<div dir="ltr"><div>Yes, Emiliano: big time. And it isn't like misinfo research (and science in general) is getting the greatest PR these days with the federal government/electeds equating it with efforts to intervene on/undermine free speech. Rich<br clear="all"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>_________________________________________________<br></div>Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH<br></div>Professor of Public Policy</div><div>Faculty Director, Science to Policy (S2P)<br></div>University of California, Riverside<br></div><div>School of Public Policy<br></div><div>900 University Avenue<br></div><div>Riverside, California 92521 USA<br></div><div><br></div><div>Office: 4157 Interdisciplinary South<br></div><div>Phone: 951-827-5405<br></div>E-mail: <a href="mailto:richard.carpiano@ucr.edu" target="_blank">richard.carpiano@ucr.edu</a><br>Website: <a href="https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/rcarpian" target="_blank">https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/rcarpian</a><br></div>X (Twitter): <a href="http://www.twitter.com/RMCarpiano" target="_blank">https://www.twitter.com/RMCarpiano</a></div><div>Bluesky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/rmcarpiano.bsky.social" target="_blank">https://bsky.app/profile/rmcarpiano.bsky.social</a></div><div>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-m-carpiano-36261b30b" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-m-carpiano-36261b30b</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM Emiliano De Cristofaro via LOGOS <<a href="mailto:logos@lists.ucr.edu">logos@lists.ucr.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>My biggest concerns are the lack of convincing arguments that deception was societally necessary or any meaningful debriefing/right to withdraw. Any reasonable IRB would have not approved this study without (at least) these two reassurances. </div><div><br></div><div>As someone who has repeatedly been accused (once to my dept chair) of posting to 4chan to unethically trigger certain kinds of posts (of course, we never posted anything), maybe I'm overly sensitive. But, I do think that this kind of PR disaster can significantly reduce societal trust in our line of research...</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div>--<div>Prof. Emiliano De Cristofaro</div><div>Computer Science and Engineering</div><div>University of California, Riverside</div><div><a href="https://emilianodc.com" target="_blank">https://emilianodc.com</a></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM Michalis Faloutsos via LOGOS <<a href="mailto:logos@lists.ucr.edu" target="_blank">logos@lists.ucr.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div>I am neutral about this.</div><div dir="auto">In my mind, it does go over the line of acceptable use of Reddit: they were engaging with users and changing their opinions without explaining that this is an AI bot etc. <br>If Reddit allows this for one institution, the platform could become infested and some bots may not be as researchy and pure as, presumably, this study seems to be.<br><br></div><div>Michalis</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:11 AM Kevin M Esterling <<a href="mailto:kevin.esterling@ucr.edu" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">kevin.esterling@ucr.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">




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Yikes! See attached...</div>
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Kevin M. Esterling (he/him)</div>
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Chair of Political Science and Professor of Public Policy</div>
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Director, Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy  (<a href="https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/" id="m_2383906800402463243m_8211814752016096267m_3132975932630045953m_7460216585740515116m_-4628259713131831533OWA9dda15fa-dfa6-5031-ee96-13d6dbd8eb3c" title="https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/" style="margin:0px" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">TeCD-Lab</a>)</div>
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University of California Riverside</div>
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Riverside, CA 92521 USA<br>
+1-951-827-5591</div>
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<a href="https://profiles.ucr.edu/kevin.esterling" id="m_2383906800402463243m_8211814752016096267m_3132975932630045953m_7460216585740515116m_-4628259713131831533OWA653ff030-f6f4-a935-ba25-5eaf79c1e049" style="margin:0px" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://profiles.ucr.edu/kevin.esterling</a></div>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">The TeCD-Lab | </span><span style="color:rgb(23,78,134)"><b><a href="https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/prytaneum" id="m_2383906800402463243m_8211814752016096267m_3132975932630045953m_7460216585740515116m_-4628259713131831533OWA2d307e64-fa98-d4a7-468a-9d527e1df8d7" title="https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/prytaneum" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Prytaneum</a></b></span></div>
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(the only webinar platform that is motivated by democratic theory)</div>
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<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, April 30, 2025 9:57 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Kevin M Esterling <<a href="mailto:kevin.esterling@ucr.edu" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">kevin.esterling@ucr.edu</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Article that will be interesting to you</font>
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<div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/30/reddit-ai-bot-university-zurich/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/30/reddit-ai-bot-university-zurich/</a></div>
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<div>See attached.</div>
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<p style="margin:0.04px"><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(29,58,97)">Mark C. Long, </span><a href="https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp" rel="noopener noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);margin:0px" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(29,58,97)">MPP</span></a><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(29,58,97)">,
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<p style="margin:0.04px"><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(0,48,102)">Dean & Professor, School of Public Policy</span></p>
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<span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(53,59,65)">INTS 4133 | <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/900+University+Ave.,+Riverside,+CA+92521?entry=gmail&source=g" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521</a></span></td>
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</blockquote></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><b><font color="#3333ff"><br></font></b></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#888888"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b><font color="#3333ff">Michalis Faloutsos</font></b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Professor at U. California Riverside Computer Science<br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Co-founder | Programize LLC       | <a href="http://www.programize.com/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">www.programize.com</a><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Co-founder | StopTheHacker Inc. | <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">acquired<br></span></div></font></span><span style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="mailto:mfaloutsos@gmail.com" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">mfaloutsos@gmail.com</a> | Mobile: <a value="+19519071501" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">+1 951 907 1501</a></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Skype</b> mfaloutsos</div></span></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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