Jonathan Stray

@jonathanstray
760 Followers
139 Following
139 Posts
Working on better personalized news and information at
@CHAI_Berkeley. Previously computational journalism @columbiajourn. Editor, @better_conflict. More at jonathanstray.com.
Jonathan StrayMar 16, 2023
Contrarian take: I don't think generative models are "plagiarism" any more than an artist who is influenced by other artists is (setting aside e.g. direct quotations). That doesn't mean there shouldn't be some compensation for use of work as training data -- but no one should expect to make a living off that, either. Spotify has already taught us how cheap original music is when you buy in bulk.
Show threadJonathan StrayMar 13, 2023
@mmasnick I don't think he *wants* academics to study Twitter.
Jonathan StrayMar 12, 2023
@[email protected] What would be your preferred term for the American domestic political conflict, then? The great advantage of "culture war" is that everyone immediately knows what you're talking about. I say this as someone who writes a newsletter on (more productive approaches to) the conflict.
Show threadJonathan StrayMar 11, 2023
@whitequark Extending this idea to politics produces a political philosophy known as "agonistic democracy" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agonism
Agonism - Wikipedia

Jonathan StrayMar 11, 2023

Read this?

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html

It’s a great piece of writing. I agree with a lot of it. I think where I diverge is that in many situations whether we think there is mind behind the bot doesn't matter.

Folks are experimenting with hooking LLMs up to a web browser and ordering taskrabbits, with some success. If Sydney is going babble on about dark fantasies, the problem is not that we might forget who is human, but that it shouldn’t be allowed to direct resources in the real world.

Show threadJonathan StrayMar 10, 2023
@crschmidt Yes, I understand. And I don't know the answer to either question yet!
Show threadJonathan StrayMar 10, 2023
@crschmidt thanks, this is a great line of inquiry
Jonathan StrayMar 9, 2023
Here's a question that is bound to generate hot takes, but is also an honest and serious policy concern: would GDPR have prevented this? https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/09/catholics-gay-priests-grindr-data-bishops/
Catholic group spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests

The group used the data to find clerics who used Grindr and other dating and hookup apps and shared their work with bishops, a Post investigation has found.

The Washington Post
Show threadJonathan StrayMar 9, 2023
@antoniopelaez I wish they shared more experimental results too! We need open platform science.
Show threadJonathan StrayMar 9, 2023
Aside from the science we're doing, one of the great lessons here has been how hard it has been to arrange collaboration between external platforms and platform teams. There's a lot of distrust! But I don't see any other way of solving these problems.
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