Data & Society
@datasociety.bsky.social
Data & Society is a nonprofit research institute that studies the social implications of data-centric technologies, automation, and AI.
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🚨 New! The US govt is engaging in extraordinary market intervention to bolster the AI sector. In this brief, Policy Director brianjchen.bsky.social analyzes major priorities of the Trump admin’s AI agenda and proposes alternative directions to shape tech innovation. datasociety.net/library/the-...
The NYTimes dug into the massive output of sexualized AI images generated and publicly shared by X's chatbot, Grok, and found what experts say was “industrial-scale abuse.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...
Musk’s Chatbot Flooded X With Millions of Sexualized Images in Days, New Estimates Show
www.nytimes.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:35 PM
The NYTimes dug into the massive output of sexualized AI images generated and publicly shared by X's chatbot, Grok, and found what experts say was “industrial-scale abuse.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...
The Tigray genocide was, in part, actively facilitated through social media platforms, @nuredinali.bsky.social writes, and inadequate content moderation was part of the problem. On Points, he lays out how better moderation can make a difference, and what it requires. datasociety.net/points/how-t...
January 22, 2026 at 3:39 PM
The Tigray genocide was, in part, actively facilitated through social media platforms, @nuredinali.bsky.social writes, and inadequate content moderation was part of the problem. On Points, he lays out how better moderation can make a difference, and what it requires. datasociety.net/points/how-t...
Join us online TODAY at *3pm* ET (please note corrected time)!
Jan 22 @ 2pm ET: For our first event of 2026, we’re taking a close look at Trump administration AI policy. Join us online as @alondra.bsky.social @edwardongwesojr.com & @telliotter.bsky.social talk to D&S's Brian J. Chen about the admin’s actions & their consequences. datasociety.net/events/one-y...
January 22, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Join us online TODAY at *3pm* ET (please note corrected time)!
Reposted by Data & Society
Check out Brian’s really great new brief!
Here’s one of the parts I loved: he articulates so well the way in which data center capital expenditures connect to the fights around the imposition of AI in the workplace.
Here’s one of the parts I loved: he articulates so well the way in which data center capital expenditures connect to the fights around the imposition of AI in the workplace.
January 22, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Check out Brian’s really great new brief!
Here’s one of the parts I loved: he articulates so well the way in which data center capital expenditures connect to the fights around the imposition of AI in the workplace.
Here’s one of the parts I loved: he articulates so well the way in which data center capital expenditures connect to the fights around the imposition of AI in the workplace.
"We should understand billionaires’ imagined tech futures as projections of their hopes and fears," writes D&S advisor @ethanz.bsky.social. In "waxing lyrical about space," they are signaling their desire "to exit a world of connection and consequences.” www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
Why tech billionaires dream of servers in the sky
Behind the hopes for artificial general intelligence is the desire for a world without obligations to governments, workers or fellow citizens
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
January 21, 2026 at 8:04 PM
"We should understand billionaires’ imagined tech futures as projections of their hopes and fears," writes D&S advisor @ethanz.bsky.social. In "waxing lyrical about space," they are signaling their desire "to exit a world of connection and consequences.” www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
Reposted by Data & Society
THRILLED that Brian Chen's new policy brief, "The Big AI State: How the Trump Administration is Shaping US Industrial Policy toward 'Global Technological Dominance'" is live! Trump is not "deregulating"; his admin is intervening in the market BIG TIME to bolster AI. datasociety.net/library/the-...
January 21, 2026 at 3:31 PM
THRILLED that Brian Chen's new policy brief, "The Big AI State: How the Trump Administration is Shaping US Industrial Policy toward 'Global Technological Dominance'" is live! Trump is not "deregulating"; his admin is intervening in the market BIG TIME to bolster AI. datasociety.net/library/the-...
🚨 New! The US govt is engaging in extraordinary market intervention to bolster the AI sector. In this brief, Policy Director brianjchen.bsky.social analyzes major priorities of the Trump admin’s AI agenda and proposes alternative directions to shape tech innovation. datasociety.net/library/the-...
January 21, 2026 at 3:35 PM
🚨 New! The US govt is engaging in extraordinary market intervention to bolster the AI sector. In this brief, Policy Director brianjchen.bsky.social analyzes major priorities of the Trump admin’s AI agenda and proposes alternative directions to shape tech innovation. datasociety.net/library/the-...
