Saige Rutherford, PhD
@beingsaige.bsky.social
Machine learning + psychiatry, from a human rights perspective. American in Deutschland. Kindness & Curiosity. Dog & twin mom.
https://www.beingsaige.com/
https://www.beingsaige.com/
Pinned
I defended my PhD! You can watch it on YouTube here: youtu.be/OCfqTtPy1KM?...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Ten Simple Rules for AI-Assisted Coding in Science arxiv.org/abs/2510.22254 - our latest, led by @ericwbridgeford.bsky.social
Ten Simple Rules for AI-Assisted Coding in Science
While AI coding tools have demonstrated potential to accelerate software development, their use in scientific computing raises critical questions about code quality and scientific validity. In this pa...
arxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Ten Simple Rules for AI-Assisted Coding in Science arxiv.org/abs/2510.22254 - our latest, led by @ericwbridgeford.bsky.social
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Two Harvard economists forecast the impact of the administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts- stunning losses in new therapies, life expectancy, and economic output with a “social cost 16 times greater than the savings the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
jamanetwork.com
May 29, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Two Harvard economists forecast the impact of the administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts- stunning losses in new therapies, life expectancy, and economic output with a “social cost 16 times greater than the savings the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Excited to share the latest preprint from the lab:
Rethinking scale in network neuroscience: Contributions and opportunities at the nanoscale
We argue that there’s a natural compatibility of network neuroscience tools with synapse-resolved connectomes.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.16760
Rethinking scale in network neuroscience: Contributions and opportunities at the nanoscale
We argue that there’s a natural compatibility of network neuroscience tools with synapse-resolved connectomes.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.16760
August 26, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Excited to share the latest preprint from the lab:
Rethinking scale in network neuroscience: Contributions and opportunities at the nanoscale
We argue that there’s a natural compatibility of network neuroscience tools with synapse-resolved connectomes.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.16760
Rethinking scale in network neuroscience: Contributions and opportunities at the nanoscale
We argue that there’s a natural compatibility of network neuroscience tools with synapse-resolved connectomes.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.16760
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
January 31, 2025 at 2:19 PM
In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX...
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
July 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX...
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
A common gotcha is "but Olivia, proofs don't capture reality" which I find honestly so beautiful because that's THE point. A formal system, a proof, maths, code, 💯 CANNOT solve reality, the frame problem, human cognition — so their gut tells them exactly the answer. Lean into it! That's exactly it.
July 30, 2025 at 9:01 AM
A common gotcha is "but Olivia, proofs don't capture reality" which I find honestly so beautiful because that's THE point. A formal system, a proof, maths, code, 💯 CANNOT solve reality, the frame problem, human cognition — so their gut tells them exactly the answer. Lean into it! That's exactly it.
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
After having such a great time at #CHI2025 and #FAccT2025, I wanted to share some of my favorite recent papers here!
I'll aim to post new ones throughout the summer and will tag all the authors I can find on Bsky. Please feel welcome to chime in with thoughts / paper recs / etc.!!
🧵⬇️:
I'll aim to post new ones throughout the summer and will tag all the authors I can find on Bsky. Please feel welcome to chime in with thoughts / paper recs / etc.!!
🧵⬇️:
July 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
After having such a great time at #CHI2025 and #FAccT2025, I wanted to share some of my favorite recent papers here!
I'll aim to post new ones throughout the summer and will tag all the authors I can find on Bsky. Please feel welcome to chime in with thoughts / paper recs / etc.!!
🧵⬇️:
I'll aim to post new ones throughout the summer and will tag all the authors I can find on Bsky. Please feel welcome to chime in with thoughts / paper recs / etc.!!
🧵⬇️:
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
July 21, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
1/11 Excited to share our @Naturestudy led by @leonooi.bsky.social @csabaorban.bsky.social @shaoshiz.bsky.social
AI performance is known to scale with logarithm of sample size (Kaplan 2020), but in many domains, sample size can be # participants or # measurements...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
AI performance is known to scale with logarithm of sample size (Kaplan 2020), but in many domains, sample size can be # participants or # measurements...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
July 17, 2025 at 1:36 AM
1/11 Excited to share our @Naturestudy led by @leonooi.bsky.social @csabaorban.bsky.social @shaoshiz.bsky.social
AI performance is known to scale with logarithm of sample size (Kaplan 2020), but in many domains, sample size can be # participants or # measurements...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
AI performance is known to scale with logarithm of sample size (Kaplan 2020), but in many domains, sample size can be # participants or # measurements...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Excited to be at the Computational Psychiatry Conference #CPC2025 in Tübingen! I’ll be presenting a poster called Computational Psychiatry meets Algorithmic Fairness. You can read it (along with some of my other philosophical ideas) here: www.beingsaige.com/single-post/...
