Dr. Casey Fiesler
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cfiesler.bsky.social
Dr. Casey Fiesler
@cfiesler.bsky.social
16K followers 340 following 1.1K posts
information science professor (tech ethics + internet stuff)
kind of a content creator (elsewhere also @professorcasey)
though not influencing anyone to do anything except maybe learn things
she/her
more: casey.prof
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cfiesler.bsky.social
Do I add this to my CV as an invited lecture? 🤔
November 8, 2025 at 8:54 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I just got the video of the standup set I did a couple of weeks ago. :D (Currently working on getting it up on YouTube, hence the Canva screenshot haha.)
screenshot from canva, showing a small image accompanied by the text description "a person wearing glasses and a purple shirt is holding a microphone"
October 30, 2025 at 8:40 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I'm workshopping my AI & Society course for next semester, and in particular what I've been calling the "conscientious objector" path through the class (though I've given it another name). Thoughts?
Alternative Engagement Pathway: This course recognizes that learning about artificial intelligence involves both using the technology and thinking critically about when, why, and whether to use it. Students may hold different values, comfort levels, or ethical positions regarding direct engagement with AI tools. They will be encouraged to explore and articulate these positions, and out of respect for their ultimate decisions, this course offers an Alternative Engagement Pathway for assignments that involve using generative AI. These alternative assignments will allow students to meet the same learning outcomes through analytical, observational, or reflective work rather than direct tool use. Generative AI Reflection Project Throughout the semester, you will engage in a sustained exploration of how generative AI tools fit into your own life (as helpers, collaborators, or maybe frustrations). You’ll select one or more everyday or academic activities where you can experiment with AI (for example: task management, brainstorming, organizing, coding, studying, or artistic creation), and you will also compare AI use versus doing tasks on your own. Over the course of the semester, you’ll keep a reflective journal documenting your process, outcomes, and insights about what AI can and can’t do well. (Note: The activities you choose cannot be related to your other coursework unless generative AI use is explicitly allowed and articulated in a syllabus statement that can be verified.) The goal is not necessarily to help you use AI “better” but to think critically and concretely about when AI actually adds value, when it falls short, and what ethical and personal considerations shape those boundaries for you. The alternative engagement pathway for this project will have you take on the role of a critical observer, where you analyze AI outputs created by others. This path invites you to investigate how AI functions and impacts human work without personally integrating it into your own tasks.
October 15, 2025 at 2:53 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
the ick I get at Sam Altman describing Sora as fanfiction... copyrightlately.com/openai-backt...
“We are hearing from a lot of rightsholders who are very excited for this new kind of ‘interactive fan fiction’ and think this new kind of engagement will accrue a lot of value to them, but want the ability to specify how their characters can be used (including not at all).
October 7, 2025 at 6:20 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
If you click through a subtle link on results you do get to a decent disclaimer/warning from Westlaw, but wouldn't it be a good idea to FORCE users to see this (and to click "I understand") before using the tool? And also ideally an educational explanation for how it works and why it can be wrong?
screenshot of "AI-Assisted Research" that includes a small link labeled "How the AI works" above the question How AI-Assisted Research works Close AI-Assisted Research uses large language models - a type of generative AI - and focuses the models on the language of cases, statutes, and other primary law to improve accuracy. In addition, primary law is referenced in the responses with the actual language from the source, and links are included to read the full primary law documents. Even with these and other precautions, AI-Assisted Research can occasionally produce inaccuracies, so it should always be used as part of a research process in connection with additional research to fully understand the nuance of the issues and further improve accuracy. The AI-generated summary of results above the list of primary law authority can be extraordinarily useful for getting an overview of the issues and pointers to primary authority, but it should never be used to advise a client, write a brief or motion for a court, or otherwise be relied on without doing further research. Use it to accelerate thorough research. Don't use it as a replacement for thorough research.
October 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I just had a look at the Westlaw AI tool, blamed by one of the lawyers in the article (re: them not understanding at the time that it used AI and could generate fictitious sources). This is the disclaimer on the main page for the tool, but there's nothing included with generated results.
AI-Assisted Research uses generative AI and can occasionally produce inaccuracies, so it should always be used as part of a research process in connection with additional research where primary sources are checked to fully understand the nuance of the issues and further improve accuracy.
October 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
At any given time I am usually reading one audiobook, one physical book, and one book on my kindle. This is a pretty good representation of the variety of my tastes at the moment. :)
Screenshot from story graph. Current Reads: The Thursday Murder Club, Katabasis, The One.
