For $7 an hour, virtual assistants in the Philippines are using AI to write LinkedIn posts and comments on behalf of Western executives, fueling a "thought leadership" content mill https://restofworld.org/2026/virtual-assistant-linkedin-engagement/?utm_campaign=row-social

My overall impression is the gov realizes they have to regulate, but are nervous about scaring investment away. The result is a non-committal scaffold for maybe-stronger-regulation-later that creates uncertainty for both concerned citizens & businesses looking for clear signal of regulatory intent

Lots to digest here but one piece that sticks out is the proposed regulatory framework is mostly voluntary and opaque. Hinges on voluntary certification and selective safety partnerships & evaluations behind closed doors without clear public oversight mechanisms www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news...

NEW: A @wired.com analysis of Meta's app for its smart glasses found that the company has been adding code for face recognition since January, while saying that it is still "thinking through" whether to deploy it. @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/meta-s...

“Now, humans are directly guiding robots through expensive rigs that let them control the robots’ movements. Data collected using robot arms offer richer insights into motor skills and object manipulation. Encord charges clients up to $1,000 per hour for training data.”

𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐨 𝐗𝐈𝐕'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥, 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐬, offers a timely and critical reflection on the societal risks posed by artificial intelligence. It's arguments resonate with many of the findings and arguments in our field of research, including several points I make in 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝑬𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒎🧵1/5

"Technology is not simply a tool. When it becomes the standard by which everything is judged, it begins to dictate what matters and what can be discarded, reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency." - Pope Leo (92)

"We must avoid the 'Babel syndrome,' the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance."

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” Dune (1965) Frank Herbert

Tech Policy Press fellow Petra Molnar highlights the AI Resist List: a global database documenting acts of resistance to the AI industry. From legal challenges and worker organizing to artistic interventions, the project seeks to challenge the “scale at all costs” development of AI.

SIGGRAPH goes to #FAccT2026! Congrats to my co-authors @posada.website, @avmenon.bsky.social and @bsky.alexaschor.com We analyzed every SIGGRAPH, ToG, and SIGGRAPH Asia paper from 1974-2024 to see how race is imagined in graphics research. The results were not good. arxiv.org/abs/2605.14835 1/

Behind every AI answer. Every filtered feed. Every recommendation that knows you a little too well. There are people. Millions of data workers—annotators, content moderators, AI trainers—whose labor makes the AI economy run. techequity.us/ai-supply-ch...

📣 At ACM FAccT 2026, we will also publish the paper “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽: 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵’ 𝗜𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻,” a collaboration led by Sheza Munir. 🔗 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚-𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩: lnkd.in/eSgiy2V8

“That’s why the students are booing, I think. They’re experiencing AI in realtime as a forecloser of futures; as the cruel new face of hyper-scaling capitalism, as the prime agent moving a world that’s become a deck stacked against them.” — @bcmerchant.bsky.social really nails it, as usual

Check out our new work! With @theodore-kim.bsky.social @posada.website and Alexa Schor!

🚨 Our new paper, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝, co-authored with @yale.edu colleagues, Theodore Kim, Alexa Schor, and @avmenon.bsky.social, will be published at @facct.bsky.social 2026. 🔗 Read the preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2605.14835

Join @dairinstitute.bsky.social and workers on the front line of resisting AI as we release the Luddite Lab Resource Hub, a new resource for fighting AI at work. 9 AM PT / Noon ET / 4 PM GMT on Wednesday, May 20 www.eventbrite.com/e/launching-...

In March, Meta said it would "reduce its reliance on third-party vendors for content enforcement." But cutting its contract with Sama, which led to layoffs in Kenya, looks a lot more like Meta “ending the work… [because] it didn't want workers speaking out" www.bbc.com/news/article...

Amazing work from @posada.website and his team putting on the first International Network of Digital Labor conference in North America. I love a little themed conference and it was so cool to have the scientists and the organizers and the lawyers and the advocates in the same room for a day.

Dr. Julian Posada (Yale University) is sharing the forthcoming publication of his book, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐦: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, available this October from the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧!

Just a week before it was due to start, #Zambia has cancelled #RightsCon2026 - leaving thousands of international attendees in limbo. Which of the usual suspects pressured them to do this? charlesmok.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

🚨D-7 The call for papers for INDL-9 is still open—until April 30, 2026. This time our annual conference will be hosted on Sept 9–11, 2026 at the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva. www.indl.network/indl-9/ cc. @ubiquity75.xyz @posada.website @milamiceli.bsky.social #ai #work #labor

I preordered mine - and you can too!!!

