Anna Weichselbraun
@annaw.bsky.social
anthropologist of language, technology, knowledge, and governance @univienna
Pinned
Anna Weichselbraun
@annaw.bsky.social
· Jan 28
“How Will I Know?”: Semiotic Indeterminacy, Transparency, and Expectations of Sincerity in the Global Nuclear Order | Signs and Society | Cambridge Core
“How Will I Know?”: Semiotic Indeterminacy, Transparency, and Expectations of Sincerity in the Global Nuclear Order
doi.org
🚨 New article alert!🚨
What does a Whitney Houston song title have to do with Iran's nuclear program? In my latest piece in Signs and Society, I explore the moral and political stakes of transparency in nuclear nonproliferation through the concept of semiotic indeterminacy.
doi.org/10.1017/sas....
What does a Whitney Houston song title have to do with Iran's nuclear program? In my latest piece in Signs and Society, I explore the moral and political stakes of transparency in nuclear nonproliferation through the concept of semiotic indeterminacy.
doi.org/10.1017/sas....
new paper so fresh it doesn't have an issue # yet!
Noya Kohavi and I looked at a crowdsourced AI testing suite and analyzed how contributors’ ideas about language, intelligence & cognition play a surprisingly big role in shaping how LLMs are tested, and what we think AI is. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
Noya Kohavi and I looked at a crowdsourced AI testing suite and analyzed how contributors’ ideas about language, intelligence & cognition play a surprisingly big role in shaping how LLMs are tested, and what we think AI is. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology | AAA Journal | Wiley Online Library
Benchmarking large language models (LLMs) is a key practice for evaluating their capabilities and risks. This paper considers the development of “BIG Bench,” a crowdsourced benchmark designed to test...
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
new paper so fresh it doesn't have an issue # yet!
Noya Kohavi and I looked at a crowdsourced AI testing suite and analyzed how contributors’ ideas about language, intelligence & cognition play a surprisingly big role in shaping how LLMs are tested, and what we think AI is. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
Noya Kohavi and I looked at a crowdsourced AI testing suite and analyzed how contributors’ ideas about language, intelligence & cognition play a surprisingly big role in shaping how LLMs are tested, and what we think AI is. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
There’s no such thing as Social Media.
October 1, 2025 at 6:38 AM
There’s no such thing as Social Media.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
THE MEME IS REAL
September 29, 2025 at 1:38 AM
THE MEME IS REAL
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Kolleg*innen in der AAU Klagenfurt/Celovec erklären sich ebenfalls mit dem Antifa-Camp und dem #Peršmanhof Ko-Museum solidarisch (inklusive früherem Rektor und jetziger Rektorin der Universität:
www.aau.at/blog/stellun...
www.aau.at/blog/stellun...
Stellungnahme zum Polizeieinsatz am Peršmanhof am 27. Juli 2025 – Universität Klagenfurt
Stellungnahme zum Polizeieinsatz am Peršmanhof am 27. Juli 2025 Angehörige der Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt Vom 24. bis zum 29. Juli 2025 fand das zweite Antifaschistische Jugendcamp am Peršman...
www.aau.at
July 29, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Kolleg*innen in der AAU Klagenfurt/Celovec erklären sich ebenfalls mit dem Antifa-Camp und dem #Peršmanhof Ko-Museum solidarisch (inklusive früherem Rektor und jetziger Rektorin der Universität:
www.aau.at/blog/stellun...
www.aau.at/blog/stellun...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
In Österreich ist eine Gedenkstätte von der Polizei regelrecht überfallen worden.
Die Geschichte der Endphasenverbrechen ist leider sehr reich an Ereignissen.
Eines davon ist der Peršmanhof, wo eine SS-Polizeieinheit im April 1945 ein Massaker anrichtet, auch an Kindern.
Heute ist der Peršmanhof…
Die Geschichte der Endphasenverbrechen ist leider sehr reich an Ereignissen.
Eines davon ist der Peršmanhof, wo eine SS-Polizeieinheit im April 1945 ein Massaker anrichtet, auch an Kindern.
Heute ist der Peršmanhof…
July 29, 2025 at 9:39 AM
In Österreich ist eine Gedenkstätte von der Polizei regelrecht überfallen worden.
Die Geschichte der Endphasenverbrechen ist leider sehr reich an Ereignissen.
Eines davon ist der Peršmanhof, wo eine SS-Polizeieinheit im April 1945 ein Massaker anrichtet, auch an Kindern.
Heute ist der Peršmanhof…
Die Geschichte der Endphasenverbrechen ist leider sehr reich an Ereignissen.
Eines davon ist der Peršmanhof, wo eine SS-Polizeieinheit im April 1945 ein Massaker anrichtet, auch an Kindern.
Heute ist der Peršmanhof…
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
If this is accurate, WeTransfer is unusable for professional creative work. Would violate most work-for-hire contracts to share copyrighted material with a third party like this.
