jessica dai
@jessicadai_
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phd student @berkeley_ai !? also editorial @reboot_hq @kernel_magazine (she/her)
Joined December 2013
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lots of talk about “ethical AI”, not so much about what it actually means to be an ethical agent...
long story short, if what we care about is “bad stuff that happens due to AI,” I don’t think (ethical) agency is a particularly useful or even logically sound starting point!!!
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men will literally try to build agi instead of going to therapy
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hi i'm gonna do a phd!! at
@berkeley_ai
!! ...😵💫🥲🤠!!
4 yrs ago i was fighting for my life in intro data structures and 5 yrs ago i was planning to be a sociology major and never taking math again (lol) so... really looking forward to seeing what happens in the next 5-6(+?) yrs
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the imposition of debt as a punishment for student activism.. so evil and also makes so much sense
“Young people now expect to be in debt, and they can’t really conceive of life outside of it,” sociologist
@louise_seamster
tells
@tressiemcphd
in a discussion of America’s student debt crisis, on this episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
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it's super trendy these days to talk about teaching ethics to CS students but less trendy to think about what that actually looks like. I wrote down some of my thoughts based on working on the first year of Brown's program -
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still thinking about the undergrad who asked me, with a totally straight face, "grad school... slay or flop?"
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have i mentioned how much i love berkeley and the whole grad school thing
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having run brown's ~ethics in CS classes~ program for a year, the problems in this thread are what worry me the most; we need to be having conversations about history, capital, power, but students aren't equipped for it and individual courses don't have the space to do it justice
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The future doesn’t just arrive; it has to be built. What does that mean for writing about technology?
The third issue of
@kernel_magazine
is out today, and you can get your copy now at ⚡
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im no expert but seems like a phd is all about having a bad time and reading a lot of brandon taylor and then later figuring out how to psy op urself into having a good time!
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i was annoyed by (a) the recent surge of poorly written AI doomsday clickbait (b) how little they address actual technical approaches to alignment and (c) maybe most importantly, that something just feels off about those approaches ???
new essay ! in
@reboot_hq
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i don't really talk about this era anymore but at some point in my life i spent a lot of time doing chinese dance - i think it's what they call a ~ formative ~ experience
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omg palantir is making the vaccine distribution algorithm... shouldve seen it coming
The United States is using an algorithm named after a famously tumultuous Roman emperor (developed by a company named after an evil surveillance artifact from Lord of the Rings) to choose COVID-19 vaccination order.
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i made the link colors pretty please clap!!!! (v excited for my first ever arxiv submission - eternal gratitude to
@sinafazelpour
and
@zacharylipton
)
New paper "Fair Machine Learning under Partial Compliance" by
@acmi_lab
***Visiting Undergrad***
@jessicadai_
shows why we cannot continue to focus myopically on a decision-maker.
(w postdoc
@sinafazelpour
&
@zacharylipton
)
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eeee i have a piece in here :) a love letter to some dear friends, trying and failing to grasp ephemerality itself - thank u so much to
@laetitia
for the gracious edits and
@sinethetamag
for giving this moment a home
Around you, nothing spreads in all directions. With the rustling of withering leaves, the works in sinθ
#25
“ZERO 零” circle, dance, and morph, freely traversing paradoxical relationships.
Get your copy here:
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i worked very hard on
@kernel_magazine
for 6 months with some of the best people i know... we hope u like it 🫶
In a landscape dominated by fatalistic views of tech or optimism weaponized as hype,
@kernel_magazine
articulates an alternate vision: critical analysis that still charts a path forward.
Starting today, you can purchase a copy of our second issue at ⚡️
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this sentience discourse has gone too far ....... my mom sat me down for a "serious conversation" and opened with "so you work on AI....???"
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all i can say is
@jasminewsun
did it better 👍
THE TECHNO-OPTIMIST MANIFESTO part 1
“You live in a deranged age — more deranged than usual, because despite great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.”
— Walker Percy
“Our species is 300,000 years old. For the
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let's hear your hottest takes and your most ambitious manifestos.... pitches for
@kernel_magazine
issue 3 are now open!!!!
this issue's theme is SUSTAIN: are we there yet?
some of the vibes i'd love to see...
