Ever seen a news story about AI and thought “this could be an episode of Black Mirror”? We're running a research study where we ask people to imagine generative AI futures and pitch their own science fiction story. More detail at the link and please share! https://www.internetruleslab.com/black-mirror-survey
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Dr. Casey Fiesler
@cfiesler@hci.social
mastodon 4.7.3information science prof at university of colorado boulder, social computing / tech ethics researcher, exceptionally minuscule tiktok star, fangirl / geek, she/her
12462 Followers
407 Following
50 Posts
Joined October 28, 2022
🌎 Website:
🎓 Publications:
🕺 TikTok:
Now that we're starting to see more impersonation accounts on Mastodon, a reminder that verified websites are a thing. It's not perfect, but implementable at the individual level, and this is how we know for example which of these is the real @stephenfry@mastodonapp.uk - and it's not the one with the meaningless checkmark. :)
I would really love if every time I post something about AI bias on the internet I didn't have to (a) defend my credentials ("do you even code bro?"); (b) justify that yes, I know how AI works, and yes, I know what training data is; (c) clarify that more than one thing can be a problem at the same time (e.g., tech AND society); and/or (d) deal with people who insist racism has to be intentional.
A TikTok about Amazon's new $9/month medical service for Prime members has AMAZING comments (in a "laughing through your tears about the U.S. healthcare system" kind of way). A selection:
"I delayed my CPR by 3 days and got a $1 digital credit, can't wait to use it!"
"Got my liver on prime day. Even bought 'used, like new' and saved a bunch."
"I just dropped off my bloodwork at Kohl's."
"Baby came nine months early with same day delivery!"
The ACM @sigchi@hci.social GROUP conference (social computing, HCI, CSCW, sociotechnical studies, etc.) has a poster deadline coming up on August 5! This is a GREAT place to present a poster, especially as a student, because the conference is small and friendly. :) https://group.acm.org/conferences/group27/posters.php
The last time I posted here I got yelled at for daring to even mention the existence of Bluesky, so please feel free to just scroll on past if you don't want to read my updated thoughts on Twitter migration - which, spoiler, includes some research findings about barriers to widespread adoption of Mastodon. https://theconversation.com/bluesky-isnt-the-new-twitter-but-its-resemblance-to-the-old-one-is-drawing-millions-of-new-users-244019
a useful map for conference planning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/may-anti-trans-legislative-risk-map
If y'all are wondering how I'm doing re: the possibility of TikTok going dark (for me and 150 million other folks), the answer is that I'm pretty unhappy about it! Though in the meantime I'm getting comments like this on my videos.
I think this is such an interesting and important study. The findings aren’t surprising (that LLMs are reproducing debunked race-based medicine) but it has really obvious implications given eagerness for medical uses of chatbots. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-023-00939-z
Hey look, it's my favorite ACM conference with a 2027 location announcement and a PACM-HCI deadline coming up NEXT WEEK! Tell your friends who have amazing social computing adjacent papers that need a good home!
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The elves had to admit
They’d bought into the hype
But those errors did matter
And Santa was right
For now, Santa said
I’ll go back to my list
Some things need a human
To ensure they’re not missed
I do think tech could help us
You didn’t mean to abuse it
But with any great power
You must be careful how you use it
So next Santa hired
An AI ethics team
We moved too fast, he said
We don’t want to break things.
[5/5 THE END]
Anyone watching #Wednesday? Here is me in 1993. Also my friend. As Wednesday’s headless doll. :)
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... ok I'm pretty proud of this haha. I'm going to put it somewhere it can be more easily shared, but in the meantime I wanted Mastodon to get first look. :D
I was just watching Drag Race and started imagining what Reviewer 2 roasts would be like:
Your citations are so outdated they've got Blockbuster cards.
Your arguments are so circular they're replacing the teacups at Disney World.
Your p-values are so high they were just cast in a Cheech & Chong movie.
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We can’t use this, he said
You must realize the stakes
There also are patterns
In errors it makes
Like take little Aaron
Do you think it’s fair
That in numbers he’s like
Naughty kids over there?
We’re also assuming
Our own perfect past
Have we made mistakes?
We at least have to ask
Cause look at this insight
The data supplies us
Some elves on these shelves
Might have unconscious bias!
And you all made choices
Which features to add
Are you sure this was fair?
The elves looked quite sad
[4/5]
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I also briefly mention there our replication of the twitter research ethics survey on Mastodon (with @bkeegan and co.). We’ve analyzed the data and are writing a paper, but I’ll try to prioritize getting a blog post about those findings out soon!
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Every child there’s been
From Aaron to Zeta
We can build an AI
Because we have the data!
Now, Santa is old
Didn’t quite understand
But he trusts his elves
So he okayed the plan
So the elves cleaned the data
They were very precise
To determine the patterns
In the naughty and nice
Gender and parents
And address and race
Grades and faves
Really, every trace
Billions of children
Made into numbers
AI makes predictions
While each child slumbers
[2/5]
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The goal of the model
(Just to be clear)
Given these patterns
Who’s naughty this year?
