Aliya Bhatia
@aliyabhatia.bsky.social
Tech & human rights @cdt.org
Posts, thoughts, dreams my own.
Not Alia Bhatt
aliya-bhatia.com
Posts, thoughts, dreams my own.
Not Alia Bhatt
aliya-bhatia.com
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Read @aliyabhatia.bsky.social on the need for multilingual evaluations of AI models.
As these systems become further integrated into existing services and content moderation practices, how they work (or don't work!) in languages other than English becomes even more critical.
As these systems become further integrated into existing services and content moderation practices, how they work (or don't work!) in languages other than English becomes even more critical.
The Delhi Commitments launched at the #IndiaAIImpactSummit have rightfully centered multilingual evals as a core part of enhancing AI system use but how language experts will be included and eval outcomes are used is also important as Aditya Vashistha and I explain: indianexpress.com/article/opin...
Can the bot really ‘speak your language’? It’s time India demanded multilingual AI Accountability
Indian users are a rapidly growing consumer base for chatbots. Their experience should be equal, regardless of the language they speak
indianexpress.com
February 19, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Read @aliyabhatia.bsky.social on the need for multilingual evaluations of AI models.
As these systems become further integrated into existing services and content moderation practices, how they work (or don't work!) in languages other than English becomes even more critical.
As these systems become further integrated into existing services and content moderation practices, how they work (or don't work!) in languages other than English becomes even more critical.
The Delhi Commitments launched at the #IndiaAIImpactSummit have rightfully centered multilingual evals as a core part of enhancing AI system use but how language experts will be included and eval outcomes are used is also important as Aditya Vashistha and I explain: indianexpress.com/article/opin...
Can the bot really ‘speak your language’? It’s time India demanded multilingual AI Accountability
Indian users are a rapidly growing consumer base for chatbots. Their experience should be equal, regardless of the language they speak
indianexpress.com
February 19, 2026 at 10:48 AM
The Delhi Commitments launched at the #IndiaAIImpactSummit have rightfully centered multilingual evals as a core part of enhancing AI system use but how language experts will be included and eval outcomes are used is also important as Aditya Vashistha and I explain: indianexpress.com/article/opin...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
"Any claims of AI solving for population scale problems must be matched against the reality of the Global South, in which young boys were applying enamel paint on the railings... with their bare hands to prepare for the arrival of Silicon Valley CEOs." www.techpolicy.press/indias-ai-im...
India’s ‘AI Impact Summit’ Promises Little More Than Spectacle
The fourth in a series of convenings that kicked off in Bletchley Park in 2023, the summit is the first held in the Global South, writes Apar Gupta.
www.techpolicy.press
February 16, 2026 at 4:10 AM
"Any claims of AI solving for population scale problems must be matched against the reality of the Global South, in which young boys were applying enamel paint on the railings... with their bare hands to prepare for the arrival of Silicon Valley CEOs." www.techpolicy.press/indias-ai-im...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
ICE may have lost the battle for public opinion, and its operation may be hampered by local pushback, but it has succeeded in one respect: It has instilled terror in Minnesota’s immigrant communities, forcing them into the shadows.
Read more from @gabydvj.bsky.social: buff.ly/eSAhblK
Read more from @gabydvj.bsky.social: buff.ly/eSAhblK
February 12, 2026 at 3:35 PM
ICE may have lost the battle for public opinion, and its operation may be hampered by local pushback, but it has succeeded in one respect: It has instilled terror in Minnesota’s immigrant communities, forcing them into the shadows.
Read more from @gabydvj.bsky.social: buff.ly/eSAhblK
Read more from @gabydvj.bsky.social: buff.ly/eSAhblK
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
February 10, 2026 at 8:18 PM
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
Will India truly forge a 'third way' at the #AIImpactSummit next week in Delhi or further entrench Big Tech actors' roles in the Global South at the expense of local alternatives? Great read by @ambakak.bsky.social and Astha Kapoor: restofworld.org/2026/india-a...
Can India be a “third way” AI alternative to the U.S. and China?
The AI Impact Summit in India, the first in a developing country, proposes an option that focuses on public good and development. But can it deliver without capitulating to Big Tech?
restofworld.org
February 11, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Will India truly forge a 'third way' at the #AIImpactSummit next week in Delhi or further entrench Big Tech actors' roles in the Global South at the expense of local alternatives? Great read by @ambakak.bsky.social and Astha Kapoor: restofworld.org/2026/india-a...
Incredible piece about what we lose when AI systems aren't trained on natively-created representative datasets: Bad Bunny lyrics!
lausworld.substack.com/p/the-limita...
lausworld.substack.com/p/the-limita...
