI sector in $130M growth push
Plan will offer guaranteed payments for British startups making AI hardware…
arstechnica.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
you don't pay all that money for roads or hospitals! what you *really* wanted was to subsidise AI "startups" arstechnica.com/information-...
As I can't find this on the internet anywhere, let me put up a picture of the logo of the Mathematics of Program Construction conference, "Let the symbols do the work" (Dijkstra). This physical version commissioned by Jose Nuno Oliveira for the 2000 edition at Ponte de Lima.
November 24, 2025 at 7:58 PM
As I can't find this on the internet anywhere, let me put up a picture of the logo of the Mathematics of Program Construction conference, "Let the symbols do the work" (Dijkstra). This physical version commissioned by Jose Nuno Oliveira for the 2000 edition at Ponte de Lima.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
What’s happened to the ICO’s enforcement regime?
We’ve signed @openrightsgroup.org’s letter calling for an inquiry after the data regulator declined to formally investigate the MoD over the Afghan data breach.
https://bit.ly/48gc9ZZ
We’ve signed @openrightsgroup.org’s letter calling for an inquiry after the data regulator declined to formally investigate the MoD over the Afghan data breach.
https://bit.ly/48gc9ZZ
Civil liberties groups call for inquiry into UK data protection watchdog
Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO ‘collapse in enforcement activity’ after Afghan data breach
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:13 AM
What’s happened to the ICO’s enforcement regime?
We’ve signed @openrightsgroup.org’s letter calling for an inquiry after the data regulator declined to formally investigate the MoD over the Afghan data breach.
https://bit.ly/48gc9ZZ
We’ve signed @openrightsgroup.org’s letter calling for an inquiry after the data regulator declined to formally investigate the MoD over the Afghan data breach.
https://bit.ly/48gc9ZZ
Wow. This is what £925,000 gets you in Camden, London.
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Wow. This is what £925,000 gets you in Camden, London.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
1 - My son and I met with Wes Streeting last year with other families. He heard the most horrific stories of children refused blockers and how it impacts them. We begged him not to ban blockers, and he promised to work with us, to have further meetings.
Trans Safety Network are extremely concerned that DHSC are continuing to solicit input on trans healthcare from Bayswater and other anti trans groups after a reply to our previous concerns stated they would not work with groups who promote harmful practices or discriminatory views
Wes Streeting continues to ignore safeguarding concerns about parents group linked to abusive practices
Trans Safety Network has seen evidence Wes Streeting and the DHSC solicited feedback on a “puberty blocker risk form” from Bayswater Support Group and other anti-trans groups in September 2025, 6 mont...
transsafety.network
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
1 - My son and I met with Wes Streeting last year with other families. He heard the most horrific stories of children refused blockers and how it impacts them. We begged him not to ban blockers, and he promised to work with us, to have further meetings.
Given that there is an explicit article in ECHR absolutely forbidding torture, it is stunning that the word "torture" does not occur in this ministerial statement.
'This report completes our investigative duties stemming from allegations relating to Iraq, in line with the mandate from the High Court [in the Ali Zaki Mousa case]'
Iraq Fatality Investigations. Statement made by Louise Sandher-Jones on behalf of the Ministry of Defence https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-11-24/HCWS1089
November 24, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Given that there is an explicit article in ECHR absolutely forbidding torture, it is stunning that the word "torture" does not occur in this ministerial statement.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
Trans Safety Network are extremely concerned that DHSC are continuing to solicit input on trans healthcare from Bayswater and other anti trans groups after a reply to our previous concerns stated they would not work with groups who promote harmful practices or discriminatory views
Wes Streeting continues to ignore safeguarding concerns about parents group linked to abusive practices
Trans Safety Network has seen evidence Wes Streeting and the DHSC solicited feedback on a “puberty blocker risk form” from Bayswater Support Group and other anti-trans groups in September 2025, 6 mont...
transsafety.network
November 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Trans Safety Network are extremely concerned that DHSC are continuing to solicit input on trans healthcare from Bayswater and other anti trans groups after a reply to our previous concerns stated they would not work with groups who promote harmful practices or discriminatory views
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
Tl;dr: this is mass surveillance, and should not be acceptable in democratic societies.
There is no reconciling of LFR with rights and privacy.
There is no reconciling of LFR with rights and privacy.
November 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Tl;dr: this is mass surveillance, and should not be acceptable in democratic societies.
There is no reconciling of LFR with rights and privacy.
There is no reconciling of LFR with rights and privacy.
Reposted by Eerke Boiten
And what does this say about all the social media research based on Twitter/X, which has helped fuel the moral panic about the role of social media in contemporary politics?
The location ID on twitter revealing that 99% of the horrible shit on that website is just posted by people in India honestly soothed me a lot. Its literally all just fake.
November 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM
And what does this say about all the social media research based on Twitter/X, which has helped fuel the moral panic about the role of social media in contemporary politics?