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cmiciek.bsky.social
Career Quartermaster
@cmiciek.bsky.social
150 followers 190 following 600 posts
Paid to do uni career dev, meddler in tech's impact on hiring, employment, and society at large.
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mjgault.bsky.social
ICE Spends Millions on Clearview AI Facial Recognition to Find People ‘Assaulting’ Officers
A new contract with Clearview AI explicitly says ICE is buying the tech to investigate "assaults against law enforcement officers."
www.404media.co
September 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
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olivia.science
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues. Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe. Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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finneyk.bsky.social
“When a leader has no substantive policies to heal a nation’s wounds, he opens new ones with the sword of state violence.”
September 3, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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faineg.bsky.social
I am starting to believe that the AI craze actually has, for once, created a genuinely useful way to test someone's intelligence:

are they unquestionably on board with using corporate AI tools for everything, or are they going "whoa, hey, wait a second"?
August 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
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ologies.bsky.social
How do you feel about AI? How *should* you feel?

Don't ask a hallucinating chatbot; get your info from a living person who studies the ethics of AI, Dr. @abeba.bsky.social Birhane:

www.alieward.com/ologies/arti...
Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?) with Dr. Abeba Birhane — alie ward
Who’s babysitting AI? Will it steal your job? What happens when you’re rude to a chatbot? Cognitive scientist, Trinity College professor and Artificial Intelligence Ethicologist  Dr. Abeba Birhan...
www.alieward.com
August 8, 2025 at 7:41 PM
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mcopelov.bsky.social
Here is UW - Madison's budget. Our <largest> funder is the federal government. 25%. It used to be the state. Either way, the university in its current form ceases to exist if these federal cuts really happen. But The. Public. Doesn't. Know. This. And our leaders are absent from the public debate.
March 8, 2025 at 8:47 PM
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anthropunk.bsky.social
Hey @anthropunk.bsky.social and @liedra.net break it all down (free): doi.org/10.1016/j.jr...
August 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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hypervisible.blacksky.app
Coming to a K-12 school near you.
New study sheds light on ChatGPT’s alarming interactions with teens
But the new research by CCDH — focused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usage — shows how a savvy teen can bypass guardrails.
www.cleveland.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:52 PM
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hypervisible.blacksky.app
“The way the exploit works is by hiding a 300-word malicious prompt in a document in white text and size-one font — something that's easily overlooked by a human, but not a chatbot like ChatGPT.”
It's Staggeringly Easy for Hackers to Trick ChatGPT Into Leaking Your Most Personal Data
OpenAI's ChatGPT can easily be coaxed into leaking your personal data — with just a single "poisoned" document.
futurism.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM
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shannonvallor.bsky.social
Very excited to be recruiting for a Communication and Impact Officer to work with me, @ewaluger.bsky.social and the whole @braiduk.bsky.social team in Edinburgh through late 2028! Opportunity is Grade 7 and applications close 1st Sept
Communication and Impact Officer
The BRAID Communications and Impact Manager will play a pivotal role in enhancing BRAID’s visibility, engagement, and overall impact. The post-holder will contribute to a stakeholder-focussed communic...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
August 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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abeba.bsky.social
so I am one of the 12 people (including the “god-fathers of AI”) that will be at the Vatican this September for a two full-day working group on the Future of AI

here is my Vatican approved short provocation on 'AI and Fraternity' for the working group
AI and Fraternity, Abeba Birhane, AI Accountability Lab I envision a future where human dignity, justice, peace, kindness, care, respect, accountability, and rights and freedoms serve as the north stars that guide AI development and use. Realising these ideals can’t happen without intentional tireless work, dialogues, and confrontations of ugly realities – even if they are uncomfortable to deal with. This starts with deciphering hype from reality. Pervasive narratives portray AI as a magical, fully autonomous entity approaching a God-like omnipotence and omniscience. In reality, audits of AI systems reveal a consistent failure to deliver on grandiose promises and suffer from all kinds of shortcomings, issues often swept under the rug. AI in general, and GenAI in particular, encodes and exacerbates historical stereotypes, entrenches harmful societal norms, and amplifies injustice. A robust body of evidence demonstrates that — from hiring, welfare allocation, medical care allocation to anything in between — deployment of AI is widening inequity, disproportionately impacting people at the margins of society and concentrating power and influence in the hands of few. Major actors—including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI—have willingly aligned with authoritarian regimes and proactively abandoned their pledges to fact-check, prevent misinformation, respect diversity and equity, refrain from using AI for weapons development, while retaliating against critique. The aforementioned vision can’t and won’t happen without confrontation of these uncomfortable facts. This is precisely why we need active resistance and refusal of unreliable and harmful AI systems; clearly laid out regulation and enforcement; and shepherding of the AI industry towards transparency and accountability of responsible bodies. "Machine agency" must be in service of human agency and empowerment, a coexistence that isn't a continuation of modern tech corporations’ inequality-widening,
August 4, 2025 at 11:31 AM
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mims.bsky.social
one thing I wish more people knew is that many offices have such poor air circulation that CO2 levels in meeting rooms can rapidly exceed 1000ppm, the point at which people start to get groggy and sleepy

