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Guy Leonard

@guyleonard.bsky.social

760 followers 1.8K following 160 posts

Bioinformatician w/ Tom Richards & Team at @oxfordbiology.bsky.social Homebrewer. WSET Beer Level 2. Rejoiner 🇪🇺🤝🇬🇧 AI is not 'inevitable', it's uncritical adoption. Constant politics-doom ruined the other place.

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · Jul 1

Early bird applications are now open! Go go go genomics!

Workshops @evomics.bsky.social · Jul 1

Applications are now open for the Workshop on Genomics 2026 (11-24 Jan) in Cesky Krumlov, Czechia. For the first time, we are offering Early Bird Registration discounts! 🐣 Do not miss the chance! 🤩 Help us spread the word among friends and colleagues! 🙆🏽‍♀️ #evomics2026
evomics.org/apply-worksh...

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 5h

Great. Then let's make it happen. I agree with Nick. LOL

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

Reposted by Guy Leonard

Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · 1d

How did animals repeatedly conquer land? 🌊➡️⛰️ We analysed ~1,000 gene repertoires (24M genes!) from all animal phyla to uncover how this happened. Work led by @gemmaeling.bsky.social & Klara Eleftheriadi, both first coauthors of this titanic effort!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Independent genomic trajectories shape adaptation to life on land across animal lineages

How animals repeatedly adapted to life on land is a central question in evolutionary biology. While terrestrialisation occurred independently across animal phyla, it remains unclear whether shared gen...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Ellinor Alseth @ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 14h

Obsessed with this Journal of Immaterial Science article 🔥

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 1d

So, journals can pay for LLMs to do 'work' but not reviewers?

OK.

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 2d

Oh FFS. Because what overburdened peer review systems really need is more noise between the reviewers & ACs. Yeah, that's the ticket.

aaai.org/aaai-launche...

>>

Screenshot of AAAI automated review announcement reading:

1. Supplementary First-Stage Reviews: LLM-generated reviews will be included as one component of the
initial review stage, providing an additional perspective alongside traditional human expert evaluations.
2. Discussion Summary Assistance: LLMs will assist the Senior Program Committee (SPC) members by
summarizing reviewer discussions, helping to highlight key points of consensus and disagreement among
human reviewers.

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 1d

So, journals can pay for LLMs to do 'work' but not reviewers?

OK.

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 2d

Oh FFS. Because what overburdened peer review systems really need is more noise between the reviewers & ACs. Yeah, that's the ticket.

aaai.org/aaai-launche...

>>

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 2d

Is the trend of going for a run after your run a new thing? Or has my general dis-(like)-dain for running - apart from away from bears - blinded me from it until now? Seems nuts!

Reposted by Guy Leonard

Sam Turner @renrut-mas.bsky.social · 2d

To save people the reading time: the "some" making this prediction are people who don't understand the limits of current LLM technology and the ones questioning it are people who do. It is, yet again, a "both sides" article where one side has no fucking idea what they're talking about.

Nature @nature.com · 2d

Researchers question whether autonomous AI scientists are possible or even desirable.

Read the full story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 2d

Oh no. Anyway.

Stop Funding Heat @stopfundingheat.bsky.social · 2d

And yesterday's Mail *almost* gets it.

Supported by ads from #Boots, #Tui, #BritishGas, #Vitabiotics, #Gtech, #Aviva, #Flagstone, #CapitalGroup, #Artemis,#Trailfinders, #FredOlsenCruise, #Princess, #Staysure, #Avanti, #SunLife, #EvoDental, #YouBeauty, #PaddyPower and #ImagineCruising.

Mail article with a headline that reads: Europe's 'obsession' with Net Zero will kill AI boom, warns US data centre boss.

Reposted by Guy Leonard

Mike Lee @astrobiomike.org · 7d

To maybe spare someone else the headache I just went through trying to figure out why I couldn’t find any NCBI assembly tables letting me parse by “representative” genomes, they purged the term last year and solely use “reference” now. #MicroSky

Updated Genomes Terminology! “Representative Genome” is Replaced with “Reference Genome” - NCBI Insights

NCBI is streamlining the terminology around our reference genomes. We currently have a small set of genomes collectively called representatives and an even smaller set called references. We have slowl...

ncbiinsights.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Javier Santoyo @jsantoyo.bsky.social · 5d

