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Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

Mark Riedl @markriedl.bsky.social · 12h

Hi all,

Georgia Tech is holding its 2nd Summit on Responsible Computing, AI, and Society October 28-29th in Atlanta.

rcais.github.io

Our speakers and schedule is set. It's going to be great!

If you are planning to be in Atlanta and want to join us, registration is now open on the website.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 10h

I am willing to believe it can become an on-ramp to doing more art for some people

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 11h

Thank you for sharing your story. It sounds like an especially frustrating and demoralizing experience with the technology.

Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 12h

They think this is good.

We can’t fight or even properly discuss this if we don’t start flipping the questions

Because the question is

“Why do all of their technologies turn to abuse vectors of the least defended and respected identities”

And the abuse of those who transcend their bias

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 14h

Genuine question - what are OpenAI’s Sora and other video generation tools good for?

I am honestly trying to understand what is so important that it’s worth the cost. If you have examples, I would be interested to hear them.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

People Are Making Sora 2 Videos of Stephen Hawking Being Horribly Brutalized

People are using OpenAI's Sora 2 to generate videos of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking being brutalized in ghoulish ways.

futurism.com

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 12h

I can see another argument for Sora 2’s social features: in addition to supporting social creativity, they actually contain the content, making it more legible and traceable to research and governance.

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Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

Derek Slater @derekslater.bsky.social · 13h

Think it's worth unpacking what was clear in 05 and to whom. It was not self evident and was actively contested and fought by many.

Then, why can't many of the same positive video uses from UGC be applied to gen AI? (Including the myriad gen AI video that is *not* a deepfakes)

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 13h

Hi james we don’t know each other and I can tell you are upset, but can you please not respond to someone in my network this way? I am trying to start a conversation not a shunning contest, thanks!

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 13h

Also Derek, thank you for taking my question seriously - it was not merely a rhetorical question!

I am struggling to find ways to have conversation on Bluesky and have almost given up, so thanks for engaging thoughtfully!

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 13h

I think that’s an excellent question, and one I have been wondering about too, which is why I have been asking about the upside.

With UGC in 05, the upside was clear, we had decades of the social internet to show for it.

I would love to see the positive uses of deepfakes.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 13h

Another way of saying it: would a Deepfakes4Good event yield much of worth to society?

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 14h

It’s hard not to see tools like this as a strong threat to the common human decency that I have spent the last 15 years working for. So I would genuinely like to know what public goods are worth all this.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 14h

A few years later, as part of my dissertation research, I learned about the ugly culture of mocking disabled people with disturbing jokes that denigrated Professor Hawking.

I spent years motivated by harassment of Hawking and other scientists to research ways to change norms toward respect.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 14h

I remember being so proud to learn that neural networks I worked on were helping Professor Hawking (with whom I had mutual friends) write his final book.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 14h

Genuine question - what are OpenAI’s Sora and other video generation tools good for?

I am honestly trying to understand what is so important that it’s worth the cost. If you have examples, I would be interested to hear them.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

People Are Making Sora 2 Videos of Stephen Hawking Being Horribly Brutalized

People are using OpenAI's Sora 2 to generate videos of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking being brutalized in ghoulish ways.

futurism.com

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 1d

As a scientist, advocates sometimes encourage me not to study a topic, not because the truth can't be found, but because they worry that the knowledge might be misused. And they might be right.

Example: social media + mass violence

Curious: what's an issue you've wrestled with in this way?

Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

Amanda Levendowski Tepski @tepski.tech · 1d

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Stalker Already Using OpenAI's Sora 2 to Harass Victim

A journalist claims that her stalker used Sora 2, the latest video app from OpenAI, to churn out videos of her.

futurism.com

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Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 1d

Reminder: Participatory Journalism Interest Group is looking for panel proposals for next year's AEJMC conference in August in New Orleans. Deadline is tomorrow. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

PJIG Call for Panel Proposals AEJMC 2026

AEJMC Participatory Journalism Interest Group Call for Panel Proposals AEJMC Conference in New Orleans, Aug. 5-8, 2026 Panel proposal deadline: Oct. 7 before midnight The Participatory Journalism ...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by J. Nathan Matias

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 3d

Are you a scientist, journalist, or civil society researcher studying New York State's distraction-free school policy, the one that bans internet-enabled devices in schools from bell to bell?

If so, I want to hear from you, as I refine a project to archive & classify published school policies.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 3d

This semester, my students are compiling & classifying > 1k phone policies across NY state. We're building a baseline understanding of how this law is being implemented & how it varies.

We hope the dataset will be useful to others, so if you have ideas of what we should record, please respond!

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 3d

Are you a scientist, journalist, or civil society researcher studying New York State's distraction-free school policy, the one that bans internet-enabled devices in schools from bell to bell?

If so, I want to hear from you, as I refine a project to archive & classify published school policies.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 4d

For more about Gloo, see this article in the Wall Street Journal:

www.wsj.com/business/med...

Churches Target New Members, With Help From Big Data

Borrowing techniques long used by businesses and political campaigns, churches are using data to find those they believe would be most receptive to their messages—often, people in crisis. A small comp...

www.wsj.com

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 4d

The MIT Tech Review has retracted a news story about Gloo, a company whose privacy practices were reported on by the WSJ.

Not sure what to make of this, since they leave so much unsaid. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/19/1...

When tech gets religion: How churches use data and AI

Spiritual care and technology are converging across the country, reshaping the theology of trust.

www.technologyreview.com

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 11d

<3

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 11d

We have also decided to drop Netflix and support journalism and other public goods. We just don't get much value out of Netflix, and it's an easy way to redirect money toward key democratic institutions without changing our overall budget.

How else have folks been supporting key public goods?

Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 11d

A couple of weeks ago I cancelled my overpriced, little-used Netflix subscription (idk what any of those shows or movies are at this point), and started paying $5/month to my local PBS station in exchange for their streaming service. A+ decision, recommended.

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J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 12d

<3

Andrew Losowsky @losowsky.com · 25d

When I learned that I had been chosen for ONA’s Impact Award this year (awards.journalists.org/awards/impac...), for centering community voices, my first response was to think of at least a dozen others they could have also chosen.

Impact Award - Online Journalism Awards

The Impact Award honors a trailblazing individual whose work in digital journalism and dedication to innovation exhibits a substantial impact on the industry, regardless of their tenure in…

awards.journalists.org

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