Jevin D. West
@jevinwest.bsky.social
Professor @UW_iSchool, Co-founder of Center for an Informed Public @uwcip. I study misinformation in science & society. Book: tinyurl.com/y7ekfkhx
Shining a little more light on knowledge collapse, with Damian Hodel. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/ai-i...
A disturbing byproduct of AI: knowledge collapse | Op-Ed
As we adopt AI more widely in our work and personal lives, the impact of reduced information diversity becomes more and more of a problem.
seattletimes.com
Congratulations to @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social and Engen Tham for the Pulitzer based on their reporting of Meta. www.pulitzer.org/winners/jeff...
Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham of Reuters
For inventive and revelatory reporting on Meta that detailed the technology company’s willingness to expose users, including children, to scams and AI manipulation.
pulitzer.org
Join us April 7 at the Seattle Central Library for "The Risks and Realities of AI Chatbots," a special discussion with journalists @kashhill.bsky.social (N.Y. Times) and @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social (Reuters), moderated by @mnickelsburg.bsky.social (KUOW). Event info: www.cip.uw.edu/2026/02/16/r...
Join us for ‘The Risks and Realities of AI Chatbots’ event on April 7
Join us for a special conversation on April 7, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library.
cip.uw.edu
Who is the Big Tobacco of today? In new work, we find 50% of high profile social media papers are connected to big tech through funding, collaboration and employment. Most connections aren't disclosed. @jbakcoleman.bsky.social @jevinwest.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com 1 arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research
To what extent is social media research independent from industry influence? Leveraging openly available data, we show that half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to indus...
arxiv.org
Some coverage of our new findings, with perspectives and thoughts from @shelbygrossman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @naomioreskes.bsky.social, and @profsanderlinden.bsky.social
Kai Kupferschmidt@kakape.bsky.social · 7mo ago“While we cannot definitively show that industry funding in this area is redirecting attention from products to consumers, our results are consistent with this possibility.” Preprint suggests “industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque.”🧪
One of the issues that has come up again and again in my reporting on misinformation and social media is the massive influence social media companies have on research in the field. Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Nearly a third of social media research has undisclosed ties to industry, preprint claims
Industry-linked studies were also more likely to focus on particular topics, suggesting these ties may be skewing the field
science.org
Applications are open for the second annual Disinformation Summer Institute. This is a 4-day, intensive summer institute intended primarily for early career researchers. It will be held at IslandWood. Beautiful place! Applications short and due February 15th, 2026. More info: disinfoinstitute.org
Disinformation Summer Institute (DSI) - Disinformation Summer Institute
Disinformation Disinformation is false or misleading information created and spread to advance policy, political, economic or ideological goals. It is sometimes used by industries, governments, and ot...
disinfoinstitute.org
It’s really hard to defend industry academic collaborations with meta as earnest, if they’re internally burying evidence of harm. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv. There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
The Canopy Neurodiversity Foundation awarded a $15 million grant to the UW Information School to support the launch of the UW Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment. ischool.uw.edu/news/2025/10...
The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
AI-generated scientific hypotheses lag human ones when put to the test
Machines still face hurdles in identifying fresh research paths, study suggests
science.org
Research for grants rather than grants for research. This kind of policy, especially with additional cuts to federal funding, will create perverse incentives that will have consequences on the actual science that this whole system is supposed to support. www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...
Duke School of Medicine plans salary cuts for tenured faculty who do not meet grant expectations
Set to go in effect in 2026, the proposed policy would apply to the School’s basic sciences units. These units rely heavily on grants from the National Institutes of Health, which have been increasing...
dukechronicle.com
NIH is already feeling the effects of LLMs. A new policy was posted yesterday that limits the number of proposals that can be submitted by any one investigator. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-25-132: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications NOT-OD-25-132. NIH
grants.nih.gov
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
US judge blocks slashing of universities' federal funding from National Science Foundation
A federal judge on Friday prevented the National Science Foundation from sharply cutting research funding provided to universities in the latest legal setback to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to slash government support of research at major academic institutions.
reuters.com
Into the “golden age of science that is transparent, rigorous, and trustworthy”… www.notus.org/health-scien... h/t @shahanmemon.bsky.social
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
notus.org
Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem? theconversation.com/evidence-sho...
Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem?
On the internet, nobody knows you’re a chatbot.
theconversation.com
Given concerns of anthropomorphic seduction, should we lean into human-like abilities of LLMs or should we look to dehumanize them? Sandra Peter, Kai Riemer, and I write about the benefits and dangers of anthropomorphic conversational agents in @pnas.org. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The benefits and dangers of anthropomorphic conversational agents | PNAS
A growing body of research suggests that the recent generation of large language model (LLMs) excel, and in many cases outpace humans, at writing p...
pnas.org
What could go wrong? www.raps.org/news-and-art...
FDA plans to roll out AI agency-wide for reviews in June
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to implement AI tools throughout the agency to assist in conducting scientific reviews following the successful completion of a pilot program ...
raps.org
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
science.org
The University of Washington has stopped processing all NSF grants on or after May 5th due to the uncertainty of the new 15% indirect rate. This is devastating, especially for junior faculty and early-career researchers. How many other universities will follow suite?
It's official. 15% ICR on NSF grants. My favorite line: "Reducing administrative burdens for awardee institutions." Say the opposite of what is true... the communication strategy of our time: www.nsf.gov/policies/doc...
Policy Notice: Implementation of Standard 15% Indirect Cost Rate
nsf.gov
My new piece in @theguardian.com Techno-optimism is human pessimism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett
Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like ways
theguardian.com
Musk has received $13B in government contracts over the last 5 yrs. With all his fuss about the $9B/yr in overhead to the more than 2,500 universities conducting lifesaving research, I am curious when he is going to turn DOGE on his own contracts and ‘efficiencies’. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...
Elon Musk’s Business Empire Scores Benefits Under Trump Shake-Up
Government investigations into Mr. Musk’s companies are stalling amid President Trump’s firings and Biden administration resignations.
nytimes.com
Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? Looking forward to feedback. thebullshitmachines.com
INTRODUCTION
thebullshitmachines.com
Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2y agoModern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? Jevin West (@jevinwest.bsky.social) and I have spent the last eight months developing the course on large language models (LLMs) that we think every college freshman needs to take. thebullshitmachines.com
Robert Jones, former Chancellor at the University of Illinois, will be the new President here at the University of Washington. news.uillinois.edu/view/7815/71...
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones to step down
Robert Jones plans to step down as University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor and vice president of the University of Illinois System at the end of the current academic year, bringing what wil...
news.uillinois.edu
