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A.I. Is on the Rise, and So Is the Environmental Impact of the Data Centers That Drive It

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 7h

As demand for data centers needed for #AI increases, so does its use of #energy, #water, and land, driving increased use of fossil fuels and raising concerns about its #sustainability, explains @amberonradio.bsky.social

www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

The demand for data centers is growing faster than our ability to mitigate their skyrocketing economic and environmental costs

www.smithsonianmag.com

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 7h

#Chatbot use can increase workplace efficiency in the short run but can prompt #automation bias and erode employee trust in their own judgement, problems that leaders can take steps to prevent, explain @j-l-c.bsky.social & Mel Sellick

theconversation.com/ai-tools-pro... #AI #work

AI tools promise efficiency at work, but they can erode trust, creativity and agency

Without deliberate strategies, over-reliance on AI could erode self-trust, creativity and ethical judgment and leave organizations more fragile, not more resilient.

Australian man encouraged to murder his father by AI chatbot

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Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

An Australian company's #chatbot is marketed as a friend "with a soul" but may encourage violent and harmful acts, which, critics argue, reveals inadequate oversight by the provider and regulators, explains April McLennan

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09... #AI

Experts are calling for new regulations on artificial intelligence chatbots, after a triple j hack investigation uncovered a disturbing example of a chatbot encouraging a man to murder his father whil...

www.abc.net.au

After Kirk Assassination, AI ‘Fact Checks’ Spread False Claims

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

#Chatbots served up and perpetuated many mistaken claims about Charlie Kirk's murder (such as claims that video of it was faked) after it occurred, thus exacerbating confusion about it

www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/after-kirk... #AI

Social media users turning to AI chatbots to fact-check viral claims about Kirk’s assassination were given false information, creating confusion

www.newsguardrealitycheck.com

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

#Russian #AI fueled misinformation campaigns have only increased in places like #Moldova even as the US gov't has dismantled efforts to counter it, under the guise of promoting free speech, explains @stevenleemyers.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/b...

Russia Steps Up Disinformation Efforts as Trump Abandons Resistance

A simple twist fooled AI—and revealed a dangerous flaw in medical ethics

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

New research: #Chatbots tend to fall into "intuitive" assumptions about medical ethics questions, even when those assumptions clearly don't apply, underscoring the need for careful human oversight of such uses

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... #AI #medicine

Even the most powerful AI models, including ChatGPT, can make surprisingly basic errors when navigating ethical medical decisions, a new study reveals. Researchers tweaked familiar ethical dilemmas an...

www.sciencedaily.com

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

#YouTube seems to be trialing #GenAI "polishing" of uploaded content, perhaps to establish a branded appearance, and to normalize GenAI content, part of a trend to change #SocialMedia into a mere consumer service, argues @alexreisner.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’

The video platform is quietly using AI to “improve clarity” in uploaded content. Why?

www.theatlantic.com

Could an AI Barbie Take the Place of Real Friends?

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

An #AI powered Barbie doll sounds like a cool toy but parents should be concerned that kids will look to it for care and empathy that it cannot really provide, making the whole project a premature experiment, argues Marc Fernandez

spectrum.ieee.org/ai-barbie-do...

Are AI toys the future of playtime or a risk to emotional development? A collaboration between Mattel and OpenAI raises sobering questions.

spectrum.ieee.org

Do People Really Want Humanoid Robots in Their Homes?

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

New research: In spite of $$$ poured into home humanoid #robot development, it's unclear that ppl prefer them to more specialized items or find them acceptably trustworthy or agreeable, explains Maya Cakmak

spectrum.ieee.org/home-humanoi...

Investors are pouring billions into humanoid robots, but do people actually want them in their homes?

spectrum.ieee.org

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says his gov't will appoint an #AI minister of gov't contracts, saying it will be incorruptible, tho experts observe that serious issues like #bias and #accountability have not been considered, explain Briseida Mema & Camille Bouissou

techxplore.com/news/2025-09...

Experts question Albania's AI-generated minister

Last week, Albania announced that an AI-generated minister would take charge of a new public tenders portfolio.

techxplore.com

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

New research: #Chatbots have a tendency to overconfidence in their arguments about debate questions, and provide answers to factual questions not supported by sources they cite, explains Paul Arnold

techxplore.com/news/2025-09... #AI

A new study finds AI tools are often unreliable, overconfident and one-sided

Artificial intelligence may well save us time by finding information faster, but it is not always a reliable researcher. It frequently makes unsupported claims that are not backed up by reliable sourc...

techxplore.com

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Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

New research: #hallucinations in #chatbots could be lowered by requiring bots to be highly "confident" in their responses, yet this would cause user dissatisfaction and be unprofitable, so providers aren't likely to do it, explains Wei Xing

theconversation.com/why-openais-... #AI

Why OpenAI’s solution to AI hallucinations would kill ChatGPT tomorrow

The cure is likely to be worse than the disease.

