In the News

August 16 – Writing in The New Yorker, Cal Newport explores the effort to create a Twitter alternative and asks “Why is it so important to create a better version of Twitter in the first place?”  His reflection explores whether and how it is possible for social media to “serve most peoples’ hunger for authentic communication.”  Read the story 

August 14, 2023: Congratulations to faculty affiliate Matt Blaze, who has received the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award – the FLAME AWARD – for making a “profound and lasting impact on computer science, computer security, law, and public policy through groundbreaking research, influential publications, and dedication to advancing knowledge that informs public policy.” Learn more about the award

Cal Newport discusses the deceptive lure of productivity tools and how they actually make us less productive in “How the Digital Workplace Broke Our Brains” on Derek Thompson’s podcast “Plain English” (The Ringer Podcast Network).

Fleisher on AI Chatbots

Will Fleisher comments on “the lure and danger of AI chatbots” in a story by Cate Newman in The Windsor Star on May 2, 2023

Writing in the Jesuit magazine America, poetry editor Joe Hoover, SJ calls Cal Newport’s book Deep Work “a secular piece of scripture that needs to be read over and over, to remind ourselves that there are techniques we can use to live our lives better.”

Cal Newport explores “What Kind of Mind Does ChatGPT Have?” in the April 13 edition of The New Yorker

Anupam Chander, the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, gave an invited address on “Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights at the National Law School of India University, Bengalaru. From Prof. Chander: “AI will often need to be culturally or environmentally sensitive” Learn more about Prof. Chander’s Address

August 1, 2022: Congratulations to Laura DeNardis , endowed chair in Technology, Ethics, and Society at Georgetown, on her election into life membership in the Council on Foreign Relations for her expertise in global cyber policy. Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign relations – or CFR – is an independent and nonpartisan think tank and publisher whose mission is to be a resource for understanding foreign policy choices facing the United States. Learn more about CFR.

On September 6, 2022, Paul Ohm was quoted on Internet privacy and security in a Wall Street Journal article on “When to Use a VPN – and When It Won’t Protect Your Data.” Prof. Ohm explains how “In most places in the U.S., ISPs can look, process and sell whatever information they see.”