They held back a sample
So that they could test
And the model? Not bad.
Ninety percent, at their best.
So they brought it to Santa
And said, never fear!
Predictive machine learning
Will save Christmas this year
Santa pulled out his list
For his own kind of test
Hours later he went
From impressed to distressed
[3/5]
FYI I am not at CHI this year, but my PhD advisee Faye is presenting this paper in a session appropriately titled "Critics on AI." :) https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713322
Well that's a wrap on #CSCW2022! Loren Terveen and I are taking over as general chairs for #CSCW2023 and the planning is already well underway with the help of this awesome organizing committee! @cscw@hci.social is a @sigchi@hci.social conference focused on collaborative and social computing, and after our third virtual conference in a row, we are looking forward to welcoming folks back in person next year in Minneapolis! https://cscw.acm.org/2023/
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Until Netflix buys the rights or I get a book deal, here's an easily shareable version. 🤣 https://cfiesler.medium.com/twas-the-ai-bias-before-christmas-3255cd3acf77
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OK clearly "'Twas the AI Bias Before Christmas" needed a dramatic reading. Waiting for the phone call about the animated series! 🎅 https://www.tiktok.com/@professorcasey/video/7178174993212165418
#TechEthicsInTheNews is back! The graduate students in my class and I are weekly sharing news articles from the past week in tech ethics in policy. (Also if you're interested you can see several years worth of this in other tabs on the spreadsheet!) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nHgRYtNQ_VeMzycayrpfGs1UFjw_-gipMcdH-SFgnTo/edit#gid=1614692948
This story is an example of about five different things that I hate so much about the intersection between chatbots and the internet. https://www.404media.co/facebooks-ai-told-parents-group-it-has-a-disabled-child/
My department (Information Science at University of Colorado Boulder) is hiring for a tenure track Assistant Professor position, with a focus on applicants who conduct research on accessibility and design. https://jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDetail/Assistant-Professor-Information-Science/52624
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Also a note on the above survey: We designed and piloted this before before Bluesky launched. We added a few questions about Bluesky, but it is focused on Twitter and Mastodon.
Also for those of you who are still on Twitter, an RT over there would be really helpful too. We are hoping to also hear from a lot of folks who haven't left! https://twitter.com/cfiesler/status/1661807702266499072
Hi all! Anyone interesting in piloting a short survey? It's a story completion study, so creative writing, sort of. :) Would love to hear from both researchers who might have feedback on the survey design and also just random folks who can tell us if it makes sense. DM me or reply & I'll send it to you!
@phaedral@mastodon.social Hi! Thanks for the reminder of why so many people dislike Mastodon so much. Sometimes I do totally forget! Though fortunately I don’t see people like you on here all that often.
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@cliffle They’re an excellent reminder of why so many people tell me they hate Mastodon though. 🤷♀️
Did you know the amazing social computing conference #CSCW2023 is taking place in person (+ hybrid) for the first time since 2019? If you're thinking of attending, the submission deadline for posters, workshops, panels, SIGs, demos, and DC is May 11! https://cscw.acm.org/2023/index.php/submit/
When it comes to artists and training data, I think there are reasonable arguments for and against fair use, but the conversations happening are not really about law, they're about ethics. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/artstation-artists-stage-mass-protest-against-ai-generated-artwork/
hey it's that time of year again, where people start to wonder whether AIES is actually happening and when the 2025 paper deadline might be if so! anyone know anything about the ACM/AAAI conference on AI Ethics & Society?
Anyone have suggestions for journals that would publish a book review for tech & society sort of books? Apparently New Media & Society is no longer doing book reviews. (Asking for a student.)
@vincent@mastodon.coffee Yeah I actually thought that that response was a great example of a reason a lot of people don't like Mastodon. :) That said, my experience here is like 90% positive! And same on Bluesky. Not so much on TikTok, Instagram, or Threads. :)
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@internetarchive@mastodon.archive.org @ginahelfrich@techpolicy.social oh my god memory unlocked
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@priyakalot @masmart @bkeegan and I will be doing some research very soon that touches on research ethics for the fediverse :)
@frustrated_academic@mastodon.social @guyjantic@infosec.exchange They said “more to it than that.” And I’d written a very long post about why there’s more to that ethical analysis than whether it’s public. I think they were agreeing with me.
@frustrated_academic@mastodon.social @guyjantic@infosec.exchange Heya! So since this conversation has been showing up in my notifications I’ll suggest that you go back and read the whole thread. I think at some point you misunderstood something because you’ve been repeatedly insisting on evidence for a claim that was never made. :)
Well there's only one month before the deadline, but for what it's worth apparently there IS an AIES conference this year, and they just released a call for papers! https://www.aies-conference.com/2023/call-for-papers/
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@jbigham I think this is true; see also: the art show winner from the fall.
Though I'm hearing a LOT about training data, even if that's not the focus of this article. A lot of artists are really, really pissed off.
Apparently there were images coming through the Magic Avatar thing that still had garbled versions of artists' signatures on them.