Data & Society

In the first piece in the series, Priya Goswami looks at what happens when the work of India’s trusted door-to-door healthcare workers, known as ASHAs, extends into data collection. Look out for more pieces in the coming weeks and months! datasociety.net/points/from-...

This new series, curated by researchers Emnet Tafesse and Abigail Oppong in collaboration with D&S’s AI on the Ground program, explores the need for a more equitable and inclusive approach to AI — one that prioritizes those in the Majority World. datasociety.net/points/democ...

Troubling translation: Sociotechnical research in AI policy and governance The common call for researchers to simply “translate” sociotechnical insights into policy overlooks the complex dynamics of policymaking. Using two case studies, the article shows how meaningful relat...

In a new piece for @policyr.bsky.social, @alicetiara.bsky.social, @serena124.bsky.social, @charleyjohnson.bsky.social, and @erie.bsky.social explore the challenges of bridging empirical research and policy, and outline what’s needed to do it well. policyreview.info/articles/ana...

Data center growth drives locals to fight for more say When local activist Frank Arcoleo found out over the summer that a data center was coming to his neighborhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he said he was furious. There’d been no votes or public hearin...

In a time of economic difficulty, "some of these townships are saying, ‘Well, why not?’” when it comes to data centers, D&S researcher @livgar.bsky.social says. Others are wary of the major changes data centers have brought to communities like their own. www.newsfromthestates.com/article/data...

Featuring @aihathing.bsky.social, @ambakak.bsky.social, @michelleimiller.bsky.social, & @samwheeler.bsky.social — don’t miss this one!

🚨The final event in our popular series with the NYPL is happening on Thursday, w an incredible panel of experts discussing the value of human labor in the face of increasing automation. Reserve your in-person spot (they're going quickly) or RSVP to join us online! www.showclix.com/event/unders...

TODAY, at 2pm ET!
bsky.app/profile/data...

POLITICO Pro: New York faces biggest test yet on AI safety The RAISE Act, awaiting the governor’s signature, is under the microscope after passage of California’s landmark artificial intelligence law.

While calling the requirements of NY's RAISE Act fair and doable, D&S policy manager @serena124.bsky.social tells @politico.com that the bill could go further to protect consumers and hold tech companies accountable. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

Tomorrow at 10am ET: a discussion debunking myths about the impact of data centers on the economy, environment, & local communities, with D&S researcher @livgar.bsky.social, MOSACAT's Tania Rodríguez, & @slehuede.bsky.social. Interpretation in English and Spanish. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Meta must rein in scammers — or face consequences Scams are ruinous to users — but, reportedly, big business to Meta.

Meta knowingly makes billions from scam ads, while vulnerable users around the world lose devastating amounts. It’s time to hold the company accountable for its role in this shameful cycle of harm, @lanalanalana.bsky.social & D&S's @alicetiara.bsky.social write. www.theverge.com/tech/820906/...

How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time The idea that machines will be as smart as—or smarter than—humans has hijacked an entire industry. But look closely and you’ll see it’s a myth that persists for many of the same reasons conspiracies d...

"The whole idea of AGI is built on a warped view of what we should expect technology to do, and even what intelligence is in the first place,” @willdouglasheaven.bsky.social writes. www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/30/1...

All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives Sam Altman says the one-person billion-dollar company is coming. Maybe I could be that person—if only I could get my colleagues to shut up and stop lying.

For the new season of his podcast "Shell Game," @evrat.bsky.social tests the hype about AI employees by creating a real company, run by fake people. “At first it was fun...like playing The Sims." But soon, "their fabrications became increasingly difficult to manage.” www.wired.com/story/all-my...

Analysis | The AI spending frenzy is so huge that it makes no sense Big companies could fund four years’ worth of SNAP benefits from what they’re spending on AI. It may not be a bubble but the numbers in AI are bonkers.

The money being thrown around for AI is so huge that numbers have lost all meaning. But @shiraovide.bsky.social offers one way to put it in context: The amount Big Tech has spent on AI data centers in just the past year could fund SNAP benefits for four years. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Worker Led Movements Against AI: A Discussion with Tamara Kneese Mon, Nov. 17, 2025

I’ll be in conversation with Sana Ahmad next Monday, November 17 at @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social about our new @commonnotions.bsky.social book on digital workers’ inquiry and my forthcoming @datasociety.bsky.social report on climate action in and against the tech industry

‘There’s Just No Reason to Deal With Young Employees’ AI is taking entry-level jobs. What happens when Gen-Z-ers can’t start their careers?

