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:
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Discussion
@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
@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
@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
Petitions are worse than not doing anything as they give you an illusion of action.
Politicians largely ignore petitions.
@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.
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
@emilymbender
AI 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/
@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.
@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.
@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.
@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 fit unreliable, overpriced and almost useless "smart" boards.
@emilymbender When I was in school, calculators were considered "cheating" and using the (AOL!) internet for #research strictly verboten... https://mstdn.science/@QNFO/114828513495387043
@emilymbender signed and wishing I could sign twice!
@emilymbender
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.
@emilymbender
Background of this open letter redactors / origin ?
Background of this open letter redactors / origin ?
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