Ian Axel Anderson
@aanixel.bsky.social
Postdoc @ Caltech
Technology researcher, Surfer, Poet
They/he
Technology researcher, Surfer, Poet
They/he
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
The brilliant @alice-gregory.bsky.social asks what smart phone bans mean for kids like hers who needs their phone to stay alive
The kids fotgotten by the calls to ban phones
@dawnwatling.bsky.social @parthaskar.bsky.social @candiceodgers.bsky.social
psyche.co/notes-to-sel...
@dawnwatling.bsky.social @parthaskar.bsky.social @candiceodgers.bsky.social
psyche.co/notes-to-sel...
The kids forgotten by calls to ban phones | Psyche Notes to Self
Campaigns calling for smartphone-free childhoods might be well meaning, but the choice is not so simple for all families
psyche.co
November 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM
The brilliant @alice-gregory.bsky.social asks what smart phone bans mean for kids like hers who needs their phone to stay alive
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Today’s “teenage mental health crisis” and social media panic are founded in nostalgic myths. Our best long-term surveys and statistics show Boomer and Xer teens were no happier or more “together” than teens are today
Today’s “teenage mental health crisis” and social media panic are founded in nostalgic myths
Our best long-term surveys and statistics show Boomer and Xer teens were no happier or more “together” than teens are today. Elders: cut out your boasting, and Gen Z: don't believe them!
mikemales.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Today’s “teenage mental health crisis” and social media panic are founded in nostalgic myths. Our best long-term surveys and statistics show Boomer and Xer teens were no happier or more “together” than teens are today
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
“And while the U.S. Supreme Court okayed such age verification when it came to children accessing obscene material online, @kateruane.bsky.social with CDT said the high court appeared more skeptical on blanket social media bans like what VanValkenburg wants.”
Virginia sued over new social media age verification law
Barring judicial intervention, Virginia’s law is set to go into effect January 1st.
www.wvtf.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:13 PM
“And while the U.S. Supreme Court okayed such age verification when it came to children accessing obscene material online, @kateruane.bsky.social with CDT said the high court appeared more skeptical on blanket social media bans like what VanValkenburg wants.”
Meta has exhibited a clear pattern of behavior in which it undermines and/or buries most negative research; it's tough to believe they'd put honest effort into any research that risks reputational damage...though that pattern itself should be more damaging than any one finding...
It would, of course, be great if the underlying results were made public but it looks like meta in 2019 ran withdrawal experiments to examine polarization and well being ahead of forging collaborations with academics. Seems like more than enough to design bias the collaborations towards nulls 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Meta has exhibited a clear pattern of behavior in which it undermines and/or buries most negative research; it's tough to believe they'd put honest effort into any research that risks reputational damage...though that pattern itself should be more damaging than any one finding...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
It would, of course, be great if the underlying results were made public but it looks like meta in 2019 ran withdrawal experiments to examine polarization and well being ahead of forging collaborations with academics. Seems like more than enough to design bias the collaborations towards nulls 🧵
November 24, 2025 at 12:46 PM
It would, of course, be great if the underlying results were made public but it looks like meta in 2019 ran withdrawal experiments to examine polarization and well being ahead of forging collaborations with academics. Seems like more than enough to design bias the collaborations towards nulls 🧵
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
I wonder if this will make people actually slow their roll in terms of taking information from people they do not know as sacrosanct. Probably not. The amount of lying and deception online is overwhelming.
X rolled out a new feature overnight showing where accounts are based. This network of “Trump-supporting independent women” that claimed to be “real Americans” are based in Thailand.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
November 23, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I wonder if this will make people actually slow their roll in terms of taking information from people they do not know as sacrosanct. Probably not. The amount of lying and deception online is overwhelming.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
X rolled out a new feature overnight showing where accounts are based. This network of “Trump-supporting independent women” that claimed to be “real Americans” are based in Thailand.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
November 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
X rolled out a new feature overnight showing where accounts are based. This network of “Trump-supporting independent women” that claimed to be “real Americans” are based in Thailand.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
“Are we the baddies?”
November 24, 2025 at 3:24 AM
“Are we the baddies?”
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
“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
November 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
“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.”
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
genuinely says so much about what twitter has become that the biggest rightwing grift accounts pushing US fascist narratives aren’t real people and not even close to the united states
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 AM
genuinely says so much about what twitter has become that the biggest rightwing grift accounts pushing US fascist narratives aren’t real people and not even close to the united states
❤️❤️❤️
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 AM
❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Thanks to everyone who came out to the early session this morning!!! Had a great time presenting and answering your questions 🥳 #NCA2025
Excited to present some new research I’ve been working on at #NCA2025 tomorrow! We are in the early Comm and Social Cognition session starting at 8:15AM!
November 20, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Thanks to everyone who came out to the early session this morning!!! Had a great time presenting and answering your questions 🥳 #NCA2025
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Its near "super intelligence" "replacing professionals" in the PR rounds, then once everyone is convinced and uses them for legal and medical advice, following the deceptive marketing, they slip it in the terms of service that you shouldn't do that.
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
OpenAI Tries to Shift Responsibility to Users
OpenAI is trying to shift the blame for bad legal and medical advice from its chatbot away from the company and onto users. We agree that no chatbot should be used for medical or legal advice.
buttondown.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Its near "super intelligence" "replacing professionals" in the PR rounds, then once everyone is convinced and uses them for legal and medical advice, following the deceptive marketing, they slip it in the terms of service that you shouldn't do that.
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Excited to present some new research I’ve been working on at #NCA2025 tomorrow! We are in the early Comm and Social Cognition session starting at 8:15AM!
November 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Excited to present some new research I’ve been working on at #NCA2025 tomorrow! We are in the early Comm and Social Cognition session starting at 8:15AM!
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
We're so back [to the undergrad participant pools?] -- though looks like this might have been from a press release about a paper that's not out yet, no one can find the link (not in the piece), so please share below if you have seen it...
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely On
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
www.404media.co
November 18, 2025 at 6:21 AM
We're so back [to the undergrad participant pools?] -- though looks like this might have been from a press release about a paper that's not out yet, no one can find the link (not in the piece), so please share below if you have seen it...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Worth mentioning that by our own tests we know these videos were made with OpenAI’s Sora, highlighting how tools released by some of the richest companies in the world are being combined to generate and monetize videos that take advantage of human suffering
The latest trend in Facebook’s ever downward spiral down the AI slop toilet are AI deportation videos. And the Facebook algorithm is rewarding creators for it. @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports.
Full story: www.404media.co/ai-generated...
Full story: www.404media.co/ai-generated...
November 17, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Worth mentioning that by our own tests we know these videos were made with OpenAI’s Sora, highlighting how tools released by some of the richest companies in the world are being combined to generate and monetize videos that take advantage of human suffering
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely On
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 8:15 PM
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
Catching up on AI pieces from the past couple of weeks.
Recommendations:
1. End Stage Enshittification awardsforgoodboys.substack.com/p/end-stage-...
2. AI Psychosis investigation from A More Perfect Union www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGk...
3. Open AI compute costs www.wheresyoured.at/oai_docs/
Recommendations:
1. End Stage Enshittification awardsforgoodboys.substack.com/p/end-stage-...
2. AI Psychosis investigation from A More Perfect Union www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGk...
3. Open AI compute costs www.wheresyoured.at/oai_docs/
End Stage Enshittification: Poop AI is Here
Chat GPT, why is my stool loose?
awardsforgoodboys.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Catching up on AI pieces from the past couple of weeks.
Recommendations:
1. End Stage Enshittification awardsforgoodboys.substack.com/p/end-stage-...
2. AI Psychosis investigation from A More Perfect Union www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGk...
3. Open AI compute costs www.wheresyoured.at/oai_docs/
Recommendations:
1. End Stage Enshittification awardsforgoodboys.substack.com/p/end-stage-...
2. AI Psychosis investigation from A More Perfect Union www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGk...
3. Open AI compute costs www.wheresyoured.at/oai_docs/
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
New from me: “working the refs” has come for Wikipedia. The same type of attacks alleging anti-conservative bias that right wing politicians have make about social media are coming for the encyclopedia — because of its critical role in shaping AI answer engines.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Right-Wing Attack on Wikipedia
The free internet encyclopedia is widely used to train AI. That’s why conservatives are trying to dethrone it.
www.theatlantic.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:41 PM
New from me: “working the refs” has come for Wikipedia. The same type of attacks alleging anti-conservative bias that right wing politicians have make about social media are coming for the encyclopedia — because of its critical role in shaping AI answer engines.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
The person behind this account does not seem to actually have any sort of vested interest in the US or in immigration. But they are nonetheless spamming horrific videos because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for that type of content, and because Facebook directly makes payments for it.
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The person behind this account does not seem to actually have any sort of vested interest in the US or in immigration. But they are nonetheless spamming horrific videos because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for that type of content, and because Facebook directly makes payments for it.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
High end wealth inequality allows for shit like this
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 AM
High end wealth inequality allows for shit like this