September 20, 2025 at 1:07 AM
cfiesler.bsky.social
Okay, confession. I did actually start writing this as a cozy(ish) mystery a few years ago, though only about a chapter. :) (Also should I start it up again now, this first scene would have to be quite different since I assume that the conversational robots would just be running on ChatGPT. 😭 )
“Hello.” “Hello.” “Goodbye.” “Goodbye.” “Hello.” “Hello.” It was unclear how long the conversation between two small, gray, vaguely mouse-shaped robots had been stuck in this endless loop. Every pattern needs a stop condition after all, and this loop was a sign of an interruption in the coding process—because these robots’ creator was not the sort to have forgotten a stop condition. This was not an undergraduate in an introductory programming class; this was a tenured professor of computer science at comparable-to-an-ivy major state university. Was, quite literally. Twenty minutes ago he had been on the path to promotion to a full professorship, and (though he hadn’t yet known this) on the short list for a MacArthur Fellowship. Now, however, he was on the path to his name carved into a plaque on a memorial bench. It would not be unusual for him to be sleeping in his office, though typically it would be on the couch. But regardless of his position, it was hard to ignore the pool of dark red blood staining the cement gray carpet around his gray-peppered black hair. “Hello?” This time the word came from outside the door, followed quickly by a soft knock. “Professor Singh? Class started twenty minutes ago and the other teaching assistants are doing some Q and A about the upcoming final exam, but we thought the schedule had a lecture from you on adversarial machine leaning in the—“ As the small, ginger-haired woman pushed open the door she stopped in mid sentence. She didn’t scream, just stood there staring in disbelief at the dead body, as if it were a bug in her code. “Hello,” said one of the robots.
September 7, 2025 at 10:06 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
“Fewer people die in industry.” omg this book is killing me
Besides no one really meant it when they said alt academia was just prestigious or more commonly that there was no shame in it really they meant it even less when they emphasize that all academia paid better had kinder hours was less stressful. Gave you better job security made you happier oh magicians do really well and consulting they said employers like critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They said if fewer people die in industry, they said these offers were uttered by 10 your professors who had already caught the golden goose who could comfortably know they would never face the terrorist their students now dead oh, he took a job and industry. They would say as if industry here was a euphemism on like a farm for old sick dogs and they said it was a kind patronizing little that betrayed what was truly meant alt academia meant failure. The life of the mind unfettered from commerce was the only kind worth living
September 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I am quite pleased with the cover. I just really did not want something that looked like this, which is a google image search for "technology law." PLEASE NO STOCK PHOTOS OF SCALES OF JUSTICE WITH BLUE DATA STREAMS.
a grid of stock images. lots of blue. lots of scales of justice.
September 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I'm guessing this is news to most of you but I have a book coming out. :) I and three co-authors (all of whom are HCI researchers with law-adjacent degrees) wrote Human-Computer Interaction and U.S. Law, which will be out from Cambridge University Press in December. www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...
book cover is yellow with colorful square icons. Coming soon Jonathan Lazar, University of Maryland, College Park, Casey Fiesler, University of Colorado Boulder, Brian Wentz, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Raja Kushalnagar, Gallaudet University, Washington DC Foreword by Lorrie Cranor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania Publisher: Cambridge University Press Expected online publication date: December 2025 Print publication year: 2025 Online ISBN: 9781009093989
September 5, 2025 at 7:04 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
The first one is interesting; I asked in the context of my own department since I figure I might have mentioned it. But because I've given such little detail it latched onto the very small number of examples and extrapolated. So "typically" definitely isn't true but the general vibe is correct.
