Serife (Sherry) Wong
@serife.bsky.social
Artist working on critical AI, power, and belief @ IcarusSalon.com & ArtificialLifeCoach.com
Gray Area | Tech Inquiry | ORCAA | Kidd Lab UC Berkeley
Loyal to the Land & the Brass Tax -- #Turkish #Kanaka
Gray Area | Tech Inquiry | ORCAA | Kidd Lab UC Berkeley
Loyal to the Land & the Brass Tax -- #Turkish #Kanaka
Pinned
The 7 Trillion Dollar Seance
Şerife Wong The 7 Trillion Dollar Seance 2025 Original score by Jeromey Cooks (rikuwru) This video is part of Icarus Salon. It is intended to be viewed in…
vimeo.com
New art video just dropped! The 7 Trillion Dollar Seance 🔮 This is meant to be performed live, recited in front of the video at conferences, museums, public events. It got a standing ovation at Tech Together in NYC. Your phone works but best on your largest screen.
vimeo.com/1116289621
🧵
vimeo.com/1116289621
🧵
Well before the study it was a lot too- social media videos have gradually then all of a sudden turned over to generative scripting so they all sound alike. I'm wondering when ppl will see it and start editing better? they may not?https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.01754v1
arxiv.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Well before the study it was a lot too- social media videos have gradually then all of a sudden turned over to generative scripting so they all sound alike. I'm wondering when ppl will see it and start editing better? they may not?https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.01754v1
Remember Msft's Tay bot and it was racist and there was backlash and they took it down? Now this, likely made w Google image gen, the horrors on grok, etc. and public outrage hits the wall of the corporate investment determined to protect over the public interest & its happening AT THIS TIME
Reluctant to reproduce the image, but it’s a story worth reading.
The reason fascists love gen ai is that it’s an ideal tool for visually perpetuating the white supremacist imaginary.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The reason fascists love gen ai is that it’s an ideal tool for visually perpetuating the white supremacist imaginary.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
January 23, 2026 at 1:49 AM
Remember Msft's Tay bot and it was racist and there was backlash and they took it down? Now this, likely made w Google image gen, the horrors on grok, etc. and public outrage hits the wall of the corporate investment determined to protect over the public interest & its happening AT THIS TIME
Kind note 4 Tech researchers and privacy experts: if you don't have experience w organizing/activism please try not to advise people on tech surveillance as reality on the ground re privacy and surveillance may be very different. Your helpful intentions may actually be discouraging or harmful💗
January 23, 2026 at 1:31 AM
Kind note 4 Tech researchers and privacy experts: if you don't have experience w organizing/activism please try not to advise people on tech surveillance as reality on the ground re privacy and surveillance may be very different. Your helpful intentions may actually be discouraging or harmful💗
Overview of tech publications in the Bay area and politics. Palladium ofc but also a run in w kernel, labor fwd perspective bayareacurrent.com/meet-the-new...
Meet the New Right-Wing Tech Intelligentsia
Libs and the far-right ‘link and build’ in the Bay’s tech publication scene.
bayareacurrent.com
January 23, 2026 at 12:29 AM
Overview of tech publications in the Bay area and politics. Palladium ofc but also a run in w kernel, labor fwd perspective bayareacurrent.com/meet-the-new...
Sad data visualizations. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains
A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Sad data visualizations. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Props I made for a performance art piece ages ago are relevant today
January 22, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Props I made for a performance art piece ages ago are relevant today
Ruminating on Tarkovsky's Nostalghia film for the past year; very relevant to Carney's Davos speech. His agenda aside, the ethos of present recognition has relevance for us. Nostalgia traps us in between what we lost and the future. We can only carry our own candle, our sovereignty, in the storm.
January 22, 2026 at 1:56 AM
Ruminating on Tarkovsky's Nostalghia film for the past year; very relevant to Carney's Davos speech. His agenda aside, the ethos of present recognition has relevance for us. Nostalgia traps us in between what we lost and the future. We can only carry our own candle, our sovereignty, in the storm.
No he isn't. This kind of framing is common. Media competes for attention using panic. It transmits a narrative that this wave of generative tools is a world ending force, thus overvaluing companies like open AI without regard for how costly they are to run vs what we're willing to pay
January 21, 2026 at 10:20 PM
No he isn't. This kind of framing is common. Media competes for attention using panic. It transmits a narrative that this wave of generative tools is a world ending force, thus overvaluing companies like open AI without regard for how costly they are to run vs what we're willing to pay
"Of the 61,487 votes so far, 93 per cent said they were against having AI in search."
A pre-selected crowd but nevertheless! www.cyberdaily.au/digital-tran...
A pre-selected crowd but nevertheless! www.cyberdaily.au/digital-tran...
DuckDuckGo asks, and the people answer – people don’t want AI in search
In light of AI changing the nature of internet search, search engine DuckDuckGo is running a poll to see if its users are interested in AI-powered search engines. Surprise, they aren’t.
www.cyberdaily.au
January 21, 2026 at 7:15 AM
"Of the 61,487 votes so far, 93 per cent said they were against having AI in search."
A pre-selected crowd but nevertheless! www.cyberdaily.au/digital-tran...
A pre-selected crowd but nevertheless! www.cyberdaily.au/digital-tran...
Reposted by Serife (Sherry) Wong
In a forthcoming paper, legal scholar Spencer Overton says the Trump administration's AI policy is another critical arena for its efforts to advance ethnonationalism, ensuring that problems such as algorithmic bias and discrimination are encoded into the systems that will shape the future:
How Trump's AI Policy Promotes Ethnonationalism
A conversation with George Washington University Law School scholar Spencer Overton about his forthcoming paper, "Ethnonationalism by Algorithm."
www.techpolicy.press
January 18, 2026 at 5:48 PM
In a forthcoming paper, legal scholar Spencer Overton says the Trump administration's AI policy is another critical arena for its efforts to advance ethnonationalism, ensuring that problems such as algorithmic bias and discrimination are encoded into the systems that will shape the future:
Reposted by Serife (Sherry) Wong
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Serife (Sherry) Wong
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. 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 15, 2026 at 7:23 PM
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The implications of mass facial recognition systems being used *everywhere* ... The harms, the mistakes, the control over daily lives, the silencing effect it would have over speech, change, democracy, and the peaceful transfer of power. This behavior isn't random. It's a signal.
New— An American citizen boarding flight from Boston to Lisbon just now told me after showing boarding pass, every passenger stopped on jetway by two ICE agents demanding to take their photo. When passenger asked why, ICE threatened to detain them. If they said no photo, couldn't board/TBD detained.
January 21, 2026 at 3:58 AM
The implications of mass facial recognition systems being used *everywhere* ... The harms, the mistakes, the control over daily lives, the silencing effect it would have over speech, change, democracy, and the peaceful transfer of power. This behavior isn't random. It's a signal.
This story is wild and it makes me feel even more uncomfortable about what is going on re propaganda and state interference. This is not what one expects when following comedians on Instagram🫠 jackpoulson.substack.com/p/google-sus...
Google suspends ad account of Atlanta influencer recruiting Iranian agents for the Mossad
Google confirmed by email that it has suspended the account of Desi Banks Productions LLC for violations of advertising policies and deleted the Mossad recruitment ads from its transparency portal.
jackpoulson.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:58 PM
This story is wild and it makes me feel even more uncomfortable about what is going on re propaganda and state interference. This is not what one expects when following comedians on Instagram🫠 jackpoulson.substack.com/p/google-sus...
I worked for Artnet magazine 1999-2003,when online magazines were a new thing. We had a hard a time convincing galleries to buy ads on the internet. People were concerned it would harm their brand. Not anymore. Trust that change can come even when belief seems so certain and the work impossible.
January 20, 2026 at 7:21 PM
I worked for Artnet magazine 1999-2003,when online magazines were a new thing. We had a hard a time convincing galleries to buy ads on the internet. People were concerned it would harm their brand. Not anymore. Trust that change can come even when belief seems so certain and the work impossible.
Reposted by Serife (Sherry) Wong
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...
" between June and October 2025, state agencies accessed Santa Cruz camera data roughly 4,000 times on behalf of federal law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in violation of California’s SB 34."
www.kqed.org/news/1206970...
www.kqed.org/news/1206970...