Bad Bunny, Spanish Dialects, and What to Do About the ChatGPTfication of Language
Your LLM is likely missing the actual soul behind the words you speak, read, and write.
lausworld.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Incredible piece about what we lose when AI systems aren't trained on natively-created representative datasets: Bad Bunny lyrics!
lausworld.substack.com/p/the-limita...
lausworld.substack.com/p/the-limita...
Attacks on academic freedom and cutting of stable, accessible channels to immigrate to the US will have ripple effects for decades to come. The US knows little of the brain drain that's about to come and that other countries which too have faced shifts towards authoritarian power have experienced
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent. Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent
Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Attacks on academic freedom and cutting of stable, accessible channels to immigrate to the US will have ripple effects for decades to come. The US knows little of the brain drain that's about to come and that other countries which too have faced shifts towards authoritarian power have experienced
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Alarming new revelations about ICE's use of administrative subpoenas to get information about people the administration wanted to detain and deport because of their protests against government policies. theintercept.com/2026/02/10/g...
Google Handed ICE Student Journalist’s Bank and Credit Card Numbers
Amandla Thomas-Johnson didn't know how much information ICE requested in a subpoena now. Google never gave him a chance to fight it.
theintercept.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Alarming new revelations about ICE's use of administrative subpoenas to get information about people the administration wanted to detain and deport because of their protests against government policies. theintercept.com/2026/02/10/g...
Great new piece by @kalikabali.bsky.social ahead of the #IndiaAIImpactSummit echoing a lot of what we've said: translated training and testing datasets are insufficient to build context-specific tools: www.indiatoday.in/magazine/fut...
Vernacular AI | An AI for Bharat
Moving past English-first systems, India is creating multilingual, context-aware ai to assist, protect and empower communities
www.indiatoday.in
February 10, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Great new piece by @kalikabali.bsky.social ahead of the #IndiaAIImpactSummit echoing a lot of what we've said: translated training and testing datasets are insufficient to build context-specific tools: www.indiatoday.in/magazine/fut...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
"NLP experts articulated a need for #research that seeks to understand how #language evolves online, how users interact
with each other, and how network effects and digital affordances shape online activity." #ethics #internet #contentmoderation #tech #AI
with each other, and how network effects and digital affordances shape online activity." #ethics #internet #contentmoderation #tech #AI
Automated Trust & Safety (T&S) tools too often perform poorly in widely spoken, low-resource languages. CDT convened four roundtables with AI experts & data annotators to dig into why — and how to build tools that work equitably for all users, not just English speakers. cdt.org/insights/bet...
February 9, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Automated Trust & Safety (T&S) tools too often perform poorly in widely spoken, low-resource languages. CDT convened four roundtables with AI experts & data annotators to dig into why — and how to build tools that work equitably for all users, not just English speakers. cdt.org/insights/bet...
February 9, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Automated Trust & Safety (T&S) tools too often perform poorly in widely spoken, low-resource languages. CDT convened four roundtables with AI experts & data annotators to dig into why — and how to build tools that work equitably for all users, not just English speakers. cdt.org/insights/bet...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante
February 9, 2026 at 2:16 AM
The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
“The appeal of professionalizing reforms, then, lies in their seductive promise to get it right next time: to enact violence only under a predetermined and legitimate set of circumstances.”
inquest.org/the-ice-refo...
inquest.org/the-ice-refo...
The ICE Reformation Trap - Spencer Piston - Inquest
Professionalization will not make immigration policing less violent. It will only increase its capacity, authority, and scope.
inquest.org
February 4, 2026 at 1:51 PM
“The appeal of professionalizing reforms, then, lies in their seductive promise to get it right next time: to enact violence only under a predetermined and legitimate set of circumstances.”
inquest.org/the-ice-refo...
inquest.org/the-ice-refo...
I'm at the online protection of minors conversation. Im at the digital sovereignty, boycott US tech products convo. I'm at the combination online protection of minors x digital sovereignty convo.
www.euronews.com/next/2026/02...
www.euronews.com/next/2026/02...
Spain to ban social media platforms for children under 16
"We will protect them from the digital Wild West," Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
www.euronews.com
February 3, 2026 at 5:54 PM
I'm at the online protection of minors conversation. Im at the digital sovereignty, boycott US tech products convo. I'm at the combination online protection of minors x digital sovereignty convo.
www.euronews.com/next/2026/02...
www.euronews.com/next/2026/02...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Horrifying and unnerving. DHS sent an administrative subpoena to Google for this retiree's records and even sent armed agents out to his house for the "offense" of writing the following completely anodyne email to a federal prosecutor using an email address he found via Google.
