Yesterday Anthropic released its new Claude model Fable. As widely and controversially discussed, Fable comes with strong guardrails, some visible to users, others less visible in their operation. This gives us a powerful preview of where the alignment of public AI models is headed.

In a recent paper, @adrauc.bsky.social and I analyze how people react to controversial adjustments of AI model output. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

What do people think about AI-driven persuasion? In a new working paper with @adrauc.bsky.social, we show the hidden costs of attempts at automated opinion change in politics. arxiv.org/abs/2603.27413

Political campaigns worldwide experiment with AI. But how do people see different electoral uses of AI and with what consequences? In a new study in @polcommjournal.bsky.social with @adrauc.bsky.social and @kunkakom.bsky.social, we address these questions. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/

Public support for #DeepfakeRegulation: In an online survey, @dnvglr.bsky.social, @adrauc.bsky.social and @notsaved.bsky.social explored presumed effects, perceived risk and trust in institutions regarding deepfakes of Swiss citizens. doi.org/10.5771/2192...

third part in @dnvglr.bsky.social, @adrauc.bsky.social & me's deepfake study, this on risk perception and regulation support doi.org/10.5771/2192...

📢 New paper out! What do people want from AI systems? How should outputs be adjusted? And how do views differ between countries? @adrauc.bsky.social and I explore this for @socialmedia-soc.bsky.social in Public Opinion on the Politics of AI Alignment. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New paper in Telematics and Informatics with @adrauc.bsky.social, Joshua Philip Suarez, Nikka Marie Sales: Winning and losing with Artificial Intelligence: What public discourse about ChatGPT tells us about how societies make sense of technological change.

Started the day at the #AoIR2025 conference with a great panel on the challenges of using LLMs in computational communication research, also featuring several excellent @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleagues. Liveblog here:

📢 New publication on the positioning of executives on LinkedIn. We analyze more than 4'500 posts of CEOs and CEOs of EURO STOXX 50 companies and find distinct communicator profiles (re. content, timing, frequency, audiences and engagement). 🔗 www.emerald.com/ccij/article...

🧵 New publication: How do people feel about regulating #AI in election campaigns? 🧵 In a new article, @adrauc.bsky.social, @kunkakom.bsky.social, and I examine when and why people support stronger AI regulation in political competition. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 👇

📢 New Journal Article: AI & Deliberation 📢 What impact does #AI have on democratic deliberation? Together with @adrauc.bsky.social, I explore this question in a new article in Government Information Quarterly. Findings in the thread 🧵👇 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... (1/7)

More governments may turn to AI and algorithms for processing tax returns and screening public benefits applications - but a survey shows this risks eroding trust in government and citizens' feelings of democratic control. 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

🧵1/ In a new working paper with @kunkakom.bsky.social & @adrauc.bsky.social, we examine how people feel about AI use by governments. We find an unsettling tension: information about AI-driven efficiency gains boosts trust – but makes people feel less in control. arxiv.org/abs/2505.01085

New paper: What increases people’s support for policy responses to #climate #change? ✊ We find: It’s not necessarily firsthand experience of extreme weather events. Instead, it’s whether people think that these events are linked to climate change. Here is the paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🔎

"Our results suggest that a social media message would have to be sent by more than 47 constituents for it to exceed the value of a single face-to-face meeting." academic.oup.com/poq/advance-...

What do people want from AI moderation? 🚨 New Working Paper with @adrauc.bsky.social: What do people expect from Artificial Intelligence? 📊 Public attitudes on AI alignment in 🇩🇪 Germany and 🇺🇸 the U.S. [Link to paper: arxiv.org/abs/2504.124... 🧵 A short summary of what we found – and why it matters:

Using Principal-Agent Theory, our new paper argues delegating governmental tasks to #AI undermines feelings of being in control, leading to a "failure-by-success": Initial AI efficiency drives wider adoption, ultimately eroding citizens' sense of control, a cornerstone of democratic legitimacy

I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of JAMA Pediatrics until we can figure out what is going on goodscience.substack.com/p/the-resear... I mean, come ON

Zürcher Forschende haben im Reddit-Forum ChangeMyView KI-Bots für ein unethisches Experiment eingeschleust. Darunter fiktive Personas, wie ein Vergewaltigungsopfer. Dies ohne Moderatoren und Community zu informieren. Reddit-User wurden getäuscht. Forscher:innen sind entsetzt⬇️ dnip.ch/2025/04/28/r...

We are trying to help! @sarahagilbert.bsky.social @michaelzimmer.bsky.social @profprof.bsky.social Naiyan Jones and I published a paper earlier this year about research ethics for Reddit that includes discussion of e.g. possible community harms. cfiesler.medium.com/how-to-remem...

