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Suresh Venkatasubramanian

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Suresh Venkatasubramanian is an Indian computer scientist and professor at Brown University. In 2021, Prof. Venkatasubramanian was appointed to the… more

H-index: 44
Computer science 89%
Engineering 5%
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

thebulletin.org
"AI systems are used to make invisible, inscrutable judgements that will affect our lives in ways we may not even begin to see," says Suresh Venkatasubramanian @geomblog.bsky.social.

"It sounds Kafkaesque because it is Kafkaesque."
How AI is fueling surveillance capitalism and undermining democracy
While some believe AI can be used to improve lives, others may exploit this knowledge for financial gain.
youtu.be
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by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
The Bulletin made a short video presentation to accompany the article. It's great especially if you want to see me gesticulating wildly at every word I say (My parents used to call me Magnus Pyke when I was a child, and that clearly hasn't gone away)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn8_...
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

cyberlyra.bsky.social
@geomblog.bsky.social YESS! "Intimacy Machines" is officially my new fave oxymoron.

(tough competition what with "gender-neutral masculine standard" floating around out there)
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by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
I said a thing :).
hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d
Sick burn. finance.yahoo.com/news/22-old-...
Critics see something different. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, director of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination, and Redesign at Brown University, said that Friend is clearly an example of a frothy AI company, but that it also bore a “pernicious” resemblance to a mostly forgotten early-20th-century fad: “radium necklaces.”

When Marie Curie’s new glowing discovery first hit the market, jewelers embedded radium in pendants and bracelets and sold them as chic wellness accessories—until decades later, people started dying of cancer.

“I look at Friend and I think, ‘Are we making the same mistake?’” Venkatasubramanian told Fortune. “We’re rushing these intimacy machines into people’s lives with no evidence they’re safe, or even helpful.”
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by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
A) you are too kind. B) I was really annoyed :)
9

by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
I didn't know the article had landed :). Thanks!
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

hypervisible.blacksky.app
Sick burn. finance.yahoo.com/news/22-old-...
Critics see something different. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, director of the Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination, and Redesign at Brown University, said that Friend is clearly an example of a frothy AI company, but that it also bore a “pernicious” resemblance to a mostly forgotten early-20th-century fad: “radium necklaces.”

When Marie Curie’s new glowing discovery first hit the market, jewelers embedded radium in pendants and bracelets and sold them as chic wellness accessories—until decades later, people started dying of cancer.

“I look at Friend and I think, ‘Are we making the same mistake?’” Venkatasubramanian told Fortune. “We’re rushing these intimacy machines into people’s lives with no evidence they’re safe, or even helpful.”
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Nandita Sharma, Will Jennings , and 17 more

maaloufmd.bsky.social
My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

amo.house.gov
Joined ABC News Live to discuss the Trump and Republicans’ disastrous government shutdown that’s leaving Americans poorer and sicker.

I’m fighting to end the cuts, lower costs, and save health care. Watch here 📺
6 12

by Suresh Venkatasubramanian — Reposted by: Jennifer A. Richeson

geomblog.bsky.social
This was expected, but is also going to be a disaster when it comes to dealing with bias in algorithmic tools for employment.

Source: AP News
search.app/kuYRD
Civil rights agency drops a key tool used to investigate workplace discrimination
The U.S. civil rights agency responsible for enforcing worker rights will stop investigating complaints about company policies that don’t explicitly discriminate but may disproportionately harm certai...
search.app
3 5

Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

elizabethjoh.bsky.social
Not great to be caught in a tug of war between the 2:
"Newsom on Thursday threatened to cut “billions” in state funding from any CA campus that signs a Trump administration compact and agrees to sweeping and largely conservative campus policies in exchange" for fed $ www.latimes.com/california/s...
Newsom threatens to cut state funding to universities that sign Trump’s political compact
The White House is asking nine major universities, including USC, to commit to President Trump’s political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal money.
www.latimes.com
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Kate Starbird

jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Just noting that a university that signed this compact would be agreeing to gut clinics and institutes like, say, the Knight Institute, whose mandate is to promote free speech and press freedom. What would it even mean for us to be “neutral”?
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Anna O. Law

scalzi.com
The "AI" responses that Google gives about me and my work are consistently error-prone, which I know because I am me. If I know Google's "AI" responses give incorrect answers about things I know about, I can't trust it to give correct answers about things I don't know. So, no, I don't use it.
johngordon.bsky.social
John Gordon 🇨🇦🇩🇰 @johngordon.bsky.social · 5d
I’m surprised you don’t use ai answer engines in research you currently do with Google
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

magdalenaskipper.bsky.social
Jane Goodall challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

In this news story we look at three ways she changed science.