What the Trump administration “has advanced is not the absence of AI regulation but its rearrangement,” @alondra.bsky.social writes. What we’re seeing is not deregulation but “hyper-regulation by other means.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 20, 2026 at 7:52 PM
What the Trump administration “has advanced is not the absence of AI regulation but its rearrangement,” @alondra.bsky.social writes. What we’re seeing is not deregulation but “hyper-regulation by other means.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
In an excerpt from his new book "Silicon Empires," @nsrnicek.bsky.social looks at how Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI — once united in opposition to military use of their AI tools — came around to working with the Pentagon. www.wired.com/story/book-e...
How AI Companies Got Caught Up in US Military Efforts
Two years ago, companies like Meta and OpenAI were united against military use of their tools. Now all of that has changed.
www.wired.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 PM
In an excerpt from his new book "Silicon Empires," @nsrnicek.bsky.social looks at how Anthropic, Google, Meta, and OpenAI — once united in opposition to military use of their AI tools — came around to working with the Pentagon. www.wired.com/story/book-e...
Adding to the logical reasons for opposing data centers, @mathonan.com sees an emotional one: a feeling of powerlessness in the face of seemingly inescapable AI. “You can’t stop Google,” he writes. “But maybe, just maybe, you can stop a Google data center.” www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1...
Hyperscale AI data centers: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026
Hyperscale data centers are now powering AI models with a revolutionary architecture—at a staggering energy cost.
www.technologyreview.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Adding to the logical reasons for opposing data centers, @mathonan.com sees an emotional one: a feeling of powerlessness in the face of seemingly inescapable AI. “You can’t stop Google,” he writes. “But maybe, just maybe, you can stop a Google data center.” www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1...
Policy Manager @serena124.bsky.social tells @politico.com she’s watching how tech policy unfolds in the era of NYC Mayor Mamdani, including whether his election might embolden lawmakers to stand up to corporate interests. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026...
POLITICO Pro: Senators scrutinize legislation designed to prevent AI discrimination
Thursday's hearing on the New York AI Act comes after policymakers hashed out a compromise on legislation to regulate the largest AI models.
subscriber.politicopro.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Policy Manager @serena124.bsky.social tells @politico.com she’s watching how tech policy unfolds in the era of NYC Mayor Mamdani, including whether his election might embolden lawmakers to stand up to corporate interests. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026...
The tech industry is seizing on Pittsburgh’s industrial history to sell its AI future. "The endurance of communities forced to survive the boom & bust cycles of other industrial times is now recast as ‘grit,’” write Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes & @cellllla.bsky.social. datasociety.net/points/data-...
January 15, 2026 at 3:14 PM
The tech industry is seizing on Pittsburgh’s industrial history to sell its AI future. "The endurance of communities forced to survive the boom & bust cycles of other industrial times is now recast as ‘grit,’” write Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes & @cellllla.bsky.social. datasociety.net/points/data-...
"There’s a lot of national narrative around AI and data centers, but on the ground these fights are very simple: who gets sacrificed, and whose communities are treated as expendable," says Robby Maynor of @selc.bsky.social. capitalbnews.org/data-center-...
After a White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area
Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are “overwhelmingly” non-white.
capitalbnews.org
January 14, 2026 at 7:24 PM
"There’s a lot of national narrative around AI and data centers, but on the ground these fights are very simple: who gets sacrificed, and whose communities are treated as expendable," says Robby Maynor of @selc.bsky.social. capitalbnews.org/data-center-...
Reposted by Data & Society
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
About the Conference
www.4sonline.org
January 14, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Ads are starting to show up in chatbot conversations. It's easy to imagine how this "could turn unwelcome or creepy" in exchanges "that feel like intimate personal spaces and that also save gobs of your private data." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Analysis | Here comes the advertising in AI chatbots
Can you trust AI advice if comes with a promotional pitch for soda?
www.washingtonpost.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Ads are starting to show up in chatbot conversations. It's easy to imagine how this "could turn unwelcome or creepy" in exchanges "that feel like intimate personal spaces and that also save gobs of your private data." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Google has removed some of its AI health summaries after a Guardian investigation found some contained false and misleading information, including about crucial liver function tests. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Dangerous and alarming’: Google removes some of its AI summaries after users’ health put at risk
Guardian investigation finds AI Overviews provided inaccurate and false information when queried over blood tests
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Google has removed some of its AI health summaries after a Guardian investigation found some contained false and misleading information, including about crucial liver function tests. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
New research undermines the idea that AI products “learn,” contradicting the industry’s basic explanation for how its technology works and raising what could be a massive legal liability: "The whole industry is staked on a shaky metaphor." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
AI’s Memorization Crisis
Large language models don’t “learn”—they copy. And that could change everything for the tech industry.
www.theatlantic.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:30 PM
New research undermines the idea that AI products “learn,” contradicting the industry’s basic explanation for how its technology works and raising what could be a massive legal liability: "The whole industry is staked on a shaky metaphor." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Sam Nelson’s death joins a growing list of tragedies connected to AI chatbots. From ChatGPT, Sam was “getting advice as trustworthy as a Reddit comment, but it was packaged like he was talking with an empathetic doctor.” www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose.
"Who on earth gives that advice?"
www.sfgate.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Sam Nelson’s death joins a growing list of tragedies connected to AI chatbots. From ChatGPT, Sam was “getting advice as trustworthy as a Reddit comment, but it was packaged like he was talking with an empathetic doctor.” www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
"Using AI to reveal the identities of people pictured in grainy or incomplete photos is becoming a reflex response after high-profile acts of violence. But AI-manipulated or AI-generated faces are untethered to reality." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
See how AI images claiming to reveal Minneapolis ICE agent’s face spread confusion
Online armchair detectives keep using artificial intelligence to try to identify people involved in high-profile incidents. It doesn’t work.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:44 PM
"Using AI to reveal the identities of people pictured in grainy or incomplete photos is becoming a reflex response after high-profile acts of violence. But AI-manipulated or AI-generated faces are untethered to reality." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
“While limiting AI image generation to paid users may marginally reduce volume and improve traceability, the abuse has not been stopped. It has simply been placed behind a paywall, allowing X to profit from harm.” www.wired.com/story/x-didn...
X Didn't Fix Grok's ‘Undressing’ Problem. It Just Makes People Pay for It
X is only allowing “verified” users to create images with Grok. Experts say it represents the “monetization of abuse”—and anyone can still generate images on Grok’s app and website.
www.wired.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
“While limiting AI image generation to paid users may marginally reduce volume and improve traceability, the abuse has not been stopped. It has simply been placed behind a paywall, allowing X to profit from harm.” www.wired.com/story/x-didn...
Anthropomorphizing language conceals the limitations of AI, promoting misplaced trust. @emilymbender.bsky.social & @nannainie.bsky.social suggest focusing on a system’s functionalities: instead of saying a model is “good at” something, say what it is “good for." www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-t...
We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI' | TechPolicy.Press
We share a responsibility to create and use empowering metaphors rather than misleading language, write Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie.
www.techpolicy.press
January 8, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Anthropomorphizing language conceals the limitations of AI, promoting misplaced trust. @emilymbender.bsky.social & @nannainie.bsky.social suggest focusing on a system’s functionalities: instead of saying a model is “good at” something, say what it is “good for." www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-t...
Jan 22 @ 2pm ET: For our first event of 2026, we’re taking a close look at Trump administration AI policy. Join us online as @alondra.bsky.social @edwardongwesojr.com & @telliotter.bsky.social talk to D&S's Brian J. Chen about the admin’s actions & their consequences. datasociety.net/events/one-y...
January 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Jan 22 @ 2pm ET: For our first event of 2026, we’re taking a close look at Trump administration AI policy. Join us online as @alondra.bsky.social @edwardongwesojr.com & @telliotter.bsky.social talk to D&S's Brian J. Chen about the admin’s actions & their consequences. datasociety.net/events/one-y...
Full video and audio of this event are now available on our website! datasociety.net/events/clima...
December 11 @ 1 pm ET: Join us online as D&S's @tamigraph.bsky.social discusses her forthcoming report on how climate conscious tech workers are attempting to reform the tech industry from within, with Eliza Pan of @amzn4climate.bsky.social and @khari.bsky.social. datasociety.net/events/clima...
January 7, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Full video and audio of this event are now available on our website! datasociety.net/events/clima...
“We’re no longer just talking about errors of omission, where the owner of a major social media platform might not devote sufficient resources to mitigating these harms....[Musk] appears to be actively enabling harm-making tools, and then laughing about it.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
X users tell Grok to undress women and girls in photos. It’s saying yes.
The site is filling with AI-generated nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children. Owner Elon Musk responded with a laughing emoji.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 6, 2026 at 8:21 PM
“We’re no longer just talking about errors of omission, where the owner of a major social media platform might not devote sufficient resources to mitigating these harms....[Musk] appears to be actively enabling harm-making tools, and then laughing about it.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
The current AI systems are “patient, amoral, and fantastic at mimicry, making them among the greatest tools in history for generating mis- and disinformation.” www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
@Grok, Did Venezuela ‘Deserve It’?
The information war will be fought through chatbots.
www.theatlantic.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:37 PM
The current AI systems are “patient, amoral, and fantastic at mimicry, making them among the greatest tools in history for generating mis- and disinformation.” www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...