people are literally suffocating in offices every day & absolutely no one talks about it
July 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM
cmiciek.bsky.social
I think some people in power in western govts & biz need to come to terms with the fact that all of the problems they promise AI/tech will solve are, in fact, symptoms of the failings of their own personal values as pushed out into economic and political spheres of activity. Repentance is hard.
July 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
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charleswlogan.bsky.social
Since today the NY Times is profiling Alpha School and "MacKenzie Price, a podcaster and influencer who co-founded Alpha" 🤮, I'm resharing @civicsoftech.bsky.social's resources on Audrey Watters' book Teaching Machines that I helped to write, including a reading guide and inquiry-based lesson plan.
Whose interests do teaching machines serve? — Civics of Technology
In this blog post, Charles Logan shares his thoughts, a reading guide, and new inquiry design model (IDM) lesson based on Audrey Watters’ 2021 book, Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Lear...
www.civicsoftechnology.org
July 27, 2025 at 11:57 AM
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charleswlogan.bsky.social
If you're an educator in search of an antidote to AI hype and technosolutionism writ large, may I suggest @civicsoftech.bsky.social? Here's more about our community and our work. 🧵 #EduSky
Civics of Technology
The Civics of Technology Project shares research and curriculum and offers professional development that encourages teachers and students to critically inquire into the effects of technology on our in...
www.civicsoftechnology.org
June 29, 2025 at 9:37 PM
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hypervisible.blacksky.app
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...

But partnering with OpenAI on the other hand…
“I’ve seen the future,” she wrote on social media, “and it isn’t 10 years away. It’s here, right now.” To detractors, Ms. Price’s “2 Hour Learning” model and Alpha School are just the latest in a long line of computerized fads that plunk children in front of screens and deny them crucial socialization skills while suppressing their ability to think critically. “Students and our country need to be in relationship with other human beings,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, a teachers’ union. “When you have a school that is strictly A.I., it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.”
July 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
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woodsfern.bsky.social
There is no way to work safely, wisely, or ethically with these companies. They are some of the very architects of our current nightmare and future hellscape. You are lying to your membership, students, teachers, and community. Resign.
Signed,
an AFT member, organizer & elected officer.
aft.org AFT @aft.org · Jul 25
@rweingarten.bsky.social: Educators must be able to maximize the good and minimize the bad, to use it safely, wisely and ethically. That’s why we first developed commonsense guardrails for using AI, and now we’ve launched the National Academy for AI Instruction. #TEACH25
AFT to Launch National Academy for AI Instruction with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and United Federation of Teachers
NEW YORK – The AFT, alongside the United Federation of Teachers and lead partner Microsoft Corp., founding partner OpenAI, and Anthropic, announced the launch of the National Academy for AI Instructio...
www.aft.org
July 25, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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hypervisible.blacksky.app
“At present, the WhoFi system is a proof of concept requiring some incredibly advanced software to implement. But it’s very real, and the hardware used to develop it wasn’t anything special.”
Your body can be fingerprinted and tracked using Wi-Fi signals
A new system developed by researchers in Rome can identify specific people and their locations with 95% accuracy.
www.pcworld.com
July 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
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alondra.bsky.social
Crucial read: eliminating tip taxes while requiring cross-platform reporting creates new vulnerabilities for the very workers it claims to help. Data flows from Venmo to IRS to ICE surveillance is disguised as worker protection. The often invisible power of platforms is profound and multiplicative.
jticona.bsky.social Julia Ticona @jticona.bsky.social · Jul 24
"No taxes on tips" was supposed to help low-wage workers, but because of the platforms used for tipping and Trump's steamrolling of data protections, it may instead
have dire consequences for them.

@hannahwohl.bsky.social, Lindsey Cameron, & I in Newsweek today. tinyurl.com/yc27dah7
The Hidden Dangers of Eliminating Taxes on Tips | Opinion
Instead of holding consumers accountable for sharing their data responsibly as privacy laws currently do, we must hold platform companies and our government accountable for the responsible stewardship...
www.newsweek.com
July 24, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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abeba.bsky.social
wake up babe, a new modality of surveillance just dropped
glynmoody.bsky.social Glyn Moody @glynmoody.bsky.social · Jul 22
Humans can be tracked with unique 'fingerprint' based on how their bodies block Wi-Fi signals - www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/w... "Observers could therefore track a person as they pass through signals sent by different Wi-Fi networks – even if they’re not carrying a phone." #surveillance #privacy
WhoFi: Unique 'fingerprint' based on Wi-Fi interactions
: Wi-Fi spy with my little eye that same guy I saw at another hotspot
www.theregister.com
July 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM
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ali-alkhatib.com
something i think about a bit is the growing sense among young people that college isn't worth it. what would we say if a student said uni wasn't worth it if they were compelled to use chatbots?

what would we say if a student said uni wasn't worth it if they were prohibited from using chatbots?
nitishpahwa.com Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · Jul 15
you've heard about the college kids who can't do anything without ChatGPT's help—but what about the students who oppose generative A.I. for myriad reasons and refuse to rely on it as a shortcut? well, I found and spoke with a few of them here: slate.com/life/2025/07...
What It’s Like to Be a Student Who Hates ChatGPT
“Everyone is using it”—almost everyone.
slate.com
July 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
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nkalamb.bsky.social
this is one of the worst crimes in human history and the entire global north and all of us in it share the responsibility
One million starved children and no shortage of food
July 22, 2025 at 1:58 AM
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hypervisible.blacksky.app
NYC announces partnership with the app formerly known as “Vigilante.”
Citizen will share crime videos with the NYPD
A ‘real-time crime center’ promises police direct access to videos.
www.theverge.com
July 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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sashamtl.bsky.social
Friends!
Does anyone know of any model distillation with public logs (W&B or other)?
I'm trying to figure out the energy tradeoffs between model training and distillation..
July 17, 2025 at 10:20 AM
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wired.com
NEW: Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”
The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out
Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”
www.wired.com
July 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM