March 2026 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Funded PhD in the creator economy at Aarhus University (Blake Hallinan)
by Rebecca Scharlach 10 Mar '26

10 Mar '26

I am just the messenger :-) ---- Hello AoIR friends, I am hiring the first PhD position in my ERC-funded PAY4PLAY project on the creator economy at Aarhus University that will be co-supervised with the excellent Pablo Velasco. We are looking for a PhD fellow to work within the "Cultures of Participation within and among Creator Communities" sub-project, focused on gaming (think Twitch streamers and YouTubers). A comparative angle between English and Spanish-language communities is a strong bonus. It's a fully funded three-year position that will be part of an international and collaborative team. The methods and theories of the PhD are flexible, but interviews should be part of the mix. The application deadline is April 1st (no joke), and you can read more about the process here: https://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/open-and-specific-calls/phd-call-2026-9 Please share with any interested candidates. Best, Blake -- Blake Hallinan (they/them) Assistant Professor of Platform Studies Dept. of Media and Journalism Studies, Aarhus University Helsingforsgade 14, 8200 Aarhus N. Building 5335, Room 235 www.blakehallinan.com <http://www.blakehallinan.com/>

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Digital Investigations Lab – Launch Event at King's College London – 24 March
by Zeena Feldman 10 Mar '26

10 Mar '26

Dear friends and colleagues, To launch KCL's new Digital Investigations Lab, we are delighted to host a panel of journalists, academic researchers, and designers to reflect on their distinctive approaches to conducting and facilitating investigations. We will discuss techniques for analysing smartphone apps and platform monopolies (Dr Ashwin Matthew and Thais Lobo); the current challenges and possibilities in working with open sources on social media (Sarah Cammarata); and the critical role that design practice plays in facilitating inquiry and visualising a story (Rectangle’s Lizzie Malcolm and Daniel Powers). When: Tuesday, 24 March at 18:30. A drinks reception will follow. Where: King's College London, Waterloo Campus, Franklin-Wilkins Building, room FWB 1.11 (map<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/visit/franklin-wilkins-building>) Free registration: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/kingscollegelondoncentrefordigitalcultu… More info: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/digital-investigations-lab-launch-event About the event This session marks the first in a series of events and initiates a new interdisciplinary research lab within the Centre for Digital Culture at King’s. The Digital Investigations Lab seeks to examine understandings of expertise, methods, and sources at a moment where the roles they play in investigative work are shifting and unstable. In doing so, it creates a forum for co-learning and critical reflection, linking digital researchers across King’s with a wider community of practitioners in London and further afield. The Digital Investigations Lab has been initiated as part of Assembling Certainty, an AHRC Catalyst-funded project led by Dr David Young (King's College London) in collaboration with Dr Josh Bowsher (University of Sussex) and Airwars. The launch event is also supported by the Centre for Digital Culture’s seed fund. About the speakers Thais Lobo is project manager at DIGISILK, where she leads the engagement with practitioners for developing Janus. At King's, she has contributed to engaged research to study digital platforms, cultures, and infrastructures, combining digital methods and qualitative analysis. Her research is informed by a previous career in journalism. Dr Ashwin Mathew is an ethnographer of Internet infrastructure, studying the technologies and technical communities involved in the operation of the global Internet. He is interested in how the Internet is built and maintained in everyday practice; and how the cultures of the Internet’s technical communities circulate and are re-articulated across Global South and Global North in the process of operating the Internet. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Global Digital Cultures in the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London. Sarah Cammarata is an OSINT practitioner and investigator specialising in financial crime and digital investigations. She has worked as a corporate intelligence analyst, leading complex, cross-border investigations into white collar crime. She trains journalists, researchers and students in open source and social media intelligence techniques through the Centre for Investigative Journalism, and is a regular public speaker on OSINT methods. She began her career as a journalist in Washington, DC, reporting for POLITICO and Stars and Stripes on defence, Congress and the US military, and holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London. Rectangle is a design and software development studio founded by Daniel Powers and Lizzie Malcolm in 2017. Their work is focused on building tools to structure stores of information and interfaces to access them. They collaborate with journalists, publishers, human rights organisations, cultural organisations, artists, and academics on research-led projects, digital archives, and publishing systems. These projects involve structuring material from scraped datasets, recordings, research documents, and organisational archives for access, analysis, and interpretation. Dr David Young is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture in the Department of Digital Humanities. His research focuses on software politics and digital war, investigative aesthetics, and Cold War histories of computational media. He is currently leading the AHRC Catalyst-funded research project "Assembling Certainty", which examines how accounts of war are produced using “open sources” in visual investigations and critically explores the implications of machine learning in civilian casualty recording. Best wishes, Zeena Dr Zeena Feldman (she/her) Reader in Digital Culture Director, Queer@King’s Research Centre<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/queeratkings> Co-Director, Centre for Digital Culture<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/cdc> King’s College London Department of Digital Humanities<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ddh/about/about> The Strand, Chesham Building, 0.03 London WC2R 2LS zeena.feldman(a)kcl.ac.uk<mailto:zeena.feldman@kcl.ac.uk> https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-zeena-feldman

