ujval
@ujval.bsky.social
CS PhD student @ucberkeley, visiting @cornell_tech || security, privacy, tech law, ethics etc || https://ujval.co/ || @_ujval on the bird app
Reposted by ujval
What makes something data? Some thoughts on that question, and how answers to it help us understand AI hype:
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
What makes something data?
This is a question I posted on BlueSky on Friday 11/21/25, inspired by a talk I recently attended about evaluation of “AI” systems. I think…
medium.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:55 PM
What makes something data? Some thoughts on that question, and how answers to it help us understand AI hype:
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
medium.com/@emilymenonb...
just voted for zohran kwame mamdani and YES on props 1-6
October 28, 2025 at 11:18 PM
just voted for zohran kwame mamdani and YES on props 1-6
Reposted by ujval
Tom Steyer lays out the facts on why we need real state level action on zoning reform: “Here’s the reality: Cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles don’t lack land. What they lack is permission to build the housing people desperately need.”
California needs to pass zoning reform — and build new housing — in order to prosper
OPINION: “If we want to revitalize our cities, we need to change how we build. That’s exactly what California Senate Bill 79 sets out to do,” Tom Steyer writes.
www.sfchronicle.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Tom Steyer lays out the facts on why we need real state level action on zoning reform: “Here’s the reality: Cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles don’t lack land. What they lack is permission to build the housing people desperately need.”
voting today. my ranking:
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social #1
@bradlander.bsky.social #2
@zellnor.bsky.social #3
@blakefornyc.bsky.social #4
not sure who to rank #5, maybe @nycspeakeradams.bsky.social #dontrankcuomo
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social #1
@bradlander.bsky.social #2
@zellnor.bsky.social #3
@blakefornyc.bsky.social #4
not sure who to rank #5, maybe @nycspeakeradams.bsky.social #dontrankcuomo
June 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
voting today. my ranking:
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social #1
@bradlander.bsky.social #2
@zellnor.bsky.social #3
@blakefornyc.bsky.social #4
not sure who to rank #5, maybe @nycspeakeradams.bsky.social #dontrankcuomo
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social #1
@bradlander.bsky.social #2
@zellnor.bsky.social #3
@blakefornyc.bsky.social #4
not sure who to rank #5, maybe @nycspeakeradams.bsky.social #dontrankcuomo
Reposted by ujval
There's so much polarization around LLMs. They are way overhyped, I agree. But I also use them semi-regularly now.
Here's a thread of genuine use cases where I find them helpful. Please add your own!
Here's a thread of genuine use cases where I find them helpful. Please add your own!
May 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
There's so much polarization around LLMs. They are way overhyped, I agree. But I also use them semi-regularly now.
Here's a thread of genuine use cases where I find them helpful. Please add your own!
Here's a thread of genuine use cases where I find them helpful. Please add your own!
Reposted by ujval
An essay on the late Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue by John Wallach, in my _ Oxford Handbook of Classics in Contemporary Political Theory_.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: An Study in Moral Theory
Abstract. This essay discusses the contribution of Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue (1981) to a generation of moral theory. Pitched as a critique of liber
academic.oup.com
May 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM
An essay on the late Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue by John Wallach, in my _ Oxford Handbook of Classics in Contemporary Political Theory_.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Reposted by ujval
It could take another decade or two to get at the reality here. In the meantime we will certainly need to look skeptically at EdTech schemes and cheap shortcuts. But overall predictions of doom are not warranted yet.
May 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
It could take another decade or two to get at the reality here. In the meantime we will certainly need to look skeptically at EdTech schemes and cheap shortcuts. But overall predictions of doom are not warranted yet.
Reposted by ujval
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...
Graham Parsons, professor of philosophy at West Point, announces his resignation in the face of new policies "eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration."
Graham Parsons, professor of philosophy at West Point, announces his resignation in the face of new policies "eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration."
Opinion | West Point Is Supposed to Educate, Not Indoctrinate
www.nytimes.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...
Graham Parsons, professor of philosophy at West Point, announces his resignation in the face of new policies "eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration."
Graham Parsons, professor of philosophy at West Point, announces his resignation in the face of new policies "eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration."
was thinking about papal conclave security today and found this cool blog post by Bruce Schneier from the last one www.schneier.com/blog/archive...
May 8, 2025 at 11:07 PM
was thinking about papal conclave security today and found this cool blog post by Bruce Schneier from the last one www.schneier.com/blog/archive...
Reposted by ujval
"146 research teams each completed the same causal inference task three times each... We find that even when analyzing the same data, teams reach different conclusions."
Everything matters, from data cleaning to functional form choices!
www.nber.org/papers/w3372...
Everything matters, from data cleaning to functional form choices!
www.nber.org/papers/w3372...
The Sources of Researcher Variation in Economics
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
May 5, 2025 at 9:13 AM
"146 research teams each completed the same causal inference task three times each... We find that even when analyzing the same data, teams reach different conclusions."
Everything matters, from data cleaning to functional form choices!
www.nber.org/papers/w3372...
Everything matters, from data cleaning to functional form choices!
www.nber.org/papers/w3372...
Reposted by ujval
"Science is an investment.
We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world."
— President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷
We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world."
— President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷
May 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM
"Science is an investment.
We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world."
— President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷
We will put forward a new 500 million package for 2025-2027 to support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world."
— President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu at the ‘Choose Europe for Science' event at La Sorbonne 🇫🇷
Reposted by ujval
I mention Computer Science in particular because the Times happens to have an opinion piece by a Harvard CS prof who argues that there should be a firewall between the "academic and the political." He seems to think that ideology has nothing to do with his field. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/o...
Opinion | I Teach Computer Science, and That Is All
Politics has no place at universities or in the classroom.
www.nytimes.com
May 3, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I mention Computer Science in particular because the Times happens to have an opinion piece by a Harvard CS prof who argues that there should be a firewall between the "academic and the political." He seems to think that ideology has nothing to do with his field. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/o...
Reposted by ujval
What does it mean to be an author when using AI to produce a text?
"Distant Writing: Literary Production in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
new paper freely available at SSRN
papers.ssrn.com/sol3...
"Distant Writing: Literary Production in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
new paper freely available at SSRN
papers.ssrn.com/sol3...
April 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
What does it mean to be an author when using AI to produce a text?
"Distant Writing: Literary Production in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
new paper freely available at SSRN
papers.ssrn.com/sol3...
"Distant Writing: Literary Production in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
new paper freely available at SSRN
papers.ssrn.com/sol3...
Reposted by ujval
Hegseth has been a proven failure as a secretary of defense. If the president still refuses to fire him, he should resign.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Pete Hegseth’s Patriotic Duty Is to Resign
His incompetence is putting America’s security at risk.
www.theatlantic.com
April 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Hegseth has been a proven failure as a secretary of defense. If the president still refuses to fire him, he should resign.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by ujval
Here we go! @kateconger.com was verified - not by Bluesky but by the NYTimes, one of the "trusted verifiers"
Gonna keep saying it: a healthy digital society should distribute power!
Gonna keep saying it: a healthy digital society should distribute power!
April 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Here we go! @kateconger.com was verified - not by Bluesky but by the NYTimes, one of the "trusted verifiers"
Gonna keep saying it: a healthy digital society should distribute power!
Gonna keep saying it: a healthy digital society should distribute power!
Reposted by ujval
This framing is nuts, and the assumption is that public funding for a public good is somehow untoward and illicit. “The schools took the money” and became “warily beholden to the whims of politicians in Washington.”/1
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government
For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.
www.nytimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 1:04 PM
This framing is nuts, and the assumption is that public funding for a public good is somehow untoward and illicit. “The schools took the money” and became “warily beholden to the whims of politicians in Washington.”/1
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
Reposted by ujval
Observe that the one that complied and the one that didn't comply are treated exactly the same way.
Per source, NIH has been instructed to hold off from issuing ALL awards to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern (including med schools)
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
April 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Observe that the one that complied and the one that didn't comply are treated exactly the same way.
Reposted by ujval
New piece in The Nation arguing that we need public media more now than ever. We must defend what we have with an eye toward expanding and restructuring public media in the future.
We Must Save Public Media to Change It
We need public media more than ever—it’s too precious to let Trump defund it. But to live up to its democratic promise, we must support public media to serve our needs.
www.thenation.com
April 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
New piece in The Nation arguing that we need public media more now than ever. We must defend what we have with an eye toward expanding and restructuring public media in the future.
Reposted by ujval
For the Trump Administration, it is a matter of principle that the President can disappear innocent people to foreign gulags without due process or judicial review.
April 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
For the Trump Administration, it is a matter of principle that the President can disappear innocent people to foreign gulags without due process or judicial review.
surveillance tech company founded in 1984. perfection
April 14, 2025 at 12:45 PM
surveillance tech company founded in 1984. perfection
Reposted by ujval
Great news, everyone. A surveillance company started by Peter Thiel is part of the hackathon playing with our data at IRS.
www.wired.com/story/palant...
www.wired.com/story/palant...
Palantir Is Helping DOGE With a Massive IRS Data Project
For the last three days, DOGE and a handful of Palantir representatives, along with dozens of career IRS engineers, have been collaborating to build a "mega API," WIRED has learned.
www.wired.com
April 11, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Great news, everyone. A surveillance company started by Peter Thiel is part of the hackathon playing with our data at IRS.
www.wired.com/story/palant...
www.wired.com/story/palant...
Reposted by ujval
Our systematic lit review of algorithm audits, with a focus on linguistic and geographical disparities in the field, is now officially accepted at @facct.bsky.social 🎉🪩
You can read the preprint here! arxiv.org/abs/2401.11194
Looking forward to presenting this one in Athens in June :)
You can read the preprint here! arxiv.org/abs/2401.11194
Looking forward to presenting this one in Athens in June :)
WEIRD Audits? Research Trends, Linguistic and Geographical Disparities in the Algorithm Audits of Online Platforms -- A Systematic Literature Review
The increasing reliance on complex algorithmic systems by online platforms has sparked a growing need for algorithm auditing, a methodology evaluating these systems' functionality and impact. In this ...
arxiv.org
April 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Our systematic lit review of algorithm audits, with a focus on linguistic and geographical disparities in the field, is now officially accepted at @facct.bsky.social 🎉🪩
You can read the preprint here! arxiv.org/abs/2401.11194
Looking forward to presenting this one in Athens in June :)
You can read the preprint here! arxiv.org/abs/2401.11194
Looking forward to presenting this one in Athens in June :)
Reposted by ujval
Plus perhaps a shared bond issue to borrow & create a shared contingency fund
April 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Plus perhaps a shared bond issue to borrow & create a shared contingency fund
Reposted by ujval
We hang together or we hang separately. Could not be clearer what is happening and how universities must respond.
Trump Officials Freeze $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern
The funding pause amid civil rights "investigations" into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.
The funding pause amid civil rights "investigations" into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.
Trump Officials Freeze $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern
The funding pause amid civil rights investigations into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.
www.nytimes.com
April 9, 2025 at 12:59 AM
We hang together or we hang separately. Could not be clearer what is happening and how universities must respond.