mastodon 4.6.5Tech policy researcher at Stanford. You can't be both pro-choice and anti-encryption.
I have an op-ed in the NYT today about the Grok scandal, sharing my research from last year finding that legal risk hinders AI companies from making their models safer against CSAM - an echo of the years where white-hat hackers were chilled from good-faith research. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/opinion/grok-digital-undressing.html
I'm on PBS NewsHour, talking about Grok: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/musks-grok-ai-faces-more-scrutiny-after-generating-sexual-deepfake-images
I have an op-ed in the NYT this week about the Grok scandal, sharing my research from last year finding that legal risk hinders AI companies from making their models safer against CSAM - an echo of the years where white-hat hackers were chilled from good-faith research. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/opinion/grok-digital-undressing.html
Reminder that I maintain a periodically-updated list of papers at the intersection of end-to-end encryption and Trust & Safety. Suggest any I've missed: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aYaDogBF6JegBILgbf--leewyFf-kzkdQwJCjvHTFqI/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Cool paid opportunity to participate in important research on ethical best practices for nude image datasets, helmed by Elissa Redmiles, as a follow-up to the same research team's recent NeurIPS paper (https://openreview.net/pdf?id=Ev5xwr3vWh):
ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! Join me at
Stanford HAI for a book talk with Adam Becker and @rezendi@wandering.shop about their respective books, More Everything Forever and Exadelic - both about AI, and both terrific reads, but for very different reasons. Virtual option available! https://hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-becker-and-jon-evans-book-talk
Cool Job Alert: Clinical Teaching Fellow in the Communications & Technology Law Clinic at Georgetown Law.
Highlights:
* 2-year fellowship for lawyers (JD degree required)
* Start date in July or early August 2026
* Excellent preparation for a career in academia or public interest
* Rolling applications; for priority consideration, apply by December 5
* Supervise JD students on real issues related to law, policy, technology, and justice
I'm on today's episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast with Nilay Patel, talking about, of course, Grok: https://www.theverge.com/podcast/865275/grok-deepfake-undressing-elon-musk-content-moderation
@aram@aoir.social We briefly had one, but then that whole "walled garden duopoly" thing kicked in. https://www.iceblock.app/
This Wednesday at 12pm PT! Come to the book talk I'm hosting with Adam Becker and @rezendi@wandering.shop at Stanford HAI - in-person and Zoom options available! https://hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-becker-and-jon-evans-book-talk
I'm incredibly excited to be hosting two amazing authors & AI thinkers,
@rezendi@wandering.shop and @adambecker@mastodon.social, for a book talk & fireside chat at Stanford HAI on January 21. Please join us in person or virtually! https://hai.stanford.edu/events/adam-becker-and-jon-evans-book-talk
The recording is now online for my recent HAI seminar talk about my research on student-on-student incidents of deepfake NCII: https://hai.stanford.edu/events/riana-pfefferkorn-student-misuse-of-ai-powered-undress-apps?section=watch-event-recording