This is one of the worst violations of research ethics I've ever seen. Manipulating people in online communities using deception, without consent, is not "low risk" and, as evidenced by the discourse in this Reddit post, resulted in harm. Great thread from Sarah, and I have additional thoughts. 🧵

This feels like the defining image from this year’s Midwest Political Science Association annual meeting. The National Science Foundatipn paid for a booth in the exhibit hall. But the booth sits empty, because NSF has been DOGE’d, and there is no one left to send.

New blog post! In which I explain the issue with mediation analysis and sketch out one way to deal with the underlying causal inference problem -- in just a bit over 1,000 words! If you have never found the time to read up on this, now is your chance. www.the100.ci/2025/03/20/r...

This letter is a direct attack on the independence of American universities. Literally seeks to use government power to dictate how private universities are organized and operated.

My first strike ever. I have joined demonstrations before. But Monday I will be on strike. As part of the national series of strikes across the country @woinactie.bsky.social Against draconian, shortsighted cuts to research and higher education 🟥 Hopefully joined by many @uva.nl colleagues.

📢 Neues Working Paper: KI & Deliberation 📢 Welche Rolle spielt Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) bei demokratischen Diskussionen? Zusammen mit @adrauc.bsky.social habe ich diese Frage untersucht. arxiv.org/abs/2503.07690 Ergebnisse im Thread 🧵👇 (1/7)

Losing $30 billion to trigger the libs.

The process of making the chart was recorded as a gif using {camcorder} in #RStats 📹

So massive swaths of social media prioritized right-wing content in the run-up to elections, incl Musk supporting the AfD, yet it looks like results for AfD are not higher than predicted. I’m no expert on elections but wondering what that tells us about limits of direct social media influence?

Wrote Scientific Reports February 8 2024 that a newly published meta-analysis on mindfulness & brain morphology excluded all null-findings and therefore ... by definition found a relationship. Still no proper response from the journal (other then many "we'll look into it"). It's been a year now.

In case you’re wondering what the TikTok kids have been up to

Reviewing a paper for a journal, and whoever compiled this scale.... And this is returned to the authors! I really did not like the paper, but "dreadful" or "useless"?.. is not something I want to send to the authors...

Friday! Join us for a joint book talk with Wen Liu, speaking about Feeling Asian American: Racial Flexibility Between Assimilation and Oppression, and @brianhioe.bsky.social, speaking about Taipei at Daybreak! www.facebook.com/events/63655...

Film stills from the shooting of an alternate ending of #IntheMoodforLove (2000) - with Tony and Maggie reuniting in Angkor Wat. #花樣年華 #張曼玉 #梁朝偉 #王家衛

Deadline in two days: Guarini Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asian American Politics 2025-27 @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social apply.interfolio.com/160584 (quantitative focus) Please apply and share widely!

Everyone hates workplace communication and social networking tools, right? Except... they might actually be good. My latest for @fastcompany.com on a new study www.fastcompany.com/91277631/tho...

On Wednesday, an unprecedented memo from the International Asteroid Warning Network reached government officials. The memo said “Asteroid 2024 YR4,” first detected in late December, might hit our planet on Dec. 22, 2032.

the mvbind() trick in {brms} is great for obtaining a (mostly) Bayesian partial monotonic correlation (Spearman-like) [code in alt text]

I recently spoke with A Martínez from @npr.org Morning Edition about political influencers and our shifting media ecology - audio & transcript out today and linked here ⬇️ www.npr.org/2024/12/04/n...

Why economists need to review the preregistration!* This is a hot mess; hard to believe it's in the QJE datacolada.org/122 * docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Also note that, thanks to Musk, Meta didn’t have to test the waters at all before today’s announcement. He showed them the path. Expect even more to follow.

Never in my career have I seen such a giant gulf between What Companies Think Is the Most Important Thing in the World and What Normal People Have Absolutely Any Interest in Whatsoever

I was preparing to pitch an op-ed on the nationwide protests calling for President Yoon's resignation, aiming to provide global context amid the limited international coverage. Given the urgency, I’m sharing it now. I didn’t expect events to escalate this quickly. #SouthKorea #Democracy

I know it's hard for Western countries to look to the rest of the world as role models for anything, but damn, Western politicians could really learn a thing or two from South Koreans about going all in to defend democracy (specifically thinking of Germany & the US rn, but I'm sure there's more)

in @matthewhitt.bsky.social and my book project "Supremely Polarizing," we argue that support for rule of law is a euphemism for pro-status-quo-authority; such beliefs cease to function as "democratic values" - republicans score high, democrats lower but law is now used to harm rather than defend...

I am happy to share this article by @florian-toepfl.bsky.social , Pascal Jürgens and me recently published at @icsjournal.bsky.social

Big news! My book "Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation" is officially available for pre-order through University of Washington Press! Here's a brief summary of the book, contested politics, and why Taiwan matters for political science:

“I learned [how to plot In The Mood For Love] from the Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar. In his stories he is fond of the ouroboros structure - you know, a ring formed by a snake eating its tail.” -Wong Kar Wai 王家衛