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Targeted: Corporations and the Police Surveillance Economy, book talk and discussion w/ Kelly Gates, April 22nd 5pm UK time
by Patrick Smith 10 Mar '26

10 Mar '26

Dear colleagues, With apologies for cross-posting. The Emergent Nonfiction Lab (part of the Counter Evidentiary Futures project) at the University of Salford welcomes Professor Kelly Gates (Associate Professor, Communication and Science Studies, UC San Diego) for this online talk and discussion on her new book Targeted: Corporations and the Police Surveillance Economy. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/targeted-corporations-and-the-police-surveil… "Video cameras are everywhere: attached to buildings, drones, and dashboards; embedded in smartphones, laptops, and doorbells; worn on police uniforms and sunglasses. In Targeted, Kelly Gates argues that the resulting avalanche of video has transformed the landscape of policing and security in the twenty-first century. Video production, analysis, and archival management are now central to the ways police power is exercised, criminal law enforced, and spaces of human habitation securitized. Gates examines the primacy of video in four key areas of policing and security: the field of digital multimedia forensics, private video surveillance infrastructure development, police body-worn camera systems, and video analytics for automated surveillance (Video AI). Case studies of two companies illustrate the role of corporations in these far-reaching media-technological changes. Target Corporation has integrated its retail security operations with law enforcement, expanding its surveillance beyond its stores and parking lots and into the criminal legal system. Axon Enterprise is leveraging the growing volume of police body-cam video to build a large-scale proprietary platform for policing. Targeted reveals the role of video infrastructure development in the increasingly entangled relationship between the modern police and the modern corporation, in the long wake and ruins of neoliberalism." Kelly Gates is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Technology and the Culture of Surveillance, as well as the editor of International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, Vol. 6: Media Studies Futures and The New Media of Surveillance. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals, including Surveillance & Society, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Social Semiotics. Best, Patrick -- Dr. Patrick Brian Smith Assistant Professor and University Fellow School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology University of Salford

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UNESCO Report: Influencers in Latin America: content creation, ethical dilemmas, and social challenges
by Arturo Arriagada Ilabaca 09 Mar '26

09 Mar '26

I’m very happy to share with you our new study for UNESCO: "Influencers in Latin America: content creation, ethical dilemmas, and social challenges". The study analyzes the role played by influencers and content creators in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, particularly those addressing topics related to health and politics. Based on interviews and observations, we explore how these actors produce content, how they organize their work, the values they promote, and the ethical dilemmas they face in their role as informers and mediators within today’s digital ecosystem. Understanding their experiences and perceptions is key to designing public policies that strengthen the role of information in Latin American democracies and promote digital competencies oriented toward information integrity. This project was conducted with Mia Grosmark (Argentina), Issaaf Karhawi (Brazil), Matías Cifuentes and Matías Valderrama (Chile), Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda and Alicia Maria Duque Abarca (Colombia), Patricia Maldonado (Mexico), and Alejandra S. Y. Dinegro Martínez (Peru). The full report is available in English here: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000396106_eng Kind regards, Arturo Arriagada Escuela de Comunicaciones y Periodismo Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez www.arturoarriagada.cl Investigador Principal | Principal Investigator Millennium Center on the Evolution of Work (MNEW) https://www.m-new.org

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Survey on the Role of Web Archiving in Research Practices
by GEBEIL Sophie 09 Mar '26

09 Mar '26

Dear colleagues, I am currently conducting a study on how researchers integrate web archives into their research and teaching practices. As part of this project, I am collecting experiences, needs, and perspectives from scholars who work—directly or indirectly—with archived web materials. I would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to answer the following questionnaire: Survey link: https://enquete.inspe.univ-amu.fr/SurveyServer/s/8dl147 Estimated completion time: 8–10 minutes Your responses will help us better understand the methodological challenges, opportunities, and expectations surrounding the use of web archives in scholarly work. The results will contribute to ongoing reflections within the WebLab (MMSH, Aix-Marseille University, France) and to broader discussions within the Web archiving research community. Participation is voluntary, and responses will remain anonymous. Please feel free to forward the survey to colleagues who might be interested. Thank you very much for your time and contribution. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this topic further, I would be happy to hear from you. Warm regards, Sophie Gebeil Aix-Marseille Univ – France https://pba.mmsh.fr/?p=35328 WebLab - Le Web et son archivage pour la recherche en SHS - https://pba.mmsh.fr/?page_id=34023 La réception de ce courriel en dehors de vos horaires de travail ne requiert pas de réponse immédiate. Sophie Gebeil - Maître de conférences - Vice-présidente déléguée sciences de l'Homme et de la Méditerranée - Membre Junior de l'Institut Universitaire de France [https://sesame.univ-amu.fr/bundles/app/images/Logos/logo_inspe.png] Campus Aix-en-Provence UMR TELEMME 7303 (AMU-CNRS) - WebLab MMSH +336 18 30 26 85<tel:+33442524997> sophie.gebeil(a)univ-amu.fr<mailto:sophie.gebeil@univ-amu.fr>

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2 PhD positions on themes related to Digital Society, Infrastructure, Legacies
by Julia Velkova 09 Mar '26

09 Mar '26

Dear all, We are currently recruiting two 4-year salaried PhD candidates to our research environment "Culture and Society" to develop research on a theme relevant to our new research area “Digital Society, Infrastructure, Legacies”. This area advances research on the changing material conditions of media, technology, culture and heritage, and how they intersect with environmental, institutional, industrial, and social conditions. Research in this area is interdisciplinary, societally engaged and in dialogue with relevant societal actors within and outside the university. Examples of ongoing research within this area at our division include: * sustainable media and internet infrastructure * computing cultures and materialities as heritage * values and economies in algorithmic/data cultures * social and cultural perspectives on dismantling communication networks * emerging legacies of digital society in museums * regulatory aspects and property regimes in digital societies The PhD candidate is expected to develop their own research project that connects to one or several of the keywords Digital Society, Infrastructure, Legacies. We welcome proposals that engage contemporary, critical, historical and/or global perspectives. Application deadline is 10th of April and the position is based at our beautiful waterfront campus in Norrköping, and part of the division of Culture, Society, Design and Media (KSFM) at Linköping University. More information in the link below! https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/28741 Please help me spread the word! best, Julia — Julia Velkova Professor of Media and Culture Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University ProFutura Scientia Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies - in residence during fall 2025 and spring 2026 www.juliavelkova.org

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Creative Approaches to Qualitative Research Summer School at the University of Manchester (6–8 July)
by Liang Ge 09 Mar '26

