Sophia, MPH
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sophiacbess.bsky.social
Sophia, MPH
@sophiacbess.bsky.social
public health person, data scientist, GenAI refuser digging in my heels. I ❤️ vaccination.

personal account; views my own, not my employer’s
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
This is just the thing...

AI slop doesn't just drive down trust in AI slop, but all content. Encountering a bot when you expect a human drives down trust in ALL online social interactions.

Neither of these problems will get better as the tech improves.

bsky.app/profile/almo...
The opposite too. Any social media content that makes me feel righteous indignation, I now instinctively distrust. The actual Bad Stuff is obviously happening out there; but viral stories and videos I see about it on social, if I don't know the source? Always second guessing my reaction now
November 26, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
One of the big tidal forces of the coming years is that the baseline reliability of things you see on a screen is going to decline.

I think this has not been adequately metabolized.

This is one version, but there are a bunch of them.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
3 infant #pertussis deaths this year in Kentucky. "Of the three infant deaths reported over the past 12 months, all three were not vaccinated, nor were their mothers."

We first tested maternal vaccination for whooping cough over 80 years ago. It's safe & effective & might have saved these babies.
www.wowktv.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
BA.2.86* (nicknamed Pirola) has had the longest reign without a major evolutionary shift. We're now approaching 2 full years.

WT ~10 months
Alpha ~6 months
Delta ~5 months
BA.1/2 ~7 months
BA.5 ~6 months
XBB ~11 months
BA.2.86 ~23+ months
November 21, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Weaponization of the premier public health agency in the country for personal clout and gain. The CDC website should not be trusted given the fact that it is controlled by people who will profit from spurious and false attempts to link vaccines to autism.

www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
Autism and Vaccines
Answers to common questions about vaccine safety and autism.
www.cdc.gov
November 20, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Fantastic reporting from my comrade @tinavasquez.bsky.social on ongoing ICE actions in North Carolina.
North Carolina immigration raids expected to escalate
As the impacts of the raids quickly ripple outward from Charlotte, North Carolinians are mobilizing to stem enforcement operations in their communities
prismreports.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
NEW: US airlines (Delta, United, American, etc) will shut down a program in which it sold hundreds of millions of your flight records to government agencies, including ICE, FBI, ATF, more. Comes after intense lawmaker-pressure and 404 Media's months-long reporting
www.404media.co/airlines-wil...
Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government
The move comes after intense pressure from lawmakers and 404 Media’s months-long reporting about the airline industry's data selling practices.
www.404media.co
November 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Recall alert: NC is one of 12 states so far with cases of infant botulism linked to ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula. If you have this formula, do not use it. If your child recently consumed this formula, contact a doctor immediately if they show symptoms. More info www.fda.gov/food/outbrea...
November 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Durham, we got one! Already seeing it around town. Thank you @meganpiont.bsky.social
70+ free printable "How to Report ICE" zines with info on the SALUTE protocol and local hotline numbers for all over the country! Including some in Spanish!

There is an info sheet on how to fold and cut the zines and a form to request a zine for your area.

drive.google.com/drive/folder...
November 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
70+ free printable "How to Report ICE" zines with info on the SALUTE protocol and local hotline numbers for all over the country! Including some in Spanish!

There is an info sheet on how to fold and cut the zines and a form to request a zine for your area.

drive.google.com/drive/folder...
November 17, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
BREAKING: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents will be deployed in the Raleigh area on Tuesday, Democratic legislative sources briefed by Gov. Josh Stein’s office told The Assembly and INDY on Monday.

www.theassemblync.com/news/politic...
Immigration Agents Coming to Raleigh Tuesday, Sources Say
Democratic legislative sources briefed by Gov. Josh Stein’s office told The Assembly and INDY agents are coming to the state capital.
www.theassemblync.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
this is theranos-level fraud, but everyone with the power to do anything about it is on the take, apparently
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks AI could help find cures for most cancers, prevent Alzheimer’s, and even double the human lifespan. cbsn.ws/4oRZ8Nm
November 17, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Alice Wong’s legacy is the political horizon she helped articulate. A horizon where disabled knowledge is central, and care is a shared commitment. She taught us to name grief & rage without collapsing under them, to celebrate disabled brilliance without ignoring the material conditions shaping life
November 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
So saddened by the news that we have lost Alice Wong. It was an honor to know her and learn from her. May the lessons she shared continue to guide us for years to come.
November 15, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
“This is a very important development,” says Dyann Wirth, a malaria researcher at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health who was not involved in the work. “We’ve been looking for this for a long time.”
🧪 #IDsky
www.science.org/content/arti...
‘A sigh of relief’: New malaria drug succeeds in large clinical trial
As existing drugs falter because of resistance, the world gets a backup—but hard choices loom on how to use it
www.science.org
November 12, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Pop-up AI defacing your article critical of AI captures a lot of what it feels like to work in this space.
@lmesseri.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
To put this in scale, Elon Musk's salary from Tesla alone could fund the SNAP program for the entire country into 2034.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk scored a resounding victory on Thursday as shareholders approved a pay package of as much as $878 billion over the next decade, endorsing his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut.
Tesla shareholders approve $878 billion pay plan for Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk scored a resounding victory on Thursday as shareholders approved a pay package of as much as $878 billion over the next decade, endorsing his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut.
reut.rs
November 6, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
Once you start thinking of AI as a war on humanity, on human thought, on human inquiry, on human labor, on nuance and critical thinking, it slots in pretty seamlessly with the right wing ideological project, oligarchical political projects, big tech's political projects, etc
November 6, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
This is a very good sign about his understanding of what good governance involves
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
OpenAI is a social arsonist.
November 2, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
I love kids. I have two of them. They’re amazing. However, kids are the absolute least self aware, clumsiest little puffins on the planet.

Please don’t drive tonight unless you have to, and if you do drive, drive super slow and pay 100% attention at all times.

Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻 💀

#PublicHealth
October 31, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Sophia, MPH
“Ironically, while naming AI psychosis might seem like a step toward addressing an emerging, unmet public health need, this term easily becomes a distraction from the underlying problem it exposes — by pathologizing users instead of penalizing companies.”
October 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM