Emily M. Bender

AI position

Focused on x-risk

Recurring podcast segments dedicated to dismantling x-risk/doomer framing and its proponents.

Why influential

Defines how AI and technology power are understood by policymakers, investors, researchers, workers and the broader press. Primary policy lanes: ai hype; language models; labor; accountability.

Who pays attention

Computational linguists, AI ethics researchers, labor advocates, civil-society groups, educators and journalists

Work samples

• Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Episode 78: Bernie Goes Down the X-Risk Rabbithole (with Dr. Nathalie Maréchal)

  Jun 9, 2026 · podcast

  Dissects Bernie Sanders' AI-risk hearing featuring Max Tegmark and other x-risk figures.

• On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?

  Mar 1, 2021 · article

  Foundational co-authored paper critiquing large language models; catalyzed Timnit Gebru's Google departure.

• The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want

  May 1, 2025 · article

  Book co-authored with Alex Hanna; basis for numerous podcast tour interviews.

• Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Episode 61: Winning the Race to Hell (with Sarah Myers West and Kate Brennan)

  Aug 26, 2025 · podcast

  Episode with AI Now Institute researchers.

• Twitter/Mastodon thread responding to Sam Altman's "Planning for AGI and beyond"

  Feb 25, 2023 · social

  Line-by-line public critique of OpenAI's AGI messaging, covered by Futurism.

AI-world contacts

• Alex Hanna — Director of Research; co-host of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, DAIR (Distributed AI Research Institute)

  • Wrote aboutdirectness unclassified — Bender's constant co-host and co-author of The AI Con; central to all her media output on AI.

• Sarah Myers West — Co-Executive Director, AI Now Institute

  • Wrote aboutdirectness unclassified — Guest on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 episode 61 discussing AI industry concentration.

• Kate Brennan — Researcher, AI Now Institute

  • Wrote aboutdirectness unclassified — Guest on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 episode 61.

• Max Tegmark — Co-founder, Future of Life Institute

  • Wrote aboutdirectness unclassified — Discussed/critiqued (via a Bernie Sanders AI hearing) on episode 78 of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 focused on x-risk skepticism.

• Nathalie Maréchal — Managing policy director, Northeastern University Institute for Information, the Internet, and Democracy

  • Wrote aboutdirectness unclassified — Guest on Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 episode 78 discussing x-risk discourse.