A closed-loop method for precise genome size estimation using HiFi reads. #GenomeSize #HiFi #LongReads #Genomics #Bioinformatics #BMCgenomics 🧬 🖥️
bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

dylan @dylnbkr.bsky.social · 8d

$Across the top of the image is a fractured black rectangle where the left half is labeled "Frame: F is happening!" and the right side is labeled "Negation: F is not true!" left side of the box: "AI*" is so useful, it's revolutionizing everything. *massive, generative commercial "AI" models. right side of the box: "AI" capabilities are overblown, it's mostly slop. Below the box is a large image of Kirby, a pink blob inhaling and the "Frame F" fragment. In a box next to Kirby is the text: Kirby. K is happening. That's why they're saying F. In the pink box is the text: "AI" is functioning to fuel mass surveillance, exploitation of workers & the environment, and the consolidation of wealth and power on a massive scale.$

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Generation Rent @generationrent.bsky.social · 7d

Higher energy costs WILL hit renters the HARDEST.

Gov action to bring down bills in the long-term is welcome, but rent caps are the ONLY way to ensure we feel the benefits.

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

Britons preparing to ration energy as Ofgem price cap rises, says charity

National Energy Action says 58% of households expect to cut heating use as typical annual dual-fuel bill increases to £1,755

www.theguardian.com

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 7d

🤣

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Reposted by Guy Leonard

Open Rights Group @openrightsgroup.org · 12d

Today it's a mandatory digital ID card to prove you have the right to work but in the future you might have to use it to access the NHS, to rent or buy a home, or to access benefits.

It's time to fight back, 'Say No to Digital IDs'.

Join the Campaign: action.openrightsgroup.org/join-campaig...

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 7d

You know how 3D-TV/Cinema pops up its ugly head every ten years or so, people get obsessed and then decide - rightly - it's mostly trash.

That's our current AI hype.

Reposted by Guy Leonard

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 9d

our first book will be *The AI Con* by Dr. @emilymbender.bsky.social and Dr. @alexhanna.bsky.social. you can buy the book at thecon.ai. we'll start the week of October 13, so please order it soon!

THE AI CON

How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want

thecon.ai

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 9d

Oooh and this olivia.science/ai from bsky.app/profile/oliv...

Critical AI

On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.

olivia.science

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 9d

Re-upping this short thread because I am confident people have recommendations for my reading list on AI technologies and their impact on society.

What should I read to be better informed?

Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 10d

I want to be more informed about AI, so I started a reading list.
So far, I’ve read:

Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick (2024)

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor (2024)

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 9d

Some recent papers/articles:
1. zenodo.org/records/1706...
2. www.chronicle.com/article/some...
3. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...
4. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
5. www.theverge.com/report/78717...
6. www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g...

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 9d

The essential failure of LLMs in the smart home - where natural language processing should shine - is the best evidence that LLMs as a technology simply may not be able to do the things they’re promised

www.theverge.com/report/78717...

Amazon’s workaround has been to use its LLM models as a kind of translator. It interprets what you say, then hands off the request to deterministic systems — APIs, device controllers, or local Matter connections.

The unpredictability of LLMs is a poor fit for smart home control, where reliability and repeatability are crucial.
I’ve found this works most of the time, but if the LLM translates a request incorrectly or there’s a gap in the API, it appears that handoff can fail. I assume that’s why my bathroom fan sometimes turns on as requested and why Alexa sometimes insists on creating a routine but then forgets to finish the job.

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Lucas Farnung @lucas.farnunglab.com · 9d

New week, new tool: Find our Protein Domain Designer tool to generate publication-ready protein domain diagrams here: domaindesigner.farnunglab.com

Protein Domain Designer tool for the generation of publication-ready protein domain diagrams

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 10d

“AI” isn’t a tool or technology or even a cluster of technologies with a misleading name. It’s the infrastructure at the foundation of a form of capitalism dependent on data brokering. We should be teaching our students about this and not teaching them about “responsible” use.

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The Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute @dairinstitute.bsky.social · 11d

"“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social , a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 11d

hahah yuuuup same with Musk's self-driving cars "Compromised and eroded because [inter alia] self-driving cars were already a couple of years away for about a decade." www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g...

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Reposted by Guy Leonard

Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 11d

Almost all Oxford’s train services will be nationalised next year. The Government today announced that GWR and Chiltern Railways will be brought into public ownership in mid/late 2026, leaving CrossCountry until 2027.

GWR train service on the Cotswold Line to Oxford

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