February 3, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Horrifying and unnerving. DHS sent an administrative subpoena to Google for this retiree's records and even sent armed agents out to his house for the "offense" of writing the following completely anodyne email to a federal prosecutor using an email address he found via Google.
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
“You need only know this: Whatever is happening with your data, it is important enough to the most egregiously lawless administration in American history that it be collected and consolidated.” Always read @tressiemcphd.bsky.social (gift link)
Opinion | Democracy Dies by Database
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:19 PM
“You need only know this: Whatever is happening with your data, it is important enough to the most egregiously lawless administration in American history that it be collected and consolidated.” Always read @tressiemcphd.bsky.social (gift link)
“I think that pointing out that AI is prone to giving ICE bad information is missing the entire point of ICE...they don’t care if the information they have is good." @evacide.bsky.social hitting the nail on the head
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
ICE's Use of AI Will Lead to Big Mistakes. Maybe That's the Point
Cybersecurity experts say that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seems to be indifferent to how their artificial intelligence tools work.
www.rollingstone.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:42 AM
“I think that pointing out that AI is prone to giving ICE bad information is missing the entire point of ICE...they don’t care if the information they have is good." @evacide.bsky.social hitting the nail on the head
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
We've started! Tune in on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/glO0_Sw...
January 29, 2026 at 2:27 PM
We've started! Tune in on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/glO0_Sw...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
ICE isn’t just brutal. It’s also big business. From 2008 to 2021 ICE spent *$1.2 billion* on geolocation tracking, $561M on data analysis, $252M on government databases, and $97M on data brokers. Most of that went to companies who will lobby for this system to stay in place.
January 28, 2026 at 9:17 PM
ICE isn’t just brutal. It’s also big business. From 2008 to 2021 ICE spent *$1.2 billion* on geolocation tracking, $561M on data analysis, $252M on government databases, and $97M on data brokers. Most of that went to companies who will lobby for this system to stay in place.
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Tomorrow: #CODI member @cdt.org is hosting a webinar on “Benchmarking Beyond Borders: Making AI Testing Truly Global,” in which experts and researchers will discuss how AI model developers can help make the evaluation process more multilingual.
🔗 cdt.org/event/benchm...
🔗 cdt.org/event/benchm...
Benchmarking Beyond Borders: Making AI Testing Truly Global
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am ET Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026 Current evaluation approaches used by AI model developers often fall short when tasked with assessing and improving model performance in non-E...
cdt.org
January 28, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Tomorrow: #CODI member @cdt.org is hosting a webinar on “Benchmarking Beyond Borders: Making AI Testing Truly Global,” in which experts and researchers will discuss how AI model developers can help make the evaluation process more multilingual.
🔗 cdt.org/event/benchm...
🔗 cdt.org/event/benchm...
How *should* age verification technologies balance risks to rights and important child safety goals? Here's what we think: #AgeVerifyFTC
January 28, 2026 at 4:01 PM
How *should* age verification technologies balance risks to rights and important child safety goals? Here's what we think: #AgeVerifyFTC
FTC Commissioner Meador notes that AI and ML can help online services estimate users' ages using their patterns of use. We've argued that that's experimental at best, and will restrict *many* users from accessing online services and their rights at worst #AgeVerifyFTC: cdt.org/insights/age...
Age Estimation Requires Verification for Many Users
Online services can now guess a user’s age with as little as a selfie or a phone number, according to leading age assurance providers. Age estimation providers in particular claim their processes are ...
cdt.org
January 28, 2026 at 3:57 PM
FTC Commissioner Meador notes that AI and ML can help online services estimate users' ages using their patterns of use. We've argued that that's experimental at best, and will restrict *many* users from accessing online services and their rights at worst #AgeVerifyFTC: cdt.org/insights/age...
Not the goal of this FTC Workshop on age verification #FTCAgeVerify, but putting the Cellphone exhibition at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum on my weekend to do list naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/cel...
Cellphone: Unseen Connections
naturalhistory.si.edu
January 28, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Not the goal of this FTC Workshop on age verification #FTCAgeVerify, but putting the Cellphone exhibition at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum on my weekend to do list naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/cel...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
DHS has a history of buying surveillance tech & scooping up data with little oversight or accountability. As Congress considers handing DHS another blank check, it must take steps to halt the pipeline of easily abused surveillance tech flowing to ICE & CBP. 2/11 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol...
Holding Homeland Security Accountable
Reforms to focus DHS’s work and guard against overreach depend on strengthened internal oversight offices.
www.brennancenter.org
January 27, 2026 at 8:58 PM
DHS has a history of buying surveillance tech & scooping up data with little oversight or accountability. As Congress considers handing DHS another blank check, it must take steps to halt the pipeline of easily abused surveillance tech flowing to ICE & CBP. 2/11 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol...