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zeynep tufekci

@zey.bsky.social
29K followers 2 following 148 posts

It is said that there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all

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Reposted by zeynep tufekci
Samuel Coavoux @scoavoux.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"Many scientific fields are already drowning in plausible-seeming but unverified papers": this is publish or perish, not LLM. Science has been drowning before chatGPT and is just drowning more. If LLMs are used for more papers, they won't improve science. But they could be used for better papers.
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Esteban Morales @estebanmorales.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Many scientific fields are already drowning in plausible-seeming but unverified papers generated with significant help from a large language model. What’s slop and what’s not? Is there an actual gem amid the gazillion new hypotheses? It’s becoming increasingly impossible to tell."
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Noted!
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Vince Crawford @vincecrawford.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yes! At least from the non-medical view.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Polls show people expect AI to at least advanced science. Navier-Stokes, right? AI may throttle science instead! It doesn’t always advance understanding, its glut overwhelms filters for quality, and its methods don’t fit medical research. Gift link to my NYT essay. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/o...
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wvcaver.bsky.social @wvcaver.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“A 2024 review counted some 300 cases of lab workers becoming infected by the pathogens they were studying from 2000 to 2021, many of them in laboratories a step or two below the maximum-containment facilities on this map...the authors called that count “the tip of the iceberg.””
nytimes.com
Opinion | How to Stop a Lab Leak From Starting the Next Pandemic
More than six years after the emergence of Covid-19, no one is keeping track of the risky virus experiments that are capable of starting a pandemic.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I didn’t argue symbolic harnesses will forever remain unreliable, on the contrary harnesses can work but more that not everything is suitable or easy prey for symbolic harnesses.
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Ian Birrell @ianbirrell.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Shame on the cabal of top scientists who mocked me and other dissidents for challenging their sordid Covid origins cover-up. It is now beyond doubt that they betrayed both humanity and science - and there should be retribution. My MoS column mol.im/a/16005037
mol.im
Scientists mocked my Covid leak theory but I was right: IAN BIRRELL
Like many others, I was struck by the strange 'coincidence' that Covid erupted in the city with a secretive lab containing the world's biggest repository of bat coronaviruses.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
🙏
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Dr. Jeff Masters @drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Even running a HEPA unit indoors when the AQI is in the Hazardous range outside may not improve your indoor AQI to the "Good" range. My colleague @wisconsam.bsky.social improved their AQI from Purple (borderline Very Unhealthy) to Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) by running HEPA in the room.
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Marianne Dhenin @mariannedhe.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Zeynep put it well
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The FIFA VAR interesting as window into how algorithmic governance can operate in practice outside of the China context: highly-surveillant and high-tech (ball sensor, graphs, etc.) accompanied by a form of transparency (replays, etc.) without accountability and still essentially a blackbox.
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USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 04/07/2026
Happy birthday, USA! 🇺🇸 Thousands of locals and tourists alike flooded lower Manhattan to catch a glimpse of the Tall Ships parade while military planes flew overtop. 📸: Angela Weiss and Joseph Prezioso via AFP via Getty Images; Vincent Alban and Jeremy Weine via Getty Images Read: bit.ly/4fmAgd5
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Gary Hershorn @garyhershorn.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Tall ships and airplanes along the Hudson River as they participate in the Sail4th250 in New York City, Saturday morning.
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Jérôme OLLIER @jeromeollier.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
New York To Host Historic Tall Ship Parade To Celebrate America's 250th Anniversary - News 12 Brooklyn, Sail4th 250 via Marine Insight
marineinsight.com
New York To Host Historic Tall Ship Parade To Celebrate America's 250th Anniversary - News 12 Brooklyn, Sail4th 250 via Marine Insight
Marine Insight - The maritime industry guide.
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Vincent Carchidi @vcarchidi.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
A reasonable push back against the common wisdom in the industry.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The industry focuses on interesting problems in verifiable, formal domains (like Erdős conjectures) but that’s just not what remains in the economy after decades of automation of more deterministic tasks. Language ability, otoh, is highly-misleading for humans.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I know it’s not a popular position but I really don’t see mass unemployment from generative AI soon because of structural and technical features of the tech. Gift link where I explain the reasons. It’s distraction when AI will really cause many other big problems. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
There's a great deal that's alarming about the Prairieland sentencing, regardless of how one views the shooter, but the biggest deal is 30 years for a man who wasn't there, convicted of moving a box of zines while knowing protesters. Consider the implications. theintercept.com/2026/06/23/p...
theintercept.com
Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines
Anti-ICE activists received lengthy prison terms — including a 100-year sentence — in the first major trial of the NSPM-7 era.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I’m honored to be giving the 2026 US-UK Fulbright Distinguished Lecture, titled “Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares about AI?” The in-person event in London is completely full, but there is a free livestream: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dr-zeynep-...
eventbrite.co.uk
Dr Zeynep Tufekci: Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares about AI? (Online)
Internationally renowned techno-sociologist and New York Times columnist Dr Zeynep Tufekci delivers the 2026 Fulbright Distinguished Lecture
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
This is terrible news. The world should support DRC as they rush to contain this. Ebola transmission is well-understood — bodily fluid and physical contact — and unless that changes, it’s not a pandemic threat like the Hantavirus. bsky.app/profile/apne...
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Likely biggest issue is the victim who flew to South Africa and died upon arrival. She was very sick so most likely source of spread if there is any. South Africa is trying to trace but that’s the most challenging node. Potential incubation for that isn’t over till early June.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Some airborne pathogens, like measles, are superspreaders, but others are not. Since this is novel to humans, it’s less likely to spread easily, but we can’t just bet on that. Also can’t bet on symptoms: novel, so immune system won’t recognize. Can’t play Russian Roulette with pandemic pathogens.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
As update: many countries finally taking incubation (40 days) and the transmission mode (airborne) seriously. It’s airborne doesn’t mean it spreads easily. But there was one super-spreading event, so could repeat. Now: Waiting out incubation and hope nobody unaccounted for gets sick and spreads.
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The -30- Newsletter @30newsletter.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
The New York Times is hiring a national science correspondent job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorkti...
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Worrying about our response to the Hantavirus outbreak isn’t about calculating the odds of a pandemic. We’re not gamblers in a prediction market. We should do what we can do control all such outbreaks, and the earlier and smarter we act, the easier it is. Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Should Take Hantavirus More Seriously
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Not that unpredictably, there goes the idea that they can manage this by only testing people showing symptoms. Their claim only “prolonged close contact” transmits is also gone. bsky.app/profile/apne...
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
At least one of the Americans who disembarked is definitely infected, likely two. Sad given the high fatality rate. Wish them the best of luck. But at least they tested them! As of an hour ago, we were told the plan was not even to test people without symptoms.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Meanwhile.. “mildly PCR positive”. It’s on the way up or down. If on the way down, they missed a case because asymptomatic, not good for catching transmission. On the way up, the incubation period really is long, another challenge. Outbreak may well die out but clearly not well understood.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
That one was actually good. You will notice they actually contradict the official line in a very fundamental way.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Proposed rule: words like “panic” or anything pertaining to interior *feelings* of the public should be banned from the vocabulary of any public health person addressing the public. They can’t help themselves. It doesn’t work. It backfires. It has the opposite effect. Enough. Don’t make it worse.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
This is especially concerning since the “sane” side hasn’t earned trust or credibility in the last pandemic to be so paternalistic. Meanwhile the HHS is run by RFK jr. This is our interregnum: seemingly sane side useless or backfiring, the actual authorities worse than useless.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
One outbreak of concern and the entire “sane” side of the public health immediately resorted back to the paternalism of telling us not to worry, this isn’t another COVID, etc. They didn’t learn a thing. We didn’t appoint them to be our therapists or parents. Provide info, don’t dictate how to feel.
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🎃 🧙🏻‍♀️Yell 👻 Growler💀🎃 @yaelwrites.com · 04/05/2026
I am honored to share the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Best International Reporting with Dake Kang, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal and Garance Burke for our reporting revealing how Silicon Valley largely designed and built China's surveillance state and enabled human rights abuses.
The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement
International Reporting
Winner: Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal of the Associated Press and Yael Grauer, contributor.

US government allowed and even helped US firms sell tech used for surveillance in China, AP finds.
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NBC News @nbcnews.com · 28/04/2026
NEW: FCC to direct eight Disney-owned TV stations to file early license renewals, a source says, adding that the "unprecedented" action was directly tied to ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's recent joke about first lady Melania Trump.
nbcnews.to
FCC to direct Disney-owned TV stations to file early license renewals, source says
The source said the "unprecedented" action was directly tied to ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's recent joke about first lady Melania Trump.
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nix @nix.ai · 08/04/2026
Tufekci's keynote here remains the best framing for how to think about AI, IMO. The key changes will be in what things become cheap/easy and what things remain expensive/hard. AI will remove a lot of friction. Some of that friction is load bearing. bsky.app/profile/zey....
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Jacob Bogage @jacobbogage.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
“A whole civilization will die tonight,” Trump declares.
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Max Strasser @maxstrasser.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I reviewed @mollycrabapple.bsky.social 's terrific new history of the Bund — a great read but more importantly, a book that could not have arrived at a more urgent moment. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/b...
nytimes.com
What Does Judaism Look Like Without Zionism?
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
The AP is reporting that Sharif University in Tehran has been bombed. This is Maryam Mirzakhani’s alma mater — the first woman to win a Fields Medal in math, and only one of two so far. The university is also a leading center of opposition to the government. apnews.com/video/ict-bu...
apnews.com
ICT building at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology reduced to rubble after more US-Israeli strikes
An airstrike hit Monday an information and communication technology building at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, a professor there said.
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Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Some science cuts in Trump's proposed FY27 budget ❌ NIH: -$5B, including all of NIEHS, NIMHD, FIC & NCCIH. ❌ EPA: -4.6B ❌ NSF: -3.8B ❌ NASA Science: -3.4 Billion ❌ NOAA: -1.8B, including the entire Oceanic and Atmospheric Research budget ($605M) ❌ AHRQ: All of it. -$296M, 100% And there's more.
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Erin Wertz @erin-wertz.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
The article makes this fairly explicit, but it's worth emphasizing that Grammarly doesn't have any clear option to request a specific reviewer (hence you can't easily check if you're included) and even a cursory attempt gets it to produce a bunch of random scholars from my or adjacent fields.
Image from Grammarly showing that it generates AI feedback which presents itself as if written by Tarleton Gillespie, Zeynep Tufekci, Cass Sunstein, Shanto Iyengar and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Well, there it is.
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Carrie Brown @brizzyc.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
"This firm’s special treatment is a stark example of the way that the second Trump administration has used taxpayer money to benefit people close to the president or his top officials." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...
nytimes.com
Firm That Planned Trump’s Jan. 6 Rally Received No-Bid Contracts
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Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Trump's DOJ this month quietly backed Alexander Smirnov's bid to withdraw his guilty plea & wipe out his sentence. Smirnov had admitted lying to the @FBI about Burisma's owner arranging to pay $5m in bribes to both Joe & Hunter Biden. 👀 @davidcorn.bsky.social catch:
link.motherjones.com
SCOOP: Trump’s DOJ Is Helping a Convicted FBI Informant Tied to Russian Intelligence
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Melissa Barber @mbarber.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with HIV in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to the country’s critical minerals. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h...
nytimes.com
No H.I.V. Aid Without More Access to Minerals: U.S. Ponders ‘Sticks’ Against Zambia
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I was impersonated by Grammarly as well. Besides the lack of consent, a big problem is that the LLMs do a highly plausible impersonation of my views for anything not specific to me but miss exactly where my views differ from many AI experts or critics. So worse than useless. Actively misleading.
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
PSA: One consequence of AI language models is that you should check your spam folder regularly. LLMs can generate targeted/tailored outputs at scale, resulting in a growing overlap between spam and email meant for you. Filters are failing: more spam in your inbox AND more of your mail in spam.
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Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.
theguardian.com
ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony
Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Even after all this, I think many people are underestimating the irreversible, fundamental changes to this country and the world order that’s been unleashed in the past year and a half. (Yes, since the win).
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