Beza Merid
@beza.bsky.social
Assistant professor at ASU SFIS. Director, Digital Health and Racial Justice Lab.
Digital Health Equity | Innovation Policy
Digital Health Equity | Innovation Policy
Reposted by Beza Merid
Zillow property listings no longer show risk of fires, floods, and storms
Zillow property listings no longer show risk of fires, floods, and storms
The change follows complaints that climate risk scores were making properties less desirable.
buff.ly
December 1, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Zillow property listings no longer show risk of fires, floods, and storms
Reposted by Beza Merid
Fact-checking one of the single most effective convincing-sounding lie generation machines = trying to sweep the ocean back into the sea (or capture emissions after they're released)
We don't solve this without regulating, attacking and delegitimising the slop firehose
We don't solve this without regulating, attacking and delegitimising the slop firehose
Laughing in high school teacher.
“I will allow my son to use ChatGPT and similar tools at some point. But when I do, I plan to show him how to fact-check the sources the A.I. has provided, and make sure he understands that computers often ‘learn‘ the wrong thing from online sources.”
#GiftArticle
“I will allow my son to use ChatGPT and similar tools at some point. But when I do, I plan to show him how to fact-check the sources the A.I. has provided, and make sure he understands that computers often ‘learn‘ the wrong thing from online sources.”
#GiftArticle
Opinion | How to Prepare Your Kids for the A.I. Revolution
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Fact-checking one of the single most effective convincing-sounding lie generation machines = trying to sweep the ocean back into the sea (or capture emissions after they're released)
We don't solve this without regulating, attacking and delegitimising the slop firehose
We don't solve this without regulating, attacking and delegitimising the slop firehose
Reposted by Beza Merid
wait THAT is the concern?
“damn the calipers worked so well before people got the ability to alter their face shape!"
“damn the calipers worked so well before people got the ability to alter their face shape!"
But, as the researchers at UPenn write, “widespread adoption of facial recognition technology in the future may motivate individuals to modify their facial images using software or even alter their actual appearance through cosmetic procedures.”
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
wait THAT is the concern?
“damn the calipers worked so well before people got the ability to alter their face shape!"
“damn the calipers worked so well before people got the ability to alter their face shape!"
Reposted by Beza Merid
The managerial class yearns for phrenology
Researchers are now saying that AI can find correlations between facial characteristics and success on the job.
The Economist says that corporations would have a “strong incentive” to deploy this technology when looking at applicants.
The Economist says that corporations would have a “strong incentive” to deploy this technology when looking at applicants.
November 18, 2025 at 12:18 PM
The managerial class yearns for phrenology
Reposted by Beza Merid
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
November 10, 2025 at 2:31 AM
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
Reposted by Beza Merid
DOGE and others in the administration want to build a giant database of records by haphazardly combining info the government collected for one purpose, like paying taxes, and use it for another purpose, like targeting immigrants. We can't let this happen. takebackctrl.org/get-a-warrant
November 9, 2025 at 6:03 PM
DOGE and others in the administration want to build a giant database of records by haphazardly combining info the government collected for one purpose, like paying taxes, and use it for another purpose, like targeting immigrants. We can't let this happen. takebackctrl.org/get-a-warrant
Reposted by Beza Merid
The biggest challenge is convincing people that things could be different and that their actions matter.
October 13, 2025 at 11:14 PM
The biggest challenge is convincing people that things could be different and that their actions matter.
Reposted by Beza Merid
Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals
Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals
Prosecutor who sought charges was installed amid Trump frustrations with pace of investigations against rivals
*
US politics live – latest updates
A federal grand jury indicted Letitia James, the New York attorney general, for bank fraud on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, personally presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, the person said. US attorneys do not typically present to a grand jury. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals
Reposted by Beza Merid
Just published in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social: a collective analysis of the power ecosystem that jeopardizes public health and produces inequity, titled “Why Building Power is Key to Protecting Academic Public Health and Advancing Health Equity”
October 9, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Just published in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social: a collective analysis of the power ecosystem that jeopardizes public health and produces inequity, titled “Why Building Power is Key to Protecting Academic Public Health and Advancing Health Equity”
Reposted by Beza Merid
Cops used 83,000 cameras to track a single abortion patient — on her abuser’s tip.
