“Deri Draper-Amason writes on readiness and risk in complex human-technical systems. Her Sept. 23 post on the rename, "Calling It 'Super' Doesn't Make It Safe," carries the line I keep coming back to: "Technology does not name itself." She welcomes comments from people who have lived through major technology programs.”

“Kalil Vicioso writes from developmental and cultural psychology on how people, tools and culture build a self, and where AI now fits. "Cyborgs All Along" (Oct. 19) places AI in a long line of tools that changed how humans think, and says design choices will decide what kind of change it brings.”

“Charley Johnson's about page says there is no such thing as a "tech problem." His June 27 essay, "The Inevitability Machine," is a field guide to the words AI arrives with, starting with "artificial intelligence" itself, and it takes apart the stories that make a choice look settled. Read it before anything else on the rename.”

“Gloria Mark is a professor at UC Irvine and one of the few researchers writing about attention who has actually measured it in the wild. Her Substack extends the argument of Attention Span into the terrain most of us live in now. If your work depends on people being able to think for more than a few minutes at a stretch, read her.”

“Henry Farrell, a Johns Hopkins professor, writes on technology and politics. In "Machine god metaphors eat your brain" (Sept. 22) he writes, "Metaphors are the fundamental abstraction layers in modern AI debates." He reads AI as a social and cultural technology.”

“Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor read AI as "transformative but normal technology, not superintelligence." A federal order now calls AI "Super Intelligence," so their work is required reading this fall.”

“Ben Recht, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley, writes on "the history, foundations, and validity" of automated decision making. His Oct. 26 post, "The World Is Something We Make," says it straight: "No future is inevitable."”

“Albert Tu is a longtime student of the social shaping of technology, and he writes about AI as a set of contested choices. "The Determinism Tax" (Oct. 7) names four beliefs the doomers and the boomers share, then uses the catalytic converter to show what it cost to take the automakers' word. The newsletter started in July. Get in early.”