Dietram A. Scheufele
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dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele
@dietram.bsky.social
1.6K followers 200 following 160 posts

i research and teach #scicomm, #healthcomm, #socialmedia, #openscience, #ai, #misinfo, and #polarization. http://linktr.ee/scheufele

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Dietram A. Scheufele is a German-American social scientist and the Taylor-Bascom Chair at the Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is also a Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. Prior to joining UW, Scheufele was a tenured faculty member at Cornell University. .. more

Communication & Media Studies 32%
Political science 30%
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Reposted by Stephan Lewandowsky

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 12h
"It’s all hallucination, but we only call it that when we notice it’s wrong. The problem is, large language models are so good at what they do that what they make up looks right most of the time."

#AI #hallucination #information #ecologies
Why does AI hallucinate?
The tendency to make things up is holding chatbots back. But that’s just what they do.
www.technologyreview.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 2d
“Trey and I are attracted to that like flies to honey,” Mr. Stone said. “Oh, that’s where the taboo is? Over there? OK, then we’re over there.”
‘South Park’ Takes On Trump and Wins Bigly
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 2d
Our 2017 @nationalacademies.org report on “Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance" (www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/hum...) was designed to prevent exactly this kind of rogue science. One of the many reasons why we need industry-independent regulatory frameworks for emerging tech …
Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.
Silicon Valley startups are pushing the boundaries of reproductive genetics, hoping to prevent diseases as well as improve chances for a high IQ and other traits.
www.wsj.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 3d
“Any class in 2025 that doesn’t use AI in some way, shape or form will do so within five years.”

Great chatting with the Daily Cardinal's Zoey Jiang about #AI in #highered ...
‘A new era of learning’: Professors grapple with AI in the classroom
Professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison use artificial intelligence in their classrooms to aid student learning. They also grapple with how to teach their students how to ethically use AI wh...
www.dailycardinal.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 10d
"Among those who favor more nuclear power, the most common reason why is that it is a clean or low-carbon way of producing energy."

Interesting new @pewresearch.org data on #nuclear #energy ...

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 17d
“Don't protest and don't trespass."

The slogan that kicked off the Boston Tea Party …
Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino says agents' use of force in Chicago "has been exemplary"
"If someone strays into a pepper ball, that's on them," CBP Chief of Patrol Gregory Bovino told CBS News.
www.cbsnews.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 17d
Haha great minds. Glad you’re coming out with this. Will be super useful for the field (and for our work, of course).

Reposted by Dominique Brossard

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 18d
This nicely reinforces findings from our recent @pnas.org piece in which we argue “that industry players like Meta make significant investments into long-term research streams … to absolve their platforms of responsibility for adverse effects on society or individuals.”

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Arvind Narayanan, Dietram A. Scheufele , and 17 more

carlbergstrom.com
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 18d
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.

There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
Three schematic diagrams. The first illustrates selective publishing of internal resection, the second selective causal focus, and the third selective access and funding for researchers.

Reposted by Stephan Lewandowsky, Dawn J. Wright

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 21d
We warned against "political hijacking" of #openscience back in 2021 (academic.oup.com/joc/article/...). As @lewan.bsky.social's diagnosis in @science.org shows, ignoring the scholarship in this space for almost five years creates serious vulnerabilities for science and the societies it serves.
Trojan gold: New US “standard” is another veiled attack on science
Transparency, reproducibility, and acknowledging uncertainty are meritorious attributes of science that differentiate it from other human endeavors, such as politics. But they can also be subverted. I...
www.science.org

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 23d
Two-thirds of Democrats and four in five Republicans say that "the higher education system in the U.S. is generally going in the wrong direction."

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

#highered #scipol

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 11
“[M]any students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas.”
Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say
www.nytimes.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 11
"[F]ederal judges called the Supreme Court’s emergency orders “mystical,” “overly blunt,” “incredibly demoralizing and troubling” and “a slap in the face to the district courts”."
Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders
www.nytimes.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 29
"At ASU, we currently have about 18,000 international student visas ... For Arizona, this has resulted in more than $160 billion in foreign direct investment ... No American student loses his seat to an international student—ASU admits every qualified student who applies."
Opinion | Foreign Students Help Make America Great
Trump has recognized this repeatedly, but some of his policies risk hindering American innovation.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Dietram A. Scheufele, Dominique Brossard

nationalacademies.org
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine @nationalacademies.org · Sep 29
#Disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, but research on #DisasterManagement remains limited and siloed.

