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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian
@geomblog.bsky.social
4.2K followers 760 following 820 posts

Director, Center for Tech Responsibility@Brown. FAccT OG. AI Bill of Rights coauthor. Former tech advisor to President Biden @WHOSTP. He/him/his. Posts my own.

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Suresh Venkatasubramanian is an Indian computer scientist and professor at Brown University. In 2021, Prof. Venkatasubramanian was appointed to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advising on matters relating to fairness and bias in tech systems. He was formerly a professor at the University of Utah. He is known for his contributions in computational geometry and differential privacy, and his work has been covered by news outlets such as Science Friday, NBC News, and Gizmodo. He also runs the Geomblog, which has received coverage from the New York Times, Hacker News, KDnuggets and other media outlets. He has served as associate editor of the International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications and as the academic editor of PeerJ Computer Science, and on program committees for the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, the SIAM Conference on Data Mining, NIPS, SIGKDD, SODA, and STACS. .. more

Computer science 89%
Engineering 5%
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

michelleding.bsky.social
Michelle L. Ding @michelleding.bsky.social · 15h
Hi #COLM2025! 🇨🇦 I will be presenting a talk on the importance of community-driven LLM evaluations based on an opinion abstract I wrote with Jo Kavishe, @victorojewale.bsky.social and @geomblog.bsky.social tomorrow at 9:30am in 524b for solar-colm.github.io

Hope to see you there!
Third Workshop on Socially Responsible Language Modelling Research (SoLaR) 2025
COLM 2025 in-person Workshop, October 10th at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, Canada
solar-colm.github.io
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Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Will Jennings , and 16 more

junoryleejournalism.com
Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems... SIMON: What? SHAPIRO: ...Or saying... SIMON: You imagine that? SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over. SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level. SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this. SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
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Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Lisa W. Fazio, James Q. Wilson , and 38 more

carlzimmer.com
Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 1d
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 1d
Brave runs on a chrome base ad so can use chrome extensions, but conveniently has more aggressive ad blocking features.
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 1d
The Brave feature "close all tabs to the right of the current tab" is my lifesaver
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 1d
Great policy brief from @datasociety.bsky.social - happy to see that it draws from award-winning work by @r-jy.bsky.social and @lucyq.bsky.social at AIES last year.
datasociety.bsky.social
Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 1d
“Privacy-preserving” isn’t as private as you might think. Our new brief, published in collab w @powerswitchaction.org & Coworker, exposes how so-called “privacy-preserving” technologies can actually enable *more* worker surveillance — and what we can do about it. datasociety.net/library/the-...
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Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Suresh Venkatasubramanian

datasociety.bsky.social
Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 1d
“Privacy-preserving” isn’t as private as you might think. Our new brief, published in collab w @powerswitchaction.org & Coworker, exposes how so-called “privacy-preserving” technologies can actually enable *more* worker surveillance — and what we can do about it. datasociety.net/library/the-...
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

thebulletin.org
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists @thebulletin.org · 3d
"AI systems are used to make invisible, inscrutable judgements that will affect our lives in ways we may not even begin to see," says Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social.

"It sounds Kafkaesque because it is Kafkaesque."
How AI is fueling surveillance capitalism and undermining democracy
While some believe AI can be used to improve lives, others may exploit this knowledge for financial gain.
youtu.be
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 3d
The Bulletin made a short video presentation to accompany the article. It's great especially if you want to see me gesticulating wildly at every word I say (My parents used to call me Magnus Pyke when I was a child, and that clearly hasn't gone away)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn8_...
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

cyberlyra.bsky.social
Cyberlyra @cyberlyra.bsky.social · 6d
@geomblog.bsky.social YESS! "Intimacy Machines" is officially my new fave oxymoron.

(tough competition what with "gender-neutral masculine standard" floating around out there)
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 6d
I said a thing :).
hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d
Sick burn. finance.yahoo.com/news/22-old-...
Critics see something different. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, director of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination, and Redesign at Brown University, said that Friend is clearly an example of a frothy AI company, but that it also bore a “pernicious” resemblance to a mostly forgotten early-20th-century fad: “radium necklaces.”

When Marie Curie’s new glowing discovery first hit the market, jewelers embedded radium in pendants and bracelets and sold them as chic wellness accessories—until decades later, people started dying of cancer.

“I look at Friend and I think, ‘Are we making the same mistake?’” Venkatasubramanian told Fortune. “We’re rushing these intimacy machines into people’s lives with no evidence they’re safe, or even helpful.”
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 6d
A) you are too kind. B) I was really annoyed :)
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 6d
I didn't know the article had landed :). Thanks!
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d
Sick burn. finance.yahoo.com/news/22-old-...
Critics see something different. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, director of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination, and Redesign at Brown University, said that Friend is clearly an example of a frothy AI company, but that it also bore a “pernicious” resemblance to a mostly forgotten early-20th-century fad: “radium necklaces.”

