Sarah Florini
@florini.bsky.social
Associate Prof of Film and Media Studies at ASU. Studying technology, race, power, and ethics. Lover of general shenanigans. I refuse to call them “skeets.”
Reposted by Sarah Florini
If you have the space, means and collection: a northern Texas warehouse full of proto-Redbox VHS vending machines from the mid-1980s is being evicted. The machines are free and whatever isn't taken will imminently be scrapped.
www.facebook.com/commerce/lis...
www.facebook.com/commerce/lis...
January 7, 2026 at 4:38 AM
If you have the space, means and collection: a northern Texas warehouse full of proto-Redbox VHS vending machines from the mid-1980s is being evicted. The machines are free and whatever isn't taken will imminently be scrapped.
www.facebook.com/commerce/lis...
www.facebook.com/commerce/lis...
From the article: “Mr. Ash sought to clarify his position: ‘I do not support any kind of mandatory sterilization,’ he told me over email.”
So, the point at which you need to clarify your position on forced sterilization is the point at which you really need to reevaluate everything about yourself.
So, the point at which you need to clarify your position on forced sterilization is the point at which you really need to reevaluate everything about yourself.
If you made a Venn diagram of every weird person I knew in Silicon Valley during the first dot-com boom, centrifuged it, extracted the pellet, and re-suspended it in high-proof eugenics with a splash of AI, you'd end up with something like this.
It'll take a strong stomach to read this "gift" link.
It'll take a strong stomach to read this "gift" link.
Can You Optimize Love?
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2026 at 1:10 AM
From the article: “Mr. Ash sought to clarify his position: ‘I do not support any kind of mandatory sterilization,’ he told me over email.”
So, the point at which you need to clarify your position on forced sterilization is the point at which you really need to reevaluate everything about yourself.
So, the point at which you need to clarify your position on forced sterilization is the point at which you really need to reevaluate everything about yourself.
Everytime I see Micheal Rapaport, I think of that time he picked a fight with that woman on Twitter who responded by telling him he looks like he wakes up every morning just to die.
Did we see this? V funny.
"Born. Raised. NYC. Nothing's free. No bullsh*t. No fake grins. I'll own my mistakes, apologize when I screw up, and fight to make this city safe, affordable, and thriving... Mayor Rapaport is coming."
"Born. Raised. NYC. Nothing's free. No bullsh*t. No fake grins. I'll own my mistakes, apologize when I screw up, and fight to make this city safe, affordable, and thriving... Mayor Rapaport is coming."
Michael Rapaport is running for New York mayor in 2029 to save city from 'evil' Zohran Mamdani
Michael Rapaport has announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City, citing his desire to oppose the 'evil' Zohran Mamdani, who he believes will 'supersede all our fears.'
ew.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:23 AM
Everytime I see Micheal Rapaport, I think of that time he picked a fight with that woman on Twitter who responded by telling him he looks like he wakes up every morning just to die.
Apparently, people are fighting today. But all I see are my reasonable favs responding to “Blocked.” And I feel like I learned all the right lessons from the bird app.
January 5, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Apparently, people are fighting today. But all I see are my reasonable favs responding to “Blocked.” And I feel like I learned all the right lessons from the bird app.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
In fact, I’d go so far to say that this is the perfect proof of concept of the ultimate form of power that AI purports to grant businesses in the reality management arena.
January 5, 2026 at 3:14 AM
In fact, I’d go so far to say that this is the perfect proof of concept of the ultimate form of power that AI purports to grant businesses in the reality management arena.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
I think the AI angle of this is obscurant. It doesn’t matter that grok is “an AI” whatever you take that to mean. Suppose X hired a team of guys to photoshop the clothes off of women and children whenever anyone asks. That’s functionally identical what happening here. It’s not complicated.
A functional country would shut Grok down permanently. Like, immediately. Right now. Last week. Whatever. Just flip the switch. Obviously.
January 4, 2026 at 11:25 PM
I think the AI angle of this is obscurant. It doesn’t matter that grok is “an AI” whatever you take that to mean. Suppose X hired a team of guys to photoshop the clothes off of women and children whenever anyone asks. That’s functionally identical what happening here. It’s not complicated.