July 15, 2025 at 12:31 AM
If this is accurate, WeTransfer is unusable for professional creative work. Would violate most work-for-hire contracts to share copyrighted material with a third party like this.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
The wild thing here is that the bill text that aims to prevent AI regulation defines "AI" incredibly broadly: Essentially, any system that uses computing to provide information or aid decision-making.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Trump’s tax bill seeks to prevent AI regulations. Experts fear a heavy toll on the planet
Unrestricted AI use could add 1bn tons of planet-heating emissions in the US over the next decade, researchers say
www.theguardian.com
June 29, 2025 at 2:30 AM
The wild thing here is that the bill text that aims to prevent AI regulation defines "AI" incredibly broadly: Essentially, any system that uses computing to provide information or aid decision-making.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Today's Supreme Court decision does not opine on the constitutionality of Trump's assault on birthright citizenship. It is limited to the question of universal injunctions. But its ruling on that front is MASSIVE—a huge blow to plaintiffs and judges trying to block Trump's most lawless policies.
June 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Today's Supreme Court decision does not opine on the constitutionality of Trump's assault on birthright citizenship. It is limited to the question of universal injunctions. But its ruling on that front is MASSIVE—a huge blow to plaintiffs and judges trying to block Trump's most lawless policies.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Our digital repositories team spends a great deal of their time now simply protecting our commoned public digital resources from bots. This insatiable, aimless, destructive desire to excrete novel slop is impeding our access to — and even damaging — our cultural heritage + vetted public knowledge.
'“I don't think that people appreciate how few people are working to keep these collections online, even at huge institutions,” Weinberg told me. “It's usually an incredibly small team, one person, half a person, half a person, plus, like their web person who is sympathetic to what's going on.'
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”
www.404media.co
June 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Our digital repositories team spends a great deal of their time now simply protecting our commoned public digital resources from bots. This insatiable, aimless, destructive desire to excrete novel slop is impeding our access to — and even damaging — our cultural heritage + vetted public knowledge.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
"There are a growing # of AI bots crawling repositories[; they're] sufficiently aggressive [to] cause service disruptions + outages... As a result, some repositories have started to block machine access to their collections, which is also inadvertently blocking other desired network services..."
May 21, 2025 at 1:27 AM
"There are a growing # of AI bots crawling repositories[; they're] sufficiently aggressive [to] cause service disruptions + outages... As a result, some repositories have started to block machine access to their collections, which is also inadvertently blocking other desired network services..."
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...
ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show
The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to internal ICE emails viewed by 404 Media. Now ICE is usin...
www.404media.co
June 26, 2025 at 4:45 PM
New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
according to conservatives on the court, the constitution does not protect your right to your own body but does enable the government to ship you off to a foreign gulag without any hope of return
NEW: The Supreme Court's conservatives halt a preliminary injunction that had restricted the Trump administration's ability to rapidly deport migrants to "third countries" where they have never lived and where allegedly face torture. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
![DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. v.
D.V.D., ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[June 23, 2025]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON
and by her referred to the Court is granted. The April 18,
2025, preliminary injunction of the United States District
Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 25–cv–
10676, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is
timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall
terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted,
the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of the Court.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
In matters of life and death, it is best to proceed with caution. In this case, the Government took the opposite approach. It wrongfully deported one plaintiff to Guatemala,
even though an Immigration Judge found he was likely to
face torture there. Then, in clear violation of a court order,
it deported six more to South Sudan, a nation the State Department considers too unsafe for all but its most critical
personnel. An attentive District Court’s timely intervention only narrowly prevented a third set of unlawful removals to Libya.
Rather than allowing our lower court colleagues to manage this high-stakes litigation with the care and attention](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreietxy2onxpw2fhgui4rl6cuor52zfdsq5dirhspuslk7tqxfq4rty@jpeg)
June 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
according to conservatives on the court, the constitution does not protect your right to your own body but does enable the government to ship you off to a foreign gulag without any hope of return
i’d second that
NEW: The head of IAEA said in an emergency meeting today that the conflict in Iran “risks collapsing the global nuclear non-proliferation regime,” and that if diplomacy is not pursued, “violence and destruction could reach unimaginable levels.” @mollytaft.com reports www.wired.com/story/intern...
International Nuclear Watchdog Issues Stark Warning in Wake of US Iran Strikes
“Violence and destruction could reach unimaginable levels” if diplomacy is not pursued, said the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
www.wired.com
June 23, 2025 at 3:28 PM
i’d second that
read this as the nuclear nonproliferation regime is being destroyed by Israel 😬🙄😵💫
🔎 Zooming into our most recent issue!
Read Dr. Anna Weichselbraun's @annaw.bsky.social article on "nuclear nonproliferation," where she explains what happens to nuclear verification when efforts to make nuclear materials more transparent fail.
LINK: doi.org/10.1017/sas....
Read Dr. Anna Weichselbraun's @annaw.bsky.social article on "nuclear nonproliferation," where she explains what happens to nuclear verification when efforts to make nuclear materials more transparent fail.
LINK: doi.org/10.1017/sas....
June 13, 2025 at 7:42 PM
read this as the nuclear nonproliferation regime is being destroyed by Israel 😬🙄😵💫
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Dies ist ein echter tweet einer echten Bundesbehörde.
June 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Dies ist ein echter tweet einer echten Bundesbehörde.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Staatliche Förderungen sichern das Überleben von Volksgruppen und den Erhalt ihrer Sprache, Kultur und Rechte. Die Kürzungen der Regierung bedrohen ihre Existenz. Fordere jetzt die Rücknahme dieser Sparmaßnahmen:
mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/st...
mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/st...
Jetzt unterzeichnen: Stoppt die Kürzung der Volksgruppenförderung! Ohranimo finančno podporo narodnim skupnostim!
Staatliche Förderungen sichern das Überleben von Volksgruppen sowie den Erhalt ihrer Sprache, Kultur und Rechte. Die Regierung muss die Sparmaßnahmen jetzt zurücknehmen!
mein.aufstehn.at
June 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Staatliche Förderungen sichern das Überleben von Volksgruppen und den Erhalt ihrer Sprache, Kultur und Rechte. Die Kürzungen der Regierung bedrohen ihre Existenz. Fordere jetzt die Rücknahme dieser Sparmaßnahmen:
mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/st...
mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/st...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
the epa says it's giving up on regulating emissions from power plants just days after noaa released the highest-ever recorded seasonal co2 concentrations at mauna loa. what a time to be alive!!!!!!!!!
The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants
Days after NOAA released figures showing the highest seasonal concentration of CO2 in recorded history, the EPA moved to roll back emission standards for power plants. "The EPA is trying to get out of...
www.wired.com
June 11, 2025 at 8:38 PM
the epa says it's giving up on regulating emissions from power plants just days after noaa released the highest-ever recorded seasonal co2 concentrations at mauna loa. what a time to be alive!!!!!!!!!
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
I spoke to two former govt workers who helped create IRS's Direct File software, which is set to be killed by DOGE/Trump/Intuit but thankfully just got open sourced. Both of them seem optimistic about what people are going to be able to do with the codebase:
www.404media.co/directfile-o...
www.404media.co/directfile-o...
The IRS Tax Filing Software TurboTax Is Trying to Kill Just Got Open Sourced
Direct File has been open sourced, and its creators have left government to continue working on the "future of tax filing."
www.404media.co
June 4, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I spoke to two former govt workers who helped create IRS's Direct File software, which is set to be killed by DOGE/Trump/Intuit but thankfully just got open sourced. Both of them seem optimistic about what people are going to be able to do with the codebase:
www.404media.co/directfile-o...
www.404media.co/directfile-o...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
It's a golden age for douche-bros. Big Balls is now at the top of the federal salary system
www.wired.com/story/big-ba...
www.wired.com/story/big-ba...
‘Big Balls’ Is Officially a Full-Time Government Employee
The first wave of DOGE staffers was supposed to be gone after 130 days. Instead, core members of the team have signed on for the long haul.
www.wired.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:27 AM
It's a golden age for douche-bros. Big Balls is now at the top of the federal salary system
www.wired.com/story/big-ba...
www.wired.com/story/big-ba...
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Meta is a defense contractor. "The company announced on Thursday that it will work with defense technology start-up Anduril to offer the U.S. military and its allies technology for soldiers involving augmented reality and artificial intelligence software."
Meta is working on a high-tech helmet for the U.S. military
Social network company Meta is partnering with weapons-maker Anduril to develop military technology for the Pentagon using AI and augmented reality.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 29, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Meta is a defense contractor. "The company announced on Thursday that it will work with defense technology start-up Anduril to offer the U.S. military and its allies technology for soldiers involving augmented reality and artificial intelligence software."
der linke wienzeilen radweg ist im grossen und ganzen sehr fein zu fahren. Nur dieses Schild bei der Kreuzung Girardigasse trübt das Radfahrende Herz.
May 30, 2025 at 8:02 AM
der linke wienzeilen radweg ist im grossen und ganzen sehr fein zu fahren. Nur dieses Schild bei der Kreuzung Girardigasse trübt das Radfahrende Herz.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
Today, we received notice that our team’s last remaining NSF grant was terminated. For the first time since 2009, when I received an NSF Fellowship for Graduate Research, I have no active NSF grants.
May 29, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Today, we received notice that our team’s last remaining NSF grant was terminated. For the first time since 2009, when I received an NSF Fellowship for Graduate Research, I have no active NSF grants.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has quietly rescinded several internal policies that were designed to protect some of the most vulnerable people in its custody—including pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and people with serious medical conditions.
US Customs and Border Protection Quietly Revokes Protections for Pregnant Women and Infants
CBP’s acting commissioner has rescinded four Biden-era policies that aimed to protect vulnerable people in the agency’s custody, including mothers, infants, and the elderly.
wrd.cm
May 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has quietly rescinded several internal policies that were designed to protect some of the most vulnerable people in its custody—including pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and people with serious medical conditions.
Reposted by Anna Weichselbraun
