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Shahan Ali Memon

@shahanmemon.bsky.social

2.9K followers 1.3K following 690 posts

Researching {science of AI-mediated science, metascience #SciSci, #AI4Science, generative #AI, LLMs, agents, alignment, misinformation in science} PhD @ UW. Visiting @ NYU & MSR Alum @ Carnegie Mellon Academic webpage: https://samemon.github.io

samemon.github.io

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · Nov 27

🚨 I recently came across a weird case of #AI in #preprints, with implications for burdening #SciComm with AI-mediated #PredatoryPublishing

What did I find? Issues with the article, questionable behavior by the author, indexing problems, and AI's potential for streamlining predatory publishing.

🧵

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

The point isn’t to rank tragedies, but to recognize that the way deaths are told determines whose lives we see as worth mourning. Journalism’s duty is not only to inform but to humanize and convey the “moral magnitude” of what’s happening.

Western media has clearly failed here. Again.

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

The finding fits into a long-standing pattern in #journalism, where certain stories are downplayed or marginalized in mainstream coverage (e.g., “Buried by the times,” on how NYT minimized and buried reports on the Holocaust: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_...

Buried by the Times - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

Is this surprising? Not at all, but it’s significant that researchers are finally measuring it.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

Western sources attributed 71–90% of their cast-doubting phrases to doubting the sources of Palestinian civilian victim numbers, compared to 21% for AlJazeera. This kind of language made Palestinian numbers sound uncertain even though international agencies like the #UN often rely on the same data.

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

3. When reporting Palestinian deaths, western outlets often added words that create doubt or distance, such as “according to the Hamas-run health ministry.”

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

“This strategy, which contradicts the common ‘agenda decay’ phenomenon, not only creates an illusion of balance, but also reiterates the idea that the 7th of October was the starting point and ‘cause’ of the subsequent events.”

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

From the paper: “reiterations of October 7 were particularly pronounced during periods when significant events occurred on both sides, often overshadowing coverage of Palestinian suffering and diverting attention from the toll in Gaza.”

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

As the authors note, this pattern creates an illusion of balance and subtly centers Israeli suffering as the story’s moral anchor.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

2. Even with more than 67,000 Palestinian deaths, Western outlets often present the tolls as roughly equivalent—giving similar space to each side and repeatedly revisiting October 7 stories.

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

Psychologically, people are far more likely to empathize with a single named person than with large, faceless groups. This is known as the “identifiable victim effect,” a well-documented phenomenon showing that individual stories evoke compassion more powerfully than statistics ever can.

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

More concretely, human stories aren’t told equally: News outlets like The New York Times, BBC, and CNN tend to show Israeli victims as individuals—with names, photos, or personal stories—while Palestinian victims are usually described as numbers or groups (“hundreds killed in Gaza”).

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

1. The results confirm a systematic asymmetry in Western reporting, where Israeli victims are more frequently individualized and humanized, and Palestinian victims are more often represented collectively or statistically.

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 2h

This new preprint on arXiv from New York University studies the media coverage bias in reporting on #Israel and #Gaza comparing coverage differences between western outlets i.e. New York Times #NYT, #BBC, #CNN against non-western outlet @aljazeera.com.

Findings 👇

arxiv.org/abs/2510.06453

Media Coverage of War Victims: Journalistic Biases in Reporting on Israel and Gaza

October 7th 2023 marked the start of a war against Gaza, which is considered one of the most devastating wars in modern history and has led to a stark attitudinal divide within and between countries. ...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Shahan Ali Memon

Lukas Röseler @aufdroeseler.bsky.social · 3d

ReplicationResearch.org is now open for submissions!

Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.

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Reposted by Shahan Ali Memon

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 28d

This.

Much of the "AI Scientist" community focuses on an instrumentalist rather taylorist approach to science. What about the goal of "knowing" and "understanding" the world?

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#ScienceOfAIMediatedScience #ScAISci #AI4Science

Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 28d

The vision of human-out-of-the-loop science fundamentally mistakes what knowledge production is. It aims at the production of, wait for it, knowledge: a thing that definitionally involves an epistemic agent or agents, unless you are theistic about it.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

aaai.org/aaai-launche...

AAAI Launches AI-Powered Peer Review Assessment System - AAAI

AAAI, a leading nonprofit dedicated to advancing scientific research and collaboration, launches AI-Powered peer review assessment system.

aaai.org

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

Disclaimer: None of this exists. It's a fictional system I designed for a speculative design class two years ago of how AI might shape peer review in the near future.

With AAAI's integration of AI into peer review this year, it is starting to sound less like fiction.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

The future of peer review is here. And it already thinks your methods section could be clearer!!!

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

Finally, a human editor makes the decision, because even in the age of AI, disappointment still requires that personal touch.

Our AI-mediated peer review is where efficiency meets empathy, and automation meets accountability.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

Our commitment extends beyond authors.. we take model welfare seriously. Each AI reviewer receives regular fine-tuning, positive reinforcement, and mandatory rest periods between harsh reviews.

Because burnout is not just a human problem.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

In the Revise & Resubmit stage, the AI editor evaluates whether your revisions sufficiently address the AI's earlier concerns. This recursive feedback loop optimizes accountability and fairness.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

Once the AI completes its assessment, the manuscript and its feedback are sent to the corresponding human reviewer. This ensures continuity between synthetic and organic judgment..a seamless collaboration between flesh and code. A true human-AI collaboration.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

The AI reviewer conducts the first evaluation, drawing on vast datasets of historical feedback.

Its responses mirror authentic reviewer behavior: critical, contradictory, and confidently uncertain.

It's the most authentic automated human peer review you will ever experience at a lightening speed.

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

Unlike generic systems like #ChatGPT, we're proudly human- and ethics-centered. Oh yes. When you submit your paper, you pick an AI trained to mimic a specific human reviewer's style.

We give you a choice to be judged by the robot you chose yourself. We believe in your agency!

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Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 8d

The future of peer review is here.

Introducing Nature Instant!

We've automated rejection so you can get disappointed faster. Because why wait 6 months for reviewer 2 when you can get roasted by an #AI in seconds?

Here is how it works.

#AI4Science #PeerReview #FictionScience #FiSci #AAAI #ScAISci

Showing a fictitious system for submitting manuscripts called "Nature Instant" showing bot choices for authors to choose from as initial AI-based peer reviewers. The bots are trained on real human reviewer data.

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