09 Mar '26

Dear all, For PGR and ECR colleagues interested in exploring creative and participatory approaches to research, you may wish to consider joining the Creative Approaches to Qualitative Research Summer School at the University of Manchester (6–8 July). This course offers a hands-on introduction to creative approaches to qualitative research. It is designed for researchers and PhD students who already have a background in qualitative research techniques and would like to expand their methodological toolkit to include more creative methods. The course engages with different stages of the research process, from data collection and analysis through to sharing qualitative findings. The course is taught by a team based in Sociology@Manchester, all of whom are members of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives, internationally recognised as a centre of excellence for research on personal life, relationships, and everyday life. More information about the programme, fees, and bursaries can be found here: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/OCl4x7KEP8fkY Taster Session We will also hold an online taster session on 19 March, 12–1 pm (UK time). During this session, you will meet members of the course team and learn more about the topics covered in the summer school, including elicitation and digital methods, facet methodology, and creative approaches to analysing and disseminating qualitative data. You can register for the taster session here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-approaches-to-qualitative-research-… The course team will introduce some of the activities planned for the summer school and outline opportunities for participants to discuss methodological issues related to their own research projects. There will also be time to ask questions and get a sense of whether the course is the right fit for you. ________________________________ Best wishes, Liang Dr Liang Ge (they/them), PhD, FHEA Lecturer in Sociology 3.054, Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester, M13 9PL Chair, Transcultural Digital Intimacies Network (TransDI)<https://bsky.app/profile/transdi.bsky.social> Honorary Research Fellow, Social Research Institute, University College London<https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/102688-liang-ge> Executive Member, Race Equality Network (REN) Email: liang.ge(a)manchester.ac.uk<mailto:liang.ge@manchester.ac.uk> Tel: +44 0161 306 2816 Web: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/liang-ge Blog: https://www.liangge.blog<https://www.liangge.blog/> Book Student Hours with me<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/fd73a2555d074f23a8f775bba8380232…> Liang Ge - Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&pli=1&user=wq4A_RUAAAAJ> My working hours might not be yours – please don’t feel obliged to respond outside your usual working time. Plz Check My New Publications here: Ge, L. (2027). The Grammar of Ambivalences: Subjects, Desires and Affects in the Digital Production and Consumption of Boys’ Love. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Ge, L. (2026). Spectral imaginings and sympoietic creativity: AI hallucinations and the ethics of posthuman creativity. Big Data & Society, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251400696 (Original work published 2025) Ge, L., Hu, T., & Ouyang, M. (2025). Digital literacies of intimacy: women’s engagement and learning in otome video games. Information, Communication & Society, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2587132 Hu, T., & Ge, L. (2025). Affective liquidity, synthetic bonds: VTubers as posthuman mediators of digital intimacies. New Media & Society, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251403091 Ge, L. (2025). Ambivalent desiring subjects: young women, agency and post-(socialist-)feminist sensibilities in China. Feminist Theory, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/14647001251334949 Ge, L., Luther, J. D., & Li, E. C.-Y. (2025). Editorial introduction: Queer Asia as Method. Media, Culture & Society, 47(7): 1452-1461. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251351143 Ge, L., & Hu, T. (2025). Gamifying intimacy: AI-driven affective engagement and human-virtual human relationships. Media, Culture & Society, 47(6): 1265-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251337239 Hu, T., & Ge, L. (2025). Datafication of Digital Intimacy: The Dual Logic of Empowerment and Commodification. Games and Culture, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120251358522

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Call for Participants: AI and News in UK
by Sangya Tyagi 09 Mar '26

09 Mar '26

Dear AOIR Community, I am a final year Media PhD student at the University of Westminster, conducting a study in the use of Generative AI in News production in the UK. If you're in the UK and have 15 mins, please fill out this survey and help a fellow researcher out! Link to Survey: https://sangyauow.github.io/AIResearch/ Survey Closes: 13 March, 11:59pm Feel free to share it with your peers in the UK. If you have any questions about the survey or the results, please reach out to me at: s.tyagi(a)westminster.ac.uk Best, Sangya Ph. D. Candidate CAMRI University of Westminster Email: s.tyagi(a)westminster.ac.uk The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW. This message and its attachments are private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and remove it and its attachments from your system.

