Stephen Neville

Wow. I see it protects patients receiving therapy but wonder how it applies or not in relation to crisis line help seekers.

Thank you! Looking forward to reading it.

Awesome!

Thank you! I will stay tuned for that piece.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention! My intention was to use this piece as a conversation starter between AI enthusiasts and those of us who are skeptical and deeply concerned about its implementation in this context. I definitely should have provided this essential context.

When Help Isn’t Fully Human: The Problem of Generative AI in Crisis Support Generative AI is becoming more ubiquitous across industries and services, including mental health and crisis counseling. Here, 2024 Data Fluencies Grantee Stephen Neville reflects on the proliferation...

If you're working or advocating in this space, I’d really like to hear what you think.

Read the full article here just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/the...

We’ve learned (the hard way) what happens when "innovation" outruns ethical responsibility. On that basis, I’m calling for measured AI use and transparent policies, so that technological change doesn't come at the cost of trustworthy care.

What are the ethical problems in using de-identified data from vulnerable people to train commercial systems?

How do informal uses of tools like ChatGPT by crisis workers alter issues of trust and privacy?

I'm raising some urgent questions for frontline workers, orgs, and community advocates:
What role should AI play in striking a balance between the need for scalable crisis support and the ethical imperative to protect public trust, consent, and human connection?

People in crisis are reaching out for human support and increasingly the response they get is shaped by generative AI.

I wrote about how gen AI is reshaping crisis support, and why that should concern all of us advocating for responsible and trustworthy crisis counselling and peer support.

White House proposes axing 988 suicide hotline services for LGBTQ youth The specialized suicide-prevention counseling service for LGBTQ youth and young adults received more than 1.3 million contacts since it started in 2022, advocates said.

This is abhorrent. LGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately in need of crisis counselling support.

www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

people always dismiss the data privacy concerns—like hmm don’t collect unnecessary data on sensitive populations, because it can be used against them

and now the city of San Antonio is handing over data on every person that came through our migrant center because they need FEMA reimbursements

Absolutely devastating news.

The Rolling Stoners

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” -Alvin Toffler

I.e. The illiterate of the 21st century will be those using generative AI when they should be doing some thinking for themselves.

Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28 Amazon is killing a privacy feature to bolster Alexa+, the new subscription assistant.

Get rid of your Amazon Echo
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...

I've been thinking about how to apply this for undergrad education in particular and hoping for people's insight.

Strangely, I feel like community agreements are actually a great way of starting discussion.

Yes, exactly! I've been part of classes and summer school programs that integrate these collaborative community agreement documents. I've found it's a great way to break the ice with folks to illustrate some shared values and to demonstrate that discussions will be held in a safe environment.

i'm continuing to try raising awareness: exploitation of persons, vulnerable, who use & answer #CrisisLines.
To have this work amplified by s.o. so dedicated to protections for vulnerable & expert in subject matter, feels such an honor. grateful! We can end exploitation #CrisisLineWorkers #organize

We owe a lot to citizen activism efforts like this in demanding higher ethical standards in academic research in the nonprofit tech sector.

Lack of Safeguards for Vulnerable Populations: The research involved minors and individuals in crisis, yet the paper did not meaningfully address ethical concerns specific to these groups, nor the regulatory requirements for research on children.

Transparency Issues: Several authors of the original research on CTL’s data-sharing project had undisclosed ties to CTL, including advisory roles. The paper also made no mention of Loris.ai, however the conflicts of interest section on the paper has since been updated.

Commercialization of Crisis Data: Despite previous assurances from CTL that conversation data would never be used for commercial purposes, CTL later licensed it to Loris.ai, a for-profit company that used the data to create AI customer service models.

Here are some major takeaways from Reierson's commentary:

Informed Consent Concerns: CTL claimed that texters provided consent to have their data used via a terms of service, but research consent requires more explicit and meaningful consent especially when involving vulnerable populations.

Protecting User Privacy and Rights in Academic Data-Sharing Partnerships: Principles From a Pilot Program at Crisis Text Line Data sharing between technology companies and academic health researchers has multiple health care, scientific, social, and business benefits. Many companies remain wary about such sharing because of ...

The commentary is based on a former publication in JMIR which detailed CTL’s data sharing partnership with academic researchers. In light of the issues presented, it is ironic that the original article is entitled “Protecting User Privacy and Rights…”

www.jmir.org/2019/1/e11507/

Commentary on “Protecting User Privacy and Rights in Academic Data-Sharing Partnerships: Principles From a Pilot Program at Crisis Text Line”

This article is very worthwhile read and shows the ongoing activism efforts of a former CTL volunteer (@holdspacefree.bsky.social) in demanding accountability from CTL and academic researchers behind its data enclave pilot project.
www.jmir.org/2024/1/e42144

It seems like a distant memory when news broke in 2022 from Politico about the data sharing partnership between Crisis Text Line and Loris.ai – a subsidiary that used crisis conversation data to create AI models for customer service support. The story is ongoing.

www.politico.com/news/2022/01...

YouTube video by Joseph Angelo Badalamenti explains how he wrote Laura Palmer's Theme

Badlamenti on how he and Lynch wrote the Twin Peaks theme.

I'm wondering if folks would share their approach to community agreements in the post-secondary classroom?

Do you start with a blank template or provide some anchoring principles/values to add to, revise, etc.?

A big stack of books related to Metis culture and history.

In the weeds of writing today with a great big stack of books on Métis culture and history.