‘Coffee is just the excuse’: the deaf-run cafe where hearing people sign to order www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

What’s the biggest AI news of the week? For me, it has to be the launch of a social media network purely for #GenAI bots - but are they plotting to take over?

X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications

NEW on Wonkhe: The emails are clearer, the tone is better, and staff can respond more quickly. Nafisa Baba-Ahmed asks what higher education loses when students no longer struggle through the messy process of finding their voice buff.ly/jrCxJu6

‘Winter Skein’ Other work of the Ladybird artists, (1983) Artist Ronald Lampitt

Martin has seen the future.

I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!

We talk a lot about cheating at university level, but real world cheating in secure driving test environments also appears to be on the increase. News story link in first reply #academicintegrity

Excited to share the updated, tested AI feedback prompts from PAIRR @pairrfeedback.bsky.social. Licensed for you to copy and change if you like. There are custom bots where you can test them out, too. Feedback is now more concise and conversational. annamills.substack.com/p/ai-feedbac...

"No sight ever pleases me so well as the snowdrops now in the wilderness," wrote the renowned botanist Edward Lloyd in 1668, referring to his garden and home near Oswestry. The house is long gone but along the path through its ruins the snowdrops continue to flourish and delight. #WildflowerHour

“Ok, he’s writing ...” “Just tell me.” "Blue Tit x2... sorry mate.” #BigGardenBirdwatch

Meet ‘Amelia’: the AI-generated British schoolgirl who is a far-right social media star www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Mommy and her baby.. 😊

Over 26,000 have emailed their local trust to keep Palantir out of the NHS. Will you join them? https://notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=PalantirNHS&utm_medium=social_media

An observation test for your inner 8-year-old. You’ll be doing well to spot 12 deliberate mistakes. From Treasure magazine, 1963 Official answers coming soon (Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one?)

Experts warn of threat to democracy from ‘AI bot swarms’ infesting social media www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘It has been overwhelming’: Sudanese friends complete 900-mile UK walk www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Crocheted mandala, street decorations, a collective creation by women in Licata, Italy #WomensArt

White House posts digitally altered image of woman arrested after ICE protest www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out. As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class. Here's what happened:

‘I put all my work in a proprietary system not supported by my university and the terms of service fucked me right up.’ Dude. Have a word with yourself.

Join us tonight at 8 pm BST where we'll be exploring Teaching, Learning, Assessment and GenAI:Moving from Reaction to Intentional Practice with @hazelfarrell.bsky.social and @kenmccarthy.ie Read the blog for more: lthechat.com/2026/01/16/l...

The UK Government just released its national security assessment on #biodiversity loss: an actual intelligence assessment using the same frameworks as military threat analysis. The conclusion? #Nature is a foundation of national security and every critical #ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse. 🧵

Great piece by @drmeekz.bsky.social that unpacks many layers of wrongness around this! theconversation.com/this-tiktok-...

Educational background key indicator of immigration views in UK, study finds www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

From the #LTHEChat last night, here is a summary and reflection: 'Redundancy, resilience, and finding what’s next.' @lthechat.bsky.social #FlutterChat #HigherEd #EdTech #Education #Wellbeing #Redundancy #ALTC www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/awards/redun...

She was running the #spinerace for Afghan women and girls. She was pulled out because of death threats. I’ll put her fundraiser page in the next post. Let’s support if we can. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

X is claiming it’s restricted the ability to generate explicit deepfakes with Grok, and plenty of media outlets are parroting it without checking. But it’s still easy to get Grok to generate the very same “undressing” photos causing this scandal in the first place.

This analysis of papers from 1980 to 2025 goes beyond LLMs, but notes one challenge that arises when research questions rely on the same tools and datasets: “the adoption of AI seems to induce authors to converge on the same solutions to known problems rather than create new ones.”

Looks like there's am opening for some GenAI literacy training here www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Interesting post by Jane Forbes on the ICAI blog. If you suspect a published PhD thesis from another university has misused GenAI, what should you do? #academicintegrity www.academicintegrity.org/aws/ICAI/pt/...

🧪 Here's a science mystery to start the year. Why are species names for fish and plants appearing in the scientific literature in papers about firefighter injuries, hearing loss and heart attack? Is it AI? Translation tools? Something else? nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/is-this-fi...

AI generated summaries of web search engine results, such as Google’s “AI Overviews”, were rolled out 2024, and are now the norm on most major search engines. But how accurate are they? and what are the implications for online publishers? bit.ly/45DJxJq

Good. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Still over half of UK universities remain active on X. @sheffielduni.bsky.social and University for the Creative Arts were the last two I had spotted as ceasing activity in the late summer. Maybe others since. I've updated my data with regards to 141 UK institutions and who has gone where after X.

Data tables feature in Google NotebookLM is nice, too bad you cannot click on the values to see what part of the source it relied on to extract the data.

Other work by the Ladybird artists ‘Winter Sunshine at Nether-Alderley’ Artist: SR Badmin

Do the software engineers for food delivery apps develop AI and algorithms to exploit workers and increase profit? Plenty of drivers have stated this online, and a Reddit post claiming to have proof of this from a developer has gone viral. But is all what it seems? #techethics

And now, part 2 with the AMAZING @annamillsoer.bsky.social where we talk a bit more about the intersection of #AI and #OER! open.substack.com/pub/aiedusim... #HigherEd #OpenEducation #GenAI #AIEdu

With all the neighbours' nuisancy security lights reflecting off the snow, I could probably read a book in my garden right now. But I won't ❄

New Year, new #Bluesky user? Interested in #ResearchIntegrity & looking to connect with others on @bsky.app? Here are two #StarterPacks covering people connected with research integrity & there's still space so please share suggestions or wave to be added! go.bsky.app/QN5upY5 go.bsky.app/5NJ9Z4N

Wave of Grok AI fake images of women and girls appalling, says UK minister www.theguardian.com/technology/2... Very true but then why are @lizforleicester.bsky.social and so many other politicians still active on X?

The University of Southampton has a really good self-study module on responsible research metrics which is a useful starting point for learning more: unisotonlibrary.github.io/responsible-...

Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them

BBC journalists have been banned from describing the kidnapped Venezuelan leader as having been kidnapped. The BBC News Editor has sent this to BBC journalists.

I hope the owner got a piggy-back home instead of going barefoot

These always remind me of iced gems - more than ever today

Two for joy

Join us on Bluesky for #LTHEchat with guests @puiyin.bsky.social, @katharinehubbard.bsky.social, Dr Kevin Campbell-Karn, Professor David Webster and Paula Han on Wednesday 7th January at 8pm GMT to discuss Navigating the New OfS Quality Era: What It Means for Students, Staff and the Sector.