A loss for science, a loss for the community, a loss for everyone

🧪 #academicSky

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science
The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.
www.nature.com
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

melaniemitchell.bsky.social
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Turing test, I'm re-upping my short essay, "The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence".

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence
“Can machines think?” So asked Alan Turing in his 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Turing quickly noted that, given the difficulty of defining thinking, the question is “too meaning...
www.science.org
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Nicole Dubilier, Shelly Lundberg , and 2 more

jayrosen.bsky.social
If you are following the story of The Pentagon's new policy, nicknamed, "you must check with us before you dream of doing any journalism," you may enjoy this update from @status.news
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
No inference time compute required.
1

by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
Amazing
merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 6d
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
1 1 8

Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

dwj88.bsky.social
Sam Woolley and I have a piece out in
@jodemocracy.bsky.social on the true dangers AI poses to democracy in the years ahead.

While acknowledging immediate harms like discrimination, we eschew catastrophism and explore the cumulative impact of already visible trends.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
"AI's Real Dangers for Democracy," by Dean Jackson and Samuel Woolley
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Peter Thorne, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 30 more

merriam-webster.com
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
650 8.2K 25K

Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Marc Lynch, Elizabeth Saunders , and 7 more

veenadubal.bsky.social
WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Meredith Broussard

hypervisible.blacksky.app
“This worldwide update includes the ability for parents, as well as law enforcement, to receive notifications if a child—in this case, users between the ages of 13 and 18—engages in chatbot conversations about self harm or suicide.”
OpenAI Adds Parental Safety Controls for Teen ChatGPT Users. Here’s What to Expect
OpenAI’s review process for teenage ChatGPT users who are flagged for suicidal ideation includes human moderators. Parents can expect an alert about alarming prompts within hours.
www.wired.com
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian, David H. Kaye

adamkeiper.com
"Here I am, this middle-aged black man, I'm in my best suit. I actually argued the case at the Supreme Court that we were trying to implement. I've got all these degrees and awards. And I'm still required to laugh at my own humiliation."

Bryan Stevenson with @katiecouric.bsky.social
The Exhausting Reality of Being a Black Lawyer - Bryan Stevenson's Truth
YouTube video by Katie Couric
www.youtube.com
9 110 340

Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

mariapopova.bsky.social
Cry, Heart, but Never Break – a remarkable Danish illustrated meditation on loss and life www.themarginalian.org/2016/03/08/c...
Cry, Heart, But Never Break: A Remarkable Illustrated Meditation on Loss and Life
“Who would enjoy the sun if it never rained? Who would yearn for the day if there were no night?”
www.themarginalian.org
5 21

by Ruha Benjamin — Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

ruha9.bsky.social
they ask me to imagine
but they want me to imagine
their futures
and i keep imagining
mine.
Ruha’s hand pointing to pink graffiti that reads “Fuck ICE” Ruha standing in front of Trump tower in Chicago with these words of Octavia E. Butler overlaying the image: “Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery" Ruha standing in front of tall historic building in Chicago with these words overlaying the image. they ask me to imagine but they want me to imagine their futures and i keep imagining mine.
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

reed.senate.gov
Scientists & experts say that RNA innovation is poised to usher in a new era of treatments & cures for different diseases & illnesses. The work being done at Brown University is helping to lead the way. Great to speak at Brown’s RNA Center Symposium this morning.
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by Suresh Venkatasubramanian

geomblog.bsky.social
LOL
2

Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

costasamaras.com
AGI this, AGI that

A GI disturbance is what your arguments are giving me
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Reposted by: Suresh Venkatasubramanian

theatlantic.com
With TikTok’s potential sale to a group of Donald Trump allies, “we should be far less worried about what foreign governments could do with our social-media information than about how our own government might abuse it,” David Karpf argues.
The MAGA Media Takeover
Trump and his powerful friends are creating a dangerous moment for free speech.
bit.ly
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References

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