Dr Abeba Birhane
@abeba.bsky.social
Founder & PI @aial.ie. Assistant Professor of AI, School of Computer Science & Statistics, @tcddublin.bsky.social
AI accountability, AI audits & evaluation, critical data studies. Cognitive scientist by training. Ethiopian in Ireland. She/her
AI accountability, AI audits & evaluation, critical data studies. Cognitive scientist by training. Ethiopian in Ireland. She/her
Pinned
Dr Abeba Birhane
@abeba.bsky.social
· Jun 25
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
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
1/
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
1/
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
"writing code to solve a problem" used to have "understanding the problem" as a prerequisite. but vibecoding allows solution-shaped objects to be produced without any of the hard-won understanding. beware of solution-shaped objects.
November 24, 2025 at 12:16 PM
"writing code to solve a problem" used to have "understanding the problem" as a prerequisite. but vibecoding allows solution-shaped objects to be produced without any of the hard-won understanding. beware of solution-shaped objects.
not a foolish question but that doesn't make logical sense to me
November 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
not a foolish question but that doesn't make logical sense to me
I hope someone is scraping "location" data for all the grifters, genociders, and right-wing propagandists while this feature lasts
November 23, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I hope someone is scraping "location" data for all the grifters, genociders, and right-wing propagandists while this feature lasts
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
the last 24 hours on X, summed up:
November 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
the last 24 hours on X, summed up:
wish this was getting more attention
G20 defies Trump as leaders press on without the US on.ft.com/3XQegP2
G20 defies Trump as leaders press on without the US
Agreements at G20 and COP30 show how America’s absence has not demoralised world leaders
on.ft.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
wish this was getting more attention
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
A trans teen in Iowa completed suicide after severe bullying by classmates and teachers.
"Miles’ death came a day after a substitute teacher refused to use his preferred pronouns."
It's the type of bullying @thefireorg.bsky.social and @aricohn.com support.
www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/17/m...
"Miles’ death came a day after a substitute teacher refused to use his preferred pronouns."
It's the type of bullying @thefireorg.bsky.social and @aricohn.com support.
www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/17/m...
Heartbroken family of trans teen speaks out about how bullying led to his death
The family of trans Iowa student Miles Phipps has spoken out about bullying following losing their son to suicide. He was just 15-years-old.
www.thepinknews.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:18 PM
A trans teen in Iowa completed suicide after severe bullying by classmates and teachers.
"Miles’ death came a day after a substitute teacher refused to use his preferred pronouns."
It's the type of bullying @thefireorg.bsky.social and @aricohn.com support.
www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/17/m...
"Miles’ death came a day after a substitute teacher refused to use his preferred pronouns."
It's the type of bullying @thefireorg.bsky.social and @aricohn.com support.
www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/17/m...
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
unclear what further proof the EU needs that the USA is a disease which they should quarantine, but they're clearly not getting the memo
apparently the unprecedented wealth and inflcuence big tech is amassing at the cost of the most marginalised is not enough. big tech ceos are not that different from drug cartels
www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
EU set to water down landmark AI Act after pressure from big tech
European Commission proposes pauses to provisions in digital rule book amid concerns over implications for EU competitiveness
www.irishtimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
unclear what further proof the EU needs that the USA is a disease which they should quarantine, but they're clearly not getting the memo
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Fucking hell. It's like the Broligarchy says we can't have airbags in our vehicles because then there's no room for cutting-edge services like emotionally abusive chatbot passengers, and the EU is like "oh hm well i gues we DO want cutting-edge services don't we" 🙄
apparently the unprecedented wealth and inflcuence big tech is amassing at the cost of the most marginalised is not enough. big tech ceos are not that different from drug cartels
www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
EU set to water down landmark AI Act after pressure from big tech
European Commission proposes pauses to provisions in digital rule book amid concerns over implications for EU competitiveness
www.irishtimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Fucking hell. It's like the Broligarchy says we can't have airbags in our vehicles because then there's no room for cutting-edge services like emotionally abusive chatbot passengers, and the EU is like "oh hm well i gues we DO want cutting-edge services don't we" 🙄
November 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
students' views are missing from almost any aspect of how schools are organised, which is an absolute shame 😔
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
students' views are missing from almost any aspect of how schools are organised, which is an absolute shame 😔
oh look, i'm verified
November 23, 2025 at 4:54 PM
oh look, i'm verified
what gets me is the same companies (google, meta, tiktok) that actively sabotage access to platform data, deter independent auditors & aggressively retaliate against auditors are also at the forefront of academic events talking about consumer rights, meaningful regulation & ethical & responsible AI
hive-mind, know of any research/academic work that has detailed the various ways social media/large platforms have made audits/critical investigation of these platforms practically impossible. exuberant API fees, access only to partial data even when you can pay fee, retaliation again auditors, etc
November 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
what gets me is the same companies (google, meta, tiktok) that actively sabotage access to platform data, deter independent auditors & aggressively retaliate against auditors are also at the forefront of academic events talking about consumer rights, meaningful regulation & ethical & responsible AI
sorry, kinder to the language??? not sure i understand
November 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
sorry, kinder to the language??? not sure i understand
we have the attention economy that generates revenue from their scam to thank for
Influencers are a whole new category of 21st century scam merchant, sometimes with devastating consequences www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:01 AM
we have the attention economy that generates revenue from their scam to thank for
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Sam Altman admits OpenAI is in trouble after Gemini 3 release in a leaked memo, per The Information.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
November 22, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Sam Altman admits OpenAI is in trouble after Gemini 3 release in a leaked memo, per The Information.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
OpenAI is projected to lose $7B by 2028. They're burning $8.5B a year trying to compete.
