sorelle
@friedler.net
CS prof at Haverford, Chair @acm.org U.S. tech policy, @brookings.edu nonres Senior Fellow, former White House OSTP tech policy, co-author AI Bill of Rights, research on AI and society, @facct.bsky.social co-founder
formerly @kdphd 🐦
sorelle.friedler.net
formerly @kdphd 🐦
sorelle.friedler.net
Pinned
sorelle
@friedler.net
· Oct 15
Philadelphia's City Council held its first AI hearing today in its tech committee chaired by @ruephilacouncil.bsky.social . It's great to see my city taking AI's impacts on all of us seriously!
I was honored to testify on "What is AI?"
As I explained, AI is not magic...
#PhillyAIHearing 1/n
I was honored to testify on "What is AI?"
As I explained, AI is not magic...
#PhillyAIHearing 1/n
Reposted by sorelle
ACM members/computing researchers who should be members interested in contributing should join the subcommittee's mailing list!
One of our goals here is to build policy coalitions across institutions so we can do more as a collective 💪 and balance special interest groups.
One of our goals here is to build policy coalitions across institutions so we can do more as a collective 💪 and balance special interest groups.
@reniebird.bsky.social and I have just been appointed to co-Chair @TheOfficialACM's US Technology Policy Committee’s Subcommittee on AI and Algorithms. cs.brown.edu/news/2025/11...
Serena Booth And Suresh Venkatasubramanian Co-Chair ACM’s US Technology Policy Committee’s Subcommittee On AI And Algorithms
Brown CS faculty members Serena Booth and Suresh Venkatasubramanian have just been appointed to co-chair the AI and Algorithms Subcommittee, whose recent work includes responses to government RFIs, te...
cs.brown.edu
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 PM
ACM members/computing researchers who should be members interested in contributing should join the subcommittee's mailing list!
One of our goals here is to build policy coalitions across institutions so we can do more as a collective 💪 and balance special interest groups.
One of our goals here is to build policy coalitions across institutions so we can do more as a collective 💪 and balance special interest groups.
We're adding some incredible folks to @acm.org's US tech policy team! Looking forward to the work we can do together.
@reniebird.bsky.social and I have just been appointed to co-Chair @TheOfficialACM's US Technology Policy Committee’s Subcommittee on AI and Algorithms. cs.brown.edu/news/2025/11...
Serena Booth And Suresh Venkatasubramanian Co-Chair ACM’s US Technology Policy Committee’s Subcommittee On AI And Algorithms
Brown CS faculty members Serena Booth and Suresh Venkatasubramanian have just been appointed to co-chair the AI and Algorithms Subcommittee, whose recent work includes responses to government RFIs, te...
cs.brown.edu
November 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
We're adding some incredible folks to @acm.org's US tech policy team! Looking forward to the work we can do together.
Reposted by sorelle
Christmas is coming, and the Black Friday sales signal we’re in peak gift-buying season.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
A tech critic’s guide to holiday gift-giving
Maybe your grandma doesn’t need that Alexa smart speaker
disconnect.blog
November 25, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Christmas is coming, and the Black Friday sales signal we’re in peak gift-buying season.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
Reposted by sorelle
NEW: US President Donald Trump is considering signing an executive order that would seek to challenge state efforts to regulate artificial intelligence through lawsuits and the withholding of federal funding, WIRED has learned.
Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order
The draft order, obtained by WIRED, instructs the US Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating AI.
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:01 AM
NEW: US President Donald Trump is considering signing an executive order that would seek to challenge state efforts to regulate artificial intelligence through lawsuits and the withholding of federal funding, WIRED has learned.
Reposted by sorelle
AI is bad for students. Get it out of our schools.
Banning cellphones has been a top priority for many US school districts, but where educators should focus their attention next is clear: the use of generative artificial intelligence products, write Sorelle Friedler and Nicol Turner Lee.
Schools Went After Cellphones. Now It’s Time to Ban Generative AI. | TechPolicy.Press
After banning cellphones in many US schools, educators should turn next to generative AI products, write Sorelle Friedler and Nicol Turner Lee.
www.techpolicy.press
November 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
AI is bad for students. Get it out of our schools.
AI is bad for students. Get it out of our schools.
Banning cellphones has been a top priority for many US school districts, but where educators should focus their attention next is clear: the use of generative artificial intelligence products, write Sorelle Friedler and Nicol Turner Lee.
Schools Went After Cellphones. Now It’s Time to Ban Generative AI. | TechPolicy.Press
After banning cellphones in many US schools, educators should turn next to generative AI products, write Sorelle Friedler and Nicol Turner Lee.
www.techpolicy.press
November 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
AI is bad for students. Get it out of our schools.
Reposted by sorelle
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:10 AM
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Happy election day! Local races matter - go vote!
November 4, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Happy election day! Local races matter - go vote!
This creepy report from earlier this week is sticking with me. It's a foundational threat to freedom of speech.
It's also poorly done tech deployment.
Building facial rec to identify people on the street and without redress to other docs violates the ethics and scientific consensus of the field...
It's also poorly done tech deployment.
