You've X'd your last X

You've broken your last social scene.

📣 Come visit us in Seville! Submit your work to the 2026 ECAT research workshop. Deadline 17 August 📣 #genAI #DSA #ECAT

Admittedly, it's been a while since our last newsletter. But no worries, we've tried to make up for it with a juicy package that should make for some great Friday reading. Let us know if we missed anything - and be sure to share it with anyone to whom it may be helpful!

Millions are using chatbots regularly—including for mental health help. But the public, clinicians, and policymakers still know little about the risks. Chris Mills Rodrigo on the dangerous knowledge gap and what's being done to close it.

Literally all the referees, including the American ones, should boycott. But nobody will because most people excuse racism unless it's happening to them personally.

Happy to announce that our Opinion article about the hotly debated EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has been accepted for publication in Communications of the ACM! Preprint here: arxiv.org/abs/2512.14223

🪶 após o #buildpeace2025 a hora de levar para casa 🇵🇹 a faísca da tecnologia deliberativa 💫 Tech+Democracy MeetUp Build Up - Sparkable - MyPolis 📅 10/12 🕧 18h Vamos conversar sobre tecnologia para promover a coesão, não o conflito 👉 luma.com/yvr7hnrt @tugate.ch @direitosdigitais.pt

📊 The #DSA data access portal is live, and VLOPs/VLOSEs have begun publishing their data catalogues. Trying to collect the links again: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

📣 If you are a researcher interested in studying the risks of online platforms, this is for you! 🧐 Check the FAQ here: algorithmic-transparency.ec.europa.eu/news/faqs-ds... ✍️Apply here: data-access.dsa.ec.europa.eu/home #DSA #Article40 #DataAccess

A nossa equipa pode ser pequena, mas a ambição continua a crescer. 🚀 Temos novas ideias para pôr em prática, mas para isso precisamos do teu apoio. Para saberes como apoiar o jornalismo independente, é aqui: shifter.pt/apoiar-shift... ✨

ec.europa.eu/commission/p... EC Preliminary Findings - Meta and TikTok in breach of their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the #DigitalServicesAct

Every time I sit down to write a piece I feel certain that I would rather die than actually write it and yet somehow I would rather die ten times harder before I ever let the word machine write for me.

New article on three lies that longtermists spread about their ideology. These are: (1) That they care about avoiding human extinction. (2) That they care about the long-term future. And (3) that "future people matter." I explain why these are lies below!! Like, share, and subscribe for more. :-)

How capable are AI models? Sounds like an easy question, but the benchmarks that companies use to test their models actually have tons of problems.

Not to miss!

In this piece for Tech Policy Press, @dscheykopp.bsky.social , @ulrikeklinger.bsky.social, @claesdevreese.bsky.social and I argue that it's time for regulators, researchers, and platforms to fulfil their roles and standards set by the delegated act on data access.

A huge milestone was achieved today in the EU towards our common understanding of risks in the online world. If you are a researcher interested in studying societal risks related to very large online platforms and search engines, this is for you! #DSA digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/comm...

Exploring Digital Services Act (DSA) and its implications for research. Exciting panel @icwsm.bsky.social with Oana Goga, Krishna Gummadi, Silvia Merisio, and Francesco Pierri. #icwsm

Celebramos hoje o 40º aniversário da assinatura do Tratado de Adesão de Portugal. Portugal enriqueceu a nossa União com a sua alma única, feita de coragem, saudade e empreendedorismo. Lembra-nos que os mares mais difíceis não se temem: navegam-se.

📣 Call for research contributions 📣 ECAT Research Workshop 2025 Submission deadline: 20 August 2025 The European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency #ECAT is inviting researchers to submit proposals for its 2025 workshop. Details here: algorithmic-transparency.ec.europa.eu/ecat-researc...

📣 Last day to submit your abstract to the Ethics and Responsibility in AI track at #EPIA2025 (Faro, 1-3 Oct 2025). Full paper deadline: May 27 More info: epia2025.ualg.pt/tt-ethics-an...

We are excited to invite poster submissions and travel support applications for EWAF'25! 📜Posters submission deadline Tuesday, June 3, 2025 (AoE) 👉 2025.ewaf.org/submitting/c...) 🚂 Travel support application deadline: Sunday, June 1, 2025 👉 2025.ewaf.org/attending/re...

Well that's a relief www.bath.ac.uk/announcement...

"Pictures are famous for their humanness, not for their pictureness." Kurt Vonnegut discussion of art in his 1997 novel Timequake offers one explanation why people might find AI creations unsatisfying.

We cannot give up the possibility, the magic that will happen when people everywhere can access knowledge and culture, everywhere. That is the real secret to survival and a thriving planet. Not their machines.

“At 3C of global heating, climate damage cannot be insured against, covered by governments, or adapted to. That means no more mortgages or new real estate devt, no long-term investment, no financial stability. The financial sector as we know it ceases to function and capitalism ceases to be viable.”

🔴Como é que os espaços digitais polarizados se podem tornar deliberativos? #BuildPeace2025 🌍Barcelona 📅21-23 November 2025 ☮️3 dias de debates e reflexões sobre tecnologia e como entendemos a #paz 💻Envie a sua proposta a partir de agora e até 30 de abril! @jvinagre.joaoms.com

Next year, the EU will require cars to have buttons & dials -- not just touchscreens -- to get a top safety rating. This is a great move. Drivers can fiddle with knobs & buttons without taking their eyes off the road, but they can't do that with touchscreens. (Even better: Tesla will hate this)

We took X to court. And we won! ⚖️ The courts ruled that X must urgently grant us access to their publicly available data via their API. This access is critical for our analysis of online public discourse ahead of the upcoming German elections. Read: bit.ly/4gBWGp4 Here's what's happened 1/3 👇

Anyone who happened to know that the White House would announce and then suspend tariffs within 24 hours just made a boatload of money.

A message to all app developers. My choice of language for the operating system does not necessarily mean that I want your app to be in the same language. At least give me the option to change it FFS!

World hits 1.5C warming Or to put it another way: The people who questioned climate science and emissions cuts were wrong then, are wrong now, and we will all pay a huge price if we listen to them. www.ft.com/content/fd91...

"Each task consumed approximately 1,785 kWh of energy—about the same amount of electricity an average U.S. household uses in two months" This is one per-task estimate from Salesforce's head of sustainability -->> www.linkedin.com/posts/bgamaz...

Standing on the shoulders of giant language models

Super-interesting thread! Says a lot about the importance of having regulation that makes people feel confident that their data will not be misused.

This chart is incredible, and I think it shows two importantly different phenomena 1. The decline of daily newspaper reading is not a 21st century thing. It's a straight arrow down from the 1980s. (I'd blame cable TV.) 2. But the rise of "never" looks much more like an Internet phenomenon.

I'm definitely getting old...

The deadline for submitting feedback on the draft delegated act on data access for researchers has been extended to *December 10, 2024*. Please share your view!

To all the researchers here on @bsky.app for whom the topic data access from online platforms is relevant, please consider writing a short feedback on the draft of the delegated acts for the DSA: ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

A mapping of how Bluesky is becoming the new Scientific Twitter mikeyoungacademy.dk/bluesky-is-e...

Not sure if humans wandering erratically around chasing imaginary creatures, jumping in front of traffic or falling off waterfronts are the best training data.

📣 Dedicated Q&A webinar on data access for researchers under the Digital Services Act. Date: *Tomorrow* 19 November 2024, 10:00-11:30 Sign up here: algorithmic-transparency.ec.europa.eu/events/qa-se... #ECAT #DSA

The far right after we leave Twitter.

What a chart. www.economist.com/interactive/...

We are hiring! If you are a #Psychology #Sociology #Neuro student, BSc or MSc level, and care about the role of human biases in the spread of #disinformation please consider applying (Lisbon based) If you are not but happen to know who is, do share euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/287003 @spac.bsky.social

Nice feature here 👇