Shannon Vallor
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shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor
@shannonvallor.bsky.social
15K followers 1.9K following 2.2K posts

Philosopher/AI Ethicist at Univ of Edinburgh, Director @technomoralfutures.bsky.social, co-Director @braiduk.bsky.social, author of Technology and the Virtues (2016) and The AI Mirror (2024). Views my own.

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Shannon Vallor is an American philosopher of technology. She is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She previously taught at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California where she was the Regis and Dianne McKenna Professor of Philosophy and William J. Rewak, S.J. Professor at SCU. .. more

Neuroscience 30%
Computer science 22%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Richard S.J. Tol, Andrew Scott , and 9 more

davekeating.substack.com
Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 5h
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.

🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.

This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 5h
Stop trying to make fetch happen

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, David Murakami Wood

restofworld.org
Rest of World @restofworld.org · 13h
South Korea’s AI learning program was rolled back after just four months following a backlash from teachers, students, and parents alike
https://restofworld.org/2025/south-korea-ai-textbook/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1764037440
AI-powered textbooks fail to make the grade in South Korea
South Korea’s AI learning program was rolled back after just four months following a backlash from teachers, students, and parents, underlining the challenges in embedding the technology in education.
restofworld.org

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Jonathan Wolff, Huw Price , and 3 more

erantal.bsky.social
Eran Tal @erantal.bsky.social · 13h
🚨We're hiring! A tenure track position at McGill University in the area of #bioethics and / or philosophy of science, with a special focus on the ethics of medical technologies. Please share widely. #philsky #ethics #philsci philjobs.org/job/show/30402
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy and Department of Philosophy, McGill University - PhilJobs:JFP Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Equity...
An international database of jobs for philosophers
philjobs.org

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 14h
Nope, the Japanese Spitz. Just rounding up - also I’ve heard some keep puppy energy until they’re 4, so no matter what I’m doomed to a cute Category 5 tornado for a long stretch

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Fabián Muniesa, Melanie C. Green

mharrisondupre.bsky.social
Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 22h
NEW: A Discord community with nearly 200 members serves as a support group for people whose minds and lives have been upended by episodes of AI delusion and psychosis.

In some cases, members say, the group has helped people climb out of their destructive AI "spirals."

futurism.com/artificial-i...
Meet the Group Breaking People Out of AI Delusions
In this Discord server, people impacted by AI delusions and psychosis share their experiences — and even help users out of delusional spells.
futurism.com

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d
that left a mark

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d
Meta, my expectations for you were low, but JFC
hypervisible.blacksky.app Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1d
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
By and large, however, the allegations against the other social media platforms are less detailed than those against Meta. The internal documents cited by the plaintiffs allege: Meta intentionally designed its youth safety features to be ineffective and rarely used, and blocked testing of safety features that it feared might be harmful to growth. Meta required users to be caught 17 times attempting to traffic people for sex before it would remove them from its platform, which a document described as “a very, very, very high strike threshold." Meta recognized that optimizing its products to increase teen engagement resulted in serving them more harmful content, but did so anyway. Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d
RIP my lovely house it was nice knowing you, sorry for what is about to happen to you

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 1d
It’s official, we have a puppy coming home with us in January.

*thinks about two years of puppy energy and hyperventilates*

Reposted by Shannon Vallor

hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1d
17 strikes and you’re out. 💀
By and large, however, the allegations against the other social media platforms are less detailed than those against Meta. The internal documents cited by the plaintiffs allege: Meta intentionally designed its youth safety features to be ineffective and rarely used, and blocked testing of safety features that it feared might be harmful to growth. Meta required users to be caught 17 times attempting to traffic people for sex before it would remove them from its platform, which a document described as “a very, very, very high strike threshold." Meta recognized that optimizing its products to increase teen engagement resulted in serving them more harmful content, but did so anyway. Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Meredith Broussard, Daniel Kim , and 6 more

hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1d
“Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.”
Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege - The Economic Times
Meta reportedly halted internal research into the mental health impacts of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence of harm. Internal documents revealed users reported lower depression and...
m.economictimes.com

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
When I said ‘the technology that does work’ I was talking about the email spam filtering features that people were turning off, not AI

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
Target will try everything to come back from the boycott (‘we added AI!’) except addressing the communities they harmed

The Target exec in the story says ‘Guests are choiceful’ - yes. yes they are, Dick

P.S. ‘choiceful’ is a wordcrime
miamiherald.com Miami Herald @miamiherald.com · 2d
Target makes bold changes to keep customers from fleeing stores
Target makes bold changes to keep customers from fleeing stores

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
The usual Twitter style of aggression or snarky insults just gets you blocked here. Just info - not assuming this was your habit there either!

The corollary is, don’t engage any random jerks that show up and get nasty in your replies, just block.

It’s mostly a nice place, hope you enjoy it!

2/2

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
Some tips for a good experience here:

Avoid the Discover feed like the plague; if your Follow feed is dull, just look for more people to follow. There are also some philosophy lists you can pin to your feed.

Always type alt-text when you upload an image. Not doing so here is taken poorly.

1/2

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
Welcome Mark!

Reposted by Shannon Vallor

nameshiv.bsky.social
Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 2d
I've grown more conservative as I've grown older but the things I want to conserve are democracy and decency

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Devon Greyson, Smith , and 5 more

rincewind.run
Micah @rincewind.run · 2d
evergreen
Tweet from @PPathole Tech enthusiasts: my entire house is smart Tech workers: the only piece of technology in my house is a printer and I keep a gun next to it so I can shoot it if it makes a noise I don’t recognize

Reposted by Shannon Vallor

miamiherald.com
Miami Herald @miamiherald.com · 2d
Target makes bold changes to keep customers from fleeing stores
Target makes bold changes to keep customers from fleeing stores

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
Never truly loved a car until I bought one with this feature for my first Scottish winter

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 2d
My two moods in 2025
Sarah Palmer at the grocery store, not trusting that new jerky Laura Palmer screaming

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop , and 2 more

justinbrake.bsky.social
Justin Brake @justinbrake.bsky.social · 3d
This is the 2nd time a major government report from Deloitte has been found to contain errors likely generated by AI.

First in Australia and now, as The Independent has confirmed, in a major healthcare policy paper for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli #AI #deloitte

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d
Another example of the burdens created when tech companies behave as untrustworthy social actors - people then go to great lengths to protect themselves even when it’s not necessary, at personal cost and compromising their ability to use the technology that does work
awest.uk Andrew West @awest.uk · 3d
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.

I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.

www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com

Reposted by Constantine Sandis

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d
I resent LLMs for many reasons, but forcing me to act like a cop to keep fake garbage out of publication is high on the list. I want to read people’s work in a spirit of generosity and curiosity again (‘I wonder what cool ideas might be in here?’) instead of ‘I got you now, you lying little shit’

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d
At least the latest one didn’t fake a quote from me, just a bunch of other shit.

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d
I’m so tired.
The Giant/Fireman from Twin Peaks saying ‘It is happening again.’

shannonvallor.bsky.social
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 3d
After five years in Scotland, my husband has made some friends locally, something at which I have failed miserably (not counting my lovely work colleagues). So he’s off having adventures today while I’m staying home with the cat. She’s good company, she knows all the good sunspots
Carol the brown fluffy green-eyed cat, lazing in warm sun on a blue couch

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Ben H. Ansell, John Foot , and 2 more

tpgroberts.bsky.social
Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 3d
The Home Secretary explaining that the rise in racist violence is, actually, the natural response to higher levels of immigration is a state of affairs that can't exist without the government having largely decided that racist violence is, if not legitimate, at least understandable.

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Simon Roux, Alistair Munro , and 2 more

awest.uk
Andrew West @awest.uk · 3d
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.

I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.

www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com