Cops Used 83K Cameras to Track an Abortion Patient—on Her Abuser’s Tip
Turns out the cop was also an abuser
jessica.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Cops used 83,000 cameras to track a single abortion patient — on her abuser’s tip.
Reposted by Beza Merid
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Dolly Parton’s sister, Freida Parton, is asking for people to pray for her sister’s health.
October 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Reposted by Beza Merid
“My biggest fear is going to the hospital."
Pregnant immigrants are terrified ICE will show up outside the doctors' office or at the hospital. So they're skipping the care necessary to ensure a healthy birth.
Some experience dangerous complications as a result.
19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...
Pregnant immigrants are terrified ICE will show up outside the doctors' office or at the hospital. So they're skipping the care necessary to ensure a healthy birth.
Some experience dangerous complications as a result.
19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...
ICE fears put pregnant immigrants and their babies at risk
Fear of deportation is deterring people without permanent legal status from critical care. Doctors are worried for their health — and the health of their pregnancies.
19thnews.org
October 7, 2025 at 1:04 PM
“My biggest fear is going to the hospital."
Pregnant immigrants are terrified ICE will show up outside the doctors' office or at the hospital. So they're skipping the care necessary to ensure a healthy birth.
Some experience dangerous complications as a result.
19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...
Pregnant immigrants are terrified ICE will show up outside the doctors' office or at the hospital. So they're skipping the care necessary to ensure a healthy birth.
Some experience dangerous complications as a result.
19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...
Reposted by Beza Merid
🚨🚨 Both the police and Flock's defense for why Texas police searched the entire country for License Plate Reader data to find woman who had self-administered an abortion was because she was a missing person and family was concerned with her health. Now documents reveal they wanted to charge her.
Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime
Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.
www.404media.co
October 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
🚨🚨 Both the police and Flock's defense for why Texas police searched the entire country for License Plate Reader data to find woman who had self-administered an abortion was because she was a missing person and family was concerned with her health. Now documents reveal they wanted to charge her.
Reposted by Beza Merid
The FAA is delaying flights at Newark and Denver airports because they haven’t got enough air traffic control. Burbank has zero ATC from 4.30-10pm.
Lots of controllers who aren’t being paid during the government shutdown are calling in sick.
Lots of controllers who aren’t being paid during the government shutdown are calling in sick.
October 6, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The FAA is delaying flights at Newark and Denver airports because they haven’t got enough air traffic control. Burbank has zero ATC from 4.30-10pm.
Lots of controllers who aren’t being paid during the government shutdown are calling in sick.
Lots of controllers who aren’t being paid during the government shutdown are calling in sick.
Reposted by Beza Merid
Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her. @nytimes.com
Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint
www.nytimes.com
October 5, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her. @nytimes.com
Reposted by Beza Merid
North Carolina and Idaho have cut their Medicaid programs to bridge budget gaps, raising fears that providers will stop taking patients and that hospitals will close even before the brunt of a new federal tax-and-budget law takes effect.
States are cutting Medicaid provider payments long before Trump cuts hit
North Carolina and Idaho have cut their Medicaid programs to bridge budget gaps, raising fears that providers will stop taking patients and that hospitals will close even before the brunt of a new federal tax-and-budget law takes effect.
n.pr
October 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
North Carolina and Idaho have cut their Medicaid programs to bridge budget gaps, raising fears that providers will stop taking patients and that hospitals will close even before the brunt of a new federal tax-and-budget law takes effect.
“Researchers have already reported that these so-called silicon samples produce humanlike responses in some surveys and experiments—and some even hope they could simulate the responses of minorities or other groups who are often underrepresented in studies.”
People are running stats on LLM-generated participants and think they’re being social scientists when in fact they’re technically just playing a very strange video game. This is like saying you’re doing math research because you’re playing sudoku.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds
Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings
www.science.org
October 4, 2025 at 11:27 AM
“Researchers have already reported that these so-called silicon samples produce humanlike responses in some surveys and experiments—and some even hope they could simulate the responses of minorities or other groups who are often underrepresented in studies.”
Reposted by Beza Merid
Ring founder: “I’m focused on: How can I get the highest density of camera coverage in a neighborhood matched with AI to make neighborhoods safer?…It’s not just hard crime.”
Just put this guy and the Flock guy on a deserted island together so they can surveill each other until the end times.
