Jan Zilinsky
@janzilinsky.bsky.social
I study the role of technology and conspiracy theories in democratic politics. NYU PhD.
https://www.janzilinsky.com
https://www.janzilinsky.com
[email protected]'s keynote in Oxford was fantastic.
What comes after the traditional model of social media ends?
1) Algorithmic broadcasting platforms (everything turning into TikTok and Instagram reels)
2) Private and semi-private spheres (like group chats)
3) Chatbots and LLMs as new media
What comes after the traditional model of social media ends?
1) Algorithmic broadcasting platforms (everything turning into TikTok and Instagram reels)
2) Private and semi-private spheres (like group chats)
3) Chatbots and LLMs as new media
November 19, 2025 at 9:07 AM
[email protected]'s keynote in Oxford was fantastic.
What comes after the traditional model of social media ends?
1) Algorithmic broadcasting platforms (everything turning into TikTok and Instagram reels)
2) Private and semi-private spheres (like group chats)
3) Chatbots and LLMs as new media
What comes after the traditional model of social media ends?
1) Algorithmic broadcasting platforms (everything turning into TikTok and Instagram reels)
2) Private and semi-private spheres (like group chats)
3) Chatbots and LLMs as new media
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
🚨 Job Alert! Postdoc in POLITICAL TEXT ANALYSIS in the MULTIREP project
You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna!
⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025
wratil.eu/files/MULTIR...
1/4 🧵
You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna!
⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025
wratil.eu/files/MULTIR...
1/4 🧵
November 10, 2025 at 6:50 AM
🚨 Job Alert! Postdoc in POLITICAL TEXT ANALYSIS in the MULTIREP project
You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna!
⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025
wratil.eu/files/MULTIR...
1/4 🧵
You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna!
⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025
wratil.eu/files/MULTIR...
1/4 🧵
- Will certain people always continue "just asking questions"? Yes.
- But citizens have the right to ask questions and, in a tolerant society, they could ask them without getting mocked
- It's a bad case here, because how could anyone prove a negative? (Can't show "we're not altering the weather")
- But citizens have the right to ask questions and, in a tolerant society, they could ask them without getting mocked
- It's a bad case here, because how could anyone prove a negative? (Can't show "we're not altering the weather")
EPA Commissioner Lee Zeldin announces his agency is launching a major investigation into the right-wing conspiracies about chemtrails and weather manipulation to get to the bottom of it.
October 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
- Will certain people always continue "just asking questions"? Yes.
- But citizens have the right to ask questions and, in a tolerant society, they could ask them without getting mocked
- It's a bad case here, because how could anyone prove a negative? (Can't show "we're not altering the weather")
- But citizens have the right to ask questions and, in a tolerant society, they could ask them without getting mocked
- It's a bad case here, because how could anyone prove a negative? (Can't show "we're not altering the weather")
Liked this passage in @smotus.bsky.social's book - though there are places were non-confusing design is the exception and a cryptic design is the default...
October 19, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Liked this passage in @smotus.bsky.social's book - though there are places were non-confusing design is the exception and a cryptic design is the default...
Latest piece centering scenarios where AI could autonomously develop harmful capabilities like engineering lethal pathogens
But lowering the barrier for malicious actors to cause harm is a risk that's real today
So, of course we get stories about hypothetical risks:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...
But lowering the barrier for malicious actors to cause harm is a risk that's real today
So, of course we get stories about hypothetical risks:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...
Opinion | The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Latest piece centering scenarios where AI could autonomously develop harmful capabilities like engineering lethal pathogens
But lowering the barrier for malicious actors to cause harm is a risk that's real today
So, of course we get stories about hypothetical risks:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...
But lowering the barrier for malicious actors to cause harm is a risk that's real today
So, of course we get stories about hypothetical risks:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...
On morning Munich commutes, I see surprisingly little tech use. People read newspapers, nap, or chat. Occasionally someone knits, and I watch a bit wistfully.
Kids seem perfectly well-adjusted: those in groups chat and tease each other, those commuting alone do homework or use phones.
Kids seem perfectly well-adjusted: those in groups chat and tease each other, those commuting alone do homework or use phones.
October 8, 2025 at 3:15 PM
On morning Munich commutes, I see surprisingly little tech use. People read newspapers, nap, or chat. Occasionally someone knits, and I watch a bit wistfully.
Kids seem perfectly well-adjusted: those in groups chat and tease each other, those commuting alone do homework or use phones.
Kids seem perfectly well-adjusted: those in groups chat and tease each other, those commuting alone do homework or use phones.
"the crypto lobby is pushing Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which ... would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing or even piloting a government-issued digital currency ... without congressional approval" www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/o...
Opinion | We Really Want to Trust Crypto Interests With the Future of Money?
www.nytimes.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:32 PM
"the crypto lobby is pushing Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which ... would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing or even piloting a government-issued digital currency ... without congressional approval" www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/o...
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
"Acceptance of the scientific consensus was very high in the sample as a whole (95.1%), but also in every sub-sample (e.g. no trust in science: 87.3%) ... [P]eople are motivated to reject specific scientific beliefs, and not science as a whole."
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:13 PM
"Acceptance of the scientific consensus was very high in the sample as a whole (95.1%), but also in every sub-sample (e.g. no trust in science: 87.3%) ... [P]eople are motivated to reject specific scientific beliefs, and not science as a whole."
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Motivated reasoning (and responding!) is a huge issue for polling - BUT, the magnitude of the problem also depends on what else is asked within a given survey: www.cambridge.org/core/service...
September 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Motivated reasoning (and responding!) is a huge issue for polling - BUT, the magnitude of the problem also depends on what else is asked within a given survey: www.cambridge.org/core/service...
I thought GPT-5 was supposed to tone down the flattery 😂
September 21, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I thought GPT-5 was supposed to tone down the flattery 😂
A friend’s kid told me in 2015: “I can learn anything I want by finding a tutorial on YouTube.”
Did I find it credible? Not quite, but the sentiment was fascinating.
Still think about it sometimes and also wonder how many people now use video-sharing platforms as their search engines
Did I find it credible? Not quite, but the sentiment was fascinating.
Still think about it sometimes and also wonder how many people now use video-sharing platforms as their search engines
September 19, 2025 at 11:56 PM
A friend’s kid told me in 2015: “I can learn anything I want by finding a tutorial on YouTube.”
Did I find it credible? Not quite, but the sentiment was fascinating.
Still think about it sometimes and also wonder how many people now use video-sharing platforms as their search engines
Did I find it credible? Not quite, but the sentiment was fascinating.
Still think about it sometimes and also wonder how many people now use video-sharing platforms as their search engines
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
Very cool that people can be open-minded
August 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Very cool that people can be open-minded
If you've felt that broadcast news is less informative, you're probably right.
Information density of ABC, CBS, and NBC news segments has declined, according to LLM-based classifications: 5harad.com/papers/no-ne...
Information density of ABC, CBS, and NBC news segments has declined, according to LLM-based classifications: 5harad.com/papers/no-ne...
September 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
If you've felt that broadcast news is less informative, you're probably right.
Information density of ABC, CBS, and NBC news segments has declined, according to LLM-based classifications: 5harad.com/papers/no-ne...
Information density of ABC, CBS, and NBC news segments has declined, according to LLM-based classifications: 5harad.com/papers/no-ne...
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
Thanks to the folks at APSA for organizing a great conference, and Vancouver for being a great host city!
cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social
cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social
September 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Thanks to the folks at APSA for organizing a great conference, and Vancouver for being a great host city!
cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social
cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
Finally, as I found in research my on nasty politics, elite rhetoric matters—especially from national leaders.
Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has sought to reduce the political temperature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. www.axios.com/local/salt-l...
Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has sought to reduce the political temperature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. www.axios.com/local/salt-l...
September 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Finally, as I found in research my on nasty politics, elite rhetoric matters—especially from national leaders.
Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has sought to reduce the political temperature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. www.axios.com/local/salt-l...
Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has sought to reduce the political temperature following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. www.axios.com/local/salt-l...
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
The pretty draft is now online.
Link to paper (free): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Our replication package starts from the raw data and we put real work into making it readable & setting it up so people could poke at it, so please do explore it: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
Link to paper (free): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Our replication package starts from the raw data and we put real work into making it readable & setting it up so people could poke at it, so please do explore it: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
September 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
The pretty draft is now online.
Link to paper (free): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Our replication package starts from the raw data and we put real work into making it readable & setting it up so people could poke at it, so please do explore it: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
Link to paper (free): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Our replication package starts from the raw data and we put real work into making it readable & setting it up so people could poke at it, so please do explore it: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
People in Denmark have varied concerns about tech giants:
- Impact on young people's development (83.5% concerned)
- Role in spreading misinformation (81%)
- Ability to influence public opinion (79.5%)
- Economic power (79%)
- Collection of personal data (78%)
- Impact on social cohesion (75%)
- Impact on young people's development (83.5% concerned)
- Role in spreading misinformation (81%)
- Ability to influence public opinion (79.5%)
- Economic power (79%)
- Collection of personal data (78%)
- Impact on social cohesion (75%)
Danes are concerned about Big Tech’s influence on both their everyday lives and society as a whole – but few are willing to change their habits to limit the companies’ impact.
Read the new report from DDC to gain insights into Danes’ attitudes & actions:
portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/publicati...
Read the new report from DDC to gain insights into Danes’ attitudes & actions:
portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/publicati...
August 29, 2025 at 11:54 AM
People in Denmark have varied concerns about tech giants:
- Impact on young people's development (83.5% concerned)
- Role in spreading misinformation (81%)
- Ability to influence public opinion (79.5%)
- Economic power (79%)
- Collection of personal data (78%)
- Impact on social cohesion (75%)
- Impact on young people's development (83.5% concerned)
- Role in spreading misinformation (81%)
- Ability to influence public opinion (79.5%)
- Economic power (79%)
- Collection of personal data (78%)
- Impact on social cohesion (75%)
So why do most of us rarely switch on the airplane mode?
(Not dismissing what the respondents are saying, just wondering what exactly they are telling us about their unhappiness with the current tech)
(Not dismissing what the respondents are saying, just wondering what exactly they are telling us about their unhappiness with the current tech)
August 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
So why do most of us rarely switch on the airplane mode?
(Not dismissing what the respondents are saying, just wondering what exactly they are telling us about their unhappiness with the current tech)
(Not dismissing what the respondents are saying, just wondering what exactly they are telling us about their unhappiness with the current tech)
Every generation discovers that the latest technology is destroying civilization.
Every generation is wrong.
Every generation is wrong.
August 25, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Every generation discovers that the latest technology is destroying civilization.
Every generation is wrong.
Every generation is wrong.
Different AI systems are optimized for different tasks.
Expecting precise instruction following from current image models shows a misunderstanding of their architecture and training objectives:
Expecting precise instruction following from current image models shows a misunderstanding of their architecture and training objectives:
August 20, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Different AI systems are optimized for different tasks.
Expecting precise instruction following from current image models shows a misunderstanding of their architecture and training objectives:
Expecting precise instruction following from current image models shows a misunderstanding of their architecture and training objectives:
I asked 4 AI models to rate the quality of different ideas (all about changing jobs, but for different reasons)
1) Models seems to take users' happiness seriously
2) Gemini flatters users the most, Grok is harsher as an evaluator
3) Overall, it doesn't seem like LLMs were excessively deferential
1) Models seems to take users' happiness seriously
2) Gemini flatters users the most, Grok is harsher as an evaluator
3) Overall, it doesn't seem like LLMs were excessively deferential
August 15, 2025 at 12:39 PM
I asked 4 AI models to rate the quality of different ideas (all about changing jobs, but for different reasons)
1) Models seems to take users' happiness seriously
2) Gemini flatters users the most, Grok is harsher as an evaluator
3) Overall, it doesn't seem like LLMs were excessively deferential
1) Models seems to take users' happiness seriously
2) Gemini flatters users the most, Grok is harsher as an evaluator
3) Overall, it doesn't seem like LLMs were excessively deferential
Here are my lecture slides on the behavioral economics of political persuasion
Slides: zilinskyjan.github.io/information-...
Repo: github.com/zilinskyjan/...
Slides: zilinskyjan.github.io/information-...
Repo: github.com/zilinskyjan/...
GitHub - zilinskyjan/information-and-influence-course
Contribute to zilinskyjan/information-and-influence-course development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
August 14, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Here are my lecture slides on the behavioral economics of political persuasion
Slides: zilinskyjan.github.io/information-...
Repo: github.com/zilinskyjan/...
Slides: zilinskyjan.github.io/information-...
Repo: github.com/zilinskyjan/...
"Using ChatGPT to write your essays is like bringing a forklift into the weight room"
Not quite.
It's like bringing a fitness trainer to the gym with you; she's *willing to lift weights* for you, but stands ready to give you excellent feedback on your form
It's up to students to choose the latter
Not quite.
It's like bringing a fitness trainer to the gym with you; she's *willing to lift weights* for you, but stands ready to give you excellent feedback on your form
It's up to students to choose the latter
As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview.
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
August 14, 2025 at 1:27 PM
"Using ChatGPT to write your essays is like bringing a forklift into the weight room"
Not quite.
It's like bringing a fitness trainer to the gym with you; she's *willing to lift weights* for you, but stands ready to give you excellent feedback on your form
It's up to students to choose the latter
Not quite.
It's like bringing a fitness trainer to the gym with you; she's *willing to lift weights* for you, but stands ready to give you excellent feedback on your form
It's up to students to choose the latter
Tried making an image of an economics seminar :)
August 13, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Tried making an image of an economics seminar :)
Reposted by Jan Zilinsky
If you want to understand the timing of Trump’s authoritarian political theater around DC policing, check out @janzilinsky.bsky.social in @goodauth.bsky.social.
He shows how critical coverage of Trump and Epstein spiked with both liberal & conservative media
goodauthority.org/news/the-eps...
He shows how critical coverage of Trump and Epstein spiked with both liberal & conservative media
goodauthority.org/news/the-eps...
August 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
If you want to understand the timing of Trump’s authoritarian political theater around DC policing, check out @janzilinsky.bsky.social in @goodauth.bsky.social.
He shows how critical coverage of Trump and Epstein spiked with both liberal & conservative media
goodauthority.org/news/the-eps...
He shows how critical coverage of Trump and Epstein spiked with both liberal & conservative media
goodauthority.org/news/the-eps...