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DeepLearn 2026: early registration March 29
by David Silva - IRDTA 08 Mar '26

08 Mar '26

****************************************************** 13th INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ON DEEP LEARNING DeepLearn 2026 Orléans, France July 20-24, 2026 https://deeplearn.irdta.eu/2026/ ****************************************************** Co-organized by: University of Orléans Centre Val de Loire Doctoral College Institute for Research Development, Training and Advice – IRDTA Luxembourg/London ****************************************************** Early registration: March 29, 2026 ****************************************************** SCOPE: DeepLearn 2026 will be a research training event with a global scope aiming at updating participants on the most recent advances in the critical and fast developing area of deep learning. Previous events were held in Bilbao, Genova, Warsaw, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Guimarães, Luleå, Bournemouth, Bari, and Porto. Deep learning is a branch of artificial intelligence covering a spectrum of current frontier research and industrial innovation that provides more efficient algorithms to deal with large-scale data in a huge variety of environments: computer vision, neurosciences, speech recognition, language processing, human-computer interaction, drug discovery, biomedicine and healthcare, medical image analysis, recommender systems, advertising, fraud detection, robotics, games, business and finance, biotechnology, physics and astrophysics, biometrics, communications, climate sciences, geographic information systems, signal processing, genomics, materials design, video technology, social systems, earth and sustainability, mathematical proofs, etc. etc. The field is also raising a number of relevant questions about efficiency and robustness of the algorithms, explainability, transparency, interpretability, risks and safety, as well as important ethical concerns at the frontier of current knowledge that deserve careful multidisciplinary discussion. Most deep learning subareas will be displayed and main challenges identified through 16 four-hour and a half courses, 2 keynote lectures, 1 round table, and a hackathon competition among participants. Renowned academics and industry pioneers will lecture and share their views with the audience. The organizers are convinced that outstanding speakers will attract the brightest and most motivated students. Face to face interaction and networking will be main ingredients of the event. It will be also possible to fully participate in vivo remotely. ADDRESSED TO: Graduates, postgraduates and industry practitioners will be typical profiles of participants. However, there are no formal pre-requisites for attendance in terms of academic degrees, hence people less or more advanced in their career will be welcome as well. Since there will be a variety of levels, specific knowledge background may be assumed for some of the courses. Overall, DeepLearn 2026 is addressed to students, researchers and practitioners who want to keep themselves updated about recent developments and future trends. All will surely find it fruitful to listen to and discuss with major researchers, industry leaders and innovators. VENUE: DeepLearn 2026 will take place in Orléans, located in the heart of the Loire Valley, which was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 2000. The venue will be: University of Orléans Faculty of Law, Economics and Management 11 rue de Blois 45100 Orléans, France https://www.univ-orleans.fr/en STRUCTURE: 3 courses will run in parallel during the whole event. Participants will be able to freely choose the courses they wish to attend as well as to move from one to another. All lectures will be videorecorded. Participants will be able to watch them again for 45 days after the event. An open session will give participants the opportunity to present their own work in progress in 5 minutes. Also companies will be able to present their industrial developments for 10 minutes. The school will include a hackathon, where participants will be able to work in teams to tackle several machine learning challenges. Full live online participation will be possible. The organizers highlight, however, the importance of face to face interaction and networking in this kind of research training event. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Yingbin Liang (Ohio State University), Convergence Theory: How Fast Do Discrete Diffusion Models Generate? Le Song (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence), Towards AI-Driven Digital Organism: A System of Multiscale Foundation Models for Biology PROFESSORS AND COURSES: Nitesh Chawla (University of Notre Dame), [intermediate] Learning from Imbalanced Data Yuejie Chi (Yale University), [introductory/intermediate] Statistical and Algorithmic Foundations of Reinforcement Learning Bo Han (Hong Kong Baptist University), [introductory/intermediate] Trustworthy Machine Learning from Data to Models Jiawei Han (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), [intermediate] Structure-Guided, Theme-Based Knowledge Discovery with Large Language Models Mingyi Hong (University of Minnesota), [intermediate] Modern Optimization Algorithms for Large Language Models Cho-Jui Hsieh (University of California Los Angeles), [intermediate/advanced] Optimizers for Large Language Model Training Furong Huang (University of Maryland), [advanced] Generative AI Agents Tara Javidi (University of California San Diego), [intermediate] Active Physical Intelligence for Industrial Scale Monitoring Yan Liu (University of Southern California), [intermediate] Time Series Foundation Models: From Forecasting to Reasoning Zhijin Qin (Tsinghua University), [intermediate/advanced] Semantic Communications Aarti Singh (Carnegie Mellon University), [intermediate] Human Centered AI: Challenges and Opportunities Suvrit Sra (Technical University of Munich), [introductory/intermediate] Introduction to the Theory of Learning with Transformers Ivor Tsang (A*STAR Centre for Frontier AI Research), [introductory/intermediate] Long-Horizon Agentic Intelligence Ming-Hsuan Yang (University of California Merced), [advanced] Recent Advances in Multimodal Understanding and Generation Tong Zhang (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), [introductory/intermediate] Reinforcement Learning for Large Language Models Jun Zhu (Tsinghua University), [introductory/advanced] Generative Models: from Virtual to Physical World OPEN SESSION: An open session will collect 5-minute voluntary oral presentations of work in progress by participants. They should submit a half-page abstract containing the title, authors, and summary of the research to david(a)irdta.eu by July 12, 2026. INDUSTRIAL SESSION: A session will be devoted to 10-minute demonstrations of practical applications of deep learning in industry. Companies interested in contributing are welcome to submit a 1-page abstract containing the program of the demonstration and the logistics needed. People in charge of the demonstration must register for the event. Abstracts have to be submitted to david(a)irdta.eu by July 12, 2026. HACKATHON: A hackathon will take place, where participants can voluntarily work in teams to tackle several machine learning challenges. They will be coordinated by Professor Sergei V. Gleyzer (University of Alabama). The challenges will be released 2 weeks before the beginning of the school. A jury will judge the submissions and the winners of each challenge will be announced by the end of August 2026. The winning teams will receive a modest monetary prize and the runners-up will get a certificate. SPONSORS: Companies/institutions/organizations willing to be sponsors of the event can download the sponsorship leaflet from https://deeplearn.irdta.eu/2026/sponsors/ ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Karim Abed-Meraim (Orléans, local co-chair) Sergei V. Gleyzer (Tuscaloosa, hackathon chair) Meryem Jabloun (Orléans, local co-chair) Carlos Martín-Vide (Tarragona, program chair) Santiago Montes (Tarragona, webpage) Sara Morales (Luxembourg, finances) Florian Nowicki (Orléans, social networks) Philippe Ravier (Orléans, local chair) David Silva (London, organization chair) REGISTRATION: It has to be done at https://deeplearn.irdta.eu/2026/registration/ The selection of 6 courses requested in the registration template is only tentative and non-binding. For logistical reasons, it will be helpful to have an estimation of the respective demand for each course. Since the capacity of the venue is limited, registration requests will be processed on a first come first served basis. The registration period will be closed and the on-line registration tool disabled when the capacity of the venue will have got exhausted. It is highly recommended to register prior to the event. FEES: Fees comprise access to all program activities and lunches. There are several early registration deadlines. Fees depend on the registration deadline. The fees for on site and for online participation are the same. ACCOMMODATION: Accommodation suggestions are available at https://deeplearn.irdta.eu/2026/accommodation/ CERTIFICATE: A certificate of successful participation will be delivered indicating the number of hours of academic activities (40). This should be sufficient for those participants who plan to request ECTS recognition from their home university. QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: david(a)irdta.eu ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Université d’Orléans Collège Doctoral Centre-Val de Loire Universitat Rovira i Virgili Institute for Research Development, Training and Advice – IRDTA, Luxembourg/London

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Re: [Air-L] Discussion of ChatGPT and other AIs and their uses
by Wendy Norris 07 Mar '26

07 Mar '26

Hi Peter, I lead an interdisciplinary ethical data science university program (Math, Information Science, Philosophy and Sociology) and conduct research in computational social science primarily in Python. I want to offer some serious cautions about using generative AI apps for programming/analytical work that are being raised in the Python and cybersecurity networks that I am part of. [1] There is growing anecdotal evidence that Python code outputs are infected with malware and serious security vulnerabilities up and down the code stack: poisoned source data, compromised libraries, deprecated code with hidden security injections, agents that provide back door access, lack of standardized security protocols, and more. These risks are irrespective of the app source (Github, Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) and/or the model. Much of the open source programming community is woefully underprepared/underresourced to address these threats. There has been some discussion that newer gen AI models are actually more vulnerable to external manipulation because app outputs weigh newer source material more heavily over the older pre-2023 knowledge base. Precisely when the malware injection started taking root as app popularity grows. This post from Lawfare.com offers a pretty comprehensive explanation of the variety of risks: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/when-the-vibe-are-off--the-security-ri… [2] Recent reporting on the integration of generative AI models for U.S. military targeting and domestic surveillance makes quite clear that professional and consumer use of these apps advances model training to engage in activities that I morally reject. This is a tricky ethical area; other folks may have different standards. But this is a red line for me. This week, the U.S. Dept of Defense designated Anthropic as a supply chain security risk in an attempt to force the company to allow the Pentagon to use Claude models as the Trump regime sees fit use. Otherwise, the U.S. government will force Anthropic's partners (Microsoft, Google, NVidia, Palantir, etc.) to cancel their work with Anthropic or risk to their own lucrative Pentagon contracts. The lack of contracts and access to data centers, GPUs, and chips would effectively destroy Anthropic. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/07/anthropic-claude-ai-pent… Poor quality code outputs that introduce technical, ethical, and cognitive debt and environmental impacts aside, I would be very, very cautious about generating "vibe code" from scraped data of questionable provenance and known security risks. You may want to explore cybersecurity websites to determine your risk tolerance as these conversations don't seem to have escaped containment beyond those who study/write about cyber security and military technologies. Forewarned is forearmed, Wendy wendy norris, ph.d. Associate Professor, Social Computing Department of Mathematics + Data Science Founding Faculty, Ethical Data Science program Founding Faculty, Institute for Technology, AI + Society Interim Director, Technology, AI & Society program Peckham Hall, Room 212 Nazareth University <https://www2.naz.edu> | Rochester, NY USA UTC-4 | ET Be safe. Be kind. Make good trouble. > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Peter Timusk <peterotimusk(a)gmail.com> > To: air <air-l-aoir.org(a)listserv.aoir.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2026 02:17:10 -0500 > Subject: [Air-L] Discussion of ChatGPT and other AIs and their uses > Hello I haven't really posted to this list for a decade or more I think. I > work in statistical computing these days and rarely spend time on my > employer's ( Statistics Canada) Internet Use surveys though I did write one > short study in 2009. > > At work we do a lot of statistical computing and even analysts are > expected to be able to calculate statistics for their own papers. We are > moving off the statistical computing language SAS and going open source > with R and Python. We are also expected to start exploring AI for use in > making things more efficient and saving money.but also to do so with high > ethical standards and of course working within our culture of citizen and > business data privacy. > > I just wanted to write this email to see if there is any discussion > possible here via email. > > I have used AI for the past few months to do some volunteer work. Here I am > making an online collection of PDFs into a searchable set of blog posts on > a Word Press site. I have learned that one can ask long search questions to > ChatGPT and it will produce code examples and workflows, say to show me how > to use R and the PDFTools an R package to extract text from these PDFs. I > generally have to know what I am looking for to ask the questions but > am happy so far with the results of this AI use. I also have to read the > code and understand the loops and logic going on which allows my > programming experience to validate the results. > > I am about to use Python suggested by ChatGPT to make an offline archive of > all my Facebook posts from 2007 to now and also publish these in some neat > fashion to a WordPress blog. > > anyways hoping to join the discussions on AI bias and ethics that have been > going on for awhile. >

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