Building facial rec to identify people on the street and without redress to other docs violates the ethics and scientific consensus of the field...
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 31, 2025 at 3:44 PM
This creepy report from earlier this week is sticking with me. It's a foundational threat to freedom of speech.
It's also poorly done tech deployment.
Building facial rec to identify people on the street and without redress to other docs violates the ethics and scientific consensus of the field...
It's also poorly done tech deployment.
Building facial rec to identify people on the street and without redress to other docs violates the ethics and scientific consensus of the field...
Reposted by sorelle
ICE treating facial recognition matches as definitive IDs to detain individuals is shockingly irresponsible and dangerous. Facial recognition is a highly temperamental technology, with accuracy varying significantly based on an array of factors. www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
ICE treating facial recognition matches as definitive IDs to detain individuals is shockingly irresponsible and dangerous. Facial recognition is a highly temperamental technology, with accuracy varying significantly based on an array of factors. www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Reposted by sorelle
Started a thread in the other place and bringing it over here - I really think we should be more vocal about the opportunities that lay at the intersection of these two options!
So I'm starting a live thread of new roles as I become aware of them - feel free to add / extend / share :
So I'm starting a live thread of new roles as I become aware of them - feel free to add / extend / share :
Life situations are bleak right now for a lot of people. In tech, the "Venn Diagram" of (1) positive work and (2) making enough money to support your family is increasingly non-overlapping. We all do what we can.
This image has been living in my mind rent-free for months.
This image has been living in my mind rent-free for months.
October 29, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Started a thread in the other place and bringing it over here - I really think we should be more vocal about the opportunities that lay at the intersection of these two options!
So I'm starting a live thread of new roles as I become aware of them - feel free to add / extend / share :
So I'm starting a live thread of new roles as I become aware of them - feel free to add / extend / share :
Reposted by sorelle
the newest report from my colleagues at Upturn interrogates a set of under-examined automated systems that directly impact the material conditions of your friends, family, and community: Medicaid home care eligibility algorithms.
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
the newest report from my colleagues at Upturn interrogates a set of under-examined automated systems that directly impact the material conditions of your friends, family, and community: Medicaid home care eligibility algorithms.
Reposted by sorelle
A major front of the current information war: getting your facts, frames, propaganda, disinformation, etc. into the AI systems that create so much of the content we see and are rapidly becoming the de facto “ground truth” of the internet.
"ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds." www.wired.com/story/chatbo...
Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda
ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:26 PM
A major front of the current information war: getting your facts, frames, propaganda, disinformation, etc. into the AI systems that create so much of the content we see and are rapidly becoming the de facto “ground truth” of the internet.
Reposted by sorelle
The search for Upturn’s next Executive Director starts today!
We're seeking candidates with 10+ years of experience and a commitment to advancing equity & justice, who can guide Upturn’s long-term political vision and continue to grow the institution. Apply by Nov 24: www.upturn.org/join/executi...
We're seeking candidates with 10+ years of experience and a commitment to advancing equity & justice, who can guide Upturn’s long-term political vision and continue to grow the institution. Apply by Nov 24: www.upturn.org/join/executi...
Upturn Seeks an Executive Director
Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.
www.upturn.org
October 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
The search for Upturn’s next Executive Director starts today!
We're seeking candidates with 10+ years of experience and a commitment to advancing equity & justice, who can guide Upturn’s long-term political vision and continue to grow the institution. Apply by Nov 24: www.upturn.org/join/executi...
We're seeking candidates with 10+ years of experience and a commitment to advancing equity & justice, who can guide Upturn’s long-term political vision and continue to grow the institution. Apply by Nov 24: www.upturn.org/join/executi...
Reposted by sorelle
Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...
ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...
Reposted by sorelle
This is all so eerily similar to the approach conservatives took to rolling back abortion rights.
They start with creating barriers to access, but the ultimate goal is a full ban.
They start with creating barriers to access, but the ultimate goal is a full ban.
350 are anti-vaccine bills which undermine vaccines in many different ways including: barring discrimination against unvaccinated people, creating the criminal offense of vaccine harm, requiring blood banks to test for evidence of vaccinations and instituting a 48-hour vaccine waiting period.
October 22, 2025 at 9:11 PM
This is all so eerily similar to the approach conservatives took to rolling back abortion rights.
They start with creating barriers to access, but the ultimate goal is a full ban.
They start with creating barriers to access, but the ultimate goal is a full ban.
Reposted by sorelle
“A data center represents a worse deal for locals than a factory like GM’s," Nick Rommel writes. "A piece of land that once fed thousands of union families will feed far fewer," displacing a community while enabling an industry that seeks "to obsolesce human labor.” thebaffler.com/latest/last-...
Last Call at Zoxx Social Club | Nick Rommel
Will a power-guzzling data center take the place of a beloved watering hole in Wisconsin?
thebaffler.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM
“A data center represents a worse deal for locals than a factory like GM’s," Nick Rommel writes. "A piece of land that once fed thousands of union families will feed far fewer," displacing a community while enabling an industry that seeks "to obsolesce human labor.” thebaffler.com/latest/last-...
Reposted by sorelle
this was not his to take, it was ours
NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
October 21, 2025 at 9:32 PM
this was not his to take, it was ours
Reposted by sorelle
Thanks so much to @emilypont.bsky.social for covering what might be the most underrated climate battlefield there is. As I say in the piece, in the Trump era, there is no clearer opportunity for state and local elected officials to make a tangible difference on climate than saving transit.
3 of America’s Biggest Public Transit Systems Are Teetering on the Brink
Riders in Chicago, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area are staring down budget crises, with deep service cuts not far behind.
heatmap.news
October 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Thanks so much to @emilypont.bsky.social for covering what might be the most underrated climate battlefield there is. As I say in the piece, in the Trump era, there is no clearer opportunity for state and local elected officials to make a tangible difference on climate than saving transit.
Reposted by sorelle
🚨Today's the day! 🚨
It's the LAST day to register to vote or update your registration in PA before the upcoming election.
Visit vote.phila.gov to make sure you’re registered to vote and that it’s up to date, then help make sure your friends’ and family’s are too!
It's the LAST day to register to vote or update your registration in PA before the upcoming election.
Visit vote.phila.gov to make sure you’re registered to vote and that it’s up to date, then help make sure your friends’ and family’s are too!
⏰Hey Philly: The deadline to register to vote is 3 days away!
Your vote is your vote in this upcoming election- especially in PA where three state Supreme Court justices are on the ballot.
Your vote is your vote in this upcoming election- especially in PA where three state Supreme Court justices are on the ballot.
October 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM
🚨Today's the day! 🚨
It's the LAST day to register to vote or update your registration in PA before the upcoming election.
Visit vote.phila.gov to make sure you’re registered to vote and that it’s up to date, then help make sure your friends’ and family’s are too!
It's the LAST day to register to vote or update your registration in PA before the upcoming election.
Visit vote.phila.gov to make sure you’re registered to vote and that it’s up to date, then help make sure your friends’ and family’s are too!
Reposted by sorelle
Now there are reports of a “Second Amendment protest” being held at Philly’s City Hall at 4pm (an enormously high-traffic area and major public transport hub). City Council staffers are being sent home right now
October 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Now there are reports of a “Second Amendment protest” being held at Philly’s City Hall at 4pm (an enormously high-traffic area and major public transport hub). City Council staffers are being sent home right now
Reposted by sorelle
The 7 million Americans who took the streets for 'No Kings' made history, and they did something even more important
They got under the skin of Donald Trump and his dictatorial regime, on a day that showed that most Americans love democracy instead
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/no-k...
They got under the skin of Donald Trump and his dictatorial regime, on a day that showed that most Americans love democracy instead
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/no-k...
Then they fight you: How the No Kings protests are winning America | Will Bunch
A massive turnout of 7 million and a panicked White House showed Saturday why the No Kings protests matter, a lot.
www.inquirer.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The 7 million Americans who took the streets for 'No Kings' made history, and they did something even more important
They got under the skin of Donald Trump and his dictatorial regime, on a day that showed that most Americans love democracy instead
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/no-k...
They got under the skin of Donald Trump and his dictatorial regime, on a day that showed that most Americans love democracy instead
My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/no-k...
Reposted by sorelle
You can read all about the Call for Papers and what’s new for #FAccT2026 this year (hint: a Revision phase!) on our first blog post of the year!
facct-blog.github.io/2025-10-16/a...
facct-blog.github.io/2025-10-16/a...
Announcing the FAccT 2026 Call for Papers
Greetings! We’re the Program Chairs for the 2026 edition of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, or FAccT. We’re so excited to share the Call for Papers (CfP) for FAccT 20...
facct-blog.github.io
October 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
You can read all about the Call for Papers and what’s new for #FAccT2026 this year (hint: a Revision phase!) on our first blog post of the year!
facct-blog.github.io/2025-10-16/a...
facct-blog.github.io/2025-10-16/a...
Reposted by sorelle
We’re excited to release the Call for Papers for #FAccT2026 which will be held in Montreal, Canada in June 2026! Abstracts are due on January 8th, papers due on January 13th.
Call for Papers: facctconference.org/2026/cfp
Important info in thread →
Call for Papers: facctconference.org/2026/cfp
Important info in thread →
ACM FAccT - 2026 CFP
facctconference.org
October 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
We’re excited to release the Call for Papers for #FAccT2026 which will be held in Montreal, Canada in June 2026! Abstracts are due on January 8th, papers due on January 13th.
Call for Papers: facctconference.org/2026/cfp
Important info in thread →
Call for Papers: facctconference.org/2026/cfp
Important info in thread →
Reposted by sorelle
Incisive, beautiful reflection from @bedoyausa.bsky.social on his time in the FTC and how it upended his view of the world and his theory of change for it. We really can win, but we don't win by running from the fight.
How I Became a Populist
My time at the Federal Trade Commission—before Donald Trump fired me—totally changed the way I see our political divide.
newrepublic.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Incisive, beautiful reflection from @bedoyausa.bsky.social on his time in the FTC and how it upended his view of the world and his theory of change for it. We really can win, but we don't win by running from the fight.