Sona Rai

'Pennsylvania is perfect' Tech companies are building enormous data centres and reconfiguring energy infrastructure across the US, all to power the burgeoning AI industry. On a road trip, Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo trace...

In @newint.bsky.social, D&S's @mwoluchem.bsky.social and @livgar.bsky.social write about their work tracing the impacts of, and resistance to, the AI industry's development push in Pennsylvania — and introduce us to some of the people living in the thick of it. newint.org/science-and-...

In one illustration of how AI is reshaping scientific practice, AI on the Ground Program Director Ranjit Singh considers the research a computational biologist is conducting on fruit flies, and the lessons it holds for the field. datasociety.net/points/simul...

$10 Million to Advance AI By and For People

We’re honored to be among the incredible organizations to receive a generous grant from @macfound.org, part of their aligned grantmaking in support of Humanity AI! This support enables our civic engagement work, including events on AI and the public interest. www.macfound.org/press/press-...

The Tigray genocide was, in part, actively facilitated through social media platforms, @nuredinali.bsky.social writes, and inadequate content moderation was part of the problem. On Points, he lays out how better moderation can make a difference, and what it requires. datasociety.net/points/how-t...

🚨 New! The US govt is engaging in extraordinary market intervention to bolster the AI sector. In this brief, Policy Director brianjchen.bsky.social analyzes major priorities of the Trump admin’s AI agenda and proposes alternative directions to shape tech innovation. datasociety.net/library/the-...

A 23 year old larping as a journalist made a misleading and inaccurate YouTube video that the administration full of chronically online shitposters used to justify the “largest immigration operation ever” and now someone is dead

The newspaper of record of my entire childhood would literally rather die than pay its unionized workers the wages and benefits that the actual Supreme Court of the United States of America decided were owed to them.

🚨 New today! In "Turning the Tide: Climate Action In and Against Tech," @tamigraph.bsky.social examines how, in a time of AI ascendance and data center accelerationism, climate-conscious tech workers and larger coalitions have attempted to reform the industry. 1/3 datasociety.net/library/turn...

On #ComputerSaysMaybe, D&S Executive Director Janet Haven and Board President @cmcilwain.bsky.social sat down with @alixdunn.com to discuss the tech industry’s co-opting of academia, how giving the reins to tech oligarchs hurts people, and why independent research is essential. youtu.be/xUJbo0KmbOk

My father worked there (transitioned from Bell Labs, so he got a pension), and I have a distinct memory of him coming home from work and saying the stock valuation made no sense.

Brussels is done being the world’s digital policeman The “Brussels Effect” is dead. Now Washington is setting the pace on deregulation in Europe.

“In an odd way, maybe the Trump administration has taken inspiration from the Brussels Effect,” D&S Policy Director Brian J. Chen tells @politico.com. It’s just that “they want to be the ones setting those standards." www.politico.eu/article/brus...

The unceremonious disbanding of DOGE (which, among other things, aimed to remake the government with AI) is a good time to revisit our policy brief rebutting the myth that AI can or will deliver efficiency for the public. www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...

In a new Points piece, D&S researchers @livgar.bsky.social and @briana-v.bsky.social reflect on what studying AI chatbots reveals about emotional attachment to machines, the power of illusion, and the norms and expectations that define care itself. datasociety.net/points/all-t...

We’re delighted that Data & Society’s own @mwoluchem.bsky.social will be part of NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani’s Transition Committee on Technology, working to advance the public interest in collaboration with so many other visionary leaders we admire

my main takeaway is it's crazy she's got her Christmas tree up already

A chatbot for the soul: mental health care, privacy, and intimacy in AI-based conversational agents - Communication and Change Artificial intelligence-based conversational agents—chatbots—are increasingly integrated into telehealth platforms, employee wellness programs, and mobile applications to address structural gaps in me...

🚨NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨 @tamigraph.bsky.social @briana-v.bsky.social and I discuss wellness chatbots, their labor implications, & "private vibes" vs "privacy". We call for critical human-AI communication scholarship that takes into account context & political economy: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Tomorrow! Next in our series w NYPL, D&S ED Janet Haven will talk to @cmcilwain.bsky.social, @juliaangwin.com & @catherinebracy.com about the power and potential of AI in the *public* interest. In-person spots are going fast; reserve yours or join the livestream! www.showclix.com/event/unders...

