Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Emilien Schultz @emilienschultz.bsky.social · 7d

What a banger is skrub @skrub-data.bsky.social !

Big thumbs up for the sklearn team & the maintainer of this package

1 4 12

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Signal @signal.org · 5d

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.org

40 2.4K 3.9K

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

David Cayla @davidcayla.bsky.social · 4d

2/3
L'État, à la base, ce n'est pas juste d'être une immense tirelire qui collecte des impôts et reverse des subventions aux entreprises et des allocations aux ménages.

Sa fonction première c'est d'assurer la production de services non marchands de qualité.

1 12 22

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 6d

Slides are here: bsky.app/profile/gael...

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Normative framework of bigger tech

(aka, me trolling the tech audience)

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Come to my lightning talk
At @pydataparis.bsky.social in a few minutes

2

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 7d

In 2016 Hinton predicted that AI would replace all radiologists in five years. Ten years later, why hasn't it happened? This post is a great explainer.

www.understandingai.org/p/ai-isnt-re...

AI isn't replacing radiologists

Radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks, and repeatable tasks. But demand for human radiologists is at an all-time high.

www.understandingai.org

11 150 350

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

For more details, @sashamtl.bsky.social , @meredithmeredith.bsky.social and myself wrote a paper about the bigger-is-better narrative in AI, documenting its fragile grounding and the consequences:
dl.acm.org/doi/full/10....

Hype, Sustainability, and the Price of the Bigger-is-Better Paradigm in AI | Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency

dl.acm.org

1 4 21

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Let's keep in mind that we can redefine what is cool, and not play in others' game.

Define what we're proud of:

Bigger is not better
Simplicity is a virtue
Tech for the many

1 12

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Clouds natural bring improved infrastructure. But also enable spying and control.

We need to be careful whom we platform. Tech lords have sometimes the wrong political connections.

1 2

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

More efficient computing won't suffice.

Efficiency improvements are super useful. But demand will increase more, and catch up. Such a rebound effect is very classic with technology, eg with transportation or energy.

It's really the behaviors that condition resource usage (eg bike > SUV)

2 1

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

The good news is: tech keeps improving.
Software and algorithms keep getting better, as well as large compute and data infrastructures.

1 1

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

There are financial considerations indeed. AI actors are burning a crazy amount of money.

But high costs are not always a bad thing (if you own nvidia stock)

1 2

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

It's thanks to Moore's law, right? Computation is getting more effective....

Well, the cost has been exploding (exponentially indeed).

So it's really about pouring more and more money

1 3

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

The story is that we're getting there by waiting for faster GPUs and bigger datasets

and indeed, the compute used has explode, in a super-exponential growth, going way beyond the daily compute of the biggest computers

1 1

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

It's cool because is promises really amazing, very great, awesome productivity gains

(look at those studies by microsoft, IBM, Google...)

1 2

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

So, what's cool in tech?

Well, AI is cool...

it's all over the news, the people on the pictures look healthy and happy (and also white and male), and there is always a big amount of dollars associated

1 2

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

A normative framework is the set of implicit rules and values that define the normal

What is "normal" is cultural by nature

1 3

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Normative framework of bigger tech

(aka, me trolling the tech audience)

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Come to my lightning talk
At @pydataparis.bsky.social in a few minutes

1 6 19

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Come to my lightning talk
At @pydataparis.bsky.social in a few minutes

1 1 9

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

a man in a red jacket is eating popcorn while watching a wrestling show

ALT: a man in a red jacket is eating popcorn while watching a wrestling show

media.tenor.com

1

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 7d

Yeah, I think that "AI is the new petrol" is about right...

1 1 7

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Antony Terre Citoyenne @antonycitoyenne.bsky.social · 8d

📹 Les Antoniens sont-ils les contribuables qui payent le plus cher en France en vidéosurveillance, et pour quels résultats ?
🔍 Pour demander plus de transparence, vous pouvez soutenir *aujourd'hui* notre demande d'audit à la la cour des comptes

participationcitoyenne.ccomptes.fr/processes/co...

Politique de vidéosurveillance de la Ville d’Antony - Contributions - 2025 - Aidez-nous à enrichir notre programme de travail - Plateforme de participation de la Cour des Comptes

Corps de la contributionLa ville d’Antony se targue d’investir un million d’euro par an, depuis plusieurs années, dans son programme de vidéosurveillance - mais communique beaucoup moins sur les résul...

participationcitoyenne.ccomptes.fr

1 1

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Eric Vidalenc @ericvidalenc.bsky.social · 9d

On attends de manière imminente les annonces d'arrêt de liaison aériennes ne tenant que grâce aux subventions ...

Agence France-Presse @afp.com · 9d

🚅 Les trains de nuit Vienne-Paris et Berlin-Paris ne circuleront plus dès le 14 décembre "après le retrait des partenaires français", a annoncé la compagnie ferroviaire autrichienne ÖBB lundi dans un communiqué.

7 57 170

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Antony Terre Citoyenne @antonycitoyenne.bsky.social · 9d

À Antony, la devise de la République est absente du fronton de la mairie. Antony Terre Citoyenne l'a demandé à plusieurs reprises. Le maire s'y est toujours opposé.
bsky.app/profile/huma...

l'Humanité @humanite.fr · 10d

Le ministère de l'Intérieur s'oppose aux drapeaux palestiniens sur les mairies
Le dessin de la semaine de Besse ✍️

2 1

Reposted by Gaël Varoquaux

Antony Terre Citoyenne @antonycitoyenne.bsky.social · 10d

😱Le Maire d’Antony refuse la suspension du jumelage avec la ville israélienne de Sderot, demandée par les élu·es Antony Terre Citoyenne, et nie explicitement la dimension génocidaire de la guerre menée par Netanyahou contre les Palestiniens de Gaza, à quelques kilomètres de Sderot.

1 4 3

Gaël Varoquaux @gaelvaroquaux.bsky.social · 12d

But when we use AI assistance for writing, or coding, how many queries do we do per minute?

I'm not judging, I'm just wondering if this is sustainable in the long run, as systems keep getting bigger, and we use them more.
Or will they be only for a happy few?

1 2