Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
Scholar, Speaker, Educator
Author, Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech & Our Fight for an Independent Future
Director, Community Data Clinic, communitydata.illinois.edu
anitachan.org
Political science
54%
Sociology
18%
Attitudes to Careers in Public Interest Technology
The UCLA Center for Resilience and Digital Justice and the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) are conducting this survey to understand how current students and early career profess...
docs.google.com
For all grad/undergrad students + early career scholars: UCLA Center for Resilience & Digital Justice has a new survey on awareness of public-interest technology jobs. It's illuminating to even read thru; participants get $20 Digital Gift Card for completing by Jan 31 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
A new direction for students in an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect | Brookings
This report explores the potential risks generative AI poses to students and outlines what we can do now to minimize them.
www.brookings.edu
For ALL parents/caregivers and educators alike: @brookings.edu new study on AI and learning I asserts an unequivocal NO: "At this point in its trajectory, the risks of utilizing generative AI in children’s education overshadow its benefits." www.brookings.edu/articles/a-n...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Oct 11
So proud to be an alum of @mit.edu today. MIT is the 1st of 9 universities Trump tried and FAILED to pressure into a contract. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
“Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” said @mit.edu's Pres. The other 8 campuses have yet to respond: U of AZ, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, USC, UT, Vanderbilt, + UVA. Faculty, Alum, speak out!
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Oct 11
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
So proud to be an alum of @mit.edu today. MIT is the 1st of 9 universities Trump tried and FAILED to pressure into a contract. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Oct 11
DHS’s Immigrant Tracking Tech Lays the Ground for Authoritarian Surveillance
Anita Say Chan reveals how new surveillance technologies employed by DHS and ICE to monitor, arrest, and deport immigrants have a long history rooted in eugenics profiling from the 19th and 20th centu...
politicalresearch.org
#EugenicFantasies of a racially cleansed US are driving DHS's + Trump's campaign to illegally deport law-abiding residents. Chinese S/E European Jewish immigrants + dissidents were 1st targeted by eugenic surveillance tech 100 yrs ago, see my piece in #PubicEye politicalresearch.org/2025/10/10/d...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Oct 11
CBI is absolutely delighted to announce that thought-leading scholars University of Illinois' @anitachan.bsky.social & Indiana University's @rachelplotnick.bsky.social have just joined us as new CBI Research Fellows. Below is the link to the article. #histsci
cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/cbi...
cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/cbi...
CBI Names Anita Say Chan and Rachel Plotnick as the Institute’s New Research Fellows
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/09/2025)—The Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information and Culture (CBI) is delighted to announce the addition of University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana’s Anita...
cse.umn.edu
Am excited to join @CHARLES BABBAGE Institute w/ @rachelplotnick.bsky.social for the new CBI Research Fellows cohort! It'll be a privilege to work w/ @justcode.bsky.social & CBI's amazing researchers. Keep your eyes peeled this Spring 2026 for #AICriticalGeographies programming we're planning!
Reposted by Anita Chan
Jeffrey Yost
@justcode.bsky.social
· Oct 9
CBI Names Anita Say Chan and Rachel Plotnick as the Institute’s New Research Fellows
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/09/2025)—The Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information and Culture (CBI) is delighted to announce the addition of University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana’s Anita...
cse.umn.edu
CBI is absolutely delighted to announce that thought-leading scholars University of Illinois' @anitachan.bsky.social & Indiana University's @rachelplotnick.bsky.social have just joined us as new CBI Research Fellows. Below is the link to the article. #histsci
cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/cbi...
cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/cbi...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Sep 24
Our new interview with @anitachan.bsky.social is up! A great interview with someone who has thought deeply about Big Tech, eugenics, AI, and dispossessed communities.
www.the-geyser.com/pod-intervie...
www.the-geyser.com/pod-intervie...
Pod — Interview with Anita Chan
The author of “Predatory Data” joins us to discuss the current moment
www.the-geyser.com
What a pleasure to speak to the hosts of @disruptedscience.bsky.social podcast - their questions on AI's on academic publishing and research, and why our institutions can and SHOULD reframe the core issue to 1 about #publicsafety and service (rather than productivity/efficiency) are beyond timely!
Reposted by Anita Chan
Pod — Interview with Anita Chan
The author of “Predatory Data” joins us to discuss the current moment
www.the-geyser.com
Our new interview with @anitachan.bsky.social is up! A great interview with someone who has thought deeply about Big Tech, eugenics, AI, and dispossessed communities.
www.the-geyser.com/pod-intervie...
www.the-geyser.com/pod-intervie...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Sep 24
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Sep 16
#47 The Whole Story: A Discussion with Anita Say Chan
YouTube video by The Internet is Crack
www.youtube.com
I was the guest on #TheInternetIsCrack latest episode, with hosts @Caroline Risberg and @Seth Camillo. It was a fast conversation, w/ discussion on Francis Galton's 19th C design of a creepy hand-held "beauty" tracker, to OpenAI's aim to monetize child attention.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQXY...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Sep 15
We never left.
I wrote about “Predatory Data” by @anitachan.bsky.social in Nature’s summer reading list. Such a great work demonstrating the persistence of eugenics in all its many forms while offering a better way forwards.
Maybe not a fun beach read, but absolutely essential for these times.
I wrote about “Predatory Data” by @anitachan.bsky.social in Nature’s summer reading list. Such a great work demonstrating the persistence of eugenics in all its many forms while offering a better way forwards.
Maybe not a fun beach read, but absolutely essential for these times.
What an honor to have #PredatoryData included @nature.com's recommended Summer reading list. I'm already of fan of other authors in the list - @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social 's the AI Con, @Grace Howard's The Pregnancy Police - that are great reading in the Fall & Winter too!
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Sep 15
Copies of JUST CODE just arrived! Partnering w Con & teaming w 19 brilliant STS authors on the vital topic of code/codes & inequality was so special! Authors (full list ToC below) On bsky: @mysdick.bsky.social @histoftech.bsky.social @dmulvin.bsky.social & blurb from @anitachan.bsky.social #histtech
So excited to see #JUSTCODE's out, just in time for a new semester of teaching! Three cheers to its authors + editors @justcode.bsky.social & Gerardo Con Diaz for a volume that unpacks how the invisible work of code in algorithmic bias, AI in labor practices and more perpetuate global inequality.
Reposted by Anita Chan
Jeffrey Yost
@justcode.bsky.social
· Aug 12
Copies of JUST CODE just arrived! Partnering w Con & teaming w 19 brilliant STS authors on the vital topic of code/codes & inequality was so special! Authors (full list ToC below) On bsky: @mysdick.bsky.social @histoftech.bsky.social @dmulvin.bsky.social & blurb from @anitachan.bsky.social #histtech
Reposted by Anita Chan, Bryan Pfaffenberger
Jeffrey Yost
@justcode.bsky.social
· Mar 8
So grateful to the incredible Prof. @anitachan.bsky.social for her tremendous lecture (& wonderful conversation) in MPLS "Predatory Data: Feminist Resistance to Eugenics in Big Tech," on Thursday!!! Hosted by CBI for Computing, Info. & Culture & HHH Ctr. on Women, Gender, & Public Policy. #Histsci
Reposted by Anita Chan
NEW EPISODE!
We’re joined by @anitachan.bsky.social, author of Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech
We talk surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, echoes of anti-immigration movements of the 19th century, and alternative data practices of minority actors in pursuit of justice.
bit.ly/42zfRuE
We’re joined by @anitachan.bsky.social, author of Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech
We talk surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, echoes of anti-immigration movements of the 19th century, and alternative data practices of minority actors in pursuit of justice.
bit.ly/42zfRuE
Reposted by Anita Chan
Gen Wojcik
@genandgenes.bsky.social
· Jul 17
We never left.
I wrote about “Predatory Data” by @anitachan.bsky.social in Nature’s summer reading list. Such a great work demonstrating the persistence of eugenics in all its many forms while offering a better way forwards.
Maybe not a fun beach read, but absolutely essential for these times.
I wrote about “Predatory Data” by @anitachan.bsky.social in Nature’s summer reading list. Such a great work demonstrating the persistence of eugenics in all its many forms while offering a better way forwards.
Maybe not a fun beach read, but absolutely essential for these times.
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Jul 11
Eugenics, It’s Thriving in Silicon Valley With Elon & The Tech Bros, Professor Anita Say Chan
YouTube video by The Mark Thompson Show
www.youtube.com
I don't usually get to talk to broadcast news personalities about eugenics in big tech, but I was so glad for this interview w/ @The Mark Thompson Show. Thanks @Mark Thompson, @Kim McCallister, and producer @John Daly for the welcome conversation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Pv...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Jul 8
@aft.org #OpenAI plan will ram AI into public schools w/o ANY real consent fr parents + teachers. OpenAI's real goal is to DATAFY KIDS, who currently are poorly modeled in the data AI co's scrape. Get ready for a future where our kids get sex ed from AI. No one wants this @rweingarten.bsky.social.
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Jul 2
Altman Makes Science Claims
OpenAI's CEO says science is up next. Not so fast . . .
www.the-geyser.com
OpenAI claims that LLMs will "discover new science" are RIDICULOUS. It also distracts us fr what AI heads KNOW is their ACTUAL concern: ie monetize systems for MUCH more boring queries. & we'll burn up the planet for exchanges on celebrities & sports. Stop #AIHype
www.the-geyser.com/altman-makes...
www.the-geyser.com/altman-makes...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Jun 28
Pope Leo makes AI’s threat to humanity a signature issue | TechCrunch
Pope Leo XIV, the new American pope, is making the threat of AI to humanity a key issue of his legacy.
techcrunch.com
University heads in the US can take a lesson fr the Pope in being so clear in the commitment to human dignity and protecting future generations, rather than profit as progress, in addressing AI in higher ed: techcrunch.com/2025/06/18/p... #CatholicWorkersMovement #LiberationTheology
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Jun 17
Thanks @Kent Anderson for the interview in The Geyser. Among the topics we discussed, how surveillance capitalism started with eugenics, how history shows us predatory data is NOT inevitable, & why DOGE's dysfunction sadly doesn't mean the end to techno-eugenics. www.the-geyser.com/interview-an...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· May 14
Join us momentarily online and in person for a book talk on #eugenicsInBigTech at @ucsandiego.bsky.social's Design Center! If you are looking for ways to resist #PredatoryData, and reimagine solidarity around tech, Zoom in at the link below!
calendar.ucsd.edu/event/predat...
calendar.ucsd.edu/event/predat...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· May 1
This #MayDay in honor of #workersAgainstAI, I'm traveling to @UTEP to talk on #PredatoryData and #eugenics in #BigTech.
Later this May, I’ll be traveling to another pt of the US West - to UCSD’s Design Lab & UCSC. Thx @Elise Takehana @Nik Usher @gleemie.bsky.social @Zac Zimmer for the invitations!
Later this May, I’ll be traveling to another pt of the US West - to UCSD’s Design Lab & UCSC. Thx @Elise Takehana @Nik Usher @gleemie.bsky.social @Zac Zimmer for the invitations!
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Apr 17
NEW EPISODE!
We’re joined by @anitachan.bsky.social, author of Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech
We talk surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, echoes of anti-immigration movements of the 19th century, and alternative data practices of minority actors in pursuit of justice.
bit.ly/42zfRuE
We’re joined by @anitachan.bsky.social, author of Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech
We talk surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, echoes of anti-immigration movements of the 19th century, and alternative data practices of minority actors in pursuit of justice.
bit.ly/42zfRuE
It was such an honor to get to speak with Bill Ayers on for the @underthetreepod.bsky.social podcast! The episode was just posted and aside from the amazing @Lisa Yun Lee, who introduced us, there are few others I wanted to get to talk #HullHouse data history & #solidaritystrategies with.
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Apr 14
"Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech" Interview with Anita Chan
Guest host Meilin Obinata and local activist Reggie Meisler speak with Dr. Anita Say Chan, a professor at the University of Urbana-Champaign who recently published Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech...
ksqd.org
I had a blast getting to talk to @ksqdfm.bsky.social's @Moment of TRUTH's @Meilin Obinata and @Reggie Meisler whose Community Radio conversations in #SantaCruz and the #BayArea are more of what the Tech World needs!! ksqd.org/predatory-da...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Apr 9
JOIN me, @xriskology.bsky.social, @timnitgebru.bsky.social & @mwoluchem.bsky.social for @datasociety.bsky.social 's
#PredatoryData event discussion of the 21st C #eugenicsInBigTech and how to resist it. RSVP and join us online tomorrow Thur 4/10 at 1P EasternUS time! datasociety.net/events/resis...
#PredatoryData event discussion of the 21st C #eugenicsInBigTech and how to resist it. RSVP and join us online tomorrow Thur 4/10 at 1P EasternUS time! datasociety.net/events/resis...
Reposted by Anita Chan
Data & Society
@datasociety.bsky.social
· Mar 12
April 10 @ 1pm ET: Join "Predatory Data" author @anitachan.bsky.social, @xriskology.bsky.social, @timnitgebru.bsky.social, & @mwoluchem.bsky.social for a discussion of the 21st century eugenics revival in big tech and how to resist it. RSVP and join us online! datasociety.net/events/resis...
Anita Chan
@anitachan.bsky.social
· Mar 31
I'm thrilled to be speaking on #EugenicsinBigTech this Thursday 4/3 at 12P at the Nat'l Center for Supercomputing Applications - @ncsaatillinois.bsky.social for its Colloquium series! Join us in person (w/pizza) or or online - more details are here: calendars.illinois.edu/detail/7097?...
Reposted by Anita Chan
Data & Society
@datasociety.bsky.social
· Mar 31
Opinion | The Tech Fantasy That Powers A.I. Is Running on Fumes
A.I. is just what we need in the post-fact era: less research and more predicting what we want to hear.
www.nytimes.com
“AI may be a mid technology with limited use cases to justify its financial and environmental costs,” @tressiemcphd.bsky.social writes. “But it is a stellar tool for demoralizing workers who can, in the blink of a digital eye, be categorized as waste.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/o...