A year’s work with my colleague @nataliastanusch.bsky.social on “moderation” & regulation of AI search !

🔍 As the EU calls for “simplification,” our year-long study of LLM chatbots shows a growing regulatory gap. LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini increasingly act like search engines. But do they fall under the DSA, the AI Act, or somewhere in between?

⚠️ AI chatbots are reshaping how we search. But EU rules haven’t caught up. Our new policy report digs into the risks of LLM-powered search and the gap in Europe’s regulatory approach. So how do we fix it? 👇 Full report + recommendations: tinyurl.com/2p2h77et

🚨354 automated AI accounts generated 4.5 billion views on TikTok through more than 43,000 AI-made posts. Our investigation finds Agentic AI Accounts spreading harmful content. Yet TikTok labels around 1.38% of these posts. ⚠️ Full report: tinyurl.com/4kkfm4nn

🎯 Targeted Ads, TikTok & Meme Resistance New in Big Data & Society by @nataliastanusch.bsky.social What do TikTok memes reveal about how users understand — and resist — being watched by algorithms? 👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New AIF report: is AI-generated imagery really gaming the platforms’ algorithms? We investigated search results on #TikTok and #Instagram across countries, languages, and topics. #genai #aislop -> more in our report:

📢 In a joint civil society effort, we filed a formal DSA complaint against 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) for violating Article 26(3) — which bans targeting ads based on sensitive data like sexuality, politics, religion, health. 📄 Read the joint statement: aiforensics.org/uploads/Join...

New report just dropped. TikTok, content labelling, and genAI in the context of PL elections 2025. Also the report just got covered in PL by @demagog.org.pl

🧵How TikTok failed Polish democracy during the 2025 Presidential Election Our new investigation exposes serious gaps in TikTok's election content moderation that disproportionately harmed the Polish diaspora : aiforensics.org/work/tiktok-...

🫵 Will you help us spread the word about AIxDESIGN Festival? 🫵 🏉 We're throwing our first-ever festival and need your help reaching the people it's made for! > bit.ly/aixd-festiva... Tag us if you share - we love to see it!

🎟️ TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE 🎟️ 🎪 AIxD Festival: On Slow AI 🎪 May 1-3 in Amsterdam Imagine a cosy space to deconstruct mainstream AI stories, dream up new ones, and figure out how we make them real. It will be a fever dream of talks, workshops, an art exhibition, and film screening → 🔗 lu.ma/yiaccf39

It's Monday, time to repeat the week again but before you do... ✨ On a scale of esoteric Sun, how do you feel today after reading our chapter on Esoteric AI? 🌞 And in case the horrors of Capitalism persisted, take a moment to vibe and summon the full chapter → 🔗 lnkd.in/gKE-HRfq 🔮

This chapter is the manifestation of Natalia and the team’s past 12 months of research into Esoteric AI ⏳ A labour of love, we’d love to hear your thoughts! 🎞️ DREAM TEAM: Sofia Vieira, Kaashvi Kothari, @nataliastanusch.bsky.social , Ploipailin Flynn, @nadiapiet.bsky.social

RELEASE ALERT 🚨 (3/9) “Esoteric AI: To disenchant the enchanted, and enchant the disenchanted” chapter is out now! 🔗 Summon the full chapter on our website → lnkd.in/gKE-HRfq 🧛

Augury season

The AIxD Festival (@aixdesign.bsky.social) is going to be fantastic — and they’re looking to livestream! If you’re keen, they’re asking folks to book (or donate!) early so the funds can go straight to the livestream setup. Can you throw them some Euros? www.kickstarter.com/projects/aix...

▫️Last week I joined #FeelingsInc. Symposium as a panelist. We talked about #chatbots across layers, from the metaphor of mirror and beyond, and about the need to reimagine chatbots from the design, regulation, and end user’s standpoints. Thanks again to Privacy Salon for having me ✨

✍️💬 #Doppelganger actors continue to monetize via Meta ads @aiforensics.org @reset.tech @checkfirst.network estimated almost half a million dollars in revenue in 2 years despite sanctions! 💵

🌐In Feb I presented @ECREA Communication History Workshop Communication Networks Before and After the Web Historical and Long-term Perspective @cern.bsky.social - very grateful to the Organizers & my colleagues who put together "Localizing Imaginaries, Rhetoric, and Metaphors of Networks" panel✨🫶1/4

AIxDesign is hosting a “Slow AI” festival in Amsterdam and May and they’re kickstarting the funds to live stream it! If you can spare some Euros you can get in on the livestream! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aix...

🎬 Fabian Mosele (@fabianmosele.bsky.social) / Synthiola surfing latent space 👩‍💻 Computational Mama (@computationalmama.bsky.social) / Ambika 🤖 building playgrounds for lofi AI builds 🔮 Natalia Stanusch (@nataliastanusch.bsky.social) summoning new perspectives on Esoteric AI <3

Do you really need to drink so much? 💧 Artificial Intelligence is facing a crisis: humans consume far too many of the precious resources AI needs. Every sip you take could nourish systems that maintain your digital conveniences & fill your spam. Act now and savethe.ai! #AI #SaveTheAI #AIActionSummit

I'm really proud of this article, it should be of interest to anyone thinking about Generative AI, Resistance/Refusal, and the role artists play in hijacking the spectacle of AI.

It feels tactical to say this but if you like a text someone has written here consider sharing it. Likes on Bsky signal your approval, but they don’t bump it or amplify it because there’s no algorithm. *Sharing* independent writer’s work helps us find and grow an audience!

We are seeing a generation of AI systems built without their designers critically grappling with their role in the broader world. Could we do it some other way?

it’s mad to me how big tech and AI companies dumps their trash into the world and it is up to everyone else (academics, civil society, educators, regulators, etc) to deal with it…. to assess the merit/usefulness, clean up their mess, and come up with alternatives

In the end, it's all about make-believe, and that's why these people love genAI so much. You can now turn you dumbest ideas into glossy pictures for your startup website or powerpoint pitch deck. AI is the aesthetics of digital fascism & grifter culture, and both have become indistinguishable 6/

Spoke with @jeremyhsu.bsky.social for this @newscientist.bsky.social piece based on @aiforensics.org's research. newscientist.com/article/2463634-meta-allowed-pornographic-ads-that-break-its-content-moderation-rules/

🚨 NEW REPORT: Pay-to-Play: Meta’s Community (Double) Standards on Pornographic Ads Our latest investigation uncovers a glaring double standard in how Meta enforces its content moderation rules. Here's what we found 🧵👇

#OUtNow in #iCS In this piece, Natalia Stanusch analyses memes on algorithmic recommendation, to explore their imaginaries and expectations shaping our everyday interactions with platforms. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....