Boston! Mark your calendars for 3/23: Come grab a beer and learn about my new book! Book Talk: Degrees of Freedom: On Robotics and Social Justice Date: Mar 23 • 17:00 • Lamplighter www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-...

Book Talk: Degrees of Freedom: On Robotics and Social Justice

Join us to learn about "Degrees of Freedom: On Robotics and Social Justice", featuring a book talk and Q/A.

eventbrite.com

Denverites: • Excited by the anti-flock protests? • Thrilled that Palantir is OUT of Denver? Let's set our sights on drone surveillance next. Read why in my op-ed in Colorado's favorite independent newspaper (@coloradosun.com) coloradosun.com/2026/02/17/o...

Opinion: Denverites want Flock license plate cameras out of town. Air surveillance should be next to go.

Denver police are flying hundreds of drone missions over the city, but with little outrage as seen with Flock.

coloradosun.com

When the CIA did this to the Senate it was one of the biggest intel scandals of the 21st century. But here it’s not just a huge scandal, it’s dumb: Pam Bondi is so bad at her job she brought the evidence herself to an open congressional hearing. www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j...

CIA admits to spying on Senate staffers

John Brennan issues apology after acknowledging that agency spied on Senate intelligence committee’s staff members

theguardian.com

Christopher Wiggins@cwnewser.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A Reuters photographer captured this image of a page from Pam Bondi's "burn book," which she used to counter any questions from Democratic lawmakers during an unhinged hearing today. It looks like the DOJ monitored members of Congress’s searches of the unredacted Epstein files. Just wow.

More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...

Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News

About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.

apple.news

Thank you to Alex Miller from @onstagecolorado.bsky.social for having me on the Pod to discuss this Friday's ROBOT RIOT Comedy show + Dramatheurgy! onstagecolorado.com/podcast-a-ro...

Podcast: A Robot Riot in Denver

Talking with robot researcher and improv comedian Dr. Tom Williams,

onstagecolorado.com

Very thankful to Toni Tresca at @westword.com for interviewing me about my new monthly Robotics+AI infused comedy show /Robot Riot/! www.westword.com/arts-culture...

Robot Riot Brings Comedy and Science to RISE Comedy

New monthly show at RISE Comedy, Robot Riot, blends improv, standup and ethics for a uniquely Denver night of comedy and tech.

westword.com

Great article interviewing @tomwilliams.phd about the AI-themed comedy show happening at RISE Comedy in Denver this Friday... including me performing stand up! (Also brb adding "headliner" to my CV.) www.westword.com/arts-culture...

Robot Riot Brings Comedy and Science to RISE Comedy

New monthly show at RISE Comedy, Robot Riot, blends improv, standup and ethics for a uniquely Denver night of comedy and tech.

westword.com

I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable. Biden himself said they were fabricated! www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

IDF accepts Gaza Health Ministry death toll of over 71,000 Palestinians killed in the war

Although Many International Experts Have Accepted the Health Ministry's Data as Reliable, and Even Conservative Relative to the True Death Toll, Israel Had Refused to Accept the Health Ministry's Coun...

haaretz.com

Getting served a RING add on this story about Flock cameras being operated in Denver despite the lack of a legal contract is just too perfect. I discuss Ring and police surveillance in Chapter 6 of Degrees of Freedom. direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

"True to an engineering ethos of ’doing better,’ [Degrees of Freedom] explores the foundational aspects of power that invisibly shape robot design and ... how to build robots better suited for advancing social justice." — Ericka Johnson Available #OpenAccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255402...

3/n: "Should Delivery Robots Intervene if They Witness Civilian or Police Violence?" by T.Seassau surveys public opinion on this question, finding mixed support for intervention, and a need to codesign w/ victims of (police) violence. @tomwilliams.phd #ROMAN2025 #HRI #robots doi.org/10.1109/ro-m...

“For starters, the president claimed to have brought peace to the Middle East for the first time in “3,000 years.” It feels bizarre to even try to fact-check that, as it would be akin to fact-checking a president saying that the moon is made of Velveeta.”

Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 8mo ago

zeteo.com/p/trump-whit...

The Complicated Origins of “Ethical” Robotics Roboticist Dr. Tom Williams @tomwilliams.phd examines how early robot ethics reflected power and control — and why robotics should serve society, not just tech elites. 🎙️ Full episode: youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA #Podcast #DegreesOfFreedom #podcast

Who’s responsible when AI makes decisions? Dr. Tom Williams @tomwilliams.phd explains why deploying algorithms is still a human choice—even when we don’t fully understand the system. Full episode here 👉 youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA #EthicalAI #Robotics #TechResponsibility #DegreesOfFreedom

Another reason to call for #NoJusticeNoRobots! I discuss the significant surveillance risks of police drone programs in Chapter 6 ("End Effector") of my new book, "Degrees of Freedom" from @mitpress.bsky.social www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/798105...

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 8mo ago

Critics “worry that the drones could create a citywide surveillance network with few legal guardrails, that the footage they collect will be used to train private companies’ AI algorithms or that police will misuse emerging AI capabilities, like facial recognition.”

Excited to say that I'll be running more robot comedy events this spring! ROBOT RIOT brings together roboticists, ethicists, and some of Denver's funniest comedians, to inform the public about risks of AI and Robotics while making them laugh. Our first show is 2/6/26:

It's fitting that the cover on AI mindlessly apes an earlier creation and also displaces workers while elevating Silicon Valley plutocrats.

Should Robots Ever Be Soldiers? Dr. Tom Williams @tomwilliams.phd questions whether robots can make war more ethical at all. He argues the real goal isn’t better battles — it’s preventing conflict and ensuring robotics serves people, not the powerful. 👉 Full episode: youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA #podcast

Why Ethical Reasoning in Robots Is Non-Negotiable Humans assign moral intent to machines, even when it isn’t there. Dr. Tom Williams @tomwilliams.phd explains how robots influence human judgment and why ethical AI is essential to preventing real-world harm. Full episode → youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA

Bias Isn’t a Glitch — It’s Human Input with @tomwilliams.phd Robots absorb our norms and assumptions. The challenge is designing responsibly. The episode explores robotics built with empathy and ethics at the core. 🎧 Watch here: youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA #Robotics #TechResponsibilityBias #podcast

Robots: machines or new life? Dr. Williams @tomwilliams.phd breaks down why seeing robots as social beings shapes how we think and act. His mission: robots with empathy and ethics that serve the public, not just tech elites. Watch here: youtu.be/zs8zEJI4lEA #Robotics #AIEthics #TechForGood

In "Degrees of Freedom," @tomwilliams.phd explores why the field of robotics tends to reinforce white patriarchal systems of power—and how roboticists can work to change these systems: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255402...

IT'S OUT! Degrees of Freedom is out on shelves as of today! TODAY ONLY the book is 30% off with code MITP30 at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/798105.... Please share! If you got a copy, please post about it on your favorite platform, and tag me and MIT Press!

Degrees of Freedom (@mitpress.bsky.social) launches tomorrow! As a final preview, check out my episode of @theinternetiscrack.bsky.social! Other recent guests incl. @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy, @michaelzimmer.bsky.social, @davidgunkel.bsky.social Watch: lnkd.in/gbTh5vvj Listen: lnkd.in/ge9hy7Qd

How can #HRI researchers best incorporate #LLMs into robot architectures while respecting appropriate safety and guardrail considerations? And how should they report their use of LLMs? Find out in our new THRI paper! dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

Reporting Guidelines for Large Language Models in Human-Robot Interaction | ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction

The comparatively recent advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) has resulted in a wide array of new capabilities and components relevant to Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) researchers. LLMs are being ap...

dl.acm.org

This is what government censorship actually looks like: defunding entire fields, deporting researchers, and quite effectively chilling speech that helps people understand how our information systems are being exploited and calls out powerful people and platforms for their bullshit.

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 8mo ago

For the last decade, the pervasive spread of bullshit & manipulation of online platforms have been widely recognized societal concerns. Now non US citizens studying those subjects can be labeled “censors” & denied visas or deported from the US. Censorship, indeed. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

The actual reasoning, of course, is the Roberts court thinks racial gerrymanders should be legal, and that GOP power outweighs the text of legal statutes. But they appealed to the worst of Lawyer Brain. You're never allowed to call BS, and must treat bad faith as good, no matter how obvious it is.

Texas clearly did a racial gerrymander, which is illegal. A district court found that Texas did a racial gerrymander, rejecting the new map because it is illegal. But the Supreme Court reversed it. Because? Must assume the gerrymanderers were acting in good faith (despite the evidence otherwise).

If we're not at war, Pete Hegseth is a murderer. If we are at war, Pete Hegseth is still a murderer. He's a murderer. And you don't need to go to The Hague to hold him accountable because there are perfectly good, American laws AGAINST MURDER. My latest in @thenation.com

Pete Hegseth Should Be Charged With Murder

No matter how you look at the strikes on alleged “drug boats”—as acts of war or attacks on civilians—Hegseth has committed a crime and should be prosecuted.

thenation.com