justine zhang
@tisjune.bsky.social
assistant professor in information, university of michigan. i have big intellectual feelings about language and technology.
https://tisjune.github.io/
she/her
https://tisjune.github.io/
she/her
Pinned
justine zhang
@tisjune.bsky.social
· Dec 4
tisjune.github.io
a thought I've been sitting on for a while is that AI researchers have conspicuously thin ideas about how language works, and have participated in violent reshapings of the world to make these ideas, and the technologies premised on them, make sense.
more here: tisjune.github.io/papers/cscw_...
more here: tisjune.github.io/papers/cscw_...
"This work builds on our partnership with the American Federation of Teachers to support teacher-led innovation [and] our collaboration with Ministries of Education globally, including Estonia and Greece..." that's some very collaborative grave-digging
November 20, 2025 at 1:58 AM
"This work builds on our partnership with the American Federation of Teachers to support teacher-led innovation [and] our collaboration with Ministries of Education globally, including Estonia and Greece..." that's some very collaborative grave-digging
Reposted by justine zhang
Alice Wong’s legacy is the political horizon she helped articulate. A horizon where disabled knowledge is central, and care is a shared commitment. She taught us to name grief & rage without collapsing under them, to celebrate disabled brilliance without ignoring the material conditions shaping life
November 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Alice Wong’s legacy is the political horizon she helped articulate. A horizon where disabled knowledge is central, and care is a shared commitment. She taught us to name grief & rage without collapsing under them, to celebrate disabled brilliance without ignoring the material conditions shaping life
Reposted by justine zhang
🔔new paper alert🔔
I argue that language technologies are usefully understood as a type of language management (i.e., ways of changing how people use and think about language) -- especially in the workplace -- connecting critical work on AI with language policy
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I argue that language technologies are usefully understood as a type of language management (i.e., ways of changing how people use and think about language) -- especially in the workplace -- connecting critical work on AI with language policy
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Defining language and managing its use: Language technology as language management
Language technologies such as voice user interfaces, large language models and machine translation tools are embedded in an ever-growing range of digi…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
🔔new paper alert🔔
I argue that language technologies are usefully understood as a type of language management (i.e., ways of changing how people use and think about language) -- especially in the workplace -- connecting critical work on AI with language policy
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I argue that language technologies are usefully understood as a type of language management (i.e., ways of changing how people use and think about language) -- especially in the workplace -- connecting critical work on AI with language policy
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
that's a shrimp
dogs are centuries ahead of us in the study and technological development of being comfortable as fuck
November 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
that's a shrimp
Reposted by justine zhang
Los Alamos and U of Michigan want to build a data center in the small town of Ypsilanti. The city's people don't want to help make weapons of mass destruction. The fight is only just starting
A Small Town Is Fighting a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter for America's Nuclear Weapon Scientists
Ypsilanti, Michigan has officially decided to fight against the construction of a 'high-performance computing facility' that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
www.404media.co
November 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Los Alamos and U of Michigan want to build a data center in the small town of Ypsilanti. The city's people don't want to help make weapons of mass destruction. The fight is only just starting
Reposted by justine zhang
@pranav-nlp.bsky.social and I are surveying researchers about naming and name changes in academia (especially computer science).
If your academic name is / has been / might someday be different from other names you've used, please tell us about it here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/E0XXBmZdEP
If your academic name is / has been / might someday be different from other names you've used, please tell us about it here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/E0XXBmZdEP
November 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
@pranav-nlp.bsky.social and I are surveying researchers about naming and name changes in academia (especially computer science).
If your academic name is / has been / might someday be different from other names you've used, please tell us about it here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/E0XXBmZdEP
If your academic name is / has been / might someday be different from other names you've used, please tell us about it here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/E0XXBmZdEP
Reposted by justine zhang
he is currently zooming around the backyard but imagine him being as chill as he was during our walk 10 minutes ago
November 7, 2025 at 10:09 PM
he is currently zooming around the backyard but imagine him being as chill as he was during our walk 10 minutes ago
unimpressed by the suffocating presentism of what passes as tech critique; glaring at me in the sunlight
November 1, 2025 at 3:29 PM
unimpressed by the suffocating presentism of what passes as tech critique; glaring at me in the sunlight
speaking as someone who in a past life did computer science stuff with social media conversations...the ideas that tech people have about what conversations are need to be studied
"threads should feel more like conversations you'd have IRL, and that's why we're implementing downvotes, a feature you strongly associate with reddit" is kinda funny.
Threads on Bluesky should feel more like conversations you’d have IRL.
