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Nick Evershed!?

@nickevershed.bsky.social

11K followers 1.4K following 1.2K posts

Data and interactives ed. at the Guardian Aus dataviz, music, investigative journalism, programming etc work: [email protected] tip-offs: [email protected] latest: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nick-evershed

www.theguardian.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 13h

man Australian universities are really just collapsing like a dying star hey

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

University caught out using AI to wrongly accuse students of cheating with AI

An Australian university has accused thousands of its students of cheating with artificial intelligence. The problem? Many have done nothing wrong.

www.abc.net.au

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 10h

this is votes per round, rather than cumulative votes

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 10h

The Tawny frogmouth has emerged as an early favourite as we enter day four of the bird of the year contest!

As of the close of voting last night, the muppet-like frogmouth had increased its lead over Baudin's black cockatoo, surging ahead by 1,372 votes

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Line chart showing votes per round for birds in the top ten of each round. The Tawny frogmouth has led in every round, and dramatically increased its lead in round 3

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Dave Jones @cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: GLOBAL RENEWABLES OVERTAKES COAL

How the heck did that happen so quickly?!...🧵

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 1d

I now have 60+ GB of bird data on my computer

ALA, eBird, AVONET i am fully jacked into the bird data matrix

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Caitlin Gilbert @caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 1d

🤳EXCLUSIVE: We analyzed real data from over 800 U.S. TikTok users to reveal how the app transforms casual users into power users.

Extremely proud of this one, over a year in the making w/ @richardsima.bsky.social Leslie Shapiro @asteckelberg.bsky.social @ence.bsky.social

wapo.st/4obueib

Here’s how TikTok ‘power users’ end up scrolling 4 hours a day or more

Washington Post reporters analyzed data from over 800 TikTok users to learn how the app turns people into power users, some of whom spend hours per day scrolling.

wapo.st

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CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Scoop: OpenAI has signed its first ever Australia government contract, quietly inking a deal with Treasury amid the ChatGPT-maker's charm offensive on policymakers.

This modest contract is an ideal foothold into future, more lucrative deals, according to one firm's analysis.
www.crikey.com.au/20...

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 1d

"It feels as if everything has vanished. Not only the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza erased without graves, without records, as if they had never existed – so many other things have been hollowed out: basic conceptions of morality, decency, compassion, humanity, hope, future."

Disappearing people, disappearing morals – how two years has changed Gaza and Israel | Orly Noy

There can be no healing until the world stares into and acknowledges the void torn open by this conflict, says Israeli journalist Orly Noy

www.theguardian.com

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 2d

I agree with every word Zelda Williams says. And this at the end from OpenAI makes me want to go full Ned Ludd. Creators can’t have a blanket opt-out on copyright infringement of their work and have to fill out a form appealing to OpenAI’s mercy every time? Fuck off into the sun

OpenAI told the Guardian that content owners can flag copyright infringement using a “copyright disputes form” but that individual artists or studios cannot have a blanket opt-out. Varun Shetty, OpenAI’s head of media partnerships, said: “We’ll work with rights holders to block characters from Sora at their request and respond to takedown requests.”

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 2d

it's time....... TURKEY TIME

www.theguardian.com/environment/... #boty2025

it is a vectorised soviet propaganda-style poster of a bush turkey on a mound, the text says "VOTE 1 BUSH TURKEY - INDUSTRIOUS! HARD WORKING! THE PEOPLE'S BIRD!"

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 2d

i don't know but I choose to believe it is true

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David Pocock @davidpocock.bsky.social · 2d

Climate change is driving up insurance costs & making homes uninsurable

🇦🇺ns are paying the price while disasters worsen

As Minister Bowen said: "The cost of inaction will always outweigh the cost of action"

We need real action & investment in adaptation
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 2d

in Australia people would call Bari Weiss "Bazza"

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 3d

DISTURBING MEAT CHART

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

it's a bar chart where the bars are made of minced/ground beef, the title is "The proportion of beef has decreased in Woolworths Macro sausages"

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 3d

NO STOPPING

Nick L. Underfront @jasoncheathawks.bsky.social · 3d

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Adam Morton @adammorton.bsky.social · 3d

Vote early/often.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll

From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

www.theguardian.com

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Tom Studans @maximumwelfare.bsky.social · 3d

#BREAKING 🚨 Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report into mutual obligations issues.

