Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)A strong statement of resistance to the relentless marketing of "AI" in education spaces. I encourage all educators to have a look and consider signing on:
Olivier Berger@emilymbender
Background of this open letter redactors / origin ?
Background of this open letter redactors / origin ?
Petra van Cronenburg@olberger As I can see, it is anonymous. Only the people who signed it in public are at the right side with their places and full names. That's weird ...
@olberger I didn't write or shared the letter, you must ask @emilymbender
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)I don't know why you're so negative on this. Most people in the workplace drink alcohol. Some do it at lunchtime and during the working day, others just in evenings. It's an inevitable part of the world of work. If you're not day drinking, you're going to be left behind.
The job of schooling is to prepare people for this world, so you really should serve beer in the classroom. Now, I know you're going to say that excess alcohol consumption is linked to cognitive decline, but that's just the cost you have to accept for staying on top of the latest workforce trends. People straight out of school are going to be starting at companies where day drinking is just an accepted part of productive work and if they haven't already built a high alcohol tolerance then they're going to be left behind.
Face it, day drinking is inevitable.
Oh, sorry, you were talking about GenAI? I was thinking of something else.
Luís de Araújo@david_chisnall @oberman @emilymbender Irony that hits strongly! I had a long discussion over alcohol use during work hours with a couple academics last behavior genetics association meeting. One of them was Nordic, I am Brazilian and never understood why alcohol is accepted in the scientific work environment. If you don't know, Brazilians drink hard but never at work.
They both normalized the practice, the American found the behavior desirable somehow. (1/2)
But none of this is related to this thread or with original post.LOL.
I am terrified of the idea of science being done by intoxicated scientists, the consequences to students or even what that means for the research itself. (2/2)
Leonardo Uieda@emilymbender signed and wishing I could sign twice!
Rowan Brad Quni@emilymbender When I was in school, calculators were considered "cheating" and using the (AOL!) internet for #research strictly verboten... https://mstdn.science/@QNFO/114828513495387043
Rowan Brad Quni (@QNFO@mstdn.science)
#AI haters ("safety," "risk," "governance," etc) don't realize Malthusian, Neo-Luddite doomsaying isn't news. Only the nouns have changed from every other disruptive #technology in #history. Yet here we are with longer lives despite ourselves. #NotThatSmart #AIforGood
fabrizio@emilymbender sono molto in accordo sul rifiuto di intelligenza artificiale
emilianosandri@emilymbender @_elena The AI in education craze seems a rehash of the late 2000s/early 2010s edTech craze. My country spent an insane amount of money to put unreliable, overpriced and almost useless "smart" boards in any school class.
@emilianosandri @emilymbender @_elena We still have those in my school. They were actually somewhat useful for a time. But then we moved to chromebooks, and there is no software support for them there. And somewhat useful wasn't enough to justify replacement with new, still-supported models.
It was really just maths teachers who liked them. And still do, when the decade-old things can be coaxed into working on an unsupported platform.
@Qybat @emilymbender @_elena My math teachers liked these too, working on long equations is one of the things where these can be useful.
@emilymbender io modesto operaio in pensione ritengo che ltutte le macchine vanno manovrate dalla mente umana. Certo è un bene che le varie macchine si evolvono, ma sempre manovrate dalla mente umana, non a caso sono stimatore di software libre
@emilymbender It is not teachers that this tech is marketed to. It is the school administration, as a tool to perhaps boost grades and - more importantly - boost the productivity of those very expensive teachers so they can handle larger classes.
Annelies Kamran, Ph.D.@Qybat @emilymbender yes, but teachers have unions
Edit: meaning, the more teachers sign on, the more ammunition the union has to fight this
Edit: meaning, the more teachers sign on, the more ammunition the union has to fight this
Eowyn@emilymbender seriously I've heard people praising gen ai and then shaming the use of scihub. Those people where using llms to perform bibliography tasks that zotero is designed for.
Nicole ParsonsAI is brain rot combined with the worst aspects of manipulative advertising, funded disinformation by the rich, fossil fuel funded fascist propaganda, malware, state surveillance platforms, and spyware.