Google has YouTube, Search, Gmail, Maps, and Android. Billions of users. No other company has that combo.
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Regret to report that there has been another good linkedin post
November 22, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Regret to report that there has been another good linkedin post
if you think of colonialism as economic, physical and ideological domination, you'll see that the planet is colonised by a handful men
also, the goal of colonisation is not to keep earth habitable. it's the opposite: take, extract, and destroy
also, the goal of colonisation is not to keep earth habitable. it's the opposite: take, extract, and destroy
Humans will NEVER colonize another planet. Never.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
November 23, 2025 at 8:16 AM
if you think of colonialism as economic, physical and ideological domination, you'll see that the planet is colonised by a handful men
also, the goal of colonisation is not to keep earth habitable. it's the opposite: take, extract, and destroy
also, the goal of colonisation is not to keep earth habitable. it's the opposite: take, extract, and destroy
classrooms as large scale, profit maximisation experiments
Microsoft's latest warning has set off a familiar response from security-minded critics: Why is Big Tech so intent on pushing new features before their dangerous behaviors can be fully understood and contained?
Critics scoff after Microsoft warns AI feature can infect machines and pilfer data
Integration of Copilot Actions into Windows is off by default, but for how long?
arstechnica.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:53 AM
classrooms as large scale, profit maximisation experiments
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Are we really at a stage in public education where we consider it OK to have literally Google-branded schoolchildren whose learner identities are tied to being "responsible AI" users of private for-profit technologies?
November 22, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Are we really at a stage in public education where we consider it OK to have literally Google-branded schoolchildren whose learner identities are tied to being "responsible AI" users of private for-profit technologies?
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
You think LLM-based chatbots can help students learn? Think again.
Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. @drtanksley.bsky.social clear explanation why this is very bad, harmful idea, especially for Black students.
#Critical_AI_Literacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtc...
Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. @drtanksley.bsky.social clear explanation why this is very bad, harmful idea, especially for Black students.
#Critical_AI_Literacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtc...
Howard University AI Panel
YouTube video by Tiera Tanksley
www.youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:56 PM
You think LLM-based chatbots can help students learn? Think again.
Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. @drtanksley.bsky.social clear explanation why this is very bad, harmful idea, especially for Black students.
#Critical_AI_Literacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtc...
Take a few minutes to listen to Dr. @drtanksley.bsky.social clear explanation why this is very bad, harmful idea, especially for Black students.
#Critical_AI_Literacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtc...
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Feeling queasy now I've learned that Google is not only now offering Gemini ambassador certificates to teachers but also awarding students and *children* to be corporate AI mascots. Coercive normalization of commercialized digital education. blog.google/outreach-ini...
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Feeling queasy now I've learned that Google is not only now offering Gemini ambassador certificates to teachers but also awarding students and *children* to be corporate AI mascots. Coercive normalization of commercialized digital education. blog.google/outreach-ini...
Reposted by Dr Abeba Birhane
Well, this is pretty terrifying. The Daily Mail is buying the Telegraph.
One massive consolidated right-wing media empire controlled by off-shore interests at a critical moment in global politics.
What could go wrong?
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
One massive consolidated right-wing media empire controlled by off-shore interests at a critical moment in global politics.
What could go wrong?
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Daily Mail owner strikes £500m deal to buy Telegraph titles
Acquisition likely to trigger in-depth investigation by regulator after agreement between DMGT and Redbird IMI
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Well, this is pretty terrifying. The Daily Mail is buying the Telegraph.
One massive consolidated right-wing media empire controlled by off-shore interests at a critical moment in global politics.
What could go wrong?
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
One massive consolidated right-wing media empire controlled by off-shore interests at a critical moment in global politics.
What could go wrong?
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
at the @aial.ie, we don't audit AI systems for companies/startups on demand nor do we provide any kind of consultation services as it compromises our independence
we also don't have a dedicated person to attend the lab's inbox at the mo and unfortunately I'm unable to respond to such emails
we also don't have a dedicated person to attend the lab's inbox at the mo and unfortunately I'm unable to respond to such emails
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
at the @aial.ie, we don't audit AI systems for companies/startups on demand nor do we provide any kind of consultation services as it compromises our independence
we also don't have a dedicated person to attend the lab's inbox at the mo and unfortunately I'm unable to respond to such emails
we also don't have a dedicated person to attend the lab's inbox at the mo and unfortunately I'm unable to respond to such emails