Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)I recently read a talk announcement about "AI" and K-12 education that looked like it maybe, maybe embedded a critical perspective but was still dressed up in the language of AI hype, presupposing both job market & education "reshaped by AI".
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The abstract seemed like a job talk (though not announced as such), so assuming the presenter is a junior scholar, I'm not going to put them on blast.
Instead, I wanted to put out some broader questions for reflection:
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If you have been framing your work as involving/in relation to "AI", what do you mean by "AI"? How would you describe your work without using that phrase?
That is, incidentally, the same question I propose here:
https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/reflecting-on-ai-in-the-himalayan-foothills/
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When you are using the "AI" framing, does the way you talk about "AI" carry water for the Sam Altmans of the world? That is, are you helping to paint a picture of their tech as inevitable, all powerful, and/or anything other than commercial products?
If so, why? Are you under pressure to do so? Where does that pressure come from? What would happen if you resist?
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Or is it simply a question of following the fashion for how these things are talked about? In that case, how does that sit with your own values?
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We are certainly facing a lot of systemic problems which should not be individualized, but at the same time, I believe that academics hold a certain amount of power, and it is worth being thoughtful about how we use that power, including the framing of our work.
/fin
Osma Suominen@emilymbender
Thank you, these are excellent questions! I do talk quite a lot about AI due to my work, but I try to frame it in a way that doesn't "carry water for the Sam Altmans of the world", as you put it. The tech itself is sometimes awesome (and often not at all) but the hype machine behind it is horrible and deserves to die.
Thank you, these are excellent questions! I do talk quite a lot about AI due to my work, but I try to frame it in a way that doesn't "carry water for the Sam Altmans of the world", as you put it. The tech itself is sometimes awesome (and often not at all) but the hype machine behind it is horrible and deserves to die.