#AIResistance ⬇️

This issue of Zeal has two Provocations & Occasions essay: one on teaching race in philosophy classes and one of resisting GAI to protect our students humanity by @dbuckedu.bsky.social.

Check out the latest issue of Zeal: A Journal for the Liberal Arts! zeal.kings.edu/zeal/issue/v...

A terrific starter pack that’s making the rounds again; proud to be on the roster #AIresistance #resistAI

That first incredulous "what?" made me cheer. Meanwhile, the disconnect between creatives and AI hypers grows to a chasm. #writersky #AI #edusky #writesky #AIresistance #AIrefusal

Another argument for resisting the myth held by many in higher education that if we don’t teach “AI literacy,” our students will be left behind. When the ultimate goal of our labor should be encouraging our students to develop their critical thinking and learning abilities—basically, being humans.

My community college was one of the 1st institutions to adopt Canvas in 2012. We were very early adopters. It was pitched as a pedagogical-focused system designed to “get out of the way” of an instructor’s teaching approach. Never imagined that it now is set up to REPLACE that instructor!

Since the SAT essay became optional + scored by AI, I can't begin to tell you the number of people who have asked me why they should still teach writing, as if the only reason for kids to write is to score well on a standardized test. Also, this reveals how much College Board impacts practice.

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Today's complaint about the AI in education discourse: Too much of it is framed around a future that is going to happen to us, as opposed to seeing the future as something we may have some agency to shape. I reject the deterministic view of AI, particularly genAI. It's a tool, not our master.

The ungrading book club (organized by the indefatiguable @dbuckedu.bsky.social) is reading @biblioracle.bsky.social's fantastic book, More than Words, about exactly why we should be helping students understand the value of critical thinking and other challenging cognitive work.

I appreciate this piece, but I want to correct the record on one point. I don't talk about LLMs as making "collages" but rather as making papier-mâché, and the difference matters! >> www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Had a great session of the #MoreThanWords virtual book club yesterday! A wonderful group of caring, compassionate educators hoping to guide their students through the ubiquitous sludge of GenAI. We focused on writing as thinking, a uniquely human endeavor rather than a transactional experience.

An idea from The AI Con that has really helped me answer the Q: Why do some surrender voice, agency, & trust to a GenAI tool? — the human tendency when processing language to engage w/ “the mind behind the text.” When there’s no human behind the probability/plagiarism machine, we tend to invent one!

This “capitulation to inevitability” is certainly real, especially when FOMO and the press for innovative “AI literacy” is constantly in teachers’ faces. Been enjoying The AI Con by Bender & Hanna. The hype around AI serves those in power, not Ss & teachers. The VCs need a return on investment!

In my work with teachers, two beliefs about AI are becoming "common sense:" 1. AI is inevitable, resistance is futile. 2. Not including AI in a teaching + learning will hold students back in terms of career + college. Building permission structures for #AIResistance is urgent + critical.

"The work of ungrading is to push back on the culture of grades and quantitative assessment that reinforces hierarchies between students and teachers, while reducing both to a set of crude (often inscrutable) data points." www.jessestommel.com/the-practice...

We are 2️⃣ weeks away from the first session of the #MoreThanWords virtual book club on June 3rd (5-6 p.m. EST)! Join 7️⃣3️⃣ folks exploring how to center authentic writing/thinking in the age of AI. Author @biblioracle.bsky.social will be joining us! Register for FREE: forms.gle/AMUKNQc5egaf...

"[No] single theory seems to adequately explain all human motivation. The fact is that human beings in general and students in particular are complex creatures with complex needs and desires." ⎯Williams & Williams, Research in Higher Education Journal

I know this seems grim, but I'm here to testify that it is not hopeless, that most faculty do not feel this way and mostly just want a little help to navigate these things. I've delivered a couple dozen talks and sessions over the last 6 months & the energy to make necessary change is real.

Would you like to join 6️⃣8️⃣ thoughtful people in a relaxing summer reading group? Feel free to register for the #MoreThanWords virtual book club starting Tuesday, 6/5 from 5-6 p.m. (EST). @biblioracle.bsky.social (the author) plans to attend each session! Register HERE: tinyurl.com/cfndnhf2

Bear all of this in mind when someone starts parroting in your direction all the utopian and progressive-buzzword-laden talk about AI’s potentials. I’m looking at you, fellow academics.

Love yourself, love the world enough to think and learn 2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ai-slop-educ...

The more I contemplate my #AIResistance in my FYW courses, the more I’ve found: 1️⃣ Ss respect a clear, reasonable AI Policy, 2️⃣ my assessment approach (#ungrading) is key to removing the incentive to use GenAI tools, & 3️⃣ Ss actually feel relieved that AI has no place in their learning & writing!