The source of investment alone should be ringing alarm bells. The most repressive billionaires on the planet are funding AI.
https://fortune.com/2025/07/10/elon-musk-xai-grok-tesla-optimus-mankind-humanity-robots/
Saudi Arabia Plans $100 Billion AI Powerhouse to Rival UAE’s Tech Hub
Saudi Arabia is planning a new artificial intelligence project with backing of as much as $100 billion as it seeks to develop a technological hub to rival the neighboring United Arab Emirates, people familiar with the matter said.
Zeke 🇨🇦@Npars01 @emilymbender Well said! This is shockingly obscene. We are indeed sinking fast into late stage planetary collapse. I feel ill.
Merrily@emilymbender
Meanwhile in Estonia: https://news.err.ee/1609614773/president-karis-spearheads-ai-driven-transformation-in-estonia-s-high-schools
Meanwhile in Estonia: https://news.err.ee/1609614773/president-karis-spearheads-ai-driven-transformation-in-estonia-s-high-schools
President Karis spearheads AI-driven transformation in Estonia's high schools
On September 1, 2025, Estonia will launch the TI-Hüpe (AI- Leap) educational program in partnership between both the public and private sectors, The program will provide Estonian school students and teachers with free access to AI learning applications and has an annual budget of €6.5 million.
@emilymbender
And it's not like this will be some home-grown LLMs developed by Estonians for Estonians. The president specifically compared this "leap" to Estonia's digital transformation, which was a comparatively sovereign, in-house development, founded on open standards and at least partially open source.
This AI "project" amounts to "let's pay Altman a ton of money and export our student's data and conversations to the US"
https://news.err.ee/1609723875/estonia-to-introduce-ai-model-in-high-schools-this-fall
Estonia to introduce AI-model in high schools this fall
Starting this fall, the state will introduce an artificial intelligence model in upper secondary school classes aimed at supporting learning without providing students with ready-made answers. However, the exact model has not yet been developed and the first year will serve as a test period.
@merrily How frustrating.
Jon Sterling@emilymbender Signed. P.S.: Deeply sorry that I will miss your Wednesday talk at the Computer Laboratory, as I'll be on holiday on the 16th.
@jonmsterling Sorry to miss you!
WulfyPetitions are worse than not doing anything as they give you an illusion of action.
Politicians largely ignore petitions.
@emilymbender While there's a lot in that letter I can empathise & agree with, especially closing points 1-8, AI is getting embedded in & becoming infrastructure & will be impossible to avoid. I'd incline towards responsible use https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/63765 & education to use responsibly (e.g. Prof Bender book, The AI Con should be compulsory reading 🙂) & right to refuse to use &/ be subjected to, rather than blanket ban
@raycorrigan this isn't a ban but a commitment not to use or promote.
Also I can't tell if you know that that's my book you're talking about.
@emilymbender I understand that Emily but the AI hype merchants categorise these kinds of critiques as just that and can get policymakers & decision makers to dismiss them on those grounds. Yes - I know it's your book. Just recommending it and suggesting we integrate your kind of teaching into formal education and essays like this: https://helenbeetham.substack.com/p/artificial-intelligence-is-the-opposite
@emilymbender Until the critiques of the reality of AI can gain as much head space amongst decision makers as the hype around it, we're fighting a losing battle. Even then, if the economics of it, whether it works as claimed or not, continues to facilitate the concentration of wealth and power, the capacity to change the direction of travel of economic actors & states on this is limited.
Tom Renner@raycorrigan @emilymbender sounds like inevitabilism. Be careful of believing that framing, it’s spread precisely to dismiss opposition like this.
The sound of inevitability
Have you ever argued with someone who is seriously good at debating? I have. It sucks. You’re constantly thrown off-balance, responding to a point you didn’t expect to. You find yourself defending the weak edges of your argument, while the main thrust gets left behind in the back-and-forth, and you end up losing momentum, confidence, and ultimately, the argument. One of my close friends won international debate competitions for fun while we were at university (he’s now a successful criminal barrister), and he told me that the only trick in the book, once you boil it all down, is to make sure the conversation is framed in your terms. Once that happens, it’s all over bar the shouting.
gigabitch ethernet@emilymbender im in college now and i would be genuinely mad if "ai" were introduced into a class in basically any form. would voice to the dean and take a different professor. i don't want to see it or touch it