Mostly here now: @davidthewid.bsky.social

🎉📢 I'm on the tenure track job market! 👋✨ I study how people building “AI” think about the downstream harms their work makes possible, and the epistemic and political economic systems which shape their thoughts, and our future.

Dr. David Widder: “learning about controversial issues yields courageous + careful thinkers.…I urge the Board of Regents to…reject this unnecessary + destructive proposal.” 👏 statesman.com/opinion/column…

Students can solve controversial problems. UT must trust them to do so -- David Widder @statesman statesman.com/opinion/column…

A vague proposed policy on “controversial topics” risks narrowing what students can learn at the University of Texas, David Gray Widder writes. | Opinion statesman.com/opinion/column…

Non paywalled link: archive.is/yiIhh

We should trust Texas students to think about controversial topics, and professors to help them solve societal challenges. The UT Board of Regents is considering curtailing professors teaching controversial topics; I am proud to speak up in response: statesman.com/opinion/column…

@AAUP @TexasAaup

🫧The news is finally asking about an AI Bubble, and when it will pop. Good!🎈 Our data shows how we got here. Big Cloud is frantically investing in AI startups to build market share and justify their *massive* investments in AI infrastructure. Graphs as hype-antidote, here:

📣🚨NEW: ☁️ Big Cloud—Google, Microsoft & Amazon—control two thirds of the cloud market. They’re getting rich off the AI gold rush. In work with Nathan Kim, we show how Big Cloud is expanding their empire by scrutinizing their *investments*… 🧵 📄PDF: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5…

i have lost and continue to lose respect for my male comrades over being flippant. do you think adopting a glib or dismissive tone makes you sound better read, better organised, more radical? it doesn't. i trust that your politics are rooted in your compassion, so act like it.

📢 New Research Paper! Design versus reality: assessing the results and compliance of algorithmic impact assessments link.springer.com/article/10.100…

ICYMI: Our paper on algorithmic impact assessments is out! We conducted a detailed examination of 26 AIAs completed by Canadian departments and agencies. We offer findings and recs for accountability efforts going forward in AI policy and government structures more broadly.

Are you even a hacker if you can’t release the Epstein files? Where are the hackers

✨Call for participation At our CSCW 2025 workshop in Bergen 🇳🇴, we’re reimagining design thinking through the lens of hope theory—to meet this moment with research practices that sustain agency, purpose, and imagination. 📝 Apply by Aug 18 🔗 positech-cscw-2025.github.io #CSCW2025

i cant keep up with AI hype nonsense. preparedness? security? superintelligence? big tech working toward a *prosperous future*? wtf

@WellsLucasSanto @vicwingly this salad is nonsense though x.com/vicwingly/stat…

@WellsLucasSanto @vicwingly huh tbh I think that broth looks amazing

overhearing a conversation where a group is talking about how they saw a post online saying that german food is bad so now they're debating german food @vicwingly discourse is everywhere holy shit

@davidthewid, postdoctoral fellow at Cornell Tech, released a new report on how “Big Cloud” companies — Google, Microsoft, and Amazon — are quietly reshaping the tech ecosystem through strategic investments. Read the full report here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Thanks to: @vfranz73, @paulohm, @_jackcorrigan, @tnarecha, @inha423, @AggieBalayn, @stephtngu and many others!

2nd takeaway: ➤Each investment may be small, but together they they shape tech ecosystems in Big Cloud’s interest. Thus, beyond scrutinizing only BIG deals (eg, MSFT-OpenAI), we must track these investments and their effects in an ecosystem-wide, cumulative, & ongoing manner.