July 14, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Excited to be at the Computational Psychiatry Conference #CPC2025 in Tübingen! I’ll be presenting a poster called Computational Psychiatry meets Algorithmic Fairness. You can read it (along with some of my other philosophical ideas) here: www.beingsaige.com/single-post/...
I defended my PhD! You can watch it on YouTube here: youtu.be/OCfqTtPy1KM?...
June 23, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I defended my PhD! You can watch it on YouTube here: youtu.be/OCfqTtPy1KM?...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
If you want to make America healthy again, start with
Universal health & UBI
Masks in healthcare
Clean air & water
Affordable housing & food
Guaranteed education
Paid time off
Affordable child care
When we accept that caring for one another is essential for health & happiness, we all benefit
Universal health & UBI
Masks in healthcare
Clean air & water
Affordable housing & food
Guaranteed education
Paid time off
Affordable child care
When we accept that caring for one another is essential for health & happiness, we all benefit
June 20, 2025 at 5:38 AM
If you want to make America healthy again, start with
Universal health & UBI
Masks in healthcare
Clean air & water
Affordable housing & food
Guaranteed education
Paid time off
Affordable child care
When we accept that caring for one another is essential for health & happiness, we all benefit
Universal health & UBI
Masks in healthcare
Clean air & water
Affordable housing & food
Guaranteed education
Paid time off
Affordable child care
When we accept that caring for one another is essential for health & happiness, we all benefit
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
There may be even more stupid use cases for #genAI, but this one is definitely a top contender
"AllTrails has a new generative AI feature that can be asked to 'shorten my route' or 'make this more scenic.'
But the people in charge of searching for lost hikers say the feature is going to exacerbate an issue they’ve been warning about for years: hiking apps providing false information."
But the people in charge of searching for lost hikers say the feature is going to exacerbate an issue they’ve been warning about for years: hiking apps providing false information."
AllTrails launches AI route-making tool, worrying search-and-rescue members
One of the world’s most popular hiking apps has a new generative AI feature that can be asked to "shorten my route" or "make this more scenic." But the people in charge of searching for lost hikers sa...
www.nationalobserver.com
June 20, 2025 at 5:45 AM
There may be even more stupid use cases for #genAI, but this one is definitely a top contender
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Congratulations @Saige to a wonderful PhD Defense!
June 19, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Congratulations @Saige to a wonderful PhD Defense!
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
To help computational cognitive scientist engage with more naturalistic experiments, I've made NiceWebRL.
NiceWebRL is a Python library for designing human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments.
github.com/KempnerInsti...
NiceWebRL is a Python library for designing human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments.
github.com/KempnerInsti...
GitHub - KempnerInstitute/nicewebrl: NiceWebRL is a Python library for quickly making human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments.
NiceWebRL is a Python library for quickly making human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments. - KempnerInstitute/nicewebrl
github.com
June 17, 2025 at 5:09 PM
To help computational cognitive scientist engage with more naturalistic experiments, I've made NiceWebRL.
NiceWebRL is a Python library for designing human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments.
github.com/KempnerInsti...
NiceWebRL is a Python library for designing human subject experiments that leverage machine reinforcement learning environments.
github.com/KempnerInsti...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
What does 18,000+ brave signatories look like standing together in massive solidarity with the #NIH heroes of the historic Bethesda Declaration??...
Find out by adding YOUR NAME to our #NIHLove letter here! -
actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...
#StandUpForScience
#BethesdaDeclaration
#StopTrump
Find out by adding YOUR NAME to our #NIHLove letter here! -
actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...