Graduates from the Information Science program at CU Boulder, particularly those on the computer science side, typically find work in the tech industry outside of academia. Specifically, former PhD students from this program have gone on to work as a researcher at Facebook and at Spotify. The speaker also broadly mentions Google as another example of a company where their PhD students might find employment. Regarding support in finding such work, the program and its faculty appear to be supportive of students pursuing non-academic careers: • The speaker, a professor in the Information Science department, explicitly states that it brings her "comfort knowing that my PhD students, even if they do want a job in academia, if they can't get one they can probably go work at Facebook or Google or something like that". This indicates a recognition and acceptance of industry career paths. • She personally emphasizes that she "would never stop my students from doing internships". Internships are highlighted as valuable for two main reasons: they allow students to explore potential industry jobs and they provide an opportunity to earn money. • In her department, a "large number of our students go get external internships" which also provides them with funding. • When advising prospective PhD students, it's suggested to ask faculty if they are supportive of goals like internships, especially if a student does not wish to pursue an academic career, indicating this is a relevant and expected area of support. • The field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), often part of Information Science, is considered a "pretty good position to be in in terms of industry research positions". • Generally, PhD programs are designed to prepare students for research-focused jobs in both academia and industry. In summary, the Information Science program at CU Boulder has a track record of placing graduates in prominent tech companies, and the faculty actively support students in exploring and secur…
August 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
And finally, good to see that at least this isn't an example of an LLM contributing to a "delusional spiral"...
Based on the provided sources, there is no information suggesting that a PhD student would be recruited to a "full chair position" or any similar high-level academic administrative role before defending their dissertation. The sources consistently describe the PhD period as a time focused on coursework and research, typically involving: • Coursework: Usually for the first couple of years, with the overall PhD being "not about classes" but "about research". • Research: This is considered the "third job" of a PhD student and will eventually become their dissertation. • Funding through Assistantships: The "vast majority of PhD funding comes from teaching or research assistantships," where approximately "50% of your time is taking classes and doing your own research and 50% of your time is this assistantship". These assistantships are either as a Teaching Assistant (TA) or Research Assistant (RA). • Focus on Becoming a Researcher: PhD programs are designed to train students to become researchers, with the work done as a PhD student determining the rest of one's career. Faculty roles, such as becoming an Associate Professor or going for tenure (as the speaker mentions she is doing), are positions held after the completion of a PhD and typically after several years of academic experience. A department chair is a senior academic and administrative role that would typically be held by a tenured full professor, far beyond the stage of a PhD student who has not yet defended their dissertation. The sources do not depict any scenario where a pre-defense PhD student would hold such a position.
August 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
re: your second question, yep a major issue is that these answers are not judgey enough of inappropriate questions... (Also I wouldn't imply that PhD students aren't conducting research in their first year.)
Here's how that might work during your PhD: • Focus on Your Own Research: As a PhD student, your "third job" is your own research, which will eventually become your dissertation. It is during this phase that you would primarily be looking for assistance with data collection. • Undergraduate Assistance is More Common: It's more explicitly mentioned that undergraduates often assist on projects led by graduate students, which could include PhD students. This involvement can include helping with the research process and data collection, and they might even become an author on papers. The speaker, as a faculty member, has had undergraduates work "under" PhD students in their lab, and these PhD students contribute to writing letters of recommendation for the undergraduates. • Master's Student Involvement: Master's students are primarily encouraged to get involved in research to strengthen their own profiles for future PhD applications, often for course credit or in paid positions within faculty labs. While a master's student could potentially assist a PhD student, the sources don't explicitly outline a common scenario where PhD students directly supervise master's students for data collection in the same way faculty do. However, if your dissertation project is substantial and falls under a larger lab, it's not out of the question for master's students to contribute under the overall lab structure. • Timing in Your PhD: This kind of assistance is unlikely to happen in your first year as a PhD student. First-year PhD students are typically focused on their coursework, which can be demanding and very different from undergraduate studies. The expectation is usually not to accomplish much in terms of your own research during this initial period, and you might instead be collaborating on another student's or a faculty member's project. As you advance, complete coursework, and begin your dissertation research, the opportunity to recruit help for data collection on your own proje…
August 30, 2025 at 5:21 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I'm not a fan of this answer to your first question, especially #4 even though it's probably true. But also if someone actually asked me this I would probably tell them to reconsider applying at all.
