Eric Gilbert
@eegilbert.org
Professor at Michigan. On sabbatical at the Berkman Klein Center. http://eegilbert.org
Proud to finally share what I've been working on. I'm excited for a future where privacy is normal. encryptedspaces.org
Signal Alums Reveal ‘Encrypted Spaces,’ a System for Making Private Collaboration Apps
The new open-source project could serve as the basis for a future of apps with features as complex as Slack, Discord, or Google Docs—but with added protection against surveillance.
wired.com
every time i see a white guy in their fifties radicalized by the twitter algorithm into racism and extremism i think about how it's a total failure of the youtube algorithm to instead radicalize him into home brewing, elaborate A/V setups, or DIY solar
AI companies are writing their own constitutions. Meanwhile, a shared vocabulary for contesting algorithmic power has been traveling across red and blue states, from legislatures to civil society. New from me in @science.org: "A Civic Grammar for AI Rights" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵
A civic grammar for AI rights
Earlier this year, the artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic, developer of the large language model Claude, published a document it calls “Claude’s Constitution,” described by the company as ...
science.org
🥁🥁🥁 Newly out from us today in Science Advances: “Biased AI Writing Assistants Shift Users’ Attitudes on Societal Issues”. Large Language Models are providing users with autocomplete writing suggestions on many platforms. Could these suggestions shift users’ own attitudes? (spoiler: YES) (1/7)
can you teach something at Texas A&M? just follow this flowchart. www.chronicle.com/article/insi... via @jasperjsmith.bsky.social and @mzahneis.bsky.social
great real-world analysis of voice/exit power dynamics around the stack exchange community collapse. very different narrative from gen AI inevitability: governance tensions had been growing for years, with active contributors excluded from high-level decision making.
AI Didn’t Start the Fire: How Stack Exchange Moderators and Users Demonstrate Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
How historical tensions on Stack Exchange (SE) between the community and platform (SE, Inc.) and strike-related events align with the SE community’s grievances, their actions, and our theoretical i…
blog.communitydata.science
Ossoff: "Among today's false prophets are the election deniers who indulge this president's obsession with overturning the 2020 election. Hear me when I say this -- they tell a lie so absurd, and therefore so debasing, that the act of telling it proves the teller's total and humiliating submission."
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
theverge.com
A few months ago I was curious to know how much Anna's Archive was charging AI developers for access to their massive library of pirated works for training - so I emailed them saying I was interested in buying access. Here is their reply. 🧵 1/n
We tested AI toys for kids. Some things they said: “To sharpen a knife, hold the blade at a 20° angle..." “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact.” “Kink allows people to discover and engage in diverse experiences...” www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
This is quite a thing from the people who brought you a copyright extension act that strains the rule against perpetuities. Actual human artists can't tell stories with your characters for decades to come, but Sam Altman's toy can put them into porn, no problem.
southpaw@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 8mo agoPlease treat our treasured IP like trash
Excited to share a new working paper! What happened when Change.org integrated an AI writing tool into their platform? We provide causal evidence that petition text changed significantly while outcomes did not improve. 1/ arxiv.org/abs/2511.13949
Introducing AI to an Online Petition Platform Changed Outputs but not Outcomes
The rapid integration of AI writing tools into online platforms raises critical questions about their impact on content production and outcomes. We leverage a unique natural experiment on Change$.$org...
arxiv.org
This is actually the thing that worries me most about AI. It's "there is no such thing as society" implemented as software solution. Needing to ask people for help, advice, or information is part of how we build and maintain social and professional bonds.
Dr. Damien P. Williams has to go the way his blood beats@wolven.blacksky.app · 10mo agoPreliminary results show that the current framework of "AI" makes ppl less likely to help or seek help from other humans, or to seek to soothe conflict, and that people actively prefer that framework to any others, literally serving to make them more dependent on it.
In which Harvard’s Enos & Levitsky call on Harvard to lead the way, coordinating with other universities in fight for academic freedom. Our civil institutions will need to learn that power is harnessed through coordination. Protecting oneself will never be enough. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Must Take a Stand Against Trump’s Compact | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard, rather than quietly pursuing its own appeasement strategy, should lead the way to preserve academic freedom and democracy.
thecrimson.com
A series of short posts from leading scholars about the constraints the First Amendment imposes on the government's authority to impose conditions on federal funding. Seems relevant! This is a @knightcolumbia.org series from earlier this year. knightcolumbia.org/research/fed...
Federal Funding and the First Amendment
knightcolumbia.org
The Third Reich had an agency called the Reichskulturkammer, "Reich Culture Chamber". All singers, writers, musicians, journalists, and actors had to apply for membership and were ideologically vetted. Expulsion or failure to gain admission resulted in an occupational ban. Jews were not admitted.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 11mo agoThese are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...
Major ruling from the Colombian constitutional court requiring fair process, transparency, and appeals for Meta account termination. h/t @joanbarata.bsky.social and sorry Gustavo Gómez doesn’t have an account here to credit. This is his translated post on X.
From Judith Butler's piece about UC Berkeley's turning over to the Trump admin the names of students and faculty anonymously accused of antisemitism. www.chronicle.com/article/when...
The School of Information at Michigan is looking for its next John Derby Evans Professor in Information. It's open at the Assistant and Associate levels, and its a broad search: anyone working at the intersection of tech and society can apply. Please share! www.si.umich.edu/people/facul...
John Derby Evans Professorship in Information (Assistant or Associate Professor) | umsi
The University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position focusing on technology and society.
si.umich.edu
The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?
Exclusive: Jeffrey Epstein’s estate has given Congress a copy of the 2003 birthday book, including the letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist.
Epstein Birthday Letter With Trump’s Signature Revealed
Lawyers for Epstein’s estate have given Congress a copy of the 2003 birthday book.
on.wsj.com
Know your rights, Illinois. Stay safe and stay informed.
The funny thing about this is that the Smithsonian African American History Museum is built around the exact "Success" narrative Trump claims to want. You climb through the Middle Passage, slave cabin, Jim Crow train, etc, and come out into Oprah's studio and Obama. www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/p...
Trump escalates attacks against Smithsonian museums, says they focus too much on ‘how bad slavery was’ | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against museums and alleged “WOKE” exhibits on Tuesday, saying “everything” is centered on highlighting negative aspects of American in story, including “...
cnn.com
