UMSI news article on ACM FAccT 2025 publication, Pokemon Go Fest 2025, 30th birthday (tomorrow!)

2025 July 03
A daytime photo of a large white cumulus cloud floating above some trees against a clear blue sky.
A dramatic sunset photo of dark blue, orange, and white clouds shortly after rainfall; I think these are stratocumulus clouds? I should ask my weather friend what he thinks.

Hello there! It's been quite hot in Ann Arbor recently; I get it, it's July, but that doesn't mean I like it! It rained a little last week, but has been completely dry since then... hopefully this changes by Sunday! (٥*˘▿˘) ﾞ☂･˙｡°･ˇ

In research news:

The University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) released a news article on our newest ACM FAccT publication, AI Attitudes Among Marginalized Populations in the U.S.: Nonbinary, Transgender, and Disabled Individuals Report More Negative AI Attitudes (led by Oliver L. Haimson and coauthored by myself, Alexis Shore Ingber, and Nazanin Andalibi)! I've included the paper's abstract (aka a quick summary) below; you shoud give it a read if you find it interesting ( ੭ ･ᴗ･ )੭

AI Attitudes Among Marginalized Populations in the U.S. abstract:

  • As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become increasingly pervasive, understanding public perceptions of AI is crucial for ensuring equitable adoption and impact. Attitudes toward AI, such as whether it is seen as helpful or harmful, may vary based on social identities and lived experiences.

  • In this study, we conducted a survey (n = 742) including a representative U.S. sample and an oversample of gender minorities, racial minorities, and disabled individuals to examine how demographic factors shape AI attitudes. Our findings reveal that in the U.S. context, participants who are nonbinary, transgender, and/or women, and disabled participants, particularly those who are neurodivergent or have mental health conditions, report significantly more negative attitudes towards AI compared to majority groups.

  • We argue that these disparities highlight a critical issue: negative AI attitudes among marginalized communities signals a continued failure to account for their needs and concerns in AI design and use. That marginalized Americans have more negative views towards AI should prompt reflection and critical examination of the prevalent rhetoric of AI’s purported inevitability and its framing as a universal social good.

In personal news:

My week's been pretty good! Really enjoyed Pokemon Go Fest 2025 in downtown Ann Arbor last weekend. There's a big Pokemon Go community around Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, so there were big crowds of people all over downtown looking for raids, catching shiny Pokemon, and making friends with one another! I spent some of my Go Fest 2025 time exploring Ann Arbor with a friend, and some other time wandering around on my own, talking to other players, and enjoying the sun ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜

A Pokemon Go screenshot featuring a shiny Zacian, a legendary Pokemon that looks like a blue and white wolf.
A Pokemon Go screenshot featuring a Klefki, a silver Pokemon that looks like a keyring with some metal keys dangling from it; this Klefki has 0 IVs, meaning it is particularly weak.

There was a slight incident on Go Fest Day 2 though; a man on the street saw my earrings and started shouting angry homophobic comments at me! One of his comments in particular stuck out to me -- "what is this, national Gay Day??" A part of me wanted to respond, "well, it's Pride Month!", and another part of me wanted to respond, "is that really the best insult you've got?" But yet another part of me wanted to avoid escalating the situation (he was walking a large, very unhappy-looking dog -- not as unhappy as the man himself though), so I wound up saying nothing until he walked off. A few PoGo players looked at me sympathetically, and I didn't know what I was supposed to say, so I tried to laugh it off -- "can you believe that's the second time that's happened this week?" Which is true, but (judging by the other players' reactions) probably wasn't very reassuring. Blagh.

I've experienced more public homophobic and transphobic harassment these past few months than I have since leaving West Michigan in 2020. West Michigan bigotry always felt mundane and unsurprising to me -- I expect violent homophobia and transphobia in the deeply evangelical part of the state, I grew up in it, was crushed by it, just barely escaped it. But watching things get worse in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti of all places... ugh. Nowhere is perfect, but it hurts feeling less and less safe (no matter where I go!) by the day.

Things have been nice outside that homophobic incident though! Watched Zora Rooibos perform at Ziggy's in downtown Ypsilanti two weeks ago (my sister's friend played the drums!), picked up my friend from the airport the other night (getting to DTW was fine, but dealing with all the 4th of July traffic at arrivals/baggage? Nightmare!), and made progress on my usual research/precandidacy study tasks. I also won my very first game of Fortnite last night -- granted, it was my first game, I was probably queued against bots and brand-new players... but still, got my first Fortnite win before 30 (⌐■‿■)

(Oh right, on that note: my 30th birthday is tomorrow!! I'll have more to say about it once I actually turn 30, but for the time being, I'm going to focus on birthday party preparations ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰)