Ziv Epstein – The Conversation

X may feed you content you’re into, but it may feed you even more that riles you up. Nicole Amidon

August 20, 2026

Why social media algorithms send you posts you don’t like

Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, University of Michigan, and Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

Algorithms on X tend to bring you posts that contradict your values, and it happens more to Democrats than Republicans.

Tarot readings can encourage self-reflection. But what happens when you turn to AI to interpret the cards? Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Sally Hansen

May 13, 2026

How tarot readers are using AI – and what it says about our growing reliance on chatbots for emotional support and advice

Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, University of Michigan, and Vana Goblot, Goldsmiths, University of London

Our engagement with AI is at a crossroads: Will we treat it as an all-knowing oracle or as a tool to expand our own way of seeing the world?

Still from ‘All watched over by machines of loving grace’ by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software. Memo Akten

June 15, 2023

Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law

Robert Mahari, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Jessica Fjeld, Harvard University, and Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Intellectual property law wasn’t written with AI in mind, so it isn’t clear who owns the images that emerge from prompts – or if the artists whose work was scraped to train AI models should be paid.

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