Closing Issue 02.
The week opened with the METR teardown. It closes with the two threads still open: chronic sybil contamination in preference data, and the agent decision evaluation vacuum nobody has named yet.
Both solved by the same primitive.
🧵
Last week's RTDMD paper proposes reward-guided RL for few-step diffusion alignment.
It also explicitly acknowledges, in its own framing, that aligning distilled models with human preferences remains challenging.
The framework solves a downstream problem. The upstream is still doing what it always did.
🧵
🎮 Ontology x @PalzGame Community Quiz is here!
📅 Friday, May 29
🕘 9AM UTC
📍 Ontology Discord
Special PALZ round this week, so jump into the game first and you'll be ready for the curveballs.
🏆 $ONG prizes up for grabs.
👉 https://t.co/3aa6WNHXgi
The published research is in.
AI-mediated communication systems measurably shift the opinions of the groups they serve.
Polish, suggest, summarise, rewrite. Each tap nudges. The aggregate shifts.
"Did this person say this thing" is becoming a real question.
🧵 on the architecture that answers it.
AI safety eval has a demographic problem.
Models behave differently for different populations, dialects, expertise levels. Evaluator pools need verified range.
But evaluators can't reasonably be asked to dox themselves.
🧵 on the W3C primitive that solves it.
AI training data is increasingly contaminated by AI-generated content.
"Verifiably human" is becoming a paid attribute in the data supply chain.
The premium is real. The supply is fragile.
🧵 on why the default solution is the wrong one.
A flagship AI model lands Tuesday. Benchmark scores: state of the art.
By Friday, it feels different.
The model hasn't changed. The evaluators have.
🧵 on why AI's benchmark crisis is actually an identity crisis.
The first verifiable gaming-data campaign recently launched on @ONTOWallet, powered by Ontology's identity infrastructure.
Steam history (hours, spend, library) turned into W3C Verifiable Credentials. Selectively disclosed. Monetised by the player, not the platform.
This is self-sovereign data in production.
Release notes: https://t.co/5RrXIPI080
🎮 $500 up for grabs to celebrate ONTO Steam verification going live.
ONTO Wallet v4.10.0 also ships a restructured Profile and the prepares for the first @PalzGame data campaign ($2K+ pool).
Full release blog:
https://t.co/rBRc8zTCzg
"We talk a lot about data ownership. I think that's the wrong lens to look at this."
Nick Ris on the recent Ontology Privacy Hour, in one line, resetting two decades of how we've been arguing about personal data.
The ownership metaphor is borrowed from physical property. One chair, one custodian. Personal data isn't like that. It's non-rival, infinitely copyable, almost always derivative.
What people actually want when they say "own my data":
→ to know who's using it
→ to say no, in advance, with consequence
→ to change their mind, with effect
Three operations: consent, audit, revocation.
Each one already has a working primitive.
Consent → W3C Verifiable Credentials, scoped and time-bounded.
Audit → signed access logs against the holder's DID.
Revocation → W3C Bitstring Status List, propagates network-wide.
Regulators have noticed. eIDAS 2's wallet programme. ENISA's SSI work. ICO's Accountability Framework. The vocabulary of "ownership" is being quietly retired in favour of control, consent, and verifiable status.
#4 in our series expanding the recent Privacy Hour.
Once the bucket is gone, consent, audit, and revocation are what make the network honest.
https://t.co/8VM9PipMyI