Theodore Kim
@theodore-kim.bsky.social
Professor of Computer Science, American Studies, and Ethnicity, Race & Migration @ Yale (Also two Oscars) https://www.tkim.graphics
This is like how the Stuxnet worm “escaped containment” back in 2010. OMG! This proves that Stuxnet was conscious! The bugs were signs of super-intelligence! Everybody throw billions of dollars at Stuxnet worm to usher in a new Renaissance! SO STUPID.
Eryk Salvaggio@eryk.bsky.social · 6d agoReally important to note that in no way shape or form did Anthropic’s models in this incident “escape containment,” and not just in the word-policing sort of way. The model stumbled through an open, misconfigured gap. From Anthropic’s incident report:
I'm going to start referring to them as "shatbots". Person: "Did you mean chatbots" Me: "I said what I said"
Really getting the sense that the current "age of ai" is some rich people discovering that a very small, very squalid corner of non-linear optimization happens to yield to tons of money.
I got elected to the Academy. If "I Love Boosters" doesn't make the Best Picture noms this year, you can count on me to be the anonymous member complaining to Variety.
Me: Now if you steal a car you can't just sell it, you have to take it to a chop shop. Now a chop shop is -- Kid: I know what a chop shop is. Me: How do you know what a chop shop is?! From me talking about Grand Theft Auto? Kid: Yes.
Wow this paper's good. Kudos to @paytoncroskey.bsky.social, @ruha9.bsky.social and Jennifer Jacobs for writing it! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
The Augmented Undercommons: A Framework for Liberatory HCI Research within Ethically Compromised Institutions | Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.
dl.acm.org
For the first time in over 20 years, I was asked for ID before entering an R-rated movie. Ticket taker said "they have to check everybody" because the number of teens trying to sneak in to see OBSESSION "has been ridiculous". Who says the movies are dead? 1/2
This is mind-blowing... Amazing work :)
Theodore Kim@theodore-kim.bsky.social · 3mo agoSIGGRAPH goes to #FAccT2026! Congrats to my co-authors @posada.website, @avmenon.bsky.social and @bsky.alexaschor.com We analyzed every SIGGRAPH, ToG, and SIGGRAPH Asia paper from 1974-2024 to see how race is imagined in graphics research. The results were not good. arxiv.org/abs/2605.14835 1/
Things newly broken in Gmail: 1. Freezes if GCal (in a separate browser tab!) brings up an alert. 2. Outlook invites no longer get converted to GCal automatically, or the conversion gets all fucked up. Handing coding over to chatbots is going great!
The new Boots Riley movie opens today! Featuring: 1. U.S.-China / Black-Asian class solidarity and worker uprising 2. Bonkers sci-fi teleportation devices 3. Bonkers claymation fight scenes If any of this sounds good to you, I highly recommend. Best movie I've seen since Mad Max: Fury Road.
SIGGRAPH goes to #FAccT2026! Congrats to my co-authors @posada.website, @avmenon.bsky.social and @bsky.alexaschor.com We analyzed every SIGGRAPH, ToG, and SIGGRAPH Asia paper from 1974-2024 to see how race is imagined in graphics research. The results were not good. arxiv.org/abs/2605.14835 1/
The Racial Character of Computer Graphics Research
Computer graphics algorithms for generating photorealistic imagery are widely perceived to be universal, and capable of conjuring anything that a filmmaker or game designer can imagine. However, recen...
arxiv.org
On the one-year anniversary of EMPIRE OF AI, I am so, so excited to announce The AI Resist List, a new project that documents examples of resistance to the AI empires around the world 😍 airesistlist.org
We are also releasing a new research primer, "Myths about Generative AI, Productivity, and Labor Displacement", which discusses five common myths around generative AI at work. This primer will be the first of many. labor.dair-institute.org/primers
Is the purpose of science and 🧪 training to churn out papers or to create a healthy knowledge community? In a @nature.com comment, @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I check in on how AI helps with the former while jeopardizing the latter 1/
The uncritical adoption of AI in science is alarming — we urgently need guard rails | Nature
Artificial intelligence is rapidly accelerating scientific output, but risks narrowing inquiry, weakening judgement and undermining how scientists are trained. Artificial intelligence is rapidly accelerating scientific output, but risks narrowing inquiry, weakening judgement and undermining how scientists are trained.
nature.com
Intersectional Feminist STS postdoc at Yale - please circulate! postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...
Postdoctoral Associate in Intersectional Feminist STS at Yale University
postdocs.yale.edu
"Predictably, the huge spike in productivity that these companies claim their own AI products have enabled hasn’t resulted in more or better products, shorter work weeks, or better consumer experiences." www.404media.co/software-dev...
Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains
“It's making me dumber for sure.”
404media.co
reading about they thought they were free reminds me of that harper's "who goes nazi" piece, in that the best distillation of the fascist mindset is probably someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to never feel humiliation again
The little actions of little men
Rax King on reading They Thought They Were Free in the age of ICE
welcometohellworld.com
"Too many scientists are willing to collaborate with Trumpism in the mistaken assumption that obedience will save their own necks." www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Rise of the Vichy Scientists
Too many scientists are willing to collaborate with Trumpism in the mistaken assumption that obedience will save their own necks.
thenation.com
Did you know you can subscribe to the paper edition of @theonion.com to help support their takeover of InfoWars? Hell Yes. Worth every penny. membership.theonion.com?campaign=701...
Join The Onion
Don’t just read the news. Feel it. Be among the first to feel the news.
membership.theonion.com
The Onion@theonion.com · 4mo ago
Making tenure count, for MSNOW I wrote about my employer, The University of Iowa, creating a center for intellectual freedom. It's a reactionary project built on decades of conservative propaganda about higher ed.
Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom”
Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism
ms.now
Saw a preview of I LOVE BOOSTERS yesterday and it was *AMAZING*. Wildly imaginative, bonkers sci-fi in the present-day East Bay, in that one-of-a-kind @bootsriley.bsky.social way. It was *SO GOOD*. I don’t think I’ll see anything better this year. Opens nationwide May 22nd.
Reflections on the Claude Code source code leak from @techtrenches.dev “The leak isn’t the story. The code is the story.”
Claude Code's Source: 3,167-Line Function, Regex Sentiment
Anthropic claimed 100% of Claude Code is AI-written. A source leak exposed a 3,167-line function, regex sentiment analysis, and 250K wasted API calls daily
techtrenches.dev
UPDATE: Most students in the class hadn't heard of ILM! They knew of Lucasfilm, but just as the place that makes Star Wars, not as a VFX studio. Next year I'll probably instead assign Chapter 2: "Perfect Imperfection: ILM's Effects Aesthetics", about how ILM aesthetics now pervade everything.
Theodore Kim@theodore-kim.bsky.social · 4mo agoSTS Reading, Week 10: “Retconning CGI Innovation,” Chapter 3 of “Empire of Effects” by @julieturnock.bsky.social, about how ILM retroactively constructed the story of how they have always been, and forever will be, at the forefront of CGI innovation. utpress.utexas.edu/9781477328972/
Wow this is good.
Dr Abeba Birhane@abeba.blacksky.app · 5mo agofresh off the press from yours truly: oecs.mit.edu/pub/b61joemo... I offer an overview of algorithmic bias. I trace its historical roots, examine canonical scholarship and notable real-world incidents, and explore how algorithmic bias emerged as a field of study 1/
📢 New England Symposium on Graphics 2026 returns April 12 at @mit.edu! Featuring talks by Profs Frédo Durand (MIT), @adrianaschulz.bsky.social (Brown), @theodore-kim.bsky.social (Yale), junior talks, posters, and networking. Free to attend!! Register: forms.gle/g5fWyLVqCfm8... Details: nesg.graphics
Hard to imagine now, but IRON MAN (2008) was about a weapons manufacturer who had a moral awakening after seeing the human toll of his products. He finally springs into action when he see news footage of refugee families being torn apart. At the time, people thought he was modeled after Elon Musk.
Remember that time Jesse Jackson showed up at a 2014 Google shareholder meeting demanding that the company publicly disclose their shitty diversity numbers? www.vox.com/2014/5/15/11...
What Happens at the Google Annual Shareholder Meeting Circus
An appearance by Reverend Jesse Jackson, a disinterest in paying more taxes, and thanks for the help at Costco.
vox.com