Fake quotes from Federal Court case that ended Robodebt deleted from new report in Friday DEWR dump.

📰 AFR

✍️ @paulkarp.bsky.social

✍️ @edmundtadros.bsky.social

🗣️ @chrisrudge.bsky.social

HEADLINE: Deloitte to refund government, admits AI errors in $440k report

Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement.

A new version of the report for the Department of Workplace Relations (DEWR) was quietly uploaded to the department’s website on Friday, ahead of a long weekend across much of Australia. It features more than a dozen deletions of nonexistent references and footnotes, a rewritten reference list, and corrections to multiple typographic errors.

(photo of Deloitte Australia HQ) Deloitte Australia has made almost $25 million worth of deals with the Department of Workplace Relations since 2021. Photographer Dion Georgopoulos

The first version of the report, about the IT system used to automate penalties in the welfare system such as pauses on the dole, was published in July. Less than a month later, Deloitte was forced to investigate the report after University of Sydney academic Dr Christopher Rudge highlighted multiple errors in the document.

At the time, Rudge speculated that the errors may have been caused by what is known as “hallucinations” by generative AI. This is where the technology responds to user queries by inventing references and quotes. Deloitte declined to comment.

The incident is embarrassing for Deloitte as it earns a growing part of its $US70.5 billion ($107 billion) in annual global revenue by providing advice and training clients and executives about AI. The firm also boasts about its widespread use of the technology within its global operations, while emphasising the need to always have humans review any output of AI.

SUBHEADING: Deleted references, footnotes

The revised report has deleted a dozen references to two nonexistent reports by Professor Lisa Burton Crawford, a law professor at the University of Sydney, that were included in the first version. Two references to a nonexistent report by Professor Björn Regnell, of Lund University in Sweden, were also deleted in the new report.

Also deleted was a made up reference to a court decision in a leading robo-debt case, Deanna Amato v Commonwealth.

The new report has also deleted a reference to “Justice Davis” (a misspelling of Justice Jennifer Davies) and the made-up quote from the nonexistent paragraphs 25 and 26 in the judgement: “The burden rests on the decision-maker to be satisfied on the evidence that the debt is owed. A person’s statutory entitlements cannot lawfully be reduced based on an assumption unsupported by evidence.”

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Nick Miller @nickdmiller.bsky.social · 5d

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/oct/03/dear-computer-boffins-please-stop-trying-to-fix-problems-i-dont-have

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 5d

My cultural awakening: Ratatouille helped me overcome my insomnia

My difficulties with sleep stretched back to childhood, when I would put on a movie to pass the time – until I watched the children’s animated film and it made me drop off straight away

www.theguardian.com

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Andrew Pfister @andrewpfister.bsky.social · 8d

doing some intensive research on my DIY bathroom renovation

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 8d

(this is a joke he's right it will push up prices obviously)

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 8d

also if i don't link to a news site it is deliberate

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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 8d

why would you take financial advice from a guy who can't even afford shoes tho

‘Insulting’: Barefoot Investor unleashes as Albo drops bomb on housing market
The Australian housing market will undergo a dramatic upheaval starting today - and Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has huge concerns.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 8d

Excited to introduce Vibes from Meta. Eat your slop, piggies!

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Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 8d

Please - stop doing the screenshot no link thing on Bluesky. This platform does not punish you for posting a URL. You picked up the habit from Meta apps? Stop doing Mark Z's bidding. Link ESPECIALLY to authors, reporters, bloggers, etc. where you quote the work.

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