Sign in

Lee Spector

@leespector.bsky.social
275 followers 61 following 32 posts

Teaches and conducts research in AI, ALife, & intersections of computer science with cognitive science, evolutionary biology, physics, and the arts.

PostsRepliesMedia
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Excited to see what this special issue on Lexicase Selection surfaces! Are you working on selection in evolutionary computing, biology, machine learning, AI? Have some ideas about connections to lexicase selection (lexicase.ai)? Submission deadline is Dec 1, 2026. link.springer.com/collections/...
link.springer.com
Special Issue on Lexicase Selection
This special issue of GPEM will focus on further studies of lexicase selection, its applications, its variants, and its analysis. It aims to draw together ...
030
Reposted by Lee Spector
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
"[Hampshire College] was intellectually engaging and exciting, and at the same time an economically efficient and effective educational institution." www.amherstindy.org/2026/06/05/h...
amherstindy.org
Opinion: Hampshire College Didn’t Fail; Society Failed Hampshire - Amherst Indy
Since the public announcement of its imminent closure on April 14, many have opined on why Hampshire College "failed." Many of the reasons offered on outlets ranging from new social media to establish...
4458
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I really enjoyed this brief conversation with Genesis Baez on what AI means for photography podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w... open.spotify.com/episode/3Nmr...
podcasts.apple.com
What AI Means for Photography with Genesis Baez
Podcast Episode · What AI Means · May 21 · 15m
010
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Hampshire College Faculty, Staff, and Students Deserve a Just Closure @hampshirecollege.bsky.social #westernmass #highered #academicsky actionnetwork.org/petitions/ha...
actionnetwork.org
Hampshire Faculty, Staff, and Students Deserve a Just Closure
Support the Hampshire College community in securing employment, healthcare, and education.
082
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
This was a fun conversation, that some of you might find interesting. The page I'm linking embeds the YouTube video, but you should also be able to find it on your favorite podcast app. danfaggella.com/spector1/ #ArtificialIntelligence #EvolutionaryComputation #CognitiveScience
danfaggella.com
Lee Spector - The Next Phase of Evolution Is Artificial (Worthy Successor, Episode 27) - Daniel Faggella
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Lee Spector, the Class of 1993 Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the
071
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
What AI Means for Earth Science with Nicholas Holschuh podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
podcasts.apple.com
What AI Means
Technology Podcast · Updated Biweekly · What AI Means is the podcast that asks scholars and creators about the significance of artificial intelligence for the world as they see it, through the lenses ...
010
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
020
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
New podcast! I ask scholars and creators about the significance of artificial intelligence for the world as they see it, through the lenses of their disciplines and expertise. What AI Means AI in the Liberal Arts at Amherst College Listen wherever you get podcasts, or at: lnkd.in/emd7NHus
Podcast logo, with "AI" and a question mark, and the text "What AI Means."
021
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
New, brief overview of lexicase selection: lexicase.ai It considers individual training cases in different random orders, and therefore with different priorities, for each selection event. #AI #MachineLearning #ALife
lexicase.ai
lexicase.ai
031
Reposted by Lee Spector
David Rowinski @djohnrowins.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
@ladyslipperhere.bsky.social If your ever in Western MA area this is worth checking out I particularly enjoy the rainforest in the center in the middle of a New England winter garden.smith.edu/visit
garden.smith.edu
Visit the Botanic Garden of Smith College
122
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
The imaginatively named streets in Hadley, Massachusetts that cross the bike path on the way from Northampton to Amherst: Cross Path Rd, West St, Middle St, East St, South Maple St #westernmass
130
Reposted by Lee Spector
Goku Missile Crisis @babadooknukem.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Much like "crab", industrial music is constantly re-evolving from first principles basically anywhere where there's a bunch of metal and plastic laying about
234110733447
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Super niche AI/GP technical content: I made this short video 6 years ago and was just delighted to discover that I still think it's okay! LMK if you have related ideas you'd like to discuss. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJW...
youtube.com
An Even Quicker Introduction to the Push Programming Language
YouTube video by Lee Spector
021
Reposted by Lee Spector
GPEM journal @gpem.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
New book review, freely available in GPEM: “Reversible world of cellular automata” by Kenichi Morita, reviewed by Tomas Rokicki link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Kenichi Morita: Reversible world of cellular automata - Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines -
074
Reposted by Lee Spector
Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Indeed - we showed an AutoML could easily compete with a deep learning LSTM & significantly outperform it in efficiency academic.oup.com/bioinformati... #automl #deeplearning #machinelearning
academic.oup.com
Evaluating recommender systems for AI-driven biomedical informatics
AbstractMotivation. Many researchers with domain expertise are unable to easily apply machine learning (ML) to their bioinformatics data due to a lack of M
0143
Reposted by Lee Spector
The MassINC Polling Group @massincpolling.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
We're excited to share "The Cost of Getting Around: The Transportation Burdens of Lower-income residents in Western Massachusetts", a collaboration between MPG and @wayfinders.bsky.social for @massdot.bsky.social. Here's Quick thread of some of the key findings. www.mass.gov/doc/the-peop...
111
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
In my first interaction with ChatGPT 5 it provided four "key references," every one of which was hallucinated or broken in one or more ways. This was about a machine learning techique for which there is a lot of information online, and it totally butchered it.
010
Reposted by Lee Spector
Cohen is a Ghost @skullmandible.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
the brain that can see a face in a wall outlet was always doomed to hear the voice of God in a markov chain
91256382
Reposted by Lee Spector
Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Our tree-based pipeline optimization tool (TPOT) automated machine learning (AutoML) review paper is featured in this special issue of Cell's Patterns on open-source software www.cell.com/patterns/iss... #tpot #automl #mlsky #machinelearning
cell.com
Current issue: Patterns
062
Reposted by Lee Spector
Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
In my latest (and last!) column for Science’s Expert Voices series, I write about the reasons behind AI chatbots’ “deceptive” behaviors (and why Claude threatened a fictional CEO with blackmail). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Why AI chatbots lie to us
A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine needed to collect and format some data from a website, and he asked the latest version of Anthropic’s generative AI system, Claude, for help. Claude cheerfully agr...
719980
Reposted by Lee Spector
Matthew Guzdial @matthewguz.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Brutal to learn that Margaret Boden has passed. An absolute powerhouse in the areas of AI and creativity. leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2025/07...
leiterreports.typepad.com
In Memoriam: Margaret Boden (1936-2025)
Professor Boden, who spent most of her academic career at the University of Sussex, was a leading figure in cognitive science, who wrote extensively on computational models of the mind, on artificial ...
0178
Reposted by Lee Spector
GPEM journal @gpem.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
GPEM Journal has a new CFP for a special issue in Generative AI and Evolutionary Computation for Software Engineering! This will be edited by Dominik Sobania See Leo's blogpost: gpemjournal.blogspot.com/2025/06/call... And special issue page: link.springer.com/collections/...
gpemjournal.blogspot.com
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Generative AI and Evolutionary Computation for Software Engineering
Special Issue Home: https://link.springer.com/collections/bcadcgjdjd Generative models, and mainly large language models, are already wide...
011
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
news.elenarossini.com/fediverse-vi...
news.elenarossini.com
📺 Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media
A 4 minute video that aims to introduce the Fediverse to people not familiar with it
010
Reposted by Lee Spector
Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Excited to be at: Genetic Programming Theory & Practice (GPTP) is a small, invitation-only workshop. This year’s GPTP will be hosted by Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI on June 05-07, 2025 gptp-workshop.com/index.html #artificialintelligence #geneticprogramming
gptp-workshop.com
GPTP
061
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
This was a great conversation and I'm looking forward to the Q&A session! www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
linkedin.com
I am thrilled to present an expert panel conversation I organized in… | Lucy Brock
I am thrilled to present an expert panel conversation I organized in conjunction with the Systems Engineering Department at la Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. As a proponent of international educ...
010
Reposted by Lee Spector
Gary Marcus @garymarcus.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Five alarm fire: The State Department has effectively ended free speech for student visa holders.
