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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · 9d

A reminder that anything recorded on a device like this AI "friend" could be used against you — by hackers, private companies, or the government.

This technology isn't a friend, it's surveillance.

AI startup Friend spent more than $1M on all those subway ads | TechCrunch

If you’ve been on the New York subway recently, you’ve probably seen stark white ads promoting a wearable AI device called Friend.

techcrunch.com

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

Deb Raji @rajiinio.bsky.social · 28d

More of this kind of reporting, please!

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

WIRED @wired.com · Aug 20

Customs and Border Protection agents searched nearly 15,000 devices from April through June of this year, a nearly 17 percent spike over the previous three-month high in 2022. "The real issue is the chilling effect it has on all travelers."

Phone Searches at the US Border Hit a Record High

Customs and Border Protection agents searched nearly 15,000 devices from April through June of this year, a nearly 17 percent spike over the previous three-month high in 2022. "The real issue is the chilling...

wrd.cm

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Jul 29

After @riaclu.bsky.social sued, a judge blocked the Trump administration from imposing ideological restrictions on federal grant recipients who serve domestic violence survivors, LGBTQ youth, and unhoused people.

These organizations can continue their critical work without political interference.

Court blocks Trump admin's anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions on grants for domestic violence and homeless shelters

The order comes in a lawsuit brought by a nationwide coalition of groups serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence, LGBTQ+ youth, and people experiencing homelessness.

www.advocate.com

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Jul 3

The use of AI shouldn’t come at the expense of our civil liberties.

At the ACLU’s first-ever Civil Rights in the Digital Age AI Summit, we’re considering ways to leverage emerging technology as an asset, while safeguarding our civil rights.

As AI Gains Power, We Must Push for Guardrails to Protect Civil Liberties | ACLU

As AI increasingly makes decisions in hiring, policing, and social services, the ACLU’s Civil Rights in the Digital Age Summit focuses on promoting responsible AI design to ensure technology protects ...

www.aclu.org

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

prakharg.bsky.social @prakharg.bsky.social · Jun 25

Gerchick et al: Auditing the Audits: Lessons for Algorithmic Accountability from Local Law 144's Bias Audits
#FAccT2025

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

Lauren Chambers @laurenmarietta.bsky.social · Jun 25

getting excited for my #FAccT2025 tutorial - today 5 pm Athens time!

I'm sharing new work with @berkeleyischool.bsky.social's awesome Prof. Diag Davenport: "Public Interest Tech (PIT) Clinics as Applied Sociotechnical Pedagogy."

the idea: bring real-world experience & impact into tech education 💫

title slide for tutorial presentation reading "public interest tech (pit) clinics as applied sociotechnical pedagogy: practice tutorial, FAccT 2025, Athens, Greece; by Lauren M. Chambers and Diag Davenport, UC Berkeley, June 25, 2025."

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Jun 23

❤️❤️❤️

Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Jun 21

We’re here at the airport as Mahmoud Khalil returns home after over 100 days of being unjustly detained for his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Welcome home, Mahmoud! ❤️

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Jun 21

And also excited to share our tutorial — on ACLU’s approach to evaluating generative AI’s implications for our work — with @techforimpact.bsky.social @bmad.bsky.social Ranya Ahmed and Evani Radiya-Dixit, also on Wednesday, at 5 PM Athens time programs.sigchi.org/facct/2025/p...

Conference Programs

programs.sigchi.org

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Jun 21

This work was the product of an amazing collaboration across civil society and academia — with a stellar team including @rone.bsky.social and @metaxa.net (Penn HCI), Cole Tanigawa-Lau (Stanford), Lena Armstrong (Harvard) and Ana Gutiérrez (my colleague at ACLU!)

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Jun 21

Excited to be at #FAccT2025 and honored to see our work “auditing the audits” resulting from one of the first enacted AI laws in the U.S. received an honorable mention! I’ll be presenting this work on Wednesday at 11 AM Athens time: programs.sigchi.org/facct/2025/p...

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

Oliver Haimson @haimson.bsky.social · Jun 20

Some results from this paper: trans people, nonbinary people, and disabled people (especially neurodivergent people and people with mental health conditions) have more negative views towards AI than the general US population.
#FAccT2025

Bar graph showing average AI attitudes for participants in different identity categories. The plot shows that
women (including both cisgender and trans women) have
lower AI attitudes than men (including both cisgender and
trans men); trans and nonbinary participants have significantly lower AI attitudes than cisgender participants; people
of color, and Black participants in particular, have significantly higher AI attitudes than white participants; and disabled participants, specifically those who are neurodivergent
or have mental health conditions, have significantly lower
AI attitudes than participants without those disabilities. We
used Bonferroni correction because we conducted multiple ttests, and we indicate statistical significance based on the following p-value thresholds: * p<0.005; ** p<0.001; *** p<0.0001

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Jun 16

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Jun 16

The National Institutes of Health's efforts to shut down research that doesn't align with the Trump administration’s political agenda is a direct attack on public health.

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Mar 11

The unlawful detention of Mahmoud Khalil is one of the most extreme threats to free speech in 50 years.

Trump is sending a message that people who speak out will be punished — but we have a message for him, too.

We'll see you in court.

Opinion | This Is the Greatest Threat to Free Speech Since the Red Scare

Mahmoud Khalil’s detention is a frightening sign of an authoritarian slide.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Marissa Kumar Gerchick

ACLU @aclu.org · Mar 11

BREAKING: We and @nyclu.org are joining Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil's legal team after ICE unlawfully arrested and detained him in retaliation for his political views.

We will see the Trump administration in court.

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 19

The role is paid, open to graduate and undergraduate students, and available for remote or hybrid work from our NYC or DC office. The priority application deadline is February 25 — please share widely!

Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 19

This is a unique opportunity to conduct applied research (our team regularly publishes at conferences like ACM FAccT, for instance) that will shape our approach to leveraging emerging technologies in line with our values.

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 19

Projects will be tailored to the intern’s skillset and interests, and could range from adapting cutting edge research on bias testing of large language models (LLMs) to develop a model-agnostic testing and evaluation toolkit, to conducting a landscape analysis of open weight model offerings.

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 19

For this position, we welcome applicants with backgrounds in technical fields (e.g., engineering, ML, AI, NLP, statistics) and applicants with backgrounds in sociotechnical fields (e.g., history of science, history of technology, HCI, information science, science and technology studies, sociology).

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 19

ACLU Technology is hiring an AI Research Intern for Summer 2025! Come help us conduct applied research to evaluate the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI tools against ACLU transparency, privacy, security, and algorithmic accountability values. 🧵
www.aclu.org/careers/inte...

Careers at ACLU

Join our team! We’re looking for committed, passionate people for open roles at the ACLU.

www.aclu.org

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 3

We believe this body of work will help us begin to incorporate this technology into our work so that it creates, rather than risks or diminishes value. For more info, read about our approach and follow @techforimpact.bsky.social @bmad.bsky.social!

technicallyoptimistic.substack.com/p/procedures...

Navigating AI, Week 2

Developing a risk-focused framework

technicallyoptimistic.substack.com

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 3

To stay up to date with emerging research in this area, we formed a reading group open to anyone at the ACLU—including staff at our 54 affiliates across the country—that shares and discusses emerging research about gen AI (including research papers, model cards, articles, and other explainers).

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Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Feb 3

To operationalize the principles, we created a product focused on procurement of Gen AI tools: a seven-page questionnaire that covers risks related to security, privacy, bias, copyright and accuracy. We ask vendors to explain what they’re doing with gen AI and hold them accountable to their answers.

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