Safiya Umoja Noble, PhD
@safiyanoble.bsky.social
Living in Los Angeles. Californian. #MacFellow Writer, professor. Comedian. Author, “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” which is unfortunately still relevant to understanding today’s LLMs and AI. safiyaunoble.com
Article next year: friendly inventory bots now have facial recognition and a hot list of known shoplifters.
AI robots are roaming L.A. grocery store aisles. Shoppers and workers are worried
AI robots are roaming Ralphs in L.A. They are scanning inventory and the union is trying to stop them.
latimes.com
“At some point, maybe we should listen to the words of Meta’s founder who, years ago, bragging about how people just hand over their information to him, revealed what he thinks about those who do so: ‘[d]umb f—s.’”
Meta’s Mass Data Collection Is Not A-Muse-ing
epic.org
🔥 The Blacksky mobile app is here. Today we're opening up our public beta on both iOS and Android. If you've been waiting for a native mobile experience, now's your chance to try it before our full public launch and help us make it even better. 🧵👇
@karaswisher.bsky.social hosted this great panel on AI and surveillance with @jasonkoebler.bsky.social, @safiyanoble.bsky.social, and @vicmsong.bsky.social. Great job to everyone involved!
“It’s creepy”: Flock cameras, Meta glasses, and the fight for privacy
YouTube video by On with Kara Swisher
youtube.com
How do we find hope, persistence, & success at defending essential rights? Today in @science.org, I published a letter with @rebekahtromble.bsky.social & @ubiquity75.xyz explaining how free inquiry is threatened by government restrictions on movement. www.science.org/eprint/CBDR2...
Free inquiry depends on freedom of movement
Starting in May 2025, the US government implemented an immigration policy that targeted noncitizen researchers for visa denials, visa revocations, detention, and deportation on the basis of the topics and findings of their work (1). In response, scholars and civil society groups at the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) documented the policy’s effects on their research and sued the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Justice Department to stay the policy (2). Scholarly societies, including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (3) and the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR) (4) issued public statements in support of academics’ freedom of movement. In July 2026, a federal court suspended the policy (5), marking a victory for scientific progress (6). However, threats to freedom of movement remain a powerful tool for repressive governments to force and entice scholars into submission. Scholars and administrators should continue to defend the integrity of science by defending the right to freedom of movement.
science.org
This is also THE time to follow folks whose work has shaped our understanding of how AI can determine life outcomes: @safiyanoble.bsky.social @timnitgebru.blacksky.app @poetofcode.bsky.social @kashhill.bsky.social @daniellecitron.bsky.social Virginia Eubanks And, of course, @alondra.bsky.social
I’m looking forward to the @caseygrants.bsky.social book club conversation with @gilduran.com & @safiyanoble.bsky.social about his book this week. (The first 400 registrations get a free copy of it after the event!) bookevent.caseygrants.org/nerd-reich-m...
The Nerd Reich: Join MCF Book Club
bookevent.caseygrants.org
An anthropology professor at UCLA created a product, PredPol, and sold it to the LAPD over a a decade ago, that laid the basis for much of these flawed and dangerous tactics.
A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over
404 Media is revealing the name of Border Patrol's predictive policing units, which analyze financial data and have local cops pull people over. The people are not suspected of any particular crime.
404media.co
One of the first "outrageous" claims I saw as Jason Arday's media hounding unfolded was that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days! Wow! What a thing to claim! And the newspapers all suggested there was no evidence he actually did it. Well, they clearly didn't look very hard 🙄 🧵 1/26
UCLA administrators, on a summer Friday, announced that they are closing the childcare centers on campus upon which faculty, staff and student parents rely — albeit expensive and exclusive options, but far better than none. The admin cited budget deficit. The story is hardly just that.
UCLA childcare program, which faced 2024 sex abuse case, to close amid budget deficit - Daily Bruin
UCLA will shut down two of its childcare centers – one of which employed a teacher arrested for child sexual abuse in 2024 – next June, university leadership announced Thursday evening.
dailybruin.com
#Intersectionality and the #Internet: #Race, #Class, #Gender, #Sexuality, and the Digital by @safiyanoble.bsky.social, André Brock, Kishonna Gray & @ubiquity75.xyz doi.org/10.1146/annu...
“…AI cannot account for consent. For women and other marginalized communities, what matters is not the content of the image, but the lack of consent, the harm experienced, and the intention with which the abuse is perpetrated.”
