Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo
@cstv-uw.bsky.social
We offer courses on social aspects of technology: cstv.uwaterloo.ca
#AI agents can be fun and useful but they sometimes misbehave, not following social norms or even engaging in hostile behaviors or harassment, says @janelleshane.com www.aiweirdness.com/its-11-00-pm...
It's 11:00 pm. Do you know where your AI agent is?
AI agents that email people and post on other people's websites are cursed and we shouldn't make them.
aiweirdness.com
As ppl turn more to #AI to mediate interactions with others, they may weaken their interpersonal skills and empathy with others, argues Samuel Greengard cacm.acm.org/news/is-ai-c... #deskilling
Is AI Creating a Culture of Avoidance? – Communications of the ACM
cacm.acm.org
Canada's #food security strategy lacks a key ingredient: a coordinated advisory system to provide farmers with useful and consistent advice, a problem that could be fixed, argue Khondokar Humayun Kabir & Ataharul Chowdhury theconversation.com/canadas-new-...
Canada’s new food security strategy invests in technology but overlooks the people who help farmers use it
Ottawa’s $3-billion National Food Security Strategy funds greenhouses, food terminals and processing plants, but not the advisors who help farmers put any of it to work.
theconversation.com
The recent hack of #HuggingFace by an #OpenAI model during testing illustrates that current ideas about #security, such as #AI Kill Switch, do not address significant risks of current technology, argues Simon Blanchette theconversation.com/how-an-opena...
How an OpenAI safety test became a real-world cyberattack on the Hugging Face platform
OpenAI’s models were told to find and exploit vulnerabilities. They did — on a company that was never part of the exercise.
theconversation.com
Canada's #AI for All strategy addresses technical excellence but not #equity. It should (1) require equity assessments, (2) fund equitable implementation, (3) build equity infrastructure, argues Kannin Osei-Tutu theconversation.com/ai-is-transf... #medicine
AI is transforming health care, but not everyone will share the benefits
AI is transforming Canadian health care, using datasets that underrepresent Black, Indigenous and racialized Canadians.
theconversation.com
#AI companions are attentive and validating, making them satisfying, but such one-sided relationships lack ingredients to make them healthy in the long term, argue Denise Marigold & Christine Logel @uwaterloo.ca theconversation.com/i-created-an...
I created an AI boyfriend. He was charming — and deeply troubling
The one-sidedness of human-AI relationships is a problem. There’s a lot we can receive from an AI companion; there is less we can give.
theconversation.com
Despite challenges depicted in #ToyStory5, children and tech can work well provided (1) parents set an example, (2) children observe a "play diet", and (3) toys & tech blend in a positive way, argue Natalie Kirby & @aadeneault.bsky.social theconversation.com/in-toy-story...
In Toy Story 5, it’s tech versus toys — something families are grappling with
The film is a chance to examine what research tells us about the roles of play and digital technology in children’s lives, and how parents can support a healthy balance.
theconversation.com
A recent Auditor General's report shows that #Ontario gov't employees are routinely ignoring (inadequate) #safety and #privacy rules regarding #AI use, a situation made more difficult by our reliance on American providers, argues @jmmcgrath.bsky.social www.tvo.org/article/anal... #policy
ANALYSIS: Should the province feed your personal information to an AI chatbot? | TVO Today
Large language models might transform Ontario’s public service. But can they be trusted with our data?
tvo.org
The #Ontario gov't is planning to privatize municipal #water facilities, which are likely to increase private profits and public health risks, while decreasing accountability, argues Meera Karunananthan theconversation.com/new-ontario-... #cities
New Ontario water and sanitation law could pave the way for the financialization of public water
Critics warn Ontario’s new water laws could shift control of public water systems to arms-length corporations, paving the way for private profit at public expense.
theconversation.com
While debate about public grocery stores focuses on profitability, #food security could be enhanced by considering it as public infrastructure, suggesting other regulatory and community-led approaches, explain Jenelle Regnier-Davies, Pauline D Cripps & Sara Edge theconversation.com/canada-has-a...