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- which is not to say that CS ethics programs are futile or unnecessary! but rather this is an incredibly difficult problem and that we shouldn't expect programs like brown's to magically solve
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:~)
So proud of the amazing women of the
@acmi_lab
for a strong showing at the
@WiMLworkshop
. PhD student
@leqi_liu
(Rebounding Bandits for Modeling Satiation Effects) & undergrad (!?!)
@jessicadai_
(Fair ML Partial Compliance) both got contributed talks (only 6 out of 141!) 👩💻👩🔬👩🚀
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eternal gratitude to so many people, and especially to
@BrownSarahM
,
@stevebach
,
@hima_lakkaraju
,
@johnpdickerson
, and
@zacharylipton
— I cannot overstate the impact of your generosity :,)
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palantir came to brown; I wrote about it
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your bookshelf needs color and optimism :~)
Today, we're launching Kernel, our inaugural print magazine.
From personal essays to historical analyses to speculative fiction, it includes 14 pieces by young technologists dreaming of a better collective future ⚡️
You can preorder Kernel at the link below.
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poetry and manifestos in an anarchist hackerspace... still buzzing about
@kernel_magazine
x
@litcrawl
:^D SF is very very alive
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had so much fun talking to
@lukeigel
about
@mitregressions
- kinda wild to think about how all the people who passed through these fancy places were all Just Some Guy
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so who is writing the thinkpiece about the hyper deferential ultra apologetic "personality" they gave to gpt (for "alignment," probably) and how weird it feels to interact with
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im generally glad people are working on alignment but i do think it's a shame that the field has such a narrow view of what kinds of work "count" as legitimate contributions, and what kinds of work are therefore given funding, airtime, and paths to implementation
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if
@reboot_hq
was a human it would be walking and talking by now. on our third birthday: what's the point? why should we still exist?
the short answer, as
@jasminewsun
writes, is to be R&D for ideas:
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issue 3 of
@kernel_magazine
is coming so, so soon!! join us in TEN DAYS at manny's sf for launch party - come hang out, be the first to get your hands on the magazines irl, we'll have fun drinks, surprises etc :~)
@archanaahlawat
if you're in SF, rsvp here! we're thrilled to be partnering with A People's History of Tech for this event - come hang out!
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thinking about the absurdity in how some (unnamed) CS ethics programs are very explicitly about partnering with the philosophy dept specifically, as if soon-to-be SWEs learning about rawls and kant will magically solve the worlds problems
YES!
@timnitGebru
pointing out that Co-teaching courses between an philosopher and a computer scientist will not be enough... sticking only to the powerful will not work (and philosophy is even more homogenous than CS)
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on the impossible gap between aggregate statistics and individual experience
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if you are in nyc tomorrow do NOT miss this ‼️‼️ readings + art + music + incredibly cool people (rsvp )
@hard_boiledbabe
@t1namai
@klayjamesenos
and a conversation between me and
@jjoque
about his wonderful book, Revolutionary Mathematics, and the truly personal stakes of how we interpret probability
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everyone wants to do “tech for good” but nobody wants to think about what “tech for good” looks like beyond platitudes — what I really think is unique about this piece in
@kernel_magazine
by
@gucaslelfond
is the focus on a specific organization and its technology
In today's essay,
@gucaslelfond
reports on
@teamameelio
, which aims to keep communications totally free for incarcerated people and their families.
Can a tech nonprofit challenge the prison-industrial complex in a way that ultimately dismantles it?
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nobody:
really truly nobody:
ML researchers: let’s build an AI girlfriend but call it empathetic computing
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managed to put together a list of the books i read this year while it's still 2020: many i really loved and only a few i hated
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super excited about tonight's
@reboot_hq
talk :~)
@brianchristian
goes deeper into the research than most other AI ethics books, and gives the intellectual history behind recent developments -- without being reductive or repetitive
(get the zoom link!!)