Santa Cruz the First in California to Terminate Its Contract With Flock Safety | KQED
Santa Cruz City Council voted to terminate its contract with Flock Safety, the license plate reader company that has come under scrutiny for its data collection and sharing practices.
www.kqed.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:12 PM
" between June and October 2025, state agencies accessed Santa Cruz camera data roughly 4,000 times on behalf of federal law enforcement, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in violation of California’s SB 34."
www.kqed.org/news/1206970...
www.kqed.org/news/1206970...
Posts say end of an era, but sadly it is the beginning of a new one. Vulnerable Arts & edu need physical space to build power. It's not just one institution's troubles, back up & see broader politics. Where do these economic pressures lead? Weakening art power does what? www.kqed.org/arts/1398535...
California College of the Arts Will Close in 2027
Vanderbilt University will take over the campus of the Bay Area’s last remaining nonprofit art school.
www.kqed.org
January 15, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Posts say end of an era, but sadly it is the beginning of a new one. Vulnerable Arts & edu need physical space to build power. It's not just one institution's troubles, back up & see broader politics. Where do these economic pressures lead? Weakening art power does what? www.kqed.org/arts/1398535...
I'm seeing loads more AI generated protest videos that are poorly done and covering Minneapolis and Iran among few others. Comment say AI but getting shared by people. Even saw an AI researcher share one. No shared reality, no trust in communication or media. This affects mobilization
January 14, 2026 at 3:37 AM
I'm seeing loads more AI generated protest videos that are poorly done and covering Minneapolis and Iran among few others. Comment say AI but getting shared by people. Even saw an AI researcher share one. No shared reality, no trust in communication or media. This affects mobilization
This was an awful year on every front personal/political but at least I never dismissed people's concerns about AI by comparing AI to photography. Ugh. 2026 hopes. Out: the flapping gums of myopic AI smugness. In: Pushing back on corporate/state AI as a violent authoritarian mechanism
December 30, 2025 at 9:41 PM
This was an awful year on every front personal/political but at least I never dismissed people's concerns about AI by comparing AI to photography. Ugh. 2026 hopes. Out: the flapping gums of myopic AI smugness. In: Pushing back on corporate/state AI as a violent authoritarian mechanism
Cop surveillance center in SF is funded by private donations by tech and crypto CEOs who also invest in these technologies. SF is where they can get their marketing tax deductible via testing out tech violence on those pushed down by the wealth gap they have created abc7news.com/post/how-sfp...
How SFPD's new investigation center is 'catching criminals faster' using 400 cameras, drones
The Real-Time Investigation Center is also known as R-TIC. At the center, SFPD investigators have access to 400 license plate reader cameras and more than 60 drones to fight crime.
abc7news.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Cop surveillance center in SF is funded by private donations by tech and crypto CEOs who also invest in these technologies. SF is where they can get their marketing tax deductible via testing out tech violence on those pushed down by the wealth gap they have created abc7news.com/post/how-sfp...
Everything old is new again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKCb...
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Pity the Nation
YouTube video by Jerry Schlei
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Everything old is new again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKCb...
I miss David Golumbia and his "Calls to Limit the Use of Bad Technologies Only by Law Enforcement and Governments, Largely Via “Ethics” and Self-Regulation, Exacerbate Rather than Ameliorate the Anti-Democratic Harms of Digital Technology" cause obviously he's have takes now & would be 💯 as always.
December 16, 2025 at 5:45 AM
I miss David Golumbia and his "Calls to Limit the Use of Bad Technologies Only by Law Enforcement and Governments, Largely Via “Ethics” and Self-Regulation, Exacerbate Rather than Ameliorate the Anti-Democratic Harms of Digital Technology" cause obviously he's have takes now & would be 💯 as always.
What! It takes a lot to surprise me with awful tech news. So terrible and avoidable.
“Soelberg did not turn violent until ChatGPT became his sole confidant, validating a wide range of wild conspiracies, including a dangerous delusion that his mother was part of a network of conspirators spying on him, tracking him, and making attempts on his life.”
Murder-suicide case shows OpenAI selectively hides data after users die
OpenAI accused of hiding full ChatGPT logs in murder-suicide case.
arstechnica.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:08 AM
What! It takes a lot to surprise me with awful tech news. So terrible and avoidable.
Reposted by Serife (Sherry) Wong
Remember when DOGE stole all of our data and gave it to Palantir?
December 13, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Remember when DOGE stole all of our data and gave it to Palantir?