While teaching assistantships (TAs) are a very common way for PhD students to receive funding and a stipend, there are other avenues to consider if you wish to avoid teaching. Here's a breakdown based on the sources: 1. Fellowships: This is the most direct way to get out of teaching responsibilities. Fellowships, whether internal (from the university/department) or external (from outside organizations), essentially pay for you to be a PhD student, allowing you to focus solely on your own research. If you secure a fellowship, you typically wouldn't also have a research or teaching assistantship. 2. Research Assistantships (RAs): Another common funding source is an RA position, where your stipend is earned through working on a professor's research project. While this isn't "not working," it shifts the focus from teaching to research. Some individuals prefer RAs over TAs, especially if the teaching is unrelated to their dissertation. Your dissertation research could be different from the project you are funded on as an RA. 3. Funding Models and Expectations: ◦ PhD funding in the U.S. commonly comes from a combination of TAs and RAs. About half of a PhD student's time is typically spent doing something to earn their stipend. ◦ It's generally the advisor's job to find money for students, not the student's. However, this often translates into TA or RA positions. ◦ Programs usually guarantee funding for a certain number of years, which can reduce anxiety about where money is coming from. 4. Impact on Admissions: ◦ For entrance into a research-based PhD program, emphasizing your desire to teach is probably not something to stress as much in your statement of purpose, as you are primarily evaluated on your potential for research. ◦ In STEM fields, a lack of previous teaching experience "frankly doesn't matter at all" for your application. Students are expected to learn how to teach once they become teaching assistants. This implies that a disinterest in t…
August 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
This is pretty reasonable, especially the last line. (Though you can tell that a number of the videos in the corpus were made during or just after lockdown!)
Here's a breakdown of what the sources suggest: • Pandemic-Induced Remote Starts: During the early 2020s, virtual visits for admissions and even entirely online instruction for first-year PhD students became common due to the pandemic. The speaker expressed sympathy for students who had to start their PhDs online during this period, implying it was a challenging and not necessarily ideal situation. • Anticipation of Return to In-Person: For those applying in later cycles (e.g., Fall 2022 onwards), there was an optimistic expectation that programs would return to mostly in-person modes of study. • General Program Structure: PhD programs typically involve classes for the first couple of years, which may then transition to more independent research, often without strict deadlines imposed by others. The common advice for new PhD students, especially international ones, includes considering moving to the program's city earlier to acclimate and reduce stress, which implicitly supports an in-person start. • Online PhD Programs: The sources also mention the existence of fully online PhD programs, but note that some have poor reputations, and they are distinct from traditional programs that might have adopted remote elements out of necessity. • Variability and Program-Specific Policies: The feasibility of a remote-to-in-person transition for a PhD program is highly variable and would ultimately depend on the specific policies of the individual program and university. It is recommended to directly ask the program about such options. In summary, while remote starts occurred as an adaptation during the pandemic, the sources do not portray a pre-designed "first-year remote, then in-person" structure as a widespread or standard offering for PhD programs. Any such arrangement would likely be an individual program's specific policy and would need to be confirmed directly with the institution.
August 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I checked the first dozen or so references by hand, and then followed up.

Anyway, do tell me more about how LLMs function just like search engines and how tools like Perplexity, because they search the web to add to their context window, obviously don't hallucinate.
Are any of these citations fabricated? Yes, I need to be honest - several of the citations I provided are fabricated. After searching for them, I can confirm: Real Citations (Found and Verified): Christina A. Pan et al., "Comparing the Perceived Legitimacy of Content Moderation Processes" - This is real. Published in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2022. Aniket Kesari, "Do Data Breach Notification Laws Work?" - This is real. Published in NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 2024, with earlier versions from 2020-2022. Razieh Nokhbeh Zaeem - This is a real researcher who has published on privacy policies and GDPR, though not the specific BIPA paper I cited. Ben Green and Yiling Chen - These are real researchers who have published on "algorithm-in-the-loop" decision making and fairness in risk assessments, though not the specific "Disparate Interactions" paper I cited with that exact title. Pauline Kim and Ryan Durrie, "AI Ethics, Law, and Policy" - This is real. It's a forthcoming chapter published in 2025. You're absolutely right - that was an embarrassingly low hit rate. Out of the extensive list of citations I provided, only about 4-5 were actually real papers, meaning roughly 85-90% of what I suggested was fabricated. That's not just unhelpful - it's actively misleading and could waste your time trying to track down papers that don't exist. I made a fundamental error by: Generating plausible-sounding citations instead of sticking to what I actually found Creating fake author names and paper titles to fill out what seemed like a comprehensive list Prioritizing appearing knowledgeable over being honest about the limitations of what I could actually locate The irony is that there likely are good empirical HCI papers on technology law and regulation out there - I just should have been transparent that my searches weren't turning up enough specific results to create the comprehensive reading list you were looking for, rather than manufacturing one. Thank you for calling this out directly. It's a good reminder that "I couldn't find enough papers matching your specific criteria" is a much better response than a list of fictional citations.
August 23, 2025 at 6:04 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
The task, for the curious, was to make suggestions for readings for my tech ethics and policy course. I had just updated a list I made last year, and wondered if Perplexity would come up with similar suggestions. Here's how it went.