My favorite thing in the world is seeing people arguing with someone on here, but I don’t know who because I’ve already blocked them. I’ve been quick with the block, and it’s been an excellent decision.
January 5, 2026 at 3:17 AM
My favorite thing in the world is seeing people arguing with someone on here, but I don’t know who because I’ve already blocked them. I’ve been quick with the block, and it’s been an excellent decision.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
Every time I see a news article about ChatGPT pushing vulnerable people to harm themselves and others, I want to know how the universities who have eagerly proclaimed their partnerships with this company intend to account for the increasing evidence of the harms of this tech
He put his complete trust in a chat bot that turned him into a savage murderer.
Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges
A lawsuit against OpenAI reveals the chilling ChatGPT messages that drove a middle aged man to kill his 83-year-old mother.
trib.al
January 4, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Every time I see a news article about ChatGPT pushing vulnerable people to harm themselves and others, I want to know how the universities who have eagerly proclaimed their partnerships with this company intend to account for the increasing evidence of the harms of this tech
Reposted by Sarah Florini
The end goal of Grok sexual harassment is to make women afraid to be visible. It’s a punishment for daring to exist in a way the perpetrators can’t control. There’s no one solution to this, because the problem isn’t just technological. It’s cultural. It’s misogyny. This is just one expression of it.
January 5, 2026 at 1:10 AM
The end goal of Grok sexual harassment is to make women afraid to be visible. It’s a punishment for daring to exist in a way the perpetrators can’t control. There’s no one solution to this, because the problem isn’t just technological. It’s cultural. It’s misogyny. This is just one expression of it.
Me too, Frog and Toad. Me too.
Frog and Toad were sad for a while.
January 4, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Me too, Frog and Toad. Me too.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
this kinda stuff is prohibited in the EU thanks to all the "red tape" that's "slowing down innovation" that big tech constantly complains about
January 3, 2026 at 10:56 PM
this kinda stuff is prohibited in the EU thanks to all the "red tape" that's "slowing down innovation" that big tech constantly complains about
Reposted by Sarah Florini
From repurposed footage filmed years ago in different parts of the world, to AI images and videos of Maduro's arrest, social media platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok were flooded with disinformation within minutes of America's assault on #Venezuela
www.wired.com/story/disinf...
www.wired.com/story/disinf...
Disinformation Floods Social Media After Nicolás Maduro's Capture
From seemingly AI-generated videos to the recirculation of old footage, TikTok, Instagram, and X did little to stop the onslaught of misleading posts in the wake of the US invasion of Venezuela.
www.wired.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:27 PM
From repurposed footage filmed years ago in different parts of the world, to AI images and videos of Maduro's arrest, social media platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok were flooded with disinformation within minutes of America's assault on #Venezuela
www.wired.com/story/disinf...
www.wired.com/story/disinf...
We live in the most bizarre moment. You have to consent to giving up your biometric data to buy milk now apparently. There is literally no reason for a grocery store to pay for this kind of surveillance tech. It makes no sense.
I guess I will no longer be shopping at Wegmans. It’s a shame because I love that store.
gothamist.com/news/nyc-weg...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-weg...
NYC Wegmans is storing biometric data on shoppers' eyes, voices and faces
The supermarket chain says it’s a move to ensure shopper safety. Surveillance experts warn of privacy risks.
gothamist.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:25 PM
We live in the most bizarre moment. You have to consent to giving up your biometric data to buy milk now apparently. There is literally no reason for a grocery store to pay for this kind of surveillance tech. It makes no sense.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
My calculator deeply apologized for displaying 5318008
January 3, 2026 at 4:28 AM
My calculator deeply apologized for displaying 5318008
So, I’m prepping for my spring AI and Society course. And this is a great example for when we talk about how irresponsible journalism has uncritically spread and normalized falsehoods about generative AI technologies in dangerous ways. Couldn’t have made up a better example if I tried.
Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X reut.rs/498SoUk
Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X
Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this.
reut.rs
January 2, 2026 at 8:16 PM
So, I’m prepping for my spring AI and Society course. And this is a great example for when we talk about how irresponsible journalism has uncritically spread and normalized falsehoods about generative AI technologies in dangerous ways. Couldn’t have made up a better example if I tried.