The problem AI content moderation cannot solve
Meta and other big tech companies are increasingly using AI for content moderation, but as the backlash to Muse Image shows, it cannot protect users because it does not account for consent.
restofworld.org
And check out the Solidarity over Surveillance launch event next Wednesday (June 3) with @safiyanoble.bsky.social, @eltragon.bsky.social of @lataco.bsky.social, and @chadmarlow.bsky.social of @aclu.org discussing the urgency of fighting the surveillance state. us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The Time Is Now: Solidarity Over Surveillance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Throughout our nation’s history, government officials have spied on marginalized communities and created a surveillance network designed to criminalize people of color, immigrants and protesters — and...
us02web.zoom.us
We're excited to give you a sneak peek of some of the expert speakers joining us at #TakeBackTech in Atlanta, GA, April 17-19th 👀 featuring @naomiaklein.bsky.social @safiyanoble.bsky.social & @gilduran.com
Just found out that my name, image and likeness was stolen and used by @grammerly.bsky.social -- along with other colleagues. I'm so done with these AI companies stealing everything including our identities. Thank you @juliaangwin.com for leading the charge! www.bbc.com/news/article...
Grammarly pulls AI tool mimicking Stephen King and other writers
Writers criticised the feature which used their names and styles as "AI personas" without consent.
bbc.com
Come to campus and check out these two amazing book talks at #UCLA next week! Karen Hao’s Empire of AI: datax.ucla.edu/news-events/... More, Everything, Forever Book Talk with Adam Becker: datax.ucla.edu/news-events/...
If you are in NYC March 18 come one and all to @bambrooklyn.bsky.social to experience the brilliance of Dr. @safiyanoble.bsky.social irl (and as bonus you'll get to experience me admiring her).
Art, Tech, and Representation
Annie Dorsen and Dr. Safiya Noble discuss how emerging technologies affect culture and art.
bam.org
increasingly clear that the academy’s mad rush into AI & concordantly away from the humanities corresponds to that same shift in the priorities of intelligence & defense funding—so accustomed to it now that they no longer know how to do anything different. the university as cargo cult
Sarah T Roberts, PhD@ubiquity75.xyz · 11mo agoAdministrators are inking deals with OpenAI and inviting Palantir onto campus, ignoring faculty expertise and rolling out unproven data-thieving surveillance snake oil tech on our studens, staff and us. Enough.
So apparently the administrators at Northwestern have caved to the extortionist demands of the Feds. Faculty voted 595-4 AGAINST this measure.
“The people whose rights are being violated don’t have a lot of power, and the people responsible for the pollution are huge mega corporations with a lot of power…And they’ve been getting away with this for decades now.”
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
rollingstone.com
We WILL keep going! “UCLA faculty are honored to stand with this coalition, which continues to show that when faced with an administration targeting the very heart of higher education, fighting back is the only option,” Markowitz said. www.latimes.com/california/s...
Judge blocks Trump administration push to fine UCLA $1.2 billion for alleged antisemitism
A federal judge late Friday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA for alleged civil rights violations over antisemitism, its recog...
latimes.com
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Veena Dubal@veenadubal.bsky.social · last yr.BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!! We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
Run, do not walk, and get yourself a copy of this amazing book (calling all of my librarian friends!). This is an incredible event with Dr who is giving a powerful account of how to find justice and repair in our society. @terencekeel.bsky.social @repclub.bsky.social
Terence Keel@terencekeel.bsky.social · last yr.See you tomorrow night at Reparations Club! Join us for the book launch event of THE CORONER’S SILENCE (@beaconpress.bsky.social), moderated by Cerise Castle. 🗓️ Thursday, Nov. 13 ⏰ 7:00 PM (PST) 📍 3054 South Victoria Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90016 #booklaunch #losangeles #reparationsclub #nonfiction
@safiyanoble.bsky.social, UCLA professor and author of Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, explained how threats against educational institutions are intertwined with the threats against media and journalists. Watch the event recap: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Kq...
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad 2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices. www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
Here is the proposed agreement the Trump admin sent to UCLA, which administrators fought tooth and claw to keep secret ucop.edu/communicatio...
ucop.edu
Please understand that the only reason this has been released is because of the UCLA faculty association who filed a request and challenged the refusal in court. If you are a UC faculty member, join your FA!
Jaweed Kaleem@jaweedkaleem.bsky.social · last yr.BREAKING: The California Supreme Court has DENIED the University of California's request that it block the release of a 28-page, $1.2-billion fine Trump administration UCLA settlement offer. UC is required to give a faculty group the document today. www.latimes.com/california/s...