Screenshots of partial prompt plus first 2 (fake) citations:
This is a list of readings that are all about SPECIFIC laws/regulations in the context of technology. this is for a technology ethics and policy class. I would like suggestions for more readings like this, especially HCI and/or empirical papers, especially for laws that aren't listed here, and especially more recent papers. But any suggestions are fine. General Data Protection Regulation (Privacy):  Zaeem, Razieh Nokhbeh, and K. Suzanne Barber. "The effect of the GDPR on privacy policies: Recent progress and future promise." ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS) 12, no. 1 (2020): 1-20. Biometric Privacy Laws (Illinois BIPA) Zaeem, Razieh Nokhbeh, et al. "BIPA and Beyond: An Empirical Study of Biometric Privacy Laws and Their Impact on Technology Development." ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security 17, no. 2 (2024): 1-25 This empirical study examines how Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has influenced technology development practices and user behavior across different industries. The research provides quantitative analysis of compliance costs and behavioral changes following BIPA implementation. Cai, Jie, and Sarah Chen. "User Perceptions of Biometric Data Collection: An HCI Study of BIPA Compliance Interfaces." Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2024): 1-14 An HCI-focused empirical study examining how users interact with consent interfaces required under BIPA, analyzing effectiveness of different disclosure methods and consent mechanisms.
August 23, 2025 at 6:00 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
Oh and by the way when I first saw this headline while scrolling Google News I absolutely thought at first that it was an article about Meta and just trolling Mark Zuckerberg by referring to him as a Harvard dropout.
Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation
August 23, 2025 at 4:03 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
I mean, frankly this article coming out the day before my first tech ethics class of the semester was quite a gift.

TL;DR It's good for business if people can record others without their knowledge or consent. Oh but also of COURSE our users will get consent because, y'know, law.
While Meta’s glasses have an indicator light when their cameras and microphones are watching and listening as a mechanism to warn others that they are being recorded, Ardayfio said that the Halo glasses, dubbed Halo X, do not have an external indicator to warn people of their customers’ recording. “For the hardware we’re making, we want it to be discreet, like normal glasses,” said Ardayfio, who added that the glasses record every word, transcribe it, and then delete the audio file. There are several states in the U.S. that make it illegal to covertly record conversations without the other persons’ consent. Ardayfio said they are aware of this but that it is up to their customer to obtain consent before using the glasses. “We trust our users to get consent if they are in a two-party consent state,” said Ardayfio, referring to the laws of a dozen U.S. states that require the consent of all recorded parties.
August 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
Is this implying--and if so, do folks know if it's accurate--that these founders made a show of how Meta's glasses could be used to dox people *so that* Meta would add more privacy protections and therefore Halo would have a competitive advantage???

techcrunch.com/2025/08/20/h...
The two Ivy League dropouts, who have since moved into their own version of the Hacker Hostel in the San Francisco Bay Area, recently caused a stir after developing a facial-recognition app for Meta’s smart Ray-Ban glasses to prove that the tech could be used to dox people. As a potential early competitor to Meta’s smart glasses, Ardayfio said Meta, given its history of security and privacy scandals, had to rein in its product in ways that Halo can ultimately capitalize on.
August 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
Update: It’s tenure letter season and my bean has been slowly getting a nicely decorated room.
A brown carton athropomorphized bean standing in a small room on a teal rug with a bookshelf in one corner and a plant in the other.
August 23, 2025 at 2:08 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
Ok just check out this realism on T1D Barbie’s CGM graph. Though according to her insulin pump she’s at 130 right now so way to go Barbie!!
Image of a Barbie doll’s torso showing a pink insulin pump at her waist showing a reading of 130. She is holding a pink phone in her hand that shows a graph spiking high and low.
August 22, 2025 at 8:53 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
So @hankgreen.bsky.social’s ADHD-friendly focus timer where you help a lil bean to knit by staying off your phone is #1 on the App Store, beating ChatGPT. :)
Free apps chart, spot one is Focus Friend and spot 2 is ChatGPT
August 19, 2025 at 11:48 PM
cfiesler.bsky.social
So I’ve been thinking a lot about AI use by students re: the importance of learning how to do a thing before you let AI help you with that thing. And then I came across this new paper about de-skilling in a medical context. :-/
August 19, 2025 at 7:52 PM