Packed room and a riveting discussion. @merbroussard.bsky.social describes AI as "mid," a useful deflation of hype & despair.

Cindy Cohn Is Leaving the EFF, but Not the Fight for Digital Rights After 25 years at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cindy Cohn is stepping down as executive director. In a WIRED interview, she reflects on encryption, AI, and why she’s not ready to quit the battl...

The amazing Cindy Cohn, who we're so lucky to have on the D&S board, is stepping down as executive director of @eff.org after 25 years. We’re grateful for her countless contributions to the field and know she’s nowhere near done standing up for digital rights & justice. www.wired.com/story/eff-ci...

A photo of new D&S board member Felicia Wong, and a quote from her: "Data & Society’s research and policy engagement are critical to building a future where technology can serve people."

We’re delighted that @feliciawong.bsky.social, principal at @rooseveltinstitute.org‬ — and a visionary leader with an unwavering commitment to inclusive, paradigm-shifting economic policy — has joined our board of directors! datasociety.net/announcement...

Yesterday, Governor Polis announced that Colorado’s General Assembly will be convened on August 21, 2025 for a Special Session to address the impacts of the Federal budget bill, H.R.1. 1/7

Decomputing For a Better Future w/ Dan McQuillan — Tech Won't Save Us Paris Marx is joined by Dan McQuillan to discuss the global push by governments to rapidly adopt AI at all costs and how citizens can critically rethink our dependence on these technologies while imag...

i'm so late that i'm a full episode behind but this episode of @techwontsave.us with @danmcquillan.bsky.social is excellent. for everything where AI is presented as "the answer", we must attack the political economy and everything that led anyone to that conclusion

Exclusive: Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data Thousands of shared ChatGPT chats are now appearing in Google search results.

Google is indexing conversations with ChatGPT that users have sent to friends, families, or colleagues — including those that reveal deeply personal details — turning private exchanges intended for small groups into search results visible to millions. www.fastcompany.com/91376687/goo...

Trump AI Action Plan Raises Legal Questions, Potentially Violates Constitution | TechPolicy.Press ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke says Congress should conduct oversight to ensure agencies stay within legal and constitutional boundaries.

Trump is attempting to forestall state AI regulation. Just like the moratorium that was stricken from the reconciliation package, this attempt threatens significant harm, raises legal questions, and potentially violates the Constitution, writes ACLU senior policy counsel Cody Venzke.

Data Centers Aren’t the Future of American Prosperity Tamara Kneese and Maia Woluchem cut through lobbying points and speculative myths to focus on what the evidence reveals about the tech industry’s claims.

Data Centers Aren't the Future of American Prosperity- @tamigraph.bsky.social & @mwoluchem.bsky.social bust the myths of data centers: they don't massively increase jobs, they don't increase clean energy investment, and they don't benefit local communities! OH SNAP datasociety.net/library/data...

Grateful to @justinhendrix.bsky.social for facilitating this necessary conversation between @smw.bsky.social, Ryan Gerety, and me on why this AI Action Plan is so dangerous and what we can do about it. Listen/read here:

We are working to build a future where technology is governed in the public interest and used to support people and communities, rather than driving surveillance, control, and oppression. Explore our ✨new strategy✨ to learn more about our goals and priorities. datasociety.net/strategy-3/

Brown University to lead national institute focused on intuitive, trustworthy AI assistants A new institute, based at Brown and supported by a $20 million National Science Foundation grant, will convene researchers to guide development of a new generation of AI assistants for use in mental a...

We’re very excited to partner with @brown.edu for this new NSF-funded AI research institute, focused on developing a new generation of AI assistants for use in mental and behavioral health that are capable of trustworthy, sensitive, and context-aware interactions. www.brown.edu/news/2025-07...

🚨New! Data centers aren’t destiny. With the Trump administration set to release its AI action plan, @tamigraph.bsky.social‬ & ‪@mwoluchem.bsky.social‬ cut through lobbying points and speculation to focus on what the evidence reveals about the tech industry’s claims. datasociety.net/library/data...

Today the OpenAI Nonprofit Commission released a report asserting OpenAI is ‘positioned to be a force of good in this Age of Intelligence’. The report also claims that AI Now was among the orgs participating in the listening process that led to this report. We did not.