News coverage from May 2025 about the Center for an Informed Public and CIP-affiliated research and researchers.
- The Seattle Times (May 9, 2025): “Learn from Seattle’s legacy of organized protest to make a difference”
An op/ed written by CIP co-founder Kate Starbird was cited in a Seattle Times opinion article written by Jay Shupack.
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- Politico (May 9, 2025): “National Security Daily”
CIP senior research scientist Rachel Moran-Prestridge was quoted in a Politico National Security Daily newsletter about the spread of deepfake videos. “In crisis periods, the information environment is already muddied as we try to distinguish rumors from facts at speed,” she said. “The fact that we now have high-quality fake videos in the mix only makes this process more taxing, less certain and can distract us from important true information.”
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- Science (May 12, 2025): “Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate”
Comments from CIP co-founder Kate Starbird were featured in an article in Science about the impacts of federal research funding cuts and grant cancellations. “I just don’t know [that] there’s a lot of wisdom in keeping our heads down anymore,” says Starbird, who has been outspoken for years. “I never had the option of keeping my head down.”
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- Oregon Public Broadcasting (May 13, 2025): “What NSF funding cuts could mean for misinformation research at UW and across the country”
CIP co-founder Kate Starbird was interviewed on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Think Out Loud” program about the impacts of federal science funding cuts and grant terminations.
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- The New York Times (May 14, 2025): “The professors are using ChatGPT, and some students aren’t happy about it”
CIP faculty member Katy Pearce was interviewed by The New York Times about the use of artificial intelligence in classroom learning and teaching. “Is there going to be a point in the foreseeable future that much of what graduate student teaching assistants do can be done by A.I.?” Pearce told The Times. “Yeah, absolutely.”
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- KUOW Public Radio (May 20, 2025): “UW professor looks for ways to make the ethical best of AI-enhanced learning”
CIP faculty member Katy Pearce, a UW Department of Communication associate professor, was interviewed on KUOW Public Radio about the use of artificial intelligence in classroom learning and how UW students are using AI in their work.
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- CNET (May 21, 2025): “You can’t trust everything generative AI tells you. Here’s what to do about it”
CNET interviewed CIP faculty member Katy Pearce, a UW Department of Communication associate professor, who shared insights around the reliability of using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools.
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- The Conversation (May 21, 2025): “Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem?”
The Conversation published an article co-authored by CIP co-founder Jevin West, with Sandra Peter and Kai Riemer at the University of Sydney, sharing insights from a recently published article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about chatbots and anthropomorphic seduction.
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- Seattle’s Child (May 22, 2025): “School librarians lead the charge on media literacy”
Seattle’s Child magazine referenced the CIP’s annual MisinfoDay program in an article about school librarians and media literacy education.
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- KUOW Public Radio (May 28, 2025): “Clock is ticking for scientists to make the case against funding cuts”
CIP co-founder Kate Starbird was featured in an extended 45-minute interview on KUOW Public Radio’s “Soundside” program where she discussed the impacts of federal research grant funding terminations on science, political and legal attacks on researchers studying mis- and disinformation, and
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- Science Advances (May 28, 2025): “Misinformation research continues to be urgent science”
CIP director Emma Spiro, an Information School associate professor, co-authored a Science Advances editorial, with Ethan Porter (George Washington University) and Aaron Shaw (Northwestern University), about the impacts of National Science Foundation budget cuts on misinformation research. “Progress toward understanding and mitigating misinformation will be significantly slowed and narrowed by the loss of funding. We applaud the universities, foundations, and private funders that have stepped forward to fund canceled projects. We hope that more will do so as a result of this editorial. However, even with these private efforts, it is hard to replace the massively successful science and innovation engine that has been built and fueled by NSF.”
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- The Guardian (May 29, 2025): “Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it”
CIP faculty member Carl Bergstrom, a UW Department of Biology professor, co-authored an opinion article in The Guardian, with Colette Delawalla, Victor Ambros, Carol Greider, Michael Mann and Brian Nosek. The co-authors write about how a new Trump administration executive order “allows political appointees to undermine research they oppose, paving the way for state-controlled science.”