Looking for some summer reading? Check out the FREE More Than Words virtual book club beginning in June! Join others actively considering how to center authentic writing/thinking in the age of AI. @biblioracle.bsky.social will be planning to join us for most sessions! forms.gle/ksGsyZjkzhwz...

Don’t let companies and people hide behind the “neutrality” of AI. AI programs and tools are far from neutral. They are specific tools created by specific people for specific political purposes.

Looking for some summer reading? Check out the FREE More Than Words virtual book club beginning in June! Join others actively considering how to center authentic writing/thinking in the age of AI. @biblioracle.bsky.social will be planning to join us for most sessions! forms.gle/ksGsyZjkzhwz...

Nasty work. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...

In a recent #AIResistance presentation I made an off-the-cuff comment that I may want to explore more in depth—refusing GenAI tools in my comp courses has freed me from the AI arms race where every learning activity has to either (A) illustrate how “cool” AI is for Ss or (B) be totally AI-proof.

Much of my #AIResistance in college comp courses is rooted in what I would like my students to DO with their writing. "[T]teachers don't ask students to write essays since the world needs more student essays. The point of writing essays is to strengthen students' critical-thinking skills."

Am wondering how college profs using Gen-AI can square up ethically to what is happening to some of our international students on multiple campuses. How does endorsing a tool from a company aligned with student surveillance and harassment fit into anyone's pedagogical ethos?! #AIResistance

Well it happened—just received an unsolicited email to my college address from OpenAI abt their free offer of ChatGPT, just in time for the semester’s end. It’s true—higher ed is the next acquisition for AI companies, advertised as “learning” assistance. #AIResistance www.forbes.com/sites/danfit...

Anyone who thinks that because AI currently has energy use on par with data centers for other sectors we don’t need to worry about environmental impacts should pay attention to what tech people are saying about future energy demand.

AI companies are playing education research again. Now Anthropic has a report out analysing a million students' use of Claude via "Bloom's taxonomy". Conclusion? it mostly looks like student cheating and cognitive offloading but it won't stop them pushing AI into HE www.anthropic.com/news/anthrop...

I shared this post in my AI-Refusal presentation today. Spot on! The same FOMO phenomenon as the MOOC craze. Higher Ed throws money at the first shiny tech object that crosses its path. bsky.app/profile/dbuc...

A learning event that can never be replicated by any GenAI tool! For the love of learning . . .

One small nudge that I make in my #AIResistance pedagogy is the use of "Completion Statements" for student blog postings. We make an ethical agreement that we've resisted the use of GenAI in our writing⎯for the sake of our writing improvement & developing our unique writing voices, warts & all!

Been thinking about how good this point is⎯thanks for this! Reminds me of one of my presentation slides. I'm planning to read Dan's book. ⬇️ #AIResistance

One thing I've learned is that OpenAI admits that its newest GPT model hallucinates more than 1/3 of the time. And the kicker is that they're advertising this bullshitting problem in a positive light since⎯get this⎯their model doesn't lie as much as the LLMs from other companies do! What a scam.

Love your second point! One of my favorite reflection / final self-assessment questions for my writing students is —“When did you experience the most JOY in your writing experience this semester?” There are no “technical outcomes” for joy in learning. That’s exactly why I love asking the question! 😀

There's more to write about this, but I knew we were cooked when teachers + school leaders started leaning into the anti-intellectualism of "reading is an elitist activity" + openly mocked readers. Hopefully, adults catch that contagious enthusiasm as much as kids do.

My intention in claiming there is NO “ethical AI” is not to denigrate or judge my colleagues who are using GenAI tools. Most have made that choice from pure intentions & thoughtful approaches to their own pedagogy. We must honor one’s pedagogical choices—this is a protected academic freedom.

One of my favorite student annotations on my “Policy for AI Usage in ENGL-121” blog post, beautiful response from a student who was “sad” about learning the negative impact AI has on our environment. She was determined not to use AI although her writing would be “messy.” Was so proud of her courage!

I think it’s also important to note that #AIResistance is not some “head in the sand” or Luddite response to tech innovation. Instead, many of us AI resistors come from tech areas of teaching, like online learning or eLearning. We’re making the informed & intentional choice to take action for Ss!

GenAI tools are so extractive that the LLMs are running out of training data. They’ve scraped so much that they’re looking for more human-produced intellectual property to steal. Plus AI models are training other AI models. The ouroboros myth come to life! Crappy data training crappy systems.

Working on a presentation: “Is There Such a Thing as ‘Ethical AI’?” I’m