When Marie Curie’s new glowing discovery first hit the market, jewelers embedded radium in pendants and bracelets and sold them as chic wellness accessories—until decades later, people started dying of cancer.

“I look at Friend and I think, ‘Are we making the same mistake?’” Venkatasubramanian told Fortune. “We’re rushing these intimacy machines into people’s lives with no evidence they’re safe, or even helpful.”
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Nandita Sharma, Will Jennings , and 17 more

maaloufmd.bsky.social
Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 6d
My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

amo.house.gov
Congressman Gabe Amo @amo.house.gov · 6d
Joined ABC News Live to discuss the Trump and Republicans’ disastrous government shutdown that’s leaving Americans poorer and sicker.

I’m fighting to end the cuts, lower costs, and save health care. Watch here 📺
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Reposted by Jennifer A. Richeson

geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 7d
This was expected, but is also going to be a disaster when it comes to dealing with bias in algorithmic tools for employment.

Source: AP News
search.app/kuYRD
Civil rights agency drops a key tool used to investigate workplace discrimination
The U.S. civil rights agency responsible for enforcing worker rights will stop investigating complaints about company policies that don’t explicitly discriminate but may disproportionately harm certai...
search.app
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

elizabethjoh.bsky.social
Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · 7d
Not great to be caught in a tug of war between the 2:
"Newsom on Thursday threatened to cut “billions” in state funding from any CA campus that signs a Trump administration compact and agrees to sweeping and largely conservative campus policies in exchange" for fed $ www.latimes.com/california/s...
Newsom threatens to cut state funding to universities that sign Trump’s political compact
The White House is asking nine major universities, including USC, to commit to President Trump’s political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal money.
www.latimes.com
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Kate Starbird

jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 7d
Just noting that a university that signed this compact would be agreeing to gut clinics and institutes like, say, the Knight Institute, whose mandate is to promote free speech and press freedom. What would it even mean for us to be “neutral”?
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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Suresh Venkatasubramanian

scalzi.com
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 7d
The "AI" responses that Google gives about me and my work are consistently error-prone, which I know because I am me. If I know Google's "AI" responses give incorrect answers about things I know about, I can't trust it to give correct answers about things I don't know. So, no, I don't use it.
johngordon.bsky.social
John Gordon 🇨🇦🇩🇰 @johngordon.bsky.social · 7d
I’m surprised you don’t use ai answer engines in research you currently do with Google
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

magdalenaskipper.bsky.social
Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 7d
Jane Goodall challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

In this news story we look at three ways she changed science.

A loss for science, a loss for the community, a loss for everyone

🧪 #academicSky

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science
The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

melaniemitchell.bsky.social
Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 7d
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Turing test, I'm re-upping my short essay, "The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence".

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence
“Can machines think?” So asked Alan Turing in his 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Turing quickly noted that, given the difficulty of defining thinking, the question is “too meaning...
www.science.org
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Nicole Dubilier, Shelly Lundberg , and 3 more

jayrosen.bsky.social
Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 8d
If you are following the story of The Pentagon's new policy, nicknamed, "you must check with us before you dream of doing any journalism," you may enjoy this update from @status.news
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 8d
No inference time compute required.
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geomblog.bsky.social
Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social · 8d
Amazing
merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 8d
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

dwj88.bsky.social
Dean Jackson @dwj88.bsky.social · 8d
Sam Woolley and I have a piece out in
@jodemocracy.bsky.social on the true dangers AI poses to democracy in the years ahead.

While acknowledging immediate harms like discrimination, we eschew catastrophism and explore the cumulative impact of already visible trends.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
"AI's Real Dangers for Democracy," by Dean Jackson and Samuel Woolley
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Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Peter Thorne, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 30 more

merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 8d
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
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Reposted by Marc Lynch, Elizabeth Saunders, Suresh Venkatasubramanian , and 7 more

veenadubal.bsky.social
Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 9d
WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"
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Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Suresh Venkatasubramanian

hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10d
“This worldwide update includes the ability for parents, as well as law enforcement, to receive notifications if a child—in this case, users between the ages of 13 and 18—engages in chatbot conversations about self harm or suicide.”
OpenAI Adds Parental Safety Controls for Teen ChatGPT Users. Here’s What to Expect
OpenAI’s review process for teenage ChatGPT users who are flagged for suicidal ideation includes human moderators. Parents can expect an alert about alarming prompts within hours.
www.wired.com
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