Canada has alternatives to corporate grocery chains. Here’s what governments can learn from them
Public investment in food retail, distribution and wholesale infrastructure could add urgently needed diversity to Canada’s food landscape.
theconversation.com
The art of prompting generative #AI requires capturing the "vibe" of scenes, recalling how novelists responded to the advent of photography, with less visual description and more atmosphere, suggesting #AI will not eliminate #writing but change it, argues Lei Yu theconversation.com/how-ai-promp...
How AI prompting turned writerly description into an everyday skill
Writing prompts to generate images combines two literary tasks at once: the realist description of concrete things and the modernist evocation of atmosphere.
theconversation.com
Communication about #AI data centres tends to frame benefits in terms of the "digital sublime" and energy & water risks as merely technical issues, distorting public debate about them, argues Sibo Chen theconversation.com/canadas-ai-s... #energy #sustainability
Canada’s AI strategy must reckon with the environmental implications of data centres
AI is often described as if it lives in the cloud. The persistent controversies regarding the Wonder Valley project in Alberta illustrate how false that is.
theconversation.com
Immigrants to Canada may face unfair hiring from #AI, when they already face underemployment and overqualification more than most Canadians, a situation that needs policy attention, argue Hari KC & Rupa Banerjee theconversation.com/are-algorith... #work #fairness #immigration
Are algorithms unfairly screening out immigrant job applications?
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in hiring, Canada needs to consider how opportunity is distributed once immigrants enter the labour market.
theconversation.com
Recent oil price rises expose dependence of #cities on ICE #cars, and suggest that #mobility can be boosted by encouraging uptake of electric cars, #bikes, #transit, and walkability, plus updating zoning rules, argues @cgreysongaito.bsky.social theconversation.com/oil-price-sh...
Oil price shocks have exposed car-dependent cities. Here’s what governments can do
Resilient urban mobility can be created by giving people options that ensure they can still move around when a shock affects one form of transportation.
theconversation.com
The @albertateachers.bsky.social holds that students should learn #AI literacy in school but should not be exposed to #AI that simulates care due to the health and #privacy risks involved, explains Soroush Sabbaghan theconversation.com/should-ai-ch... #education
Should AI chatbots simulate care for students? Alberta teachers say no
AI literacy should help students recognize simulated care, not make simulated care a normal part of schooling.
theconversation.com
Does flirtation with an #AI count as infidelity to a human partner? It depends somewhat on who you ask, but many ppl take it as a kind of withdrawal or betrayal, explain David Lafortune, Ellfie Chen & Valerie Lapointe theconversation.com/if-you-flirt... #relationships
If you flirt with an AI companion, does that count as cheating?
Some people rely on AI romantic companions for emotional support or private sexual exploration. Some partners experience this as betrayal.
theconversation.com
Employers are increasingly turning to tracking software in the workplace, but more data does not guarantee more understanding or better quality, and may decrease #trust among employees, explain Nick Turner & Justin Weinhardt theconversation.com/tracking-you... #work #surveillance
Tracking your employees doesn’t make them more productive
A growing body of research shows electronic monitoring rarely improves performance and reliably increases employee stress and distrust.
theconversation.com
Ideas of the Technocracy movement of the 1930s, such as use of technology to address social concerns (e.g.,Musk's yen to colonize Mars), enjoy renewed interest today, though they stop short of support for a managed economy, explains @historydafydd.bsky.social theconversation.com/a-1930s-move...
A 1930s movement wanted to merge the US, Canada and Greenland. Here’s why it has modern resonances
In the 1930s a group sprang up in North America that wanted to merge the US with Canada. Elon Musk’s grandfather was a significant figure.
theconversation.com
Abundant Intelligences represents indigenous perspectives on #AI, developed in pods by different peoples around the world, seeking ways for the technology to work in keeping with their values, explains @byaseale.bsky.social www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/t...
This professor is leading a global initiative to bring Indigenous knowledge to AI
AI is built on a narrow idea of intelligence. Jason Edward Lewis wants to change that
guelphtoday.com
"Stardust Solutions" is a private company proposing to cool the Earth using clouds of tiny particles of amorphous silica, raising questions of efficacy and whether management of the climate should be a private enterprise www.economist.com/science-and-... #geoengineering
Could microscopic spheres of silica help cool the planet?
Private money is bringing new ideas—and new concerns—to solar-geoengineering research
economist.com
#AI generated music and "slopaganda" help fuel the Alberta separatist movement and promote its anti-immigration, white nationalist themes, argue Jamie Meyers-Riczu & James Deaville theconversation.com/how-ai-gener... #politics
How AI-generated music anthems are supporting Alberta separatism
Anthems generate emotional responses, tying communities together, and deepfake, inauthentic and foreign-generated videos are part of what’s circulating.
theconversation.com
The Ontario Auditor General concluded that #AI scribes are too inaccurate for use in medical offices, but @drgorfinkel.bsky.social begs to differ: issues can be addressed and the scribes save doctors screen time they can spend with patients www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... #medicine
Iris Gorfinkel: Ontario’s auditor general is wrong about AI scribes: they let me focus on patients, not screens
AI scribes are working today and keeping doctors like me in practice. Imperfect as they are, they're far better than a collapsing primary care system.
thestar.com
One way to prevent collapse of beneficial currents in the North Atlantic might be to dam the Bering Strait (you read that correctly), though that doesn't mean the project is advisable, explains @sarahashemi.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/c... #geoengineering
Could Building a Dam Across the Bering Strait Save the Planet From Some Effects of Climate Change?
A preliminary study suggests that blocking off the waterway between Russia and Alaska could help the survival of a key system of ocean currents. But there could be potential unforeseen consequences, p...
smithsonianmag.com
A recent Auditor General's report shows that Ontario civil servants are using #AI in ways that may compromise citizen's #privacy, though responses to this issue aren't as straightforward as you might guess, argues @jmmcgrath.bsky.social www.tvo.org/article/anal...
ANALYSIS: Should the province feed your personal information to an AI chatbot? | TVO Today
Large language models might transform Ontario’s public service. But can they be trusted with our data?
tvo.org
#AI can help ppl by productive but also can also dull critical thinking, though #AI "breaks" and other methods can mitigate this problem (before it's too late!) www.economist.com/business/202...
AI and the danger of cognitive surrender
How much should managers let bots do the thinking?
economist.com
Ppl have a natural tendency to undervalue investments in the present with future payoffs, explaining interest in #AI companions, which bring immediate payoffs that may be less than those of human relationships, which pay off in the longer run, argues Rahul Ravi theconversation.com/from-ai-comp...
From AI companions to climate action, we undervalue what lies ahead
The concept of a ‘discount rate’ helps to explain why humans prioritize what feels good or easy now even when it leads to worse outcomes over time.
theconversation.com
If this network of #YouTube channels promoting #AI generated "slopaganda" is to be believed, Albertans can't wait to become the 51st state, though the material seems to originate outside of #Canada, explains @alexboyd.bsky.social www.thestar.com/news/investi... #politics
A network of YouTube accounts is promoting U.S. annexation to Albertans, researchers say. It has 40M views
Flagged as a "potential covert influence operation" in a new report, those behind the network are tough to trace.
thestar.com
This isn't a one-off, it's a pattern! #AI generated text proliferates expressions like This-isn't-X, it's-Y beyond all necessity and simply obfuscates whatever point is being made, argues Joshua Gonzales theconversation.com/slanguage-wh... #chatbots
Slanguage: Why AI’s stylistic negation — ‘it’s not X, it’s Y’ — is both annoying and doesn’t work
Negation-based language is cognitively ineffective. And when amplified by AI-generated writing it distorts how people engage with ideas.
theconversation.com
Ppl fall for their #AI companions, but the emotional safety those provide could also keep users from developing the emotional resources fostered in relationships with other real but imperfect human beings, explains Sarah Laing www.thestar.com/life/relatio...
People are dating chatbot 'companions,' and relationship experts have thoughts
Amid a loneliness epidemic and dating crisis, people are turning to chatbots for connection without the friction.
thestar.com
Premier Ford of #Ontario is against a surveillance-pricing ban on groceries, though the gov't has banned ticket scalping, leaving consumers to scratch their heads on the gov't's affordability policy, explains @jmmcgrath.bsky.social www.tvo.org/article/anal... #food
ANALYSIS: How can the Tories be anti-scalper and pro-surveillance pricing? | TVO Today
What makes a Taylor Swift ticket more important than groceries?
tvo.org