mastodon 4.7.3Investigative Journalist. New York Times opinion writer. Founder of Proof News, The Markup. Priors: ProPublica, WSJ.
ICYMI, Zuck says Meta's algorithmic feeds are great at showing us content we didn't sign up for, and soon will fill our feed with AI-generated content.
This is exactly what I do not want. So I wrote my latest piece for New York TImes Opinion (gift link) on the tyrannical rise of the "for you" algorithm and how we can take back control of our feeds:
Courage is contagious. But how do we catch it?
For months, Ami Fields-Meyer and I have been asking dissidents and activists from around the world how we can topple authoritarianism. We assembled their lessons into a field guide to courage.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/so-you-want-to-be-a-dissident
"It is clear that the tech platforms are not going to risk their profits or their political power to protect high-quality information. And it’s equally clear that the Republicans will continue to push for fewer guardrails against falsehoods."
My latest for New York Times Opinion (gift link) calls out the fediverse as our best hope of giving truth a chance.
With trust in traditional media at an all-time low, a new paper from me examines what content creators — currently engaged in journalist-style work & courting large, loyal audiences — can teach journalists about trustworthiness.
My key finding: Journalism has placed many markers of trust in institutional processes that are opaque to audiences, while creators try to embed the markers of trust directly in their interactions with audiences.
https://shorensteincenter.org/future-trustworthy-information-learning-online-content-creators/
One weird norm in investigative journalism is that if someone scoops you, your story is dead.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s why at @proofnews@mastodon.social we are building on the work of our friends at
@404mediaco@mastodon.social with a dive into how Nvidia scraped YouTube videos for its AI models.
https://www.proofnews.org/nvidia-scrapes-youtube-eyes-netflix-discovery-to-train-new-video-model/
I continue to be disappointed by the poor accuracy rates of AI.
Our latest @proofnews@mastodon.social investigation shows the leading AI models were incorrect one-third of the time when confronted with known misinformation about the presidential candidates. 👇🏻
https://www.proofnews.org/ai-models-struggle-to-get-the-facts-straight-about-kamala-harris-2/
What is known: Judge has declared Google search an illegal monopoly.
What is unknown: How the judge plans to fix it.
My proposal: We need to break up Google’s monopoly on search data to promote competition.
My latest for New York Times Opinion (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/opinion/google-monopoly-ruling-break-up.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GE4.bdJj.q1oziKbnOCES&smid=url-share
How did @proofnews@mastodon.social reporter Annie Gilbertson prove that tech giants were using scraped YouTube videos in their AI models?
She breaks it down for me here in a new YouTube series on where we dissect how the news is made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZkOcjS5PLM
With Google reneging on its promise to block third party cookies, are we in for even more cookie consent pop-up boxes — and less privacy?
My discussion on @NPR Weekend Edition: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/27/nx-s1-5050862/after-4-years-google-backtracks-on-its-discontinuation-of-third-party-cookies
How do YouTube creators feel about their work being used without their consent to train AI? "Violating", "Exploitative", "I cried" are some of the responses Annie Gilbertson got after her investigation revealing which videos were swiped.
Interested in an entirely sane conversation about AI? Join me and @garymarcus@sigmoid.social at NYPL next week discussing his highly rational and readable book on AI:
On Monday I'll be giving a eulogy for a piece of software that empowered the public -- and was killed by a corporation: Crowdtangle - you may have heard of it.
Check out the memorial page and RSVP for the funeral if you're interested: https://www.ripcrowdtangle.com/
@clive@saturation.social Thanks!! You might enjoy the underlying paper this conversation is based on: https://shorensteincenter.org/future-trustworthy-information-learning-online-content-creators/
Honored to be the first guest on @taylorowen@mastodon.social's podcast Machines Like Us talking about AI and how journalists can cover it better:
Is AI capable yet of replacing software developers? We asked a software developer to help us investigate that question.
Carl Brown, host of the popular Internet of Bugs YouTube channel, used our AI testing software and concluded that his job is safe -- for now.
https://www.proofnews.org/is-ai-going-to-replace-software-engineers/
@quinn@social.circl.lu @proofnews@mastodon.social Thank you. I am, obviously aware of how AI works. But given that they market themselves as "intelligence" and have made promises about preventing election misinformation, we are doing this testing to hold them accountable.
@davecb@hachyderm.io Me too! But that is a separate pending antitrust case.
@jimfenton@infosec.exchange I think it’s early days and we need to make the fediverse more usable. I’m a fan of Bluesky’s UI, but they haven’t delivered yet on the federation promise.
@Mikal@sfba.social Good question. I support the fediverse, but I don't love Mastodon's insistence on chronological feed and lack of quote posts etc. - which feel like another thing I can't control. I appreciate the flexibility of Bluesky's controls and hope that their protocol will become interoperable with fediverse.