#PlatformExtractivism is available for 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 (out Oct 20)! Thrilled to share what @geoplace.bsky.social has to say about the book: "A grounded and uncompromising account of the infrastructures and workers that sustain AI." 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤: www.ucpress.edu/books/platfo... #BookRecommendation #Books

Data centers are a physical manifestation of AI infrastructure and they've become a flashpoint precisely because they're tractable. They exist in specific places, consume specific resources, can be seen and pointed to. I spoke with @lorenaoneil.com @rollingstone.com about our urgent AI reckoning.

This week, I’ll be presenting my research at Princeton University’s Anthropology Department for a conference titled “the future of (data) work.” A huge thank you to Beth Semel and Hunter Akridge for the invitation and for organizing such an important event!

INDL-NA, the North American chapter of our International Network on Digital Labor, holds the 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜, hosted at Yale University in April. The event, organized by @posada.website, opens with a keynote by Julia Ticona. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/internatio...

Registration is now open for @indl.bsky.social's 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 at @yale.edu (Apr. 29), with a Doctoral Colloquium on Apr. 28. Join us to discuss workers building, using, and resisting AI. Please note: both events are in person only. indl-yale.eventbrite.com

I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.

We are pleased to announce the Fall launch of the Computing, Culture, and Society certificate. To commemorate the program, we are hosting a conversation with Paola Ricaurte, Kalindi Vora, and me this Monday at noon at Yale's Humanities Quadrangle. Our website will be online by then in csoc.yale.edu

Very interesting essay (as always) by @melhogan.bsky.social on "The Ends of AI: Sycophancy and psychosis": "The rage against DEI and the humanities is part of the ongoing project of building up the logics of AI and metrics as the great authority." disjunctionsmag.com/articles/end...

Ben Goertzel, popularizer of the term AGI and creator of the Sophia robot, congratulating Jeffrey Epstein the day after Epstein was released from prison. Goertzel is mentioned in the files nearly 800 times, including well after the Miami Herald investigation in 2018.

interested in questions of tech, labor, and worker futures? on April 10 in Princeton i'm hosting an outstanding lineup of panelists at "the future of (data) work," where speakers will discuss the ethnographic, archival, and participatory action research they've conducted with data + tech workers

With the cover now finalized, I am pleased to announce my forthcoming book: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐦: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Available this October from @ucpress.bsky.social s. 🧵 1/4

I'll be at Yale today for a guest lecture in the “Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society" course! My talk, “Global Imperatives for an Equity-Centered Approach to AI Governance,” will discuss my latest research, work, and vision for inclusive approaches to AI oversight.

Rest in peace Vicente Rafael. Just learned of his passing from @dukepress.bsky.social. We lose a giant today.

THE SILICON GAZE After reading a really interesting paper from @oii.ox.ac.uk (link below), I asked ChatGPT (version 5.2) to give an ranking of countries by IQ, 'extrapolating' and 'estimating' where data was not available. I then asked it to provide an 'approximate' heat map of the estimates 1/2

Absolutely damning from @aaronschaffer.com, @willoremus.com, & @nitasha.bsky.social. To get more data, Anthropic: * "destructively scanned" millions of books * downloaded the shadow library LibGen * hailed another shadow library's arrival as "just in time!!!" www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

“A lawsuit filed by a group of job applicants claims that some A.I. employment screening tools should be subject to the same Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements as credit agencies.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/b...

Today, a case was filed on behalf of the City of New York to get our city’s delivery workers the money they are owed.

For too long, companies like Motoclick stole tips from delivery workers and ignored the minimum pay rate law. Under our administration, they won’t get away with it any longer.

If Canada & others aren't willing or able to prevent Grok from being used and monetized as an automated sexual abuse tool then we really shouldn't expect any type of meaningful AI regulation to come from political leaders

If gen AI systems often just repeat what they have seen elsewhere, then researchers using LLMs to simulate human behavior might have a serious ethics conundrum: maybe such studies are just analyzing observational data without consent? cc @mjcrockett.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Having served on the editorial advisory board for this book, I’ve seen firsthand the depth of insight it offers. This is a foundational text and a must-read for everyone in the field.

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1930 & sound recordings from 1925 will enter the public domain in the US, like: 💄 Dizzy Dishes, first Betty Boop cartoon 🕵️♀️ First 4 Nancy Drew novels 🚂 The Little Engine That Could 🎩 Morocco 🍑 Georgia on My Mind and many more! 🧵👇

New article out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social (with Dušan Cotoras). We examine how AI ethics is negotiated in practice through an ethnographic study of a predictive system developed inside Chile’s Public Defender’s Office. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

“In a Bloomberg interview, Vincke admitted that Larian has been pushing generative AI internally, even though it hasn't led to gains in efficiency or speed.” The “need” to rush into AI adoption is executive peer pressure. It is the ideology of business leadership triumphing over data and people.

The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.