#StandUpForScience
#BethesdaDeclaration
#StopTrump
ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff
Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.
actionnetwork.org
June 11, 2025 at 11:10 AM
What does 18,000+ brave signatories look like standing together in massive solidarity with the #NIH heroes of the historic Bethesda Declaration??...
Find out by adding YOUR NAME to our #NIHLove letter here! -
actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...
#StandUpForScience
#BethesdaDeclaration
#StopTrump
Find out by adding YOUR NAME to our #NIHLove letter here! -
actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...
#StandUpForScience
#BethesdaDeclaration
#StopTrump
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅
June 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Science builds our future.
In Europe it has the freedom and support it needs.
To find the next cure and develop the next ground-breaking technology.
Our mission is clear:
We want the brightest minds and boldest innovators to "Choose Europe!" ↓
europa.eu/!fyy9RX
In Europe it has the freedom and support it needs.
To find the next cure and develop the next ground-breaking technology.
Our mission is clear:
We want the brightest minds and boldest innovators to "Choose Europe!" ↓
europa.eu/!fyy9RX
June 4, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Science builds our future.
In Europe it has the freedom and support it needs.
To find the next cure and develop the next ground-breaking technology.
Our mission is clear:
We want the brightest minds and boldest innovators to "Choose Europe!" ↓
europa.eu/!fyy9RX
In Europe it has the freedom and support it needs.
To find the next cure and develop the next ground-breaking technology.
Our mission is clear:
We want the brightest minds and boldest innovators to "Choose Europe!" ↓
europa.eu/!fyy9RX
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Our work with Pablo Tano, @hyunggoo-kim.bsky.social Athar Malik, Alexandre Pouget and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social exploring how dopamine neurons could enable multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain is out in @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain - Nature
Individual dopaminergic neurons encode future rewards over distinct temporal horizons.
www.nature.com
June 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Our work with Pablo Tano, @hyunggoo-kim.bsky.social Athar Malik, Alexandre Pouget and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social exploring how dopamine neurons could enable multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain is out in @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Curious about the MAHA Report on children’s health but don’t have the time or energy or inclination to read all 75 pages?
You’re in luck! I’m reading it for you. Link in replies.
open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...
You’re in luck! I’m reading it for you. Link in replies.
open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...
The MAHA Report: I Read it so You Don't Have to.
Part I: In the Beginning
open.substack.com
June 3, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Curious about the MAHA Report on children’s health but don’t have the time or energy or inclination to read all 75 pages?
You’re in luck! I’m reading it for you. Link in replies.
open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...
You’re in luck! I’m reading it for you. Link in replies.
open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?
From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:
• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)
More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv
From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:
• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)
More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv
Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes
With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...
europa.eu
June 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?
From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:
• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)
More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv
From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:
• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)
More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
UnitedHealth secretly pressured nurses to change patients' records to include DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate) without their consent, so those patients would die instead of being saved with medical interventions that could cost UnitedHealth money.
This is murder.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
This is murder.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
May 21, 2025 at 5:39 PM
UnitedHealth secretly pressured nurses to change patients' records to include DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate) without their consent, so those patients would die instead of being saved with medical interventions that could cost UnitedHealth money.
This is murder.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
This is murder.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Saige Rutherford, PhD
Musk's chainsaw to programs that support impoverished folks has a body count.
Many thanks to my BU colleague
@brookeenichols.bsky.social
for developing the Impact Counter, an incredible tool that illustrates the invisible violence of policy. This is real science.
103 deaths per HOUR= 2472/day
Many thanks to my BU colleague
@brookeenichols.bsky.social
for developing the Impact Counter, an incredible tool that illustrates the invisible violence of policy. This is real science.
103 deaths per HOUR= 2472/day
Impact Dashboard - Impact Counter | Impact Counter
Visualize the human impact of funding changes for aid and support organizations.
www.impactcounter.com
May 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Musk's chainsaw to programs that support impoverished folks has a body count.
Many thanks to my BU colleague
@brookeenichols.bsky.social
for developing the Impact Counter, an incredible tool that illustrates the invisible violence of policy. This is real science.
103 deaths per HOUR= 2472/day
Many thanks to my BU colleague
@brookeenichols.bsky.social
for developing the Impact Counter, an incredible tool that illustrates the invisible violence of policy. This is real science.
103 deaths per HOUR= 2472/day