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Dr Abeba Birhane

@abeba.bsky.social

48K followers 810 following 3.6K posts

Founder & PI @aial.ie, @tcddublin.bsky.social AI accountability, AI audits & evaluation, critical data studies. Cognitive scientist by training. Ethiopian in Ireland. She/her

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · Jun 25

New paper hot off the press www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We analysed over 40,000 computer vision papers from CVPR (the longest standing CV conf) & associated patents tracing pathways from research to application. We found that 90% of papers & 86% of downstream patents power surveillance

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Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology - Nature

An analysis of research papers and citing patents indicates the extensive ties between computer-vision research and surveillance.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane

Tomás Ojeda G. @tiojeda.bsky.social · 2h

“As the borders between science and advocacy blur, fringe ideas with no evidentiary basis or mainstream medical support increasingly carry the potential to drive policy” - Excellent piece by @evanurquhart.bsky.social on Genspect’s recent campaign to repathologise “transgender identification”.

Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 22h

A fringe group wants the field of psychiatry to regress back to the days when stereotypes and prejudices resulted in mental illness diagnoses for marginalized populations.

In a new reported piece, @evanurquhart.bsky.social examines Genspect's call for the re-psychopathologization of trans identity.

Hate Group Calls for Re-Labeling Transness as Mental Illness — Assigned

A fringe group with no expertise pushes the field of psychiatry to regress to a pre-scientific, prejudice-soaked view of trans people. It coincides with the far-right political agenda.

www.assignedmedia.org

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Fiona Wallace @fiionawallace.bsky.social · 9h

BREAKING

Prime Minister of South Africa:

“If international law means anything, Netanyahu must be arrested. Otherwise, the ICC is a Western puppet.”

#ICC #Netanyahu #NetanyahuWarCriminal #Justice

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 13h

1. A new journal report in the prestigious Medical Journal of Australia eviscerates the Cass review, saying it is filled with fallacies and launders anti-trans disinformation.

It methodically goes through each problem in the review.

The latest from S. Baum.

Subscribe to support our journalism

New Journal Report: Cass Review “Echoes Fallacies Promoted By Anti-Trans Disinformation”

While American lawyers pushed the anti-trans Cass Review this week, Australia’s top scholars rebuked it.

www.erininthemorning.com

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 42m

"We document the participation of women in European academia [from the year 1000 to 1800]. A total of 108 women taught at universities or were members of academies of arts and sciences. Comparing them with 58,995 male scholars, we find that they were on average better."

doi.org/10.1093/ereh...

table 1 from David de la Croix, Mara Vitale, Women in European academia before 1800—religion, marriage, and human capital, European Review of Economic History, Volume 27, Issue 4, November 2023, Pages 506–532, https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac023

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Tom Quinn @tomquinn.bsky.social · 1h

Kidnapped in international waters, extraordinary rendition to a genocidal state, and then imprisoned indefinitely.

You'd think this would trigger the immediate expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador for these inexcusable actions against an Australian citizen.

Dave Earley @earleyedition.bsky.social · 1h

An Australian woman who has not agreed to sign a waiver acknowledging she sought to 'illegally break Israel’s naval blockade' on Gaza will be “indefinitely detained” in Israel’s Ketziot prison unless she agrees to sign the waiver.

Australian woman on pro-Palestinian aid flotilla will be ‘indefinitely detained’ by Israel unless she signs waiver

Madeleine Habib, who captained the Conscience ship, was arrested by Israeli forces on 8 October and detained in Israel’s Ketziot prison

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 13h

If it's not collected, it can't be abused, misused, or used for finical benefits

󠀁󠁿⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁢⁤⁤⁢⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁤⁢⁢⁢⁢⁤⁢👻 @0x0.boo · 16h

Yes, forcing users to upload documents for age verification is going to end very badly.

Collecting sensitive documents, like ID is an especially bad idea.

Do not collect shit that you do not need to collect, ever.

If it's not collected it can't be leaked.

That is all.

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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 1d

The funding-to-frustration pipeline: 1. Funding call on insane niche topic appears 2. PI writes proposal in a weekend 3. PhD spends four years sorting out the mess

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 13h

it's the Catholic church's time to regain influence as a trusted moral guide ... tbh, I'd rather the church influences the masses than big tech

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 22h

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer. In his first teaching document Thursday, Leo confirms that he is in perfect lockstep with Pope Francis on matters of social injustice.

Pope Leo blasts economy that marginalizes poor while wealthy live in bubble of luxury

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer.

bit.ly

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 13h

we wrote this over 5 yrs ago

dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1...

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David Barnett @davidmbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Weird how they put all their efforts into using technology to replace human creativity and art and then say creative arts degrees are useless.

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d

very interesting what is not allowed these days. in this case, basic archiving of real videos

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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kate conger @kateconger.com · 1d

Jonathan Rinderknecht, a white man, was charged with starting the Palisades Fire. But on X, the company's news summary tab shows a photo of a black man.

Screenshot depicting posts on X, one showing the suspect accused of starting the Palisades Fire, a white man. The X news tab reports on the suspect's arrest, but shows a photo of a black man instead.

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 1d

See, people think AI is useless, but without it this dude would have had to imagine burning down an entire neighborhood all by himself

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 1d

The suspect accused of igniting the fire that destroyed LA's Pacific Palisades neighborhood allegedly used a ChatGPT prompt to show "a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it," months prior, officials say

Man arrested, faces federal charge in connection with Palisades Fire: DOJ

The fire caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year.

abcnews.go.com

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

the audit report: www.mozillafoundation.org/en/youtube/f...

YouTube Regrets

Mozilla and 37,380 YouTube users conducted a study to better understand harmful YouTube recommendations. This is what we learned.

www.mozillafoundation.org

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

Google spokesperson Castaneda: "allegations concerning YouTube are "simply not true," in part because it's a streaming service & not a social network"

audit results: "YouTube’s algorithm violates the platform’s very own policies, recommending misinformation, violent content, hate speech & scams"

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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 1d

“I’m English on my mom’s side and ethnically a kidnapper on my dad’s”

Felipe De La Hoz @felipedlh.bsky.social · 1d

You cannot be fucking serious

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.

migrantinsider.com

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

"New York City filed a new lawsuit accusing Facebook, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and other online platforms of fueling a mental health crisis among children by addicting them to social media." www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

www.reuters.com

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

say there's a low effort audit you can do but you know the data you curate as a result will be like giving free service to OpenAI and Anthropic that will probably appropriate without even acknowledgement... what would you do?

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

😂

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

something to uplift you in the midst of dommscrolling

www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

www.reuters.com

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 1d

lol, promise we're not setting up bot farms

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d

if you work for a publication that does this and have any idea how much $$$ your outlet makes from affiliate sale commissions on prime day, DM or signal me: jason.404

also interested if you are a journalist who is asked to do these deal roundups as part of your job

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

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Hend Amry @libyaliberty.bsky.social · 1d

Once the data is in government hands and systems of surveillance are embedded in systems of labor and beyond, your supposed protections are nothing more than flimsy surmountable barriers. One terrorist attack and “emergency powers” are claimed. We just saw it used for protests.

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