This morning at #CHI2026, @hibbythach.com will be presenting our paper "The Burden of Bearing Witness: Digital Practices of Marginalized Social Media Users in High-Stakes Contexts," led by Senami Kojah and co-authored with @michaelannephd.bsky.social.
paper link: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
When people ask me about "AI" policy, I like to point out that there is policy being made at many different levels and even if our national government is currently a shitshow, local action really matters, like zoning against data centers and "AI" policy in schools.
"The term “AI” resists definition because it is continually reappropriated by people to mean different things. This, in turn, means that discussions of AI that do not provide working definitions for the purposes at hand risk incoherence. [...]"
>>
The rehabilitation of the luddites is a beautiful thing
🚨 Registration is now open for PETS 2026 in Calgary!
The 26th Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2026) will take place in Calgary, Canada, from July 20–25, 2026.
Join the community and be part of the conversation about PETS.
🔗 Get your spot: petsymposium.org/2026/registr...
The deadline for the 2026 FAccT DC is next Tuesday, February 24! If you are a student working on topics relevant to the FAccT's scope, this is an opportunity to interact with a diverse set of peers and mentors! #facct2026 #facct26 #facct
Details here: facctconference.org/2026/callfor...
Canada's federal gov has a new program to bring researchers to Canada & my uni is starting an internal nomination process for chairs. If you are a full or associate prof working on AI/democracy/community engagement/environmental justice and you may be interested in moving to Canada, dm me
As a person who does believe capable AI risks are real, it’s frustrating to see the community not exactly behaving responsibly. If you can’t find it in yourself to say or do something about a literal, present, AI harm (Grok being used for abuse) what is the point of you
Excerpt from an article entitled AI Regulation in a Post-Reality World
Didn't share this short essay on genAI & the erosion of reality when it was published earlier this year, but it introduces some concepts like intangible/ontological harm that I want to revisit in 2026
Full article here as part of a fantastic collection: libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/downloads/cc...
Networking & Cyber Security position:
iaejup.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Theory position:
iaejup.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Robotics, Computer Vision and Graphics position:
iaejup.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
We are hiring!!
University of Alberta in Canada has three faculty positions open this cycle: one in network security, one in theory, and one in robotics/computer vision/graphics.
Deadline: January 12, 2026
Happy to answer any questions about UofA or Canada academia!!
Please share!! 😁
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people," Westwood said in a press release. "With survey data tainted by bots, AI can poison the entire knowledge ecosystem.” www.404media.co/a-researcher...
As I settle in to Calgary, I am looking to hire one MSc and one PhD student to start in Fall 2026. These positions are fully-funded. My research is at the intersection of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and software engineering, with an emphasis on human-centered approaches. [1/6]
Hell yeah
If anyone at CSCW is doing or knows about work studying how athletes are dealing with online security/harassment issues or how sports (like the WNBA) become focal points for clickbait, AI slop, or political propaganda… come find me, I want to chat!
Loving this approach to AI safety youtu.be/c4aEj41Q7Q0
You, too, can beg for a place in the bunker! replacement.ai/safety/
Announcing (w @adamsmith.xyz @thejonullman.bsky.social) the 2025 edition of the Foundations of Responsible Computing Job Market Profiles!
Check out 40 job market candidates in mathematical research in computation and society writ large!
Link:
drive.google.com/file/d/1zvsr...
TMLR is looking for additional reviewers and action editors! Please sign up to keep the initiative strong and vibrant.
This is the advice I consistently give people about trying AI: use something you know very well already, so you can actually determine the quality of the output for yourself, and get some idea of how the sausage is being made
Yeah. They found much higher rates of diabetes in the descendants of residential school survivors in Canada.
CW: very dark history & systemic starving of Indigenous children.
www.cbc.ca/radio/unrese...
2.
Dr. @danyaalraza.com recently warned that the growth in private for-profit primary care clinics is a slippery slope that includes the potential to monetize your health and Rx data with big pharmaceutical companies.
www.pressreader.com/canada/toron...
floating a thought for feedback:
if the liar's dividend is the benefit bad actors can receive from a world in which there is so much doubt about what is real and what isn't,
I was thinking about "the librarian's dividend" re: the value of the people and institutions who help us evaluate information
I think I am wonderful person, who is never inherently malicious , and should always be thought of wonderfully
AND
If you designed a system around that being true I would cuss you out because if I am those things ?
I want you to be protected if I’m NOT
This is too real right now
Given funding uncertainty, we wrote about why depts & faculty should try to communicate openly with PhD applicants about any changes to their admissions processes, including if it's "nothing has changed".
Let's do what we can (when we can) to prevent cascading anxiety.
cra.org/crn/2025/09/...
Why do you constantly act like the only danger is them willingly turning it over ?
Oh right because you need the straw man argument to be condescending
And live the idea of avoiding
- social engineering
- malicious hacking
- long term observation
- general human error
📢Adam Smith, @gautamkamath.com, and I are putting together a list of job market candidates in Foundations of Responsible Computing! Last year's list was a great success so we're keeping it going!
If you want to be included, or nominate someone, see link in the replies!