We’re testing new systems to improve reply quality. See what’s coming: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
We’re testing new systems to improve reply quality. See what’s coming: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
October 31, 2025 at 11:45 PM
speaking as someone who in a past life did computer science stuff with social media conversations...the ideas that tech people have about what conversations are need to be studied
"Attempts to redress the negative impact of AI adoption in the classroom, while valiant, are something of a rearguard action. This problem was not generated in the classroom, and it can’t be fixed there."
Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:00 PM
"Attempts to redress the negative impact of AI adoption in the classroom, while valiant, are something of a rearguard action. This problem was not generated in the classroom, and it can’t be fixed there."
Reposted by justine zhang
Are you a UM worker/student and want to hear better takes than the dude below on AI from university of Michigan faculty, students, staff?
then join the mass meeting on 10/28 at 7 to stop the UM-Los Alamos data center and its support of nuclear weapons!
bit.ly/UMichNoAIMeeting
then join the mass meeting on 10/28 at 7 to stop the UM-Los Alamos data center and its support of nuclear weapons!
bit.ly/UMichNoAIMeeting
There are basically only two positions in the debate about AI.
1. I’ve barely invested any time in learning how to use it effectively. AI sucks.
2. I’ve invested in learning how to use this tool. Holy cow, it’s transformational.
Position #1 has lower barriers to entry.
1. I’ve barely invested any time in learning how to use it effectively. AI sucks.
2. I’ve invested in learning how to use this tool. Holy cow, it’s transformational.
Position #1 has lower barriers to entry.
October 17, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Are you a UM worker/student and want to hear better takes than the dude below on AI from university of Michigan faculty, students, staff?
then join the mass meeting on 10/28 at 7 to stop the UM-Los Alamos data center and its support of nuclear weapons!
bit.ly/UMichNoAIMeeting
then join the mass meeting on 10/28 at 7 to stop the UM-Los Alamos data center and its support of nuclear weapons!
bit.ly/UMichNoAIMeeting
Reposted by justine zhang
✨I’m on the academic job market ✨
I’m a PhD candidate at @hcii.cmu.edu studying tech, labor, and resistance 👩🏻💻💪🏽💥
I research how workers and communities contest harmful sociotechnical systems and shape alternative futures through everyday resistance and collective action
More info: cella.io
I’m a PhD candidate at @hcii.cmu.edu studying tech, labor, and resistance 👩🏻💻💪🏽💥
I research how workers and communities contest harmful sociotechnical systems and shape alternative futures through everyday resistance and collective action
More info: cella.io
Cella M. Sum –
cella.io
October 9, 2025 at 2:39 PM
✨I’m on the academic job market ✨
I’m a PhD candidate at @hcii.cmu.edu studying tech, labor, and resistance 👩🏻💻💪🏽💥
I research how workers and communities contest harmful sociotechnical systems and shape alternative futures through everyday resistance and collective action
More info: cella.io
I’m a PhD candidate at @hcii.cmu.edu studying tech, labor, and resistance 👩🏻💻💪🏽💥
I research how workers and communities contest harmful sociotechnical systems and shape alternative futures through everyday resistance and collective action
More info: cella.io
this is a bit of a side point but i am really interested in how many of these AI University endeavours double as branding campaigns, in attaching institutional emblems to new shiny surfaces (see, from umich, Maizey, UM-GPT...)
“The pilot will explore how AI can enhance teaching, research and university operations, while also gathering feedback to guide the responsible and effective use of AI across campus.”
William & Mary launches ChatGPT Edu pilot
By integrating artificial intelligence tools, the university is positioning itself at the forefront of higher education innovation.
news.wm.edu
October 1, 2025 at 11:06 PM
this is a bit of a side point but i am really interested in how many of these AI University endeavours double as branding campaigns, in attaching institutional emblems to new shiny surfaces (see, from umich, Maizey, UM-GPT...)
every day i oscillate between "i suck at everything i do and should have given up yesterday" and "i could be the special person who writes the next runaway STS hit, 'do artifacts have libidinal economy?'"
would totally eat up a psychoanalytic account of AI (as fantasy, as death drive, etc)
October 1, 2025 at 10:43 PM
every day i oscillate between "i suck at everything i do and should have given up yesterday" and "i could be the special person who writes the next runaway STS hit, 'do artifacts have libidinal economy?'"
yeah, i've been thinking about this fixation on Authoritative People using Math to tell us something already collectively understood. it has a conspicuously similar structure as the weird investments, shared even by ostensibly "critical" people, in the idea of Artificial Intelligence
i've been thinking about this off and on since last night and @tisjune.bsky.social got me thinking about like... why are we enamored with this? it genuinely is flummoxing me. @vortexegg.com asked a similar question as to why this is notable. it's just... disorienting to see this fanfare
September 21, 2025 at 5:51 PM
yeah, i've been thinking about this fixation on Authoritative People using Math to tell us something already collectively understood. it has a conspicuously similar structure as the weird investments, shared even by ostensibly "critical" people, in the idea of Artificial Intelligence
finally someone is bringing together all of the orthodontists and pilates instructors
Very glad to see that someone is doing the important work of aligning AI alignment. alignmentalignment.ai
Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers
We align the aligners
alignmentalignment.ai
September 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
finally someone is bringing together all of the orthodontists and pilates instructors
"Most of us will remain girlproles until we either overthrow class society or, individually, escape into the bossing class. Could it be me?"
from this excellent essay/book excerpt by Sophie Lewis lithub.com/how-the-girl...
from this excellent essay/book excerpt by Sophie Lewis lithub.com/how-the-girl...
September 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
"Most of us will remain girlproles until we either overthrow class society or, individually, escape into the bossing class. Could it be me?"
from this excellent essay/book excerpt by Sophie Lewis lithub.com/how-the-girl...
from this excellent essay/book excerpt by Sophie Lewis lithub.com/how-the-girl...
Reposted by justine zhang
if you don't want to try to catch up, you can get ahead by purchasing our *next* book, _Health Communism_ by @avierkant.bsky.social & @reallandsend.bsky.social. tentatively, we'll start in early October.
order here ASAP: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/...
order here ASAP: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/...
[W4G] Adler-Bolton, Beatrice & Artie Vierkant: Health Communism
Verso, paperback Publication Date: July 29, 2025 Publisher Marketing:A searing analysis of health and illness under capitalism from hosts of the hit podcast "Death Panel" In this fiery, theoretical t...
open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com
September 9, 2025 at 12:14 AM
if you don't want to try to catch up, you can get ahead by purchasing our *next* book, _Health Communism_ by @avierkant.bsky.social & @reallandsend.bsky.social. tentatively, we'll start in early October.
order here ASAP: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/...
order here ASAP: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/...
this past week i said "sorry" to two separate people, on two separate occasions, who immediately responded with "are you canadian?"
September 7, 2025 at 4:23 AM
this past week i said "sorry" to two separate people, on two separate occasions, who immediately responded with "are you canadian?"
at #4s2025 in an hour i will reveal whether you can talk your way out of social problems or not in the "writing things down" session
LLMs reinvigorate, and derive value from, the fantasy that we can talk our way out of late capitalism's crises
i'll say more later when @tisjune.bsky.social has given her talk at 4S, but something about AI people pushing linguistic contrivances as solutions to material problems like food insecurity, policing, etc... reminds me of cereal companies insisting that frosted flakes are part of a complete breakfast
September 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
at #4s2025 in an hour i will reveal whether you can talk your way out of social problems or not in the "writing things down" session
if you are at #4s2025 this afternoon, in the un-blackboxing AI session nina will explain how all of this marketing copy helps to render people into gelatinous blobs of undifferentiated labour
presented without comment:
September 6, 2025 at 7:31 PM
if you are at #4s2025 this afternoon, in the un-blackboxing AI session nina will explain how all of this marketing copy helps to render people into gelatinous blobs of undifferentiated labour
😭 scrolling through my listening history to revisit all of the in our time episodes that Changed me... ordinary language philosophy... kropotkin... feathered dinosaurs...
September 3, 2025 at 12:59 PM
😭 scrolling through my listening history to revisit all of the in our time episodes that Changed me... ordinary language philosophy... kropotkin... feathered dinosaurs...
Reposted by justine zhang
would totally eat up a psychoanalytic account of AI (as fantasy, as death drive, etc)
December 20, 2024 at 4:02 PM
would totally eat up a psychoanalytic account of AI (as fantasy, as death drive, etc)
LLMs reinvigorate, and derive value from, the fantasy that we can talk our way out of late capitalism's crises
i'll say more later when @tisjune.bsky.social has given her talk at 4S, but something about AI people pushing linguistic contrivances as solutions to material problems like food insecurity, policing, etc... reminds me of cereal companies insisting that frosted flakes are part of a complete breakfast
September 2, 2025 at 7:04 PM
LLMs reinvigorate, and derive value from, the fantasy that we can talk our way out of late capitalism's crises
Reposted by justine zhang
it's less "AI drives people to kill themselves" and more that "tech companies do it, and are indifferent about it". and, bleakly, some journalists seem determined to convince you that the focal point of this story is a high point of engineering rather than a low point of humanity
August 29, 2025 at 12:06 PM
it's less "AI drives people to kill themselves" and more that "tech companies do it, and are indifferent about it". and, bleakly, some journalists seem determined to convince you that the focal point of this story is a high point of engineering rather than a low point of humanity