There are two academic disciplines, computer science and sociology. Biology? Computer science. Physics? Computer science. Economics? Computer science. Computer Science? Actually, Sociology.
Sireesh Gururaja
@siree.sh
PhD student @ltiatcmu.bsky.social. Working on NLP that centers worker agency. Otherwise: coffee, fly fishing, and keeping peach pits around, for...some reason https://siree.sh
Please join us at Carnegie Mellon University and online on October 2nd, 2026 for the Community-Centered AI Infrastructure Summit, a statewide convening to consider the opportunities, challenges, and governance of AI infrastructure development in Pennsylvania. RSVP here: communityaisummit.org
If you want people to engage with a technology you care about, you have to find ways to frame it around providing them with some agency. You also have to be ready for people to just say "fuck you, no" and be OK with that. You have to learn to center people and not the technology itself.
My impression is that AI coding is on a "pick two of three" triangle: scope, ship speed, and correctness. Small tools are (speed + correctness) fast prototypes are (speed + scope) and big projects are (scope + correctness). Every project that tries to be all three degrades to "fast prototype."
This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b
It's finally out! At a time when basic research funding through the NSF and NIH in the US is under threat, it's important to understand what "basic" means in the context of more available DoD funding. For a lot of academics, the DoD's "basic" might not be be as basic as you think!
🌶 David Gray Widder@davidthewid.bsky.social · 3mo ago🚨Finally published: How does the US Military enlist AI researchers in war? @siree.sh, Lucy Suchman and I examine 7k US Military grant solicitations for AI research, and show how even "Basic Research" enlists researchers in a warfighting agenda. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Remember, both the Iliad and the Odyssey were originally audiobooks.
Great thread from a book that has lived rent-free in my head since it argued that computers are inherently and fundamentally conservative. I didn't even know it was out of print!!
M.J. Crockett@mjcrockett.bsky.social · 3mo agoJoseph Weizenbaum's 1976 book, Computer Power and Human Reason, has long been out of print - used copies sell for hundreds of dollars. It's wild that this is not more widely available given how much his ideas still apply to the world we're in now. 🧵/
good ML: * carefully designed for narrow contexts (or with awareness of context limits) * designed by ML and topical experts, with expert curated data and expert reviewed outputs * designed for specific needs and consumers, and kept up to date for both * clear training / comms on use and limits
The implicit compositionality born of English's status as a bastard language is a gift that calls for audacity, chutzpah, moxie, panache, etc
arr@arr.bsky.social · 4mo agoenglish isn't for cowards. if you're not saying 'torpify,' that's a skill issue. there's no Académie Française telling you what to do. if you try to type 'pallific' and freak out when you see a little red underline, maybe you're not ready to roll with the big dogs.
I am beginning new research, and would like recommendations on your favorite writing on the "strange bedfellows" phenomenon. Unlikely coalitions fighting for a common goal, and the ethical quandaries therein.
Truly wonderful conversation with my lyft driver this morning, which started by discussing how he wanted to go on vacation in Florida, to see alligators in the wild. Normal, relatable, etc - until he reveals that he in fact raises alligators as pets - but only until they're eight (8) feet long!
‘dialectics’ is grad school for ‘there’s two of them’
> looking at tech sector layoffs > ask the hr manager if the layoffs are from ai or from the end of zirp > she doesn't understand > pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is ai replacement and what is zirp > she laughs and says "they’re good layoffs sir” > check the data > its zirp
A short reflection on "interdisciplinary" in AI, from Lucy Suchman, @siree.sh, and myself: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
AI interdisciplinarity as critical technical practice | Cambridge Forum on AI: Culture and Society | Cambridge Core
AI interdisciplinarity as critical technical practice - Volume 1
cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press - Law@cambup-law.cambridge.org · 6mo agoTop download from Cambridge Forum on #AI: Culture and Society's Cultures of AI Interdisciplinarity Issue: AI interdisciplinarity as critical technical practice by Lucy Suchman, Sireesh Gururaja and Gray Widder 📖Read it here: https://cup.org/4dIH2dE
As someone that came of age in a time where the linux distros I used had easy access to a *huge* variety of loyal clients (xmpp, so many web things), this paper and its framing are a lovely way to describe the thing I'd love for computing to return to ❤️
Ethan Zuckerman@ethanz.bsky.social · 5mo ago"The loyal client" is a concept that's been important to our lab over the past five years as we've tried to make social media better: it's the idea that the tools you use to access social media should meet your needs, not those of the platform owner. Spencer Lane wrote a great paper on this as part
It's me! I am both this type of guy and, regrettably, this guy
LelainaV@lelainav.bsky.social · 5mo agoFiancé and I are doing first dance practice Instead of the music, he keeps “accidentally” playing the audiobook of The Power Broker
at this point anyone who sees any actual value in these tools has to be rooting for the bubble to pop so the moneyed freaks propping it up move on to quantum computing already
Jesse Hawken@jessehawken.bsky.social · 6mo agoJesus Christ, this is more dystopic than anything Philip K Dick ever wrote but it’s what the Russo Brothers want for your AI Slop future
![“Potentially, what you could do with [AI] is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling,” Russo said. “So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cbhnuflsctq2s7mu4iqcuauq/bafkreibajgqyg4mppmj4b3qgyk2tiwop57qov5gb2zakfsv7iyvqe4uh5q)
Great quote from a great article, and it drives me *nuts* how big the gap is between the real affordances of AI, which can be fun and adaptive and agency affirming the political project it is inextricable from, software-brained imperialism :/
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6mo ago“…all I can tell you is that it is a failure when you ask people to adapt to computers. Computers should adapt to people. Asking people to make themselves more legible to software —to turn themselves into a database — is a doomed idea.”
Me agreeing to a new project knowing full well it’s gonna add stress 🇲🇽
My hot take is that the median social system breaks under too much optimization pressure, and we should stop trying to optimize things
Ethan Mollick@emollick.bsky.social · 6mo agoEvery system that was regulated, either explicitly or implicitly, by the fact that they were effortful for humans (letters of recommendation, government filings, essays, or, as this paper finds, lawsuits) will break under a wave of AI.
This is a great thread, and reminds me of interviewing someone at one of the big labs for a study, and they made the claim that "classification was solved in 2022" That's an insane quote, until you account for the money, time, and labor that will be poured into any problem that's deemed worth it
Vincent Carchidi@vcarchidi.bsky.social · 6mo agoI have my beef with his recent commentary. This beef is substantial. However, the problems at the heart of his DL critique - (un)reliability and (robust) out-of-distribution generalization - were never solved by LLMs or LLM-based systems. They were circumvented.
They need to make it so you can mass add starter packs to a list / feed if you don't want them to fill up your main feed
Doll@dollspace.gay · 6mo agoTheres been new additions over time, so share and follow if thats your thing bsky.app/starter-pack...
