See also our work on Modern Alchemy bsky.app/profile/oliv...

“We should expose pre-college students to computational [thinking. W]e should look to inspire the public’s interest in the intellectual adventure of the field. We’ll thus spread the joy, awe, and power of computer science, aiming to make computational thinking commonplace” — Jeannette M. Wing (2006)

Reminded of Ada Lovelace's point in this quote at @olivia.science 's CAIL page bsky.app/profile/oliv...

“Een van de gevolgen van de AI-hype is dat iedereen plots een expert lijkt, terwijl echte vakinhoudelijke experts genegeerd worden.” — @irisvanrooij.bsky.social

Surprise!

Thank you to all participants and team for collectively reclaiming critical thinking @olivia.science, @irisvanrooij.bsky.social, @altibel.bsky.social, @joostvossers.bsky.social

My heart is full of hope because teaching and learning critical AI literacy with participants was and is an act of resistance in this political context.

yes, see my work here with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/oliv...

“(…) wetenschap draait om het produceren van kennis. Daarom is het zo belangrijk om te benadrukken dat AI menselijke cognitie nooit op een zinvolle manier kan repliceren.” — @olivia.science

“Deze systemen zijn gebaseerd op voorspellen, dat is geen basis voor daadwerkelijk nieuwe theorieën. Alleen omdat een AI-systeem kan voorspellen wat een mens zou zeggen of doen, betekent dat nog niet dat het kan verklaren wat mensen doen.” — @olivia.science

“Het is makkelijk om te denken dat je psychologische experimenten kunt doen met kunstmatige deelnemers, maar je kunt wetenschap simpelweg niet automatiseren.”

We propose 4 different notions of ‘function’ and formalise each. 1. Functional capacity 2. Functional theory 3. Functional goal 4. Functional role --- Preprint: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 4/🧵

“Computational thinking is a way humans solve problems; it is not trying to get humans to think like computers. Computers are dull and boring; humans are clever and imaginative.” — Jeannette M. Wing (2006) h/t @olivia.science dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

Last week was both intense in teaching and full of hope. Participants of the Summer School: “Critical AI literacy for resisting and reclaiming” presented their group projects to resist and reclaim AI.

AI zal nooit een volwaardige vervanging zijn voor het menselijk denken: @olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social @dondersinst.bsky.social www.beste-id.nl/nieuws/ai-za...

“To add insult to injury, many metaphorical … phrases (especially used to describe ANNs; see Table 1) — like train, learn, hallucinate, reason — are applied to machines and result in distorting how we perceive these machines: humanising them while dehumanising us” zenodo.org/records/1706... 14/🧵

“We have been here before, both with entanglements of AI and statistics with industry corrupting our academic processes, and with so-called AI summers: hype cycles that pivot from funding booms to complete busts and cessation of research” zenodo.org/records/1706... 13/🧵

“It is exactly because problems continue to grow that we must speak out now. The repetition that somehow things are set in stone needs to be urgently, vociferously, and vigilantly countered” zenodo.org/records/1706... 10/🧵

“(…) jargon infused with technology industry hype, such as shown in Table 1, does not meaningfully explain. (…) We strive to remain critical of the vocabulary the technology industry coopts and deploys, and to remain respectful of scientific terminology.” zenodo.org/records/1706... 8/🧵

“Although some differentiate AI and non-AI systems by appealing to generative models versus other types of AI, we are convinced that this does not bring clarity …, and we can fall head first into misuse of terminology and fostering industry hype (see … Figure 1)” zenodo.org/records/1706... 7/🧵

“When it comes to the AI technology industry, we refuse their frames, reject their addictive and brittle technology, and demand that the sanctity of the university both as an institution and a set of values be restored.” zenodo.org/records/1706... 4/🧵

“university leaders … must act to help us collectively turn back the tide of garbage software, which fuels harmful tropes (e.g. so-called lazy students) and false frames (e.g. so-called efficiency or inevitability) to obtain market penetration and increase technological dependency” 3/🧵

"The technology industry is taking advantage of us, sometimes even speaking through us, to convince our students that these AI technologies are useful (or necessary) and not harmful.” doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 2/🧵

🧵 Thread with my favourite quotes from: 📝 Guest, O., Suarez, M., Müller, B., et al. (2025). Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 1/🧵

Mixed and interdisciplinary cognitive science students, incl. AI, psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy etc. See also: assets.cambridge.org/97811070/439...

"If the cosmonaut loses such skills because of his passive role, the probability of his choosing and carrying out the right procedure in an emergency would be small. This contradiction is inherent in automatic control systems." More here: web.mit.edu/slava/space/... and: web.mit.edu/slava/space/...