89230
Reposted by Lee Spector
Yoshua Bengio @yoshuabengio.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Congratulations to Rich Sutton and Andrew Barto on receiving the Turing Award in recognition of their significant contributions to ML. I also stand with them: Releasing models to the public without the right technical and societal safeguards is irresponsible. www.ft.com/content/d8f8...
ft.com
Turing Award winners warn over unsafe deployment of AI models
Two pioneers of reinforcement learning have won the $1mn prize from the Association for Computing Machinery
011724
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
It's not exactly what he just won the Turing award for, but some of the best conversations I've ever had about the nature of minds, brains and machines have been with Andy Barto. Congratulations Andy!! mastodon.acm.org/@ACM/1141102...
mastodon.acm.org
Assn for Computing Machinery (@ACM@mastodon.acm.org)
Attached: 1 image Meet the recipients of the 2024 ACM A.M. Turing Award, Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton! They are recognized for developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of reinforcemen...
010
Reposted by Lee Spector
Craig Reynolds @craigreynolds.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Via a friend, from MIT’s alumni magazine. On the confluence of Lisp-based Object Oriented Programming systems and gourmet ice cream in Cambridge, MA in the 1970s. I joined Symbolics in 1982 working with Dan Weinreb and Howard Cannon, writing a lot of Lisp code with Flavors. #lisp #oops #symbolics
technologyreview.com
The mix-in revolution
How an ice cream innovator in Somerville influenced Lisp pioneers at the MIT AI Lab­—and made a lasting mark on programming.
2154
Reposted by Lee Spector
Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people: 18f.org
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
697187416805
Reposted by Lee Spector
Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law & the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit research, education or discussion climate.law.columbia.edu/Silencing-Sc... #science #research
climate.law.columbia.edu
Silencing Science Tracker | Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
0179
Reposted by Lee Spector
Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Is the evolution metaphor still necessary or even useful for genetic programming? link.springer.com/article/10.1... #geneticprogramming #machinelearning #artificialintelligence #datascience
link.springer.com
Is the evolution metaphor still necessary or even useful for genetic programming? - Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines -
054
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
pixelfed.social/p/lspector/7...
pixelfed.social
Lee Spector (@lspector@pixelfed.social)
Attached: 2 images
140
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Output: Once was a time when life simple life simple was. Was beautiful. Unpredictable. Unforgettable. Beautiful. Unpredictable. Dream.
011
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
HELENA: Doctor, has Radius a soul? DR. GALL: He's got something nasty. - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), by Karel Čapek
000
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 11/09/2024
Nice piece by Moshe Vardi in the current CACM on The Linear Fallacy: cacm.acm.org/opinion/the-...
cacm.acm.org
The Linear Fallacy – Communications of the ACM
120
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 27/08/2024
Here's one of our recent projects on the power of subsampling in learning... which I think has a lot of potential, explored more in other work of ours and others... arxiv.org/abs/2408.12604
arxiv.org
Generational Computation Reduction in Informal...
Counterexample-driven genetic programming (CDGP) uses specifications provided as formal constraints to generate the training cases used to evaluate evolving programs. It has also been extended to...
031
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 24/07/2024
Congratulations to DR. LI DING!! www.linkedin.com/comm/feed/up... @umassbluesky.bsky.social #AI
linkedin.com
Li Ding on LinkedIn: I’m thrilled to share that I have successfully defended my PhD in Computer…
I’m thrilled to share that I have successfully defended my PhD in Computer Science at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, UMass Amherst…
030
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 29/04/2024
Those of you in Western Massachusetts might want to come to this event at Amherst College at 6pm on Tuesday. It is free and open to the public. #AI www.liberal-arts.ai/spring-2024-...
100
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 10/02/2024
The Firebird installation at MASS MoCA was pretty great. I hope to be able to experience other Touki Delphine work in the future. massmoca.org/event/firebi...
Still image of an installation made out of recycled car taillights.
010
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 31/01/2024
000
Lee Spector @leespector.bsky.social · 01/01/2024
A hazy far shore across the Oxbow in Western Massachusetts.
040