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Reposted by Luke Thorburn

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 6d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 6d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · Aug 25

🚨 PhD Position at the University of Amsterdam 🚨

Join my team as a computer scientist / computational social scientist working on LLMs, social media, and politics.

We offer freedom, impact, and an inspiring environment at one of Europe's leading universities.

🔗 werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — PhD Position on Improving Social Media Using Large Language Models

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam is inviting applications for a fully funded PhD position in the NWO VIDI project "Improving Social Media Using L...

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · Aug 15

In the literature, there are two competing explanations for "echo chambers":
1️⃣ Algorithms curate what we see (“filter bubbles”)
2️⃣ People choose like-minded peers (“selective exposure”)

Our new study suggests something surprising:

both explanations might be wrong. 🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2508.10466

Online Homogeneity Can Emerge Without Filtering Algorithms or Homophily Preferences

Ideologically homogeneous online environments - often described as "echo chambers" or "filter bubbles" - are widely seen as drivers of polarization, radicalization, and misinformation. A central debat...

arxiv.org

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xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen) @xuanalogue.bsky.social · Jul 14

Ever since I started thinking seriously about AI value alignment in 2016-7, I've been frustrated by the inadequacy of utility+RL theory to account for the richness of human values.

Glad to be part of a larger team now moving beyond those thin theories towards thicker ones.

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Jun 30

Thanks to co-organizers @jasonburton.bsky.social,
@naomishiffman.bsky.social, and @jbakcoleman.bsky.social!

Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Jun 30

The whole conference looks great this year too! Talks from Cory Doctorow, Kate Starbird, + Glen Weyl; a workshop on futarchy w. Robin Hanson (straight after ours); and lots of papers on using AI to scaffold human coordination and collective decision-making.

ci.acm.org/2025/

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Jun 30

🔔

Often our tech policy interventions operate from linear, top-down assumptions that don't account for the complexity they seek to govern.

To dig into this I'm co-organizing a workshop at ACM CI 2025 with Jason Burton, Joe Bak-Coleman, + Naomi Shiffman. You should come!

ci-x-tp.github.io

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 30

Proposals for Build Peace (arguably the main conference on digital peacebuilding) are now open. This year it's near Barcelona in November. Consider applying!

https://howtobuildpeace.org/attend-the-conference/register/

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Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) @knightgtown.bsky.social · Mar 13

🚨 WEBINAR ALERT 🚨 Join KGI on March 25th for a live discussion on designing algorithmic feeds that put people first. As legislation and litigation around algorithms heats up, it’s never been more important to learn how they can be improved.

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Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · Mar 7

EVENT: Join us for Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms on April 10-11 at
@columbiauniversity.bsky.social & online. Hosted with Senior AI Advisor @sethlazar.org. Co-sponsored by the Knight Institute & @columbiaseas.bsky.social. Panel info in 🧵. RSVP: knightcolumbia.org/events/artif...

Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms

knightcolumbia.org

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 7

Connected by Data are seeking examples of participatory digital governance to map out such projects around the world.

https://connectedbydata.org/blog/2025/03/05/participatory-digital-governance

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

This was very much a joint effort with Andrew Konya, Wasim Almasri, Oded Adomi Leshem, Ariel Procaccia, Lisa Schirch, Michiel Bakker @mbakker.bsky.social, and many others.

Looking forward to seeing these kinds of technologies mature!

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

Link for the full paper below, which documents the whole process, including all the ethical precautions we took.

arxiv.org/abs/2503.01769

Using Collective Dialogues and AI to Find Common Ground Between Israeli and Palestinian Peacebuilders

A growing body of work has shown that AI-assisted methods -- leveraging large language models (LLMs), social choice methods, and collective dialogues -- can help reduce polarization and foster common ...

arxiv.org

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

This level of agreement is particularly noteworthy because, at the beginning of the process, the substrate of trust that makes dialogue (and Track II diplomacy) possible among peacebuilders in the region had (understandably) grown fragile.

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

The process resulted in a joint letter to the international community with a set of five demands, each of which has at least 90% of support from participants on each 'side'.

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

In April – July 2024, in collaboration with the Alliance for Middle-East Peace (ALLMEP), we conducted a series of online collective dialogues with civil society peacebuilders in Israel and Palestine, and used LLMs and bridging-based ranking to surface ideas that had broad support across groups.

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Mar 4

🔔 (new paper!)

You might have heard of the "Habermas Machine", an AI-human pipeline that is really good at finding common ground between ideologically diverse groups, at least in lab settings.

But can this kind of approach help in real world conflicts?

A diagram of the process used in the paper that this thread announces. The effort consisted of four dialogue cycles with peacebuilders: three uninational dialogues cycles conducted respectively with
Israeli Jews, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinian citizens of Israel, followed by a final joint dialogue involving
all three groups. Each dialogue cycle involved a process to find common ground among participants followed by a deliberation on the
results of that process. The common ground process started with a collective dialogue, then bridging-based ranking was used to
identify common ground ’bridging statements’ that were distilled into articulate ’collective statements’ via LLM and reviewed by
human experts before being shared back with participants for a final vote.

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(((E. Glen Weyl/衛谷倫))) ⿻ 🇺🇸/🇩🇪/🇹🇼 @glenweyl.bsky.social · Feb 18

Thanks to TIME and Tharin Pillay for this great coverage of our work with @audreyt.org, @mchangama.bsky.social, @lukethorburn.com, Divya Siddarth and Emilie de Keulenaar: time.com/7258238/soci...
Read the full paper here: www.arxiv.org/abs/2502.10834

Social Media Fails Many Users. Experts Have an Idea to Fix It

In a new paper, digital activist Audrey Tang and others emphasize the need for context and community over clicks.

time.com

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Jan 31

This is joint work with @jonathanstray.bsky.social (Berkeley), @juliehawke.bsky.social (Build Up), and Emillie de Keulenaar (UN).

Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Jan 31

Live near Chicago? Or going to ISA 2025? Want to geek out on conflict theory + coauthor a landmark paper?

We're finding all the ways people distinguish between "good conflict" and "bad conflict" — but we need help, so we're hosting a workshop! You should come!

https://forms.gle/BKxziu8zbZ1oZZqU8

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Richard Reisman @rreisman.bsky.social · Dec 10

Re-aligning SOCIAL MEDIA & AI: "Whom does it serve? That is the overarching issue as we confront "enshittification" & threats to democracy. Subject of 4 publications covered in this thread. 🧵
Most recent applies to PERSONAL AI AGENTS - "Have your AI call my AI"
www.techpolicy.press/new-perspect...

New Perspectives on AI Agentiality and Democracy: "Whom Does It Serve?" | TechPolicy.Press

Richard Reisman and Richard Whitt write that interoperability will enable agential relationships that serve individuals and communities faithfully.

www.techpolicy.press

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Plurality Institute @pluralityinstitute.bsky.social · Dec 3

Register your interest in our LLMs & Public Discourse: Convening & Workshop by mid-December.

This exclusive, invite-only event will occur in Berkeley, California, February 27-28, 2025.
Complete the interest form here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Interest Form: LLMs & Public Discourse Convening

Thank you for your interest in attending the LLMs & Public Discourse Convening in Berkeley, CA on Feb 27-28, 2025. The event is by invitation, but we have several seats open for technologists, rese...

docs.google.com

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Luke Thorburn @lukethorburn.com · Nov 27

Build Up are hiring a Digital Peacebuilding Associate! You should apply. They're the best.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH9-zE7tt7EsFe-W_DFAhX3MGuhloiSSAhf0c_y4G_w/edit?usp=sharing

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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · Oct 29

Today the European Commission proposed how Art.40 of the Digital Services Act (#DSA) could work in practice.In a worldwide first, this article in the DSA mandated very large platforms to grant researchers access to a wide range of previously undisclosed data.Some key points - now also on Bluesky :)👇

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Richard Reisman @rreisman.bsky.social · Oct 24

Reframing the issues of governing social media.
Human discourse is a social process that depends on three pillars: agency, mediation, & reputation. Without these three strong pillars, + middleware enabling open innovation and interoperation, social media will struggle to balance chaos and control.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · Oct 24

Human discourse is a social process, writes @rreisman.bsky.social , that depends on three pillars: agency, mediation, and reputation. But without strong pillars and middleware enabling open innovation and interoperation, social media will likely struggle to balance chaos and control.

Three Pillars of Human Discourse (and How Social Media Middleware Can Support All Three) | TechPolicy.Press

Human discourse is a social process, writes Richard Reisman, that depends on three pillars: agency, mediation, and reputation.

www.techpolicy.press

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