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i do not endorse the "coolest cats" descriptor BUT everyone here is truly brilliant and i am so thrilled for this new era for reboot!!!
today i want to extend a big welcome to
@reboot_hq
's new editorial board, ie the coolest cats in the biz 😎
keep reading to hear about each editor & what role they'll play in envisioning a better collective future 👇
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zoom made us go thru the mirror stage as adults no wonder we hate it (no i will not be taking questions)
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in my jenny odell era (sitting in the rose garden, just wrote a sentence about the value of reclaiming intellectual and creative energy in a world where too often they're sucked away by cApITaLiSm, not entirely sure which of my three nonexistent drafts i intended this line for)
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I was lucky enough to be a part of this last semester - I can't recommend the class enough !!!
In Fall 2019, I taught a course on computer science & marginalized groups. I'll be posting the results of our discussions (and more) on a new blog @ ."":
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obviously i'm biased but i think the pieces in this edition are so so good
@_emilyliu_
's gorgeous editor's note is live now and you can buy the magazine at !!!!!!
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finally, if you'd like to help build this, please reach out! i'm editor-in-chief for Issue 3 of Kernel Magazine, picking up from the inimitable
@_emilyliu_
and
@j_asminewang
.
i'm just starting to build the team now - i'd love to hear from you! form here:
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this essay somehow connects the schelling model, wong fu productions, & twitter doomscrolling - truly a piece only
@MatthewDSun
could have written
the magic of these words is rivaled only by the audio recording (!) which you can get with a subscription to the print magazine :~)
Today, we're pre-releasing another piece from Kernel.
"E-raced" by
@MatthewDSun
is a touching, analytical meditation on why fostering healthier digital communities requires reckoning with how early utopian visions for the internet erased racial identity.
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hello i am in nyc until mid august what should i do/see/eat/etc !!
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still can't really believe this happened -- incredibly honored to have moderated a panel w/
@merbroussard
,
@MinaSalib09
, and
@Movetheglobe
last weekend!! planning
@theimpactsummit
was a wild ride but this was def the highlight :,)
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i wrote an essay about it, really a letter to my past self and to all the girls i danced with and sweated with and grew up with.
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I wrote a followup to this piece in
@reboot_hq
: things I wish I'd learned at the start of my CS major, instead of slowly picking up from twitter and other indirect sources
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(idk what u can actually do with my id # but pls don’t commit identity theft ty 👍)
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really truly so humbled and grateful to see everyone's pitches and submissions like... people are really trusting us (me!) with their ideas and i only hope i can do them all justice
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working on this w jasmine is one of the most fun things i did in 2020 !!! apply !!!
i'm looking for 1-2 people to help with Reboot, the talk series on tech/humanity i ran last spring. it was amazing hosting discussions with authors like
@kyliu99
and
@annawiener
& we're excited to relaunch and expand!
app info below / RT for reach 😊📚🌟
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and then completely missing the broader point in the same way as the netflix doc - it's never just about the tech
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bonus pic of us packing pre-orders and contributor copies... so many more shoutouts to editors, writers, and contributors are on the way, but a special thank u to
@_emilyliu_
@jasminewsun
and
@MatthewDSun
for being truly a dream core team !!!!
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I stand by this clip.. the ideal collaboration really gets into it if you know what I mean
what does it take to make a magazine?
for our 4th birthday,
@jessicadai_
and
@jasminewsun
recorded a podcast on why most tech writing sucks, why bylines don't matter, and the eroticism of google doc comments
listen/watch here 🍀
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if anything jasmine has been underselling how much love (and time and labor) she has invested in this... happy birthday reboot ☀️💕🚀
my baby pandemic project
@reboot_hq
turned one! 🎂
the best part of the past year has been meeting so many people who care deeply + think rigorously about tech's role in the world. because of them, i feel vastly more optimistic about the future of technology than when i began 💫
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apropos of nothing, if you have a good take on ai ethics and its long term sustainability as a field, community, and practice, pitch
@kernel_magazine
👍
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💌 We’ll release more full pieces this week, so make sure you’re subscribed at .
More to come! Meanwhile, remember to join us for irl launch parties this Sat if you can 😊
🌁 SF -
🏙️ NYC -
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+ maybe this is an unfair characterization of students? maybe this indicates a fundamental failure of our program? but in what cs class do you teach about doordash skimming tips? in what cs class do you teach about monopolies, labor history, corporate power?
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working at coffeeshops: laser focus, I lv research, academia is so cool
working at home: nausea, disoriented, dizziness, death is imminent,
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palantir engs: look we do cool work
*cool work*: dismantling civil liberties, fundamentally altering relationships between individuals and violent institutions
palantir recruiters: make the world a better place 😌
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and conversely that the word "alignment" has so much ideological baggage that it often also functions as a deterrent for a broader community to engage with the technical work, which is genuinely interesting and important!!
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thinking about all the things that would be possible if amazon cared about goodreads at all
did you know goodreads has a compatibility calculator? here's
@jasminewsun
and
@jessicadai_
's common read shelves 💞
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(slay obviously, but..... first year is kinda early for the "omg im so old cant keep up with these kids" thing that seems like.. a universal personality trait among academics????)
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it turns out that political philosophers have spent eons on the question of agency, and while a lot of AI papers certainly take a stance (agency == “intelligence”, ethics == knowledge; we call this the “mechanistic” view) — it’s really not the only way to think about it.
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it's honestly quite flattering that ppl w/o twitter accounts keep tabs on my tweets... thanks i am quite funny <3
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"In 2049 the Internet Archive opens its jaws and swallows me whole....."
what a sparkling line from
@danachewy
I have two poems in
@kernel_magazine
today! ⚡️— ALGORITHM MINUET, on the dance between hardware, wildlife, and the line between the wild and the predicted, and NO GIRLS ON THE INTERNET, on bound feet and Internet footprints
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the realest ai-induced existential risk .. how we treat each other and ourselves
(new fiction in
@reboot_hq
from
@LilaShroff
)
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we're like that obnoxious couple who literally never stops asking for pictures but I love us
#sorrynotsorry
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idk what the resolution here should be, but i'm apprehensive about the prospect of students coming out of our program, thinking "i've learned about a lot of issues across several of my classes, surely i have a good understanding of the major ethical issues surrounding my work"
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just because something is an “interesting technical problem” doesn’t mean it needs a solution 🙃
The Palantir user guide shows that police can start with almost no information about a person of interest and instantly know extremely intimate details about their lives.
The capabilities are staggering.
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@reboot_hq
HAHAHA the way it’s instantly obvious that someone who is Not jasmine is writing this ♥️
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sooo excited for this + everything else
@jasminewsun
and
@reboot_hq
have been cooking up :")))
what is a tech worker, and who gets to be one? ⚒️
we'll tackle this question with logic mag founders
@moiragweigel
and
@bentarnoff
at our first event next thursday - register here 🤓
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Kernel has always been dedicated to “critical analysis that still charts a path forward.” For Issue 3, I wanted to figure out how exactly to do that.
Here’s what I think: we should be willing to be wrong, which means we should also be willing to fail.
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paper here ~ feedback welcome
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me, out n about: i'm gonna get so much done today! life is great & exciting
me, @ home: i hate everything & productivity is a liberal myth
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the last month or so really fucking sucked but this weekend more than makes up for it thank u 2 everyone fr loving each other & the activity
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This issue is the product of the collective effort of thirty-five brilliant collaborators. It’s truly been an honor to learn from and work with everyone; check our contributors page online to meet them all!
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what is chinese dance, you ask? great question.
what I do know: it's really fun; been instrumental in shaping my feelings about gender & race in the US; and has some messy political implications.
maybe it's made up, and maybe it's real, and maybe it's both.
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truly such an honor to see this piece go from three pages of unstructured bullets to completion :,)
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i’ve been thinking about this so much
what they are doing to
@AOC
is not just designed to shame her. it is designed to shame all young women into thinking they should not/could not run for office—that old videos or pictures or rumors of them would surface, that they could never dress/act/speak unimpeachably enough...
1K
10K
48K
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To those ends, the pieces in Issue 3 take big swings—carefully researched essays spanning topics like
🔮climate fortunetelling
🛢️a visit to oil rigs
💞grief as political practice
🏛️(non?) democratic AI
📽️the wizardry of legal animations
and, as always: fiction, poetry, and art.
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also, debate definitely sucks but I still miss it. what's a school year without constant anxiety about the next tournament?!
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