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Neha Nandakumar

@nehanandakumar.bsky.social
50 followers 169 following 40 posts

Tech Policy Researcher @ GoodBot MA Philosophy (Simon Fraser Uni) | BA Sociology & Anthropology (Ashoka Uni) Currently researching social media scam proliferation & ethical approaches to AI www.nehanandakumar.com she/her 🌈

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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
So excited to be here this weekend! ❤️
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Reading Enshit-tification by @doctorow.pluralistic.net. As someone currently job-hunting, and knows others in the same boat, it's frustrating to know just how much money is being poured into ai-- money that could be used to hire people? idk?? today's just one of those days it's hard staying positive
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sarahanaphora.bsky.social @sarahanaphora.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Great discussion of art and AI in @doctorow.pluralistic.net
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
i was at a gelato place a few days back and there were such detailed descriptions of each flavour. i was reading them with curiosity until i was like... i'm curious because i'm assuming someone intentionally chose these words. if this is ai fluff, then i'm a reader with no author, which is lonely :(
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
A short piece I wrote about how a community of people learning coding to make websites challenges the Big Tech idea that effort is undesirable, and that efficiency should be our primary value. nehanandakumar.substack.com/p/alternativ...
nehanandakumar.substack.com
Alternative Digital Futures with Neocities
I'm sick of "consuming content"
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Really great article highlighting how much need there is for Canadian innovation. Spoiler: If we didn't have access to US-based tech tomorrow, you couldn't use any OTT streaming services, even Canadian ones (goodbye Heated Rivalry)
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
wow! excited to dive into this. in philosophy i studied a lot of care ethics, looking at the ways in which our social structures rely on (usually unpaid and unrecognized) care labour. love to see tangible ways of addressing how people caring for each other lift up systems everywhere.
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JA Westenberg @joanwestenberg.com · 24/07/2026
US AI labs: "Scraping the entire open internet without consent is fair use! It's transformative!" Also US AI labs when someone distills their models: "Wait no not like that, that's intellectual property theft" New post on why distillation is just the industry looking in the mirror:
joanwestenberg.com
The Great AI Double Standard
Distillation Is a Mirror; the US Labs Just Hate What They See
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Quick stats about young people and AI companion usage around the world
Infographic:
USA: 72% teenagers have used AI companions at least once. 52% teenagers use AI companions regularlyInfographic:
India: "Did using AI for emotional needs change how likely ou're to talk to a person?"
42%: Less likely
41% No change
17%: More likelyInfographic:
UK: Which AI companions are teenagers using? 78% ChatGPT, 32% Google Gemini, 22% Copilot, 17% Character.ai, 5% each: GrokAni, Claude, Replika, Chai
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Young people are using ChatGPT for companionship, much more than they use specific chatbots like Replika or Character(.)ai + other things we know from India, USA, and UK www.nehanandakumar.com/tech-ethics-...
nehanandakumar.com
AI Companions and Young People: What We Know From Other Countries
What do we know about how young people use AI companions? As Canada builds towards regulating AI chatbots, here is what we know from research in the UK, USA, and India.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
yup. left instagram a while back and i no longer know which of my high school acquaintances is getting married. nothing but wins.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
"I downloaded a local taxi app and when I used it I was flooded with worries that weren’t previously there: Would the driver even find me?" When these companies sell convenience, they reframe the ordinary as inconvenient,and the inconvenient as intolerable.We can't let them imagine our lives for us.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
big fan of "conversation simulators" "people are growing attached to chatbots": vague, mysterious "people are growing attached to conversation simulators": yeah no we need to stop that
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Very nice initiative. I've found that writing fiction helps you focus on the small details-- the building blocks of any major change that are easy to miss when thinking in terms of big ideas.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
+1, ChatGPT can't "ignore" guardrails. The guardrails just aren't good enough.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Happy Pride from Niagra Falls too :D
Photo of a rainbow arching over the bright blue Niagra Falls
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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The government says its Bill C-34 exemption process for the social media ban creates incentives to comply. But the bill gets it backward. With no standards and no exemption for years, nearly all Canadians will have to age verify before safeguards are in place.
michaelgeist.ca
Soft Ban or Hard Verification Requirement?: Why Bill C-34's Social Media Ban Exemption Gets the Incentives Wrong and Comes Too Late to Matter - Michael Geist
The debate over Bill C-34’s social media ban for those under sixteen has largely focused on the impact on users, including mandated age verification for millions, the privacy risks of verification…
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Michael Geist @mgeist.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
The Two Weeks That Reshaped Canada’s Digital Policy: my Globe essay tries to make sense of the wildest Canadian digital policy stretch in memory with the CRTC streaming reversal, AI strategy, C-34, C-36, and lawful access. What is the government doing? www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/bc5ccfd...
theglobeandmail.com
How do we make sense of a digital strategy seemingly in disarray?
Those focused on digital policy are left struggling to make sense of the dizzying pace of change in Ottawa
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Yeah, using AI promises to make life easier, and things are often overwhelming and hard. But then ig we should just use that as a chance to figure out what in our lives are worth keeping, and if they are, then they're probably worth putting in effort for...?
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I am also concerned about the "protect the kids" narrative underlying the push for these policies. This very idea is used to push anti-LGBTQIA+ measures, saying "think about the kids!" as a reason against gender-neutral bathrooms, queer-inclusive curricula etc.
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Andboo Haunton 😷🎃 @andrewhinton.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
“The Al is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you, one conversation at a time, to need less friction, expect more agreement, and become slightly less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you”
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Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 09/06/2026
Why are we still arguing about the Industrial Revolution? I my column today I make the case for reading the novels of the age, rather than the arguments in tech circles about output per hour, real wage growth, etc. www.ft.com/content/f837...
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
With people relying on AI chatbots for advice on personal struggles, how does this shape our collective understanding of mental wellness? Do we see it as a state of having the answers we need, or moving forward despite uncertainty, feeling that we have been heard or actually being heard by someone?
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Ky @ky.fyi · 08/06/2026
computer should not say “I”
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Worth thinking about, especially on the heels of the Angus Reid findings that 2/3 Canadians prioritize heavy AI regulation even if that means slower progress. A related question: progress towards what kind of world? angusreid.org/ai-regulatio...
angusreid.org
Canadians call for heavy AI regulation, but three-quarters doubt any government can keep up with the technology - Angus Reid Institute
[wpcode id="85268"]
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
These tools will once again be sold as the inevitable future, as if it were unnecessary to ask questions about trust. But it is not—we shouldn't mistake marketing campaigns for facts.
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
One of the big concerns I have about AI chatbots, in addition to their impact on our skills, is the impact they have on our self-trust. The entire AI sales pitch is that whatever you do on your own can be done better with AI. The moment that is the reason someone opens ChatGPT/Claude/etc.. (1/...)
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Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Quiet part loud!
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Glad to see research studying the inclusive development of AI. Not so glad to see what the findings say. queertech.org/en/resources...
queertech.org
Canada’s Tech Industry: New Report Finds Alarming Gap in Responsible AI Development Readiness
Canada’s Tech Industry: New Report Finds Alarming Gap in Responsible AI Development Readiness
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Agreed. And we should reconsider the "Anti-AI" or "AI critic" framing of those not jumping on the bandwagon. Are we opposing the technologies grouped under AI, or how these technologies are currently being developed and deployed? Why let tech companies dictate what AI is?
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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Where does the “it’s not x, it’s y” come from? It’s not only training data: LLMs are trained to use language to arrive at “answers.” Whatever we’re incentivizing and disincentivizing in our use of language when we resist “sounding like AI” has big implications for students, and for human thought.
mail.cyberneticforests.com
It's Not Just X. It's Y.
Against the Quantification of Integrity When the measure of language becomes its target, it ceases to be good language. 💡Nerd Rating: 1/5. I discuss the origins of certain linguistic tics in LLMs a...
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Great article on how emotional dependence on AI chatbots interferes with our ability to bond with people. Thinking about how anthropomorphic chatbot design contributes to this, even outside of companionship-centric use cases. open.substack.com/pub/centerfo...
open.substack.com
The Attachment Economy Is Here. We’re Not Ready.
Key Takeaways from Our Conversation with Dr. Zak Stein
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
We need concepts to articulate how chatbots keep people hooked before the public discourse is hijacked by the language of personal responsibility-- shifting the blame of addictive design from those it benefits to those it harms. This research is a great step in that direction.
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Josh Kramer @joshpkramer.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
It's hard to imagine YouTube's core business being displaced by AI, but at the same time, 20 years ago it was hard to imagine everyone would turn to YouTube as a foundational reference library
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Neha Nandakumar @nehanandakumar.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Been writing on Ellipsus for a year now-- one of the few places not suggesting that I Write With AI ✨
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Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 30/05/2026
It is often said that a “wave” or “tsunami” of technological change is heading our way. These metaphors are powerful because they shape our sense of what is reasonable, and what is unreasonable. What does AI as a "wave" imply is a reasonable course of action? (1/...)
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