Jed Brown
@jedbrown.org
Prof developing fast algorithms, reliable software, and healthy communities for computational science. Opinions my own. https://hachyderm.io/@jedbrown
https://PhyPID.org | aspiring killjoy | against epistemicide | he/they
https://PhyPID.org | aspiring killjoy | against epistemicide | he/they
Reposted by Jed Brown
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 7:23 PM
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jed Brown
Texas A&M decided to publicly cancel my Ethics class, and share a false statement that I declined to provide information, which made it impossible for [them ] to request an exemption. See for yourself, if this statement is true.
They are getting creative!
They are getting creative!
ETHICS IS NOW CANCELED AT TEXAS A&M
Statement from Dr. Leonard Bright....
Statement from Dr. Leonard Bright....
January 14, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Texas A&M decided to publicly cancel my Ethics class, and share a false statement that I declined to provide information, which made it impossible for [them ] to request an exemption. See for yourself, if this statement is true.
They are getting creative!
They are getting creative!
While capitulation can be rationalized (albeit contrary to everything known about autocracy) when under extreme pressure, the rampant unforced errors by so many institutions are telling.
January 15, 2026 at 1:52 AM
While capitulation can be rationalized (albeit contrary to everything known about autocracy) when under extreme pressure, the rampant unforced errors by so many institutions are telling.
University IT offices should be aware of CrowdStrike's "no test plans and no quality assurance team" when deciding to mandate mass surveillance of faculty, staff, and students, entrusting CrowdStrike with the collection and processing of those records. And faculty should calibrate trust accordingly.
January 14, 2026 at 11:21 PM
University IT offices should be aware of CrowdStrike's "no test plans and no quality assurance team" when deciding to mandate mass surveillance of faculty, staff, and students, entrusting CrowdStrike with the collection and processing of those records. And faculty should calibrate trust accordingly.
@coattnygeneral.bsky.social Colorado SB25-288 should give you the tools to prosecute this behavior. The company is creating the CSAM and NCII so it is not a section 230 exemption.
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
Attorney General Bonta Launches Investigation into xAI, Grok Over Undressed, Sexual AI Images of Women and Children
Potential victims of xAI can file a complaint at oag.ca.gov/report OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced opening an investigation into the proliferation of nonconsensual sexu...
oag.ca.gov
January 14, 2026 at 8:17 PM
@coattnygeneral.bsky.social Colorado SB25-288 should give you the tools to prosecute this behavior. The company is creating the CSAM and NCII so it is not a section 230 exemption.
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
Reposted by Jed Brown
“If a mostly white community can push back on this project and get it stopped, it’s unacceptable that the next move is to fly under the radar in a rural Black community with even less transparency,” Black added.
www.canarymedia.com/articles/dat...
www.canarymedia.com/articles/dat...
After a white town rejected a data center, developers eyed a Black…
Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are “overwhelmingly” non-white.
www.canarymedia.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:11 PM
“If a mostly white community can push back on this project and get it stopped, it’s unacceptable that the next move is to fly under the radar in a rural Black community with even less transparency,” Black added.
www.canarymedia.com/articles/dat...
www.canarymedia.com/articles/dat...
Reposted by Jed Brown
Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:
January 14, 2026 at 1:27 AM
Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:
Reposted by Jed Brown
I’m seeing lots of people on here misunderstand the purpose of ICE watch.
It’s de-escalation. And it’s grounded in the social science of violence. 🧵
It’s de-escalation. And it’s grounded in the social science of violence. 🧵
January 13, 2026 at 5:37 PM
I’m seeing lots of people on here misunderstand the purpose of ICE watch.
It’s de-escalation. And it’s grounded in the social science of violence. 🧵
It’s de-escalation. And it’s grounded in the social science of violence. 🧵
Economists are finally catching on to the obvious con. I wonder if the people (there are many) who correctly diagnosed the con years ago will ever be listened to.
January 11, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Economists are finally catching on to the obvious con. I wonder if the people (there are many) who correctly diagnosed the con years ago will ever be listened to.
Reposted by Jed Brown
“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity… each of us independently reached the decision to resign in protest of the actions of an administration that treats science not as a process for building knowledge, but as a means to advance its political agenda.”
The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left
“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity,” write four scientists and administrators who recently resigned from the NIH.
www.statnews.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:07 PM
“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity… each of us independently reached the decision to resign in protest of the actions of an administration that treats science not as a process for building knowledge, but as a means to advance its political agenda.”
Reposted by Jed Brown
I genuinely believe the way out of this political moment is to pick up the causes our oppressors want us to leave behind—movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.
I was thrilled to get a chance to talk about that with @ctpublic.bsky.social. (And the other guest is @kattenbarge.bsky.social!)
I was thrilled to get a chance to talk about that with @ctpublic.bsky.social. (And the other guest is @kattenbarge.bsky.social!)
After #MeToo, what has changed?
While #MeToo went viral in 2017, the Me Too movement has been around for 20 years. This hour, we explore the role social media can play for survivors and what, if anything, has changed.
www.ctpublic.org
January 9, 2026 at 6:50 PM
I genuinely believe the way out of this political moment is to pick up the causes our oppressors want us to leave behind—movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.
I was thrilled to get a chance to talk about that with @ctpublic.bsky.social. (And the other guest is @kattenbarge.bsky.social!)
I was thrilled to get a chance to talk about that with @ctpublic.bsky.social. (And the other guest is @kattenbarge.bsky.social!)
Reposted by Jed Brown
Friends, at a time when science is under attack & people are economically hurting, the ACM, Association for Computing Machinery, is introducing paywalls that didn't exist.
If you're opposed to this measure, join me in signing this petition asking the ACM to stop.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/res...
If you're opposed to this measure, join me in signing this petition asking the ACM to stop.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/res...
January 7, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Friends, at a time when science is under attack & people are economically hurting, the ACM, Association for Computing Machinery, is introducing paywalls that didn't exist.
If you're opposed to this measure, join me in signing this petition asking the ACM to stop.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/res...
If you're opposed to this measure, join me in signing this petition asking the ACM to stop.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/res...
This is for anyone who thinks they don't need to at least practice due diligence that output from an LLM is not copyright infringement or (obvious) plagiarism. (I contend it should be understood as both, even when the emitted text is not near-verbatim, because the mechanism is identical.)
January 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM
This is for anyone who thinks they don't need to at least practice due diligence that output from an LLM is not copyright infringement or (obvious) plagiarism. (I contend it should be understood as both, even when the emitted text is not near-verbatim, because the mechanism is identical.)
Owners of the Unlicensed Practice of Medicine Machine, who advertise it as such but for a disclaimer, also believe "it's not clinical" is an airtight loophole to violate HIPAA. The fed gov won't protect patients or mitigate baseless malpractice allegations incited by the conspiracy-affirming bot.
It’s no accident that this announcement came right after the FDA said it will not regulate AI-assisted medical devices.
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, encouraging users to connect their medical records
January 8, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Owners of the Unlicensed Practice of Medicine Machine, who advertise it as such but for a disclaimer, also believe "it's not clinical" is an airtight loophole to violate HIPAA. The fed gov won't protect patients or mitigate baseless malpractice allegations incited by the conspiracy-affirming bot.
Uff. There is no moral arc bending inevitably toward justice, only hard-fought gains at personal and institutional risk. We need a rebirth of solidarity networks and celebration of the sort of defiance that ultimately defanged the HUAC. Demand courage from leaders and build union power to compel it.
January 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Uff. There is no moral arc bending inevitably toward justice, only hard-fought gains at personal and institutional risk. We need a rebirth of solidarity networks and celebration of the sort of defiance that ultimately defanged the HUAC. Demand courage from leaders and build union power to compel it.
This rampant journalistic malpractice is a product of a well-financed multi-year campaign to blur and misrepresent agency and accountability. It has been abetted by faculty who should know better and by corporatized university administrators. We cannot afford apathy or polite excuses on this issue.
This is a thread of major media outlets falsely anthropomorphising the "Grok" chatbot program and in doing so, actively and directly removing responsibility and accountability from individual people working at X who created a child pornography generator (Elon Musk, Nikita Bier etc)
#1: Reuters
#1: Reuters
January 2, 2026 at 8:55 PM
This rampant journalistic malpractice is a product of a well-financed multi-year campaign to blur and misrepresent agency and accountability. It has been abetted by faculty who should know better and by corporatized university administrators. We cannot afford apathy or polite excuses on this issue.
Reposted by Jed Brown
just so it's clear: this is the exact core function of genAI
Fascist government and climate deniers love it because it can produce the aesthetics of knowledge without any actual tendency towards truth. It is automated denialism.
Shame on every climate scientist promoting its use (there are lots)
Fascist government and climate deniers love it because it can produce the aesthetics of knowledge without any actual tendency towards truth. It is automated denialism.
Shame on every climate scientist promoting its use (there are lots)
Bob and I were among the hundreds of researchers that were supposed to conduct the 6th U.S. National Climate Assessment. Now it looks like they're gonna produce it with a few people and Grok? Communities need rigorous and accurate information about climate change. This will put communities at risk.
January 1, 2026 at 7:11 AM
just so it's clear: this is the exact core function of genAI
Fascist government and climate deniers love it because it can produce the aesthetics of knowledge without any actual tendency towards truth. It is automated denialism.
Shame on every climate scientist promoting its use (there are lots)
Fascist government and climate deniers love it because it can produce the aesthetics of knowledge without any actual tendency towards truth. It is automated denialism.
Shame on every climate scientist promoting its use (there are lots)
The obvious way to incorporate ads is via RAG to put ad-copy into the context, but that will taint the entire response (sometimes to comedic/harmful effect). They're going to try to circumvent FTC rules on native advertising that would require labeling the entire response
www.ftc.gov/system/files...
www.ftc.gov/system/files...
December 31, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The obvious way to incorporate ads is via RAG to put ad-copy into the context, but that will taint the entire response (sometimes to comedic/harmful effect). They're going to try to circumvent FTC rules on native advertising that would require labeling the entire response
www.ftc.gov/system/files...
www.ftc.gov/system/files...
Reposted by Jed Brown
Something to consider:
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
December 30, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Something to consider:
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
1. rarehistoricalphotos.com/doctors-smok...
2. Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/n 🧵
Reposted by Jed Brown
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
December 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
Reposted by Jed Brown
The obsession with creating Black people that can't tell you no and then distributing them into the world to say and demonstrate whatever you want is REAL.
“In the online version of the program, the same strategies are taught to the first-year students, but the AI-avatars are pre-recorded, meaning they function more like recorded lectures rather than live, interactive instructors.”
AI avatars have arrived at the University as teaching assistants
By utilizing the AI avatars to teach new sections of the class, the program expanded this past Fall semester.
www.cavalierdaily.com
December 29, 2025 at 9:47 PM
The obsession with creating Black people that can't tell you no and then distributing them into the world to say and demonstrate whatever you want is REAL.
Reposted by Jed Brown
"Calls for unionization and collective action may not be novel, but that’s what is needed. Let us find our allies across the vast labor force of education."
I wasn’t sure they were going to publish this. So good for them.
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM
"Calls for unionization and collective action may not be novel, but that’s what is needed. Let us find our allies across the vast labor force of education."
Reposted by Jed Brown
The images used, and artists represented, by Weingarten here without consent, attribution or compensation have been subject of _multiple_ Supreme Court cases establishing that their work cannot be exploited without permission. And teachers’ IP rights is a key issue unions need to be fighting for!
December 29, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The images used, and artists represented, by Weingarten here without consent, attribution or compensation have been subject of _multiple_ Supreme Court cases establishing that their work cannot be exploited without permission. And teachers’ IP rights is a key issue unions need to be fighting for!
I'd like to propose the following norm for peer review of papers. If a paper shows clear signs of mechanized plagiarism, the paper should be immediately rejected, the authors' institution should be notified, and other potential victims should be notified.
doi.org/10.24318/cop...
doi.org/10.24318/cop...
December 29, 2025 at 12:50 AM
I'd like to propose the following norm for peer review of papers. If a paper shows clear signs of mechanized plagiarism, the paper should be immediately rejected, the authors' institution should be notified, and other potential victims should be notified.
doi.org/10.24318/cop...
doi.org/10.24318/cop...