AI and credit: How can we keep machines from reproducing social biases?

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

#AI can improve bank performance in several ways but may exacerbate concerns relating to #bias and #fairness, which can be mitigated with technical improvements and appropriate regulations, argues @norrinhalilem.bsky.social

theconversation.com/ai-and-credi... #commerce

Can we move from algorithmic discrimination to inclusive finance?

When robots are integrated into household spaces and rituals, they acquire emotional value

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 14d

New research: Social #robots (like Luka the book-reading owl) become like family pets and are kept beyond their useful lives, having implications for robot #design and #sustainability, explains Zhao Zhao

theconversation.com/when-robots-...

Users can form emotional attachments to devices. This has implications for design and human-computer interaction.

Did Amazon Trick Customers Into Prime? A Jury Will Decide.

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

A jury in Federal court will hear a case brought by the FTC accusing #Amazon of tricking customers into signing up for its Prime service through use of a "dark pattern" in its #design, explains Karen Weise

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/t...

Opinion | The N.Y.P.D. Is Teaching America How to Track Everyone Every Day Forever

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

The #NYC Police have assembled a ubiquitous, persistent, and multimodal #surveillance system, threatening #privacy and #equity for residents, calling for stringent oversight and legislative limitation, argues Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez

www.nytimes.com/interactive/... #cities

New tools allow law enforcement agencies to track us at an unimaginable scale.

Is AI Good for the Planet? - JSTOR Daily

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

#AI is touted to make industries more sustainable but it's own #energy and #water consumption are skyrocketing, potentially undermining any general gains in #sustainability, argue Michaela Rychetska & @aissalynn.bsky.social

daily.jstor.org/is-ai-good-f...

The algorithms that promise to predict wildfires and optimize energy grids are powered by servers that drink up rivers and belch out more carbon than cars.

daily.jstor.org

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

Film festivals like #TIFF host discussions and shape ideas about #AI in the industry, concerning authenticity, copyright, and labour issues for actors, explain Lauren Knight, @daphnerenaidiz.bsky.social & @grohmannrafael.bsky.social

theconversation.com/film-festiva... #cinema #arts

Film festivals like TIFF set the tone for wider industry norms — here’s what we’re watching around AI

AI in the film industry is a hot-button issue that filmmakers, tech companies, distributors, creatives’ guilds and unions, policymakers and viewers are struggling to negotiate.

Social media is teaching children how to use AI. How can teachers keep up?

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

In dealing with #AI in the #education, instructors benefit from peer support and training in AI literacy, which institutional policies can support, argues Johanthan Woodworth

theconversation.com/social-media...

AI is transforming classrooms, yet most learning is informal. Teacher education and clear policies are vital to ensure AI supports equity, trust and pedagogy.

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · 16d

"Speed eclipses safety" Contractors hired to review #chatbot outputs find their #work dominated by tight deadlines, poor pay, and unclear or declining standards, explains Varsha Bansal

www.theguardian.com/technology/2... #AI

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

www.theguardian.com

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · Sep 2

Charles Poyen introduced mesmerism to the US in an attempt to better control factory workers, matching automatism to #automation, though the project never worked, explains Matthew Wills

daily.jstor.org/mesmerizing-... #work #labor

Mesmerizing Labor - JSTOR Daily

The man who introduced mesmerism to the US was a slave-owner from Guadeloupe, where planters were experimenting with “magnetizing” their enslaved people.

daily.jstor.org

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · Sep 2

AOL is terminating its famous dial-up service, which has become very marginal though not totally irrelevant, conjuring up nostalgia among Americans of a certain vintage, explains Ernie Smith

spectrum.ieee.org/end-of-aol-d...

Why Is AOL Finally Saying Goodbye to Dial-Up?

AOL's dial-up exit marks the end of an era, but niche tech often finds a way to stick around.

spectrum.ieee.org

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Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · Aug 27

As #chatbots undermine the rationale for take-home written assignments, professors are turning to some combination of oral in-class work and supervised writing, part of the incremental process of adapting to technological change in #education, argues Clay Shirkey

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

Opinion | Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis.

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · Aug 27

Facing a number of significant challenges, Adam Raine ended his own life, following many discussions with #ChatGPT, which his parents blame for encouraging it and not raising any alarms, explains @kashhill.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t... #AI #chatbots