Just put this guy and the Flock guy on a deserted island together so they can surveill each other until the end times.
Ring founder 'backs the blue,' says AI is helping Amazon-owned doorbell unit fight crime
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff returned to the company he founded in April to lead the business, which is part of Amazon's devices division.
www.cnbc.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Ring founder: “I’m focused on: How can I get the highest density of camera coverage in a neighborhood matched with AI to make neighborhoods safer?…It’s not just hard crime.”
Just put this guy and the Flock guy on a deserted island together so they can surveill each other until the end times.
Just put this guy and the Flock guy on a deserted island together so they can surveill each other until the end times.
Reposted by Beza Merid
How is AI changing the nature of scams? @lanalanalana.bsky.social & @alicetiara.bsky.social spoke to @alixdunn.com on @themaybe.org to explain how AI automates & scales the work already being done in massive, exploitative “cybercrime compounds” around the world. www.themaybe.org/podcast/gotc...
The Maybe
www.themaybe.org
October 3, 2025 at 3:40 PM
How is AI changing the nature of scams? @lanalanalana.bsky.social & @alicetiara.bsky.social spoke to @alixdunn.com on @themaybe.org to explain how AI automates & scales the work already being done in massive, exploitative “cybercrime compounds” around the world. www.themaybe.org/podcast/gotc...
Reposted by Beza Merid
saw this at heathrow airport. i can't see it appealing to anyone but fraudsters and scammers
October 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM
saw this at heathrow airport. i can't see it appealing to anyone but fraudsters and scammers
Reposted by Beza Merid
Ridiculously, Medicare Telehealth coverage keeps are getting tied to continuing resolutions. Bills could be passed separately. But political bureaucracy. This means Medicare Telehealth waivers are kaput as of today. My latest for @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Another shutdown casualty: Medicare telehealth coverage
It's got bipartisan support—and millions of Americans need it. But Congress keeps failing to lock in funding for Medicare telehealth services.
www.motherjones.com
October 1, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Ridiculously, Medicare Telehealth coverage keeps are getting tied to continuing resolutions. Bills could be passed separately. But political bureaucracy. This means Medicare Telehealth waivers are kaput as of today. My latest for @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Beza Merid
Flock is preparing to roll out a new feature: Its gunshot detection devices will begin listening for voices in “distress”
Flock’s Gunshot Detection Microphones Will Start Listening for Human Voices
Flock Safety, the police technology company most notable for their extensive network of automated license plate readers spread throughout the United States, is rolling out a new and troubling product ...
www.eff.org
October 2, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Flock is preparing to roll out a new feature: Its gunshot detection devices will begin listening for voices in “distress”
Reposted by Beza Merid
Join us on Thursday, OCTOBER 16th at 4:00 - 5:30 PM ET over Zoom for a conversation about How to Survive Techno-Hellscapes 🔥💻🌐
This panel will feature four phenomenal disability culture workers, activists, writers, and scholars in conversation with DISCO's own @remiyergeau.bsky.social
This panel will feature four phenomenal disability culture workers, activists, writers, and scholars in conversation with DISCO's own @remiyergeau.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Join us on Thursday, OCTOBER 16th at 4:00 - 5:30 PM ET over Zoom for a conversation about How to Survive Techno-Hellscapes 🔥💻🌐
This panel will feature four phenomenal disability culture workers, activists, writers, and scholars in conversation with DISCO's own @remiyergeau.bsky.social
This panel will feature four phenomenal disability culture workers, activists, writers, and scholars in conversation with DISCO's own @remiyergeau.bsky.social
Reposted by Beza Merid
This is spot on. Our capitulation to the ‘inevitability’ of AI couldn’t come at a worse time.
September 29, 2025 at 7:43 PM
This is spot on. Our capitulation to the ‘inevitability’ of AI couldn’t come at a worse time.
Reposted by Beza Merid
All of this is so deeply upsetting because children will have preventable febrile seizures, mothers may miscarry due to untreated fever, and some pregnancies will be more challenging due to unmanaged pain. There are no upsides to this reckless misinformation from the top just harm and pain.
September 27, 2025 at 12:49 PM
All of this is so deeply upsetting because children will have preventable febrile seizures, mothers may miscarry due to untreated fever, and some pregnancies will be more challenging due to unmanaged pain. There are no upsides to this reckless misinformation from the top just harm and pain.