A recent @IssuesInST.bsky.social piece advocates for researchers to work together to develop a unified U.S. #DisasterResearch strategy: buff.ly/KLvNNgz

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 25
“Brains, treated with the same urgency, may prove a better longer-term investment.“
How to spot a genius
In an age of artificial intelligence, the human kind is increasingly important
economist.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 19
Long day, filled with very productive (Board of Trustees) meetings at the @klaus-tschira-stiftung.de and catching the closing ceremony of the @hlforum.bsky.social.

Reposted by Dietram A. Scheufele, Victor Pickard

theonion.com
The Onion @theonion.com · Sep 18
Report: You To Be Fired For Reading This Headline About Charlie Kirk
Report: You To Be Fired For Reading This Headline About Charlie Kirk
NEW YORK—Insisting your fate was sealed the moment you clicked the link, a report released Tuesday found that you will be fired for reading this headline about Charlie Kirk. “Shortly after you navigat...
theonion.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 17
“There's a 25% chance that the future of #AI will go "really, really badly".”
Amodei on AI: "There's a 25% chance that things go really, really badly"
Amodei gave the percentage after being asked his "(p)doom number."
www.axios.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 10
“Meta proposed … [that] [r]esearchers could also write about their findings more vaguely, avoiding terms like “not compliant” or “illegal.””

Another reason why Meta forcing arrangements to have their employees as co-authors on academic publications is so deeply troubling.
Meta suppressed children's safety research, 4 whistleblowers claim | TechCrunch
Four whistleblowers share documents with Congress alleging that the company may have suppressed research on children's safety.
techcrunch.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 3
"Acceptance of the scientific consensus was very high in the sample as a whole (95.1%), but also in every sub-sample (e.g. no trust in science: 87.3%) ... [P]eople are motivated to reject specific scientific beliefs, and not science as a whole."

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 3
"Many researchers and educators lack the critical AI tools and resources to investigate fundamental #AI questions and train students."
NSF announces funding to establish the National AI Research Resource Operations Center
The U.S. National Science Foundation today announced a new solicitation to establish a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Operations Center (NAIRR-OC). This marks a critical...
www.nsf.gov

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Aug 22
“Have you ever pretended to hold more progressive views than you truly endorse to succeed socially or academically? An astounding 88 percent said yes.”
thehill.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Aug 12
Grateful to the Responsible AI Initiative for allowing me to spend time with them this fall. And looking forward to conversations and collaborations with @utah.edu colleagues about innovating responsibly in this deeply disruptive space.
uusci.bsky.social Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute @uusci.bsky.social · Aug 12
How is AI reshaping our information landscape—& what does it mean for democracy, science, & public trust? Join us Aug. 20 to hear from distinguished visitor @dietram.bsky.social on how industry & academia can work together to prepare society for AI's impacts.

Details: rai.utah.edu/distinguishe...

Reposted by Dietram A. Scheufele

uusci.bsky.social
Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute @uusci.bsky.social · Aug 12
How is AI reshaping our information landscape—& what does it mean for democracy, science, & public trust? Join us Aug. 20 to hear from distinguished visitor @dietram.bsky.social on how industry & academia can work together to prepare society for AI's impacts.

Details: rai.utah.edu/distinguishe...

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Aug 11
"As a result, on September 30, 2025 this service and the associated software, the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections, will be discontinued."

Holy sh*t! 😜
Dial-up Internet to be discontinued
Learn about why dial up internet has been discontinued.
help.aol.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Aug 4
"[A]lthough universities unleashed an age of massive technical innovation, they failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society."

Most elite universities are ill-prepared for the corrosive amalgam of #AI, societal #polarization, and their own academic echo chambers ...
It’s Time for Universities to Redesign Their 75-Year-Old Contract
American research universities have unleashed an age of massive technical innovation—but they’ve failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.
issues.org

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Aug 1
“[W]hether it's the way you pay your taxes, whether it's through health-care records, whether it's small things that apply to get a permit through international park or a campsite. All of this stuff is going to be part of the AI fabric,”

US goes full China on #AI …
White House tech director breaks down plan to balance AI national security and export promotion
White House OSTP Director Michael Kratsios said that the “highest end of semiconductors” should fall under export controls, but the administration still wants the world using U.S. technology.
www.nextgov.com

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Jul 25
One last one:

"[I]t is also entirely possible and maybe predictable that we’ll continue to knowingly march towards an internet where drawing the line between what is and isn’t real is not profitable “at scale” and therefore not a consideration for most internet companies and users."

dietram.bsky.social
Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Jul 25
"Google will feed people into a faulty AI-powered alternative that is prone to errors it presents with so much confidence, we won’t even be able to tell that they are errors."

So many great quotes in this excellent piece by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social!