Zeerak Talat زیرک طلعت (they/them)
@zeerak.bsky.social
Thinking about content moderation, equity, machine learning, and natural language processing. Now: Chancellor's Fellow (~Asst. Prof) @technomoralfutures.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social Past: MBZUAI, SFU, Uni of. {Sheffield, CPH}
In summary, the tool has become more important than the people using the tool. The tool is good, the tool is god. All hail the tool.
Catelli@catelli.bsky.social · 3d agoI don't think there will be a happy compromise with Agentic AI LLM stuff. There isn't a way to define the distinction between actually useful, looks useful-but isn't, useless, and forced on people who don't want it.
Turns out the link isnt working anymore so here's the list or less-than-acceptable colleagues: johnarmstrongmaths.com/openletters/... And here's the letter and space to sign the letter supporting due process: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
As academics, we are concerned that Ghent University's disciplinary proceedings against Dr Cofnas appear to constitute retaliation, at least in part, for publicizing academic misconduct that occurred in British universities.
johnarmstrongmaths.com
Zeerak Talat زیرک طلعت (they/them)@zeerak.bsky.social · 2w agoIt's nice when racists name themselves. In case you wanted to check if you need to have a chat with anyone, here's the list of people who've signed the letter in support of cofnas and in favour of academic misconduct and harassment without consequences. xcancel.com/priyamvadago...
And now friends there is a counter letter, asking Ghent university to uphold its own standards. It's a good letter. I think you should go sign your names, if you want to. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...?
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
To sign this letter, please scroll down to the bottom of the page ***Version française en dessous*** We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond t...
docs.google.com
Zeerak Talat زیرک طلعت (they/them)@zeerak.bsky.social · 2w agoIt's nice when racists name themselves. In case you wanted to check if you need to have a chat with anyone, here's the list of people who've signed the letter in support of cofnas and in favour of academic misconduct and harassment without consequences. xcancel.com/priyamvadago...
Again this guy is in charge of publicly traded companies totally propped up by public dollars allocated by ostensibly democratic governments.
Nathan Newman@nathansnewman.bsky.social · 2w agoA reminder the Reconquista was the takover of Spain by Christians that led to the mass cultural extermination of Jews and Muslims- led by the Spanish Inquistion If universities are being defunded for "anti-semitism" how are Musk companies NOT having every federal contract cancelled?
It's nice when racists name themselves. In case you wanted to check if you need to have a chat with anyone, here's the list of people who've signed the letter in support of cofnas and in favour of academic misconduct and harassment without consequences. xcancel.com/priyamvadago...
Verifying your browser…
xcancel.com
We should keep posting this until the media writes about this and more... I did not become an academic to watch it go more racist. We're supposed to improve year on year — and not revert back to full blown eugenics and scientific racism.
Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 4w agoWith respect to Cofnas, why is nobody talking about this in the MSM? > We find it [improbably] that [he] was the best out of 14 candidates for this job[. His boss] repeatedly stated in the press that [he] published in highly ranked journals and had been affiliated with leading institutions. 1/n
With respect to Cofnas, why is nobody talking about this in the MSM? > We find it [improbably] that [he] was the best out of 14 candidates for this job[. His boss] repeatedly stated in the press that [he] published in highly ranked journals and had been affiliated with leading institutions. 1/n
Pieter T. L. Beck@ptrbck.bsky.social · 4w agowww.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t47r5... Statement of the department. Has been taken offline due to complaint of the prof who hired Cofnas
7/ "Lying is wrong" I agree! It pisses me off greatly. And there should be proportionate consequences for it, which might extend to losing a job in serious cases. But seriously: in a world when Trump etc lie massively and daily with real consequences for millions, you're obsessed with *this* guy?
Ok, some thoughts, as an olde tyme academic, on the Arday tragedy. First, allegations about causes. We don't know what was in his mind, but many people are keen to blame him, or woke lefties/academia, or the media. Some people are absolutely certain that the media are faultless. 1/
"AI" is indeed transformative in the sense that it makes every day stupider than the day before.
Lana Sinapayen@sinalana.eurosky.social · last mo.AI people are so tiresome
🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
Come through and say hi if you're in Edinburgh on the 22nd!
Our AI Collective CIC@our-ai-collective.bsky.social · 4w agoNot long till our special screening of the acclaimed Ghost in the Machine doc at @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social on Sat 22 August at 3pm. Q&A with director and @zeerak.bsky.social, Jen Ang from @lawmanity.com for a Q&A after. Book now! www.filmhouse.org.uk/movie/ghost-... youtu.be/i9DAv0D7tnY?...
I don't normally post about new papers coming out, but this one gets an exception: My student has just had her first paper (and my first paper with my own PhD student) accepted to AIES! We look at how speech technology research engages, or rather doesn't engage, with questions of surveillance!
You can now access many more digital laws, not just the GDPR, at the UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws page: EU: GDPR, DSA, DMA, AI Act, UCPD, NIS2 UK: OSA, DPA18, ...+ Each article/para/recital, links to what-cites-it in int'l cases/statutes/guidance homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
michael veale@michae.lv · last mo.Parts of the GDPR are cited and interpreted by thousands of pieces of case law and guidance, but there's no easy and free way to find out what. We've made a tool which makes it super easy, for 13,000 citing documents, all in one place. More regulations to come! homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
New: Police are being told to hide the fact that they're using Flock to pull people over and arrest them in both encounters with citizens but ALSO in their official police reports: www.404media.co/do-not-menti...
‘DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE’: How Cops Are Trying to Hide Their Use of Flock
“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT."
404media.co
Are you a new researcher in #NLG? An MSc or PhD student or a postdoc new to natural language generation? Do you want to find advice and community? Check out the #YNLG workshop happening at #INLG2026! (One week left to submit) ynlg-workshop.github.io
YNLG 2026 - Young Researchers in Natural Language Generation
ynlg-workshop.github.io
Ok, I have been MIA on this platform because life has been busy, but I want to remind you Digital Humanities Quarterly invites abstracts for a special issue on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to digital humanities pedagogy due August 1 dhq.digitalhumanities.org/submissions/...
DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly: Calls for Proposals
dhq.digitalhumanities.org
Interesting that the "trans women are predators" crowd are all predators
All the perverts following women around with Meta glasses saying 'JK Rowling told me to do it.'
The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)@theserfstv.bsky.social · last mo.They're coming for your children www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/06/jk-r...
But all jokes aside, this is deeply cynical and manipulative. As with "AI in education", Musk and his fellow billionaires are pushing this line of thinking so they can secure funding, but also to build consensus for a 2-tier system: humans for them, robots for the rest of us.
Taylor Noakes@taylornoakes.com · last mo.Words cannot describe how much I despise this person’s contempt for how hard real scientists work It’s the kind of attitude you can only get from inheriting a fortune from an Apartheid era emerald mine finance.yahoo.com/sectors/heal...