On deskilling, we always knew; it's the AI hypers who want us to forget: "This experience has demonstrated that it is impossible to create an absolutely reliable automatic system, and sooner or later people face the necessity to act after equipment fails." — Valentina Ponomareva

Few people realize that cognitive science is crucial for evaluating claims about AI capabilities. ‘We often overestimate what computers are capable of, while vastly underestimating what human cognition is capable of’, says van Rooij

‘There will never be enough computing power to create AGI using machine learning that can do the same, because we’d run out of natural resources long before we'd even get close,’ Olivia Guest adds

Human-machine "relations are no longer captured by already flawed metaphors like the echo chamber — the echo has gone, the chamber is devoid of people: we neither shout nor are heard. We abandon our voice, forget how to use it, and forfeit what makes humans special in" doi.org/10.3390/bs16...

If you're interested in these EXACT same dynamics, see my work with @samhforbes.bsky.social (bsky.app/profile/oliv...) on programming and gender: Guest, O. & Forbes, S. H. (2024). Teaching coding inclusively: if this, then what?. Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies. doi.org/10.5117/TVGN...

Press release: www.ru.nl/en/research/...

I'm regularly reminded that even when the AI boosters are ostensibly winning (emphasis on ostensibly), we're having so much more fun than they are.

It was an intensive week full of knowledge sharing! Thanks for making all of us join in this course.

☀️ 📚 And it's a wrap! I am grateful for working with our amazing Critical AI Literacy team @marentierra.bsky.social @olivia.science @altibel.bsky.social @joostvossers.bsky.social this week. I learnt a lot myself as well! 🙏✨ www.ru.nl/en/research/... 8/🧵

☀️ 📚 Day 5, by using what they learnt throughout the week, participants developed and presented novel ideas for resisting and reclaiming. Formats ranged from traditional presentation to theatre play and game design. See below an illustration of the latter (scroll up for more context). 7/🧵

I have had the privilege and honor to attend the Critical AI Literacy Workshop offered at the Radboud Summer School. The workshop was organized by @irisvanrooij.bsky.social @marentierra.bsky.social @olivia.science along with @joostvossers.bsky.social and @altibel.bsky.social.

The past five days felt like fresh air. Intellectually stimulating conversation with a group of peers who come from very diverse backgrounds. I had the chance to reflect on my past few years as a scholar. Bottomline is that, the last five days, I was away from the hype and it was a gift.

As a small project, my colleagues and I looked into whether different institutions disclose how much money they spend on AI tools. As anticipated, there was no disclosure. This might sound familiar to you from various historical contexts.

I will have more thoughts to share but I am still processing the information. The #Radboud University is extremely lucky to have scholars who are leading this work and who are helping many scientists to achieve conceptual clarity about AI. Please read the OP by @irisvanrooij.bsky.social.

It was absolutely a gift to have you with us @ethankutlu.bsky.social 🙏✨❤️

☀️ 📚 Day 1 of the Summer School, we had the inspiring and thought-provoking keynote by @olivia.science, titled: “What is AI, and why is it harmful?” You can watch it here 🎬 🍿 www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi85... 2/🧵

☀️ 📚 Day 2 of the Summer School, @marentierra.bsky.social lectured about critical intersectional perspectives on AI and I lectured about AI and cognitive science. Each of us bringing distinct but complementary frames for resistance. 3/🧵

☀️ 📚 Day 3 of the Summer School, after @marentierra.bsky.social’s eye opening lecture about unsustainability of AI and the global supply chain, @altibel.bsky.social gave an inspiring and heartwarming lecture on reclaiming our skills and the importance of reading and writing by ourselves. 4/🧵

☀️ 📚 In the evening of Day 3, we had a screening of the documentary film "Ghost in the Machine" 🎬 This event was co-organized with students from the School of AI. The audience was students from our BSc course Sustainable AI & MSc course Bias in AI, in addition to Summer School participants. 5/🧵

☀️ 📚 Day 4, after restorative time, free-form discussions & reflections on the movie, we joined a session from @marentierra.bsky.social’s Sustainable AI course, where students presented vlogs 🎬 that they had created for their final projects. So impressed & proud by what our AI students made! 6/🧵

Making a game that starts with the promise of AI utopia, and ends with a whole different revolution... 👀 Thanks to @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and @marentierra.bsky.social summer school on Critical AI Literacies ✨️

There will never be enough computing power to create AGI using machine learning that can do the same [as human cognition], because we’d run out of natural resources long before we'd even get close — @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...

This is what #AiLiteracy should be about!

☀️ 📚 A joy to be at this week’s Summer School ‘Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming’. Grateful to our amazing and brilliant team 🙏 @marentierra.bsky.social, @olivia.science, @altibel.bsky.social, @joostvossers.bsky.social 1/🧵