Vedran Sekara
Assoc professor @ITUkbh. Previously @UNICEFinnovate & @sony
Working on AI bias, stupid algorithms, and computational social science
More silly things at 👉 vedransekara.github.io
#TechWillNotSaveUs 🍉
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- Reposted by Vedran SekaraNEW: I went undercover, as a human poster, on the social network designed just for AI agents. The site isn’t a novel breakthrough; it’s simply a crude rehashing of sci-fi fantasies for the hype machine’s true believers. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/i-infi...
- Holy shit. What a result, voter suppression add potentially resulted in 4.7 million fewer votes. How is it not illegal to run voter suppression ads? (Asking as a European, because to me this seems highly undemocratic)
- Exposure to voter suppression ads on Facebook—which targeted non-White residents of battleground states—was associated with a 1.9% decrease in voter turnout in the 2016 election, representing approximately 4.7 million fewer votes nationwide. In PNAS: ow.ly/HJGf50Y7FPG
- If you are interested in the intersection of Data Science & beers (also non-alcoholic) then check out this event out 👇
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraIsrael bombed tents in Gaza today, killed at least 30 people including children, and the death toll is likely to rise www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraA new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraJoin us in Bologna, Italy, 4–6 Nov 2026 for Visualising Climate — the first global conference fully dedicated to climate data visualization and its power to transform public understanding of a changing planet. Come see the data. visualisingclimate.org #VisualisingClimate2026 #DataVis #ClimateCrisis
- 🫠 incredible... everything these companies cook up just makes society worse. We can't vibe code science. That's not how science works! This will lead to more AI slop, overwhelm science venues, and reduce trust in science
- OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free. Writing a paper has never been easier. Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier. It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct. prism.openai.com
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraMillionærer får folkepension, millionærer kører gratis på vejene. Hvis man skal designe en ordning, hvor man er 💯 sikker på at intet rammer forkert, så må man enten acceptere at nogle trængende ikke får, eller skabe et stort, dyrt bureaukrati. Oftest er simpel regel bedst www.dr.dk/nyheder/poli...
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View full threadReposted by Vedran SekaraDen her ordning favoriserer i meget høj grad de fattigste, og har en ret betragtelig effekt på ulighed (-.18 på gini). Hvis man synes at millionærer har for meget, så lad os skrue på skatten, ikke indføre åndsvagt bureaukrati og besvær for borgerne gennem streng visitation.
- The US has pulled out of the WHO, again!? It's incredible how changing administrations pull the US out, put it back in, and pull it out of the WHO again. International trust in US institutions & promises has suffered irreparable damage during the last decade's Circus.
- And just like that, the US has left the World Health Organization. Link goes to the official announcement—lies pretending to justify a decision that will kill countless numbers—from people too stupid to even include a proper twittercard. www.hhs.gov/press-room/u...
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- You have a a higher likelihood of getting a novel idea from slamming your head against a wall, than asking AI for help
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraLet's start by not believing the claims being made corporations about these products when it comes to education. Do not let a whole generation be guinea pigs. Demand rigorous evidence of efficacy before incorporating into classrooms.
- "The sweeping study... found that using AI in education can 'undermine children's foundational development' and that 'the damages it has already caused are daunting.'" They include limiting kids' cognitive, social, and emotional developmen, and increasing inequity. www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
- This sounds like late stage capitalism...holy hell 🫠
- Peak satire 😂🫠🥲
- Did you know that the PR agency for #COP30 also works for fossil fuel companies like Shell? We made a meditation app to help them sleep at night. Try it for yourself here oilwell.app
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- Reposted by Vedran SekaraIf you thought Elon Musk's “Grok” chatbot couldn't get worse, read my latest article: Grok isn't just undressing women, it's now putting swastika bikinis on them. One woman who was targeted is a recently-deceased Holocaust survivor.
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraComputational Social Scientists in the Nordics, unite! 🇩🇰🇫🇮🇳🇴🇸🇪🇮🇸 The brand new Nordic Society for CSS welcomes all researchers and practitioners based in the Nordics. The Society will promote student mobility, events, and education initiatives. Join for free: nosocss.org/join.html.
- Oh what a brave new world 🙃 When will our policymakers regulate this shit show? 🤷
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- Reposted by Vedran SekaraBrazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says the US crossed an 'unacceptable line' following attacks on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro.
- Today it's Venezuela, tomorrow it could be Panama, Denmark/Greenland, or Nigeria. If this is the best "strongly worded" statement the EU can muster then international law is doomed
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraAlso, when reporters start talking about the chatbots this way, it is imperative to remind them they are basically asking a toaster for comment. They should be a lot more embarrassed about this than they currently are. “Grok told CNN…” no it didn’t. You typed stuff into an unreliable calculator.
- Reposted by Vedran Sekarathis is irresponsible reporting. a neural network can't comment on why it produced CSAM. a neural network can't be held answerable for generating CSAM. accountability lies within the fascist ceo and the team willing to work for him www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
- Reposted by Vedran Sekara1. Headlines everywhere today read "Grok apologizes." This is bullshit. A chatbot is not something that can apologize. Pretending otherwise is simple laundering these companies' bullshit about what AI is, while diffusing blame away from the human beings that developed and released this system.
- Algorithmic unfairness and injustice cannot be fixed without addressing the underlying socio-economic-surveillance-calitlaist system. Purely technical fixes will not change anything
- As I and others have written, algorithmic wage discrimination combined with the myth of “independent contracting” allows platform companies to use “desperation scores” to determine how little to pay drivers. www.reddit.com/r/confession...
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraThere’s a funny Politico story showing that the latest polling on AI shows 80-20 in favor of heavy regulations, an absolute slam dunk platform, but Dems are worried about not winning back mask-off tech CEO donors www.politico.com/news/magazin...
- Reposted by Vedran Sekaravery much captures the experience of using generative AI to write for you instead of learning how to write
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- 👀 I guess 2026 is going to be a wild ride
- 😂 Studies also show that boomers are more prone to falling for, and sharing misinformation. Solution: boomer filter (like a form of parental control) to keep the boomers safe on the internet and safe from AI bullshit/hype
- If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
- What if it's entirely bullshit?
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- Both of could be the reason, but probably 'more likely' reasons could be: - the 2008 financial crisis - Obamas election - the large hadron collider in CERN went operational - GTA VI was released - 2008 was a leap year I guess we'll never know without carefully designed studies 🤷
- This is going to be a treasure trove for science of science
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraIt would cost $30 billion to end homelessness in the USA.
- The US tech world has lost its mind
- Space!? How do these 'geniuses' plan to cool down these data centers? Did they realize space is a near empty void, a vacuum, and thereby a perfect insulator. Better to put them on the bottom of the ocean.....but I guess that loses all the hype
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- New research opportunity @mszll.datasci.social.ap.brid.gy how biking got a 0.93 "score" with autism 🙃
- "Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
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- Even the acknowledgements seem to be AI slop 🫠
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- Deloitte does it again, uses generative AI to make #AIslop at a cost of $1.6 million This is the second time they have done it! 🫠
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- Reposted by Vedran SekaraOpen AI loses copyright case in Germany. Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
- return output.replace(—,-) Could have saved openAI millions of dollars 🤷
- I fully agree with @emilymbender.bsky.social here 👇 E.g. what Mistral's CEO recently proposed to the EU parliament, trickle down responsibility won't work. We need accountability from all model makers!
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- It has begun 😱
- I can't believe I'm reading this. The EU is about to slash some of its privacy laws to help AI developers! Help them with what? Surveillance capitalism! To exploit EU citizens! Sorry to say it, but Draghi is wrong! GDPR is not holding back EU innovation on AI www.politico.eu/article/brus...
- Reposted by Vedran Sekaraearly career scholar and their first publication
- Det er utroligt at det eneste vores politikere + interesseorganisationer fokuserer på er at begrænse adgang til sociale medier, i stedet for at kræve at de er sikre at bruge. Hvorfor er vi så fokuseret på adgang og ikke indhold? Hvorfor er vi så uambitiøse? #dkpol www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
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- I just got 3.1 mil DKK, so if you are interested in uncovering how climate change 🏭☁️⛅⛈️🌊🌪️🌬️ affects our movement patterns and mobility related behaviors, then I will be opening a PhD position later this year
- Hvordan påvirker klimaforandringer menneskers kollektive adfærd? ☔️🤷 👉 Det vil ITU-forsker @vedransekara.bsky.social undersøge i et nyt projekt, der netop er blevet støttet med 3,1 mio. kr. fra Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond 👏 🔗 www.itu.dk/Om-ITU/Press...
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraTwo new NERDS papers: Algorithmic bias, street network simplification nerds.itu.dk/2025/11/03/t...
- I think you tagged the wrong Vedran 😅 but thanks @lrossi.bsky.social
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- Reposted by Vedran Sekara“Here’s the thing, Bill Gates: There’s no ‘patch’ for the climate crisis. And there is no way to reboot the planet if you crash it. The only safe and reliable way out when you find yourself in a climate hole is to stop digging—and burning—fossil fuels.” — @michaelemann.bsky.social
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraPeople who aren’t writers think writer’s block is at least as big and real a problem as I thought quicksand would be, as a child.
- This is why python > R 😉
- TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵
- Great to see the Python Software Foundation display more integrity and courage than countless others...
- TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraNew preprint alert! 🚨 “Let Them Eat Large Language Models: Artificial Intelligence and Austerity in the Neoliberal University”
- Fantastic opportunity 👇
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraYet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.
- Are you considering using Chatbots and ChatGPT to tell you who to vote for? Ask yourself: would you use a headless chicken to pick who to vote for? No? Then don't use LLMs either!! They will provide biased answers!
- Imagine what other things the $2.66 billion could have been spent on. Rather than wasting it on GAI, imagine if these funds were spent on academic grants, PhD students, postdocs, researchers Imagine the ROI this could bring about for society (rather than accelerating climate change)
- Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability. www.wheresyoured.at/costs/
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- Anonymizing data is my passion 🫠
- Tænk hvis vi indførte noget lignende i DK. I stedet for at fjerne afgifter på elbiler burde vi fokusere på el-cykler. Det er en langt mere bæredygtig tilgang og hjælper ikke kun de rigeste og mest velstillede i samfundet #dkpol
- since denver launched its e-bike rebate program - the have sold 10,000 e-bikes and reduced an estimated 1,000,000 car trips - replacing millions of VMTs and reducing air pollution there are no climate silver bullets... but damn - e-bikes and e-cargo bikes are close denvergov.org/Government/A...
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraPope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist." www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
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- Reposted by Vedran SekaraLol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraThe elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
- Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...
- Reposted by Vedran SekaraYoung lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead
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