Ted Underwood

https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/tedunderwood.me

Uses machine learning to study literary imagination, and vice-versa. Likely to share news about AI & computational social science / Sozialwissenschaft / 社会科学

Information Sciences and English, UIUC. Author of Distant Horizons (Chicago, 2019). Pluviophile.

[[bridged](https://fed.brid.gy/bsky/tedunderwood.me ) from [tedunderwood.me](https://bsky.app/profile/tedunderwood.me ) on Bluesky by [Bridgy Fed](https://fed.brid.gy/ )]

Web site: https://bsky.app/profile/tedunderwood.me
Link: https://tedunderwood.me

Public Key

npub1hj5gjcjgmtqmesnc7eadm3cd5ckxxmapwrvnupw9k2l05slfj02s6g3c79

NIP-05 Address

tedunderwood.me_at_bsky.brid.gy@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqste2yfvfyd4sducfu0v7kacux6vtrrd7shpkf7qhzm90h6g05e84guglpxx

Author Public Key

npub1hj5gjcjgmtqmesnc7eadm3cd5ckxxmapwrvnupw9k2l05slfj02s6g3c79

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Last Notes

2025-04-13 13:53:03

The new OpenAI memory function is poorly documented, but after playing with it a bit, I think we might be on the cusp of another “ChatGPT moment”—that is, an advance that seems to insiders like a superficial interface tweak but reads to users as a step change in capacity. +

2025-04-12 23:13:30

I think “similar to search” here means “similar to the ChatGPT search function,”—which seems to do something more reflective than simple RAG.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:brkj2yocng7vtggmyujy4khq/post/3lmmwcajntj2q

2025-04-12 23:04:23

I notice a growing number of posts in Turkish on my feed, and I’m pressing “translate,” because the US and Turkey seem to have an increasing amount in common.

2025-04-12 17:20:43

What I love (unironically!) about left social media is that masked men can *literally be abducting us off the street* and we will still pause to post things like "yes in principle the pronatalists would have a point if it weren't for the basic fallacy that ..."

2025-04-12 02:13:14

I don't believe in locking up political opponents, but I do believe that, after the fall of this regime, we should use government funds to send all US voters free copies of On Tyranny, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Origins of Totalitarianism, accompanied by a cheerful passive-aggressive note.

2025-04-11 23:54:01

Hesitated to watch this, because I'm not wild about Sam or about OAI's approach to publicity. But this is more candid than usual, and has interesting details. E.g. they think it would now be possible for a team of 5-10 people to train GPT-4 (around 6 minutes in).
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cq4gg3odxz2pzmkx2fuac3u3/post/3lmkmc3vfk22o

2025-04-11 17:32:18

I am developing positive regard for Judge Paula Xinis.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:t4x2ruk2qmob2b2cx55h4v7r/post/3lmkjttwa7c2j

2025-04-11 14:12:17

Going through my draft to make sure the NSF is credited whenever I use NSF resources, and the amount it would otherwise have cost me to run the experiment is specified.

2025-04-10 23:12:20

I can literally feel my cortisol levels going down
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:euynv325eix7glyek377orak/post/3lmil5ewd2525

2025-04-10 22:10:00

Okay, someone tell me how Google Scholar Alerts can track my interest even in fields where I haven't published?
I used to think it modeled my interests using citations in my pubs, but I'm seeing cases where it's tracking my emerging interest in fields *where I haven't published yet*. How?

2025-04-10 20:04:49

Upside: between this and the Monuments Project, we live in a great era of politically resonant sculpture.
[Canceled Humanities Grants to ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/arts/trump-garden-heroes-humanities.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare )

2025-04-10 17:49:16

Goddamn. I didn't realize I had to declare those. And I think they were in excess of $10,000.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:moejpt72sm743idbk3xc46mx/post/3lmhwh2kuvk2r

2025-04-10 15:56:39

15 positions in AI at Paris Sciences et Lettres, computational social science and ethics very much included. I believe these are four-year "fellow" positions requiring some teaching during that term. #MLSky [recrutement.psl.eu/en/pnp8wd2rbs](https://recrutement.psl.eu/en/pnp8wd2rbs )
[Fellow in Artificial Intellige...](https://recrutement.psl.eu/en/pnp8wd2rbs )

2025-04-10 13:50:27

Extrapolate this out 3 years, and we get a world with no consensus whether "AI is now superhuman on many tasks" or "AI progress has stalled." What this future world does have is a bewildering interdisciplinary debate about appropriate benchmarks, which journalists struggle to explain to readers.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj/post/3lmgne3oqgs2d
#note1phm…qvnt

2025-04-10 13:33:11

sometimes I feel like someone is watching me
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreiewhmncvm75ssbgqhxnhujimbd54abqqfwjfnq4j4upjsayofemsu

2025-04-10 12:52:14

I’ll save you a click by reporting that the list of amici is strong on SLACs and mid-sized privates, lacks Ivies that I could see, and has Rutgers and UMD as state flagships.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:eqtfqntwixcnk2fn6im5ntwr/post/3lmhisbbpos26

2025-04-10 04:14:56

A year ago I felt I could quickly perceive if one LM was better than another. But lately it's hard to judge, because they're all pretty good at most questions I ask — and the places they differ tend to involve hard, complicated tasks that are also ... (ahem) a lot of work for *me* to assess.

2025-04-09 22:53:15

We get to see The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, and the casting suggests they’re going to spend some time there 💕
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fwks525g7gw5wc7ul2wg4wj5/post/3lmfo7xemlq2b

2025-04-09 17:08:34

Torn between rooting for minimal damage to the global economy, and rooting for the US to get a nice slow even sear on this hot stove so we (maybe) learn that authoritarian police states mean ouchy supply shocks.

2025-04-09 14:01:10

The future of US universities depends enormously on what version of the Republican party emerges in the aftermath of this regime. If the GOP continues to be broadly anti-intellectual and authoritarian, I think you can only have strong universities in blue states, or with private endowments. +

2025-01-12 17:23:21

Just sent this to my university's communications department, with a gentle suggestion that they also consider repositioning in the social space / creating Bluesky accounts.
[German institutions depart X, ...](https://www.dw.com/en/german-institutions-depart-x-a-day-after-musks-weidel-talk/a-71266331 )

2024-12-01 14:50:20

Did you know that attention across the whole input span was inspired by the time-negating alien language in Arrival? Crazy anecdote from the latest Hard Fork podcast (by [@kevinroose.com](https://bsky.app/profile/kevinroose.bsky.social ) and [@caseynewton.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/caseynewton.bsky.social )). HT nwbrownboi on Threads for the lead.
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreihoj3xbv6lysgle4a7i3dir4bfyfngtcz3dpdbqxu46b36letc5oy

2024-11-25 15:15:00

In principle I’m in favor of teaching “AI literacy,” but watching the seven contradictory kinds of received wisdom about AI circulating among college profs rn makes me worry a little about the uninformed leading the uninformed. Model capacity is changing more rapidly than ppl update their opinions.

2024-10-27 18:21:53

I'm a lazy coder, so take with a grain of salt, but my current ranking of code quality would go
1. Claude
2. me on an average day
3. OpenAI products
4. Github Copilot
Claude can tell me "your strategy for that function sucked in the following ways, so I fixed it" — and be right.
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreidknykmtivgaentz337acfezdvpjoregjp2p2uz4xnf5tbr4gbxz4

2024-10-12 16:48:39

The bad news for Bluesky is that now that X is permitted in Brazil again, Brazilian engagement here is down by 50% or more.
The good news is that there’s been a bit of an influx from (Tech) Threads lately as people get frustrated with rigid Insta-style algorithms and heavy-handed moderation. +
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreifupq2bofzobi2z3rsd7pno44fpmw7usnerpfzwjz65wpepzxfizu

2024-09-28 15:26:08

We can bury the notion that “no one wants” GenAI and there are no applications for it. A third of working-age US adults now use it weekly, and 24% use it weekly for work. 10% daily. Source: [static1.squarespace.com/static/60832...](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60832ecef615231cedd30911/t/66f0c3fbabdc0a173e1e697e/1727054844024/BBD_GenAI_NBER_Sept2024.pdf )
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreie5pt3xzrgowubfepx6cj5ex7srzl2tmg3bvzxpc67kjyudqazobq

2024-09-05 16:56:23

I've been wondering whether we were starting to compete with the "opening of bsky" bump earlier this year.
Looks like we are *way above* that.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oio4hkxaop4ao4wz2pp3f4cr/post/3l3ganbb43i2h
https://morel.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:565ebob5f6hw33hjdkxty6qj&cid=bafkreicup54xonnjknjvlpjk453kpjuug2ptmc2kjyhdab3ypvhs7cqfdm

2024-08-31 02:45:59

If you’ve recently left X and want to keep up with #AI news here, I don’t think there is a better first move than following Nicole.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rhkcyc46ubi523e47bhnkpbb/post/3l2y7rg54nk2e
#note1z54…m2g4