Bríd-Áine Parnell

Back from #4S2025 and still dwelling on new ideas from Rebekah Cupitt, expansive work from Jihan Sherman and @elegantcollisions.bsky.social, and a powerful call to action from @avastmachine.bsky.social. It was also a privilege to present with Haley Lepp, Anushah Hossain, Caroline Storey and more.

Great day one at #STSItalia yesterday, my first presentation at an international academic conference on the Algorithmic Imaginaries panel, and a rousing keynote from @ruha9.bsky.social Today, more fascinating panels and talented scholars, plus keynote from @shannonvallor.bsky.social

Join us at AI for All during Edinburgh Science Festival! Discover how we make #NLP shape our daily lives in a fair, accountable and transparent way. Explore exhibits, activities, and meet the next generation of researchers.

📅 Fri 11 Apr
⏰ 10am – 4pm|Free / Drop-In
📍@edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social

We used the findings to respond to the UK gov AI & Copyright consultation & recommend:
👉 strengthen copyright law to require licensing in most cases
👉 clarify & strengthen the legal framework for AI products that interact with copyrighted works at the point of inference
📌 doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Maidin mhaith! Last push for my survey on Irish language names, gathering people's experiences online and IRL. Please consider filling this in if you have an Irish name, only takes 12m or so, and/or reshare. Míle buíochas! edinburghinformatics.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Thank you @unaminh.bsky.social and everyone who's helping out. I'll keep you all posted on the outcomes in the coming months.

If you need further evidence that genAI is not ready to get into the news business...

This is an arresting idea...

BRAID x IDI Hybrid Seminar - Alex Taylor Thursday, 30th January 2025 [Inspace / Zoom]

Why not pop this in your diary before you break for the holidays? New BRAID/IDI research talk: Red Teaming and Operationalising Responsibility with @alex-taylor.bsky.social 30 Jan, online/in person #Edinburgh Find out more/book here: bit.ly/4fiN9mc @designinf.bsky.social #ResponsibleAI #RedTeaming

Keir Starmer to be grilled by senior MPs – follow live The prime minister will appear in front of the Liaison Committee for the first time to answer questions on a variety of topics.

UK PM Keir Starmer being grilled right now on this AI/ creative industry consultation on copyright. Keeps parroting "have to get the balance right", but Caroline Dinenage saying that it's already imbalanced in favour of the tech industry, "a great heist" on creatives.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

Over the past 80 years, academic writing has become substantially harder to read 📉🧪 www.economist.com/science-and-... I analysed 350k PhD thesis abstracts and found that they've become more complex in every discipline, especially the humanities and social sciences

UK consults on proposals to give creative industries and AI developers clarity over copyright laws This consultation seeks views on how the government can ensure the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright supports the UK creative industries and AI sector together.

New UK gov consultation on copyright and AI, getting surprisingly little attention? One option is a total exemption to copyright for AI training. Another proposes an exception that still allows creatives to "control the use of their content". How would that work?!

More than 140 Kenya Facebook moderators diagnosed with severe PTSD Exclusive: Diagnoses part of lawsuit being brought against parent company Meta and outsourcer Samasource Kenya

"In Kenya, it traumatised 100% of hundreds of former moderators tested for PTSD … In any other industry, if we discovered 100% of safety workers were being diagnosed with an illness caused by their work, the people responsible would be forced to resign..."

www.theguardian.com/media/2024/d...

"A clear and practical guide to research paradigms"? Add to reading list. Love it when academia gets practical! And a paper that talks research paradigms as a way for researchers to find their path sounds great.

I entirely agree that trusting GenAI without double checking is crazy, but some of these mistakes come from real (if not very well-known) oulets. The lesson is the same as it was before ChatGPT, don't trust what you read on the internet, always look for corroboration from trusted sources.

So it's a tiny bit off-piste, but I've been immersed in a group project to design a "robotic artifact" (ours is a classroom engagement system of bees and a hive). I've learned to code an Arduino from scratch and had a whistle-stop tour of physical design theory, and it's been kind of amazing!

You'll have to go on the waitlist! Sarah is first!

Shannon Vallor says AI does present an existential risk — but not the one you think AI is not a “stochastic parrot,” It’s a mirror, says the philosopher.

Reading @shannonvallor.bsky.social book right now and highly recommend it. The idea of AI as a mirror of the past also has me thinking about how genAI is going to struggle with multicultural dialects, youth slang and other natural linguistic evolutions. www.vox.com/future-perfe...