Reposted by Sarah Florini
So that so-called Gr*k “apology” is terrible for a couple of reasons beyond the main horrid event, compounding it even:
1. Companies need to stop anthropomorphizing these computer programs.
2. Making the “tool” seem like a person also means no person at the company shows any accountability.
1. Companies need to stop anthropomorphizing these computer programs.
2. Making the “tool” seem like a person also means no person at the company shows any accountability.
January 2, 2026 at 7:43 PM
So that so-called Gr*k “apology” is terrible for a couple of reasons beyond the main horrid event, compounding it even:
1. Companies need to stop anthropomorphizing these computer programs.
2. Making the “tool” seem like a person also means no person at the company shows any accountability.
1. Companies need to stop anthropomorphizing these computer programs.
2. Making the “tool” seem like a person also means no person at the company shows any accountability.
This the world altering technology I’m supposed to make my students use so they aren’t “left behind.”
“This could look like a user asking how much ibuprofen to take for a headache receiving a promoted ad for Advil in the chatbot’s response. Meanwhile, actual results on correct dosage may be brushed to the side, or buried under a mountain of ad text…”
OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation
OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.
futurism.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:46 AM
This the world altering technology I’m supposed to make my students use so they aren’t “left behind.”
Reposted by Sarah Florini
Maybe, if you're not actually in university classrooms, teaching students in the age of gAI, perhaps you might want to stop and listen when people actually in those classrooms raise concerns about what they are seeing; and not just dismiss us as luddites, or boomers, or cruel profs playing cops
December 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Maybe, if you're not actually in university classrooms, teaching students in the age of gAI, perhaps you might want to stop and listen when people actually in those classrooms raise concerns about what they are seeing; and not just dismiss us as luddites, or boomers, or cruel profs playing cops
Reposted by Sarah Florini
There's a bizarre sleight of hand here where professors resisting implementing AI into the classroom via ed-tech (a very winnable battle) is being equated with making all Gen AI "go away" (a much bigger fight).
Academics literally cannot make Gen AI go away. As in it is not possible to make it happen on a political, legal, and technical level. We do not and will not command the massive violence necessary to make chatGPT or Claude disappear. Responsible pedagogy grapples with the fact!
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
There's a bizarre sleight of hand here where professors resisting implementing AI into the classroom via ed-tech (a very winnable battle) is being equated with making all Gen AI "go away" (a much bigger fight).
Reposted by Sarah Florini
Again, if my students make their own moral and ethical choices to use gAI in their work or daily life AFTER they leave my classrooms, that is entirely their choice. But somehow me having the academic freedom to decide what I want my students to learn in my courses is controversial for AI pushers?
December 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Again, if my students make their own moral and ethical choices to use gAI in their work or daily life AFTER they leave my classrooms, that is entirely their choice. But somehow me having the academic freedom to decide what I want my students to learn in my courses is controversial for AI pushers?
Reposted by Sarah Florini
Anyway. They spent the last decade telling us STEM degrees were the future and the Humanities were worthless then they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a glitchy Humanities robot.
December 26, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Anyway. They spent the last decade telling us STEM degrees were the future and the Humanities were worthless then they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a glitchy Humanities robot.
I cannot seem to post anything without a typo. It’s almost silly at this point.
December 26, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I cannot seem to post anything without a typo. It’s almost silly at this point.
G
A great thread about the attack on academics doing online safety research and things you can do to push back.
A great thread about the attack on academics doing online safety research and things you can do to push back.
Good news; a judge has blocked the detention of a technology researcher that the State Department had slated to deport.
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Judge Blocks Detention of British Researcher Who Scrutinizes Online Hate
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 6:50 PM
G
A great thread about the attack on academics doing online safety research and things you can do to push back.
A great thread about the attack on academics doing online safety research and things you can do to push back.
I am begging people to pay attention to the state level elections in 2026. What happens to/at the universities in your state, is largely determined by the state legislature. The EOs and federal funding terminations have an impact. But this kind of stuff comes down to state level politics.
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I am begging people to pay attention to the state level elections in 2026. What happens to/at the universities in your state, is largely determined by the state legislature. The EOs and federal funding terminations have an impact. But this kind of stuff comes down to state level politics.