Talk of an economy dominated by AI output is making it hard for Gen Z to plan for the future, even if they put the technology at the center of their work. One laid-off employee who built AI agents compares it to “feeding myself into the AI meat grinder.” nymag.com/intelligence...

The Answer is Not AI! Statement of Solidarity with The Answer Is Us campaign Sign the solidarity statement The Answer is Not AI – The Answer Is Us! Support The Answer is Us! campaign Leia a versão em português da declaração de solidariedade. In support of The Answer Is Us camp...

AI is not a climate solution. With #COP30 underway, we stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples and frontline communities in rejecting centralized tech power and the extractive practices of AI — and affirming that technology must serve people. #TheAnswerIsUs greenscreen.network/en/blog/cop30/

Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise Chile and tech giants promise economy-wide impact but permits show fewer onsite jobs after construction.

Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile, but an analysis of permit filings by @restofworld.org shows only a small number of potential positions — and most are not skilled IT jobs, but those in security and cleaning. restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...

This Thursday, 11/13! D&S Director of Research @alicetiara.bsky.social will take part in a panel discussion about the opportunities and challenges of using research to support tech policy and advocacy, and share strategies for ethical, effective research that centers marginalized communities.

Their interview is also available in Portuguese! www.blogs.unicamp.br/geict/2025/1...

Right-Wing Chatbots Turbocharge America’s Political and Cultural Wars

AI chatbots used to be pitched as impartial tools for answering questions, but bespoke chatbots like Arya (an “unapologetic right-wing nationalist Christian AI model”) are now being programmed explicitly to reflect the biases of their creators. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/b...

To understand the complex impacts of data centers, we need to look at the relationship between social and algorithmic harms, and "and other forms of embodied harms that communities are dealing with," D&S’s @tamigraph.bsky.social tells @yamachiodi.bsky.social. www.blogs.unicamp.br/geict/2025/1...

Support Data & Society. Together, we can build a future where AI is shaped by the public, not just the powerful. datasociety.net/donate/

Looking at a related phenomenon as part of his research on how AI and everyday practices of science shape each other, D&S's Ranjit Singh explores how LLMs are threatening the open-access research repository arXiv: by effectively *manufacturing* a form of scholarship. datasociety.net/points/on-ar...

The Editor Got a Letter From ‘Dr. B.S.’ So Did a Lot of Other Editors.

Chatbot-enabled letters to the editor are flooding the world’s scientific journals, “putting at risk a part of scientific publishing that editors say is needed to sharpen research findings and create new directions for inquiry.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/s...

With Grokipedia, Top-Down Control of Knowledge Is New Again | TechPolicy.Press Ryan McGrady asks, who is Grokipedia for, other than its owner?

In contrast with Wikipedia’s mission to “set knowledge free,” Elon Musk's "competitor" Grokipedia represents “the use of technological power to re-exert top-down authority over information and knowledge," @antisomniac.bsky.social writes. www.techpolicy.press/with-grokipe...

Researchers Weigh the Use of AI for Mental Health Chatbots weren't designed for mental health, but they are increasingly used for therapy. What are the risks an benefits?

Researching the use of chatbots for mental health support, D&S's @briana-v.bsky.social heard from many people who expected less stigma from chatbots than from therapists, “which is really interesting, given what we know about machine-learning bias,” she tells @undark.org. undark.org/2025/11/04/c...

New workshop! We invite researchers and practitioners to join us in examining how scientific reasoning and imagination are being reconfigured as AI systems become a part of the everyday practice of science. Learn more and apply by December 8. datasociety.net/announcement...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

AI data centers are straining already fragile power and water infrastructures in communities around the world, leading to blackouts and water shortages. “Data centers are where environmental and social issues meet,” says Rosi Leonard, an environmentalist with @foeireland.bsky.social.

The Age of De-Skilling Will AI stretch our minds—or stunt them?

As research shows how AI contributes to de-skilling, stewardship of the technology must ensure "that the capacities in which our humanity resides — judgment, imagination, understanding — stay alive in us," and that we don't lose sight of which of them matter. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

YouTube video by All Tech Is Human AI Governance Under Pressure: Regulation, Risk, and the Race to Deploy | Responsible Tech Summit

At @alltechishuman.bsky.social’s Responsible Tech Summit, D&S exec director Janet Haven talked about critical role that grounded, empirical research on AI plays in countering industry hype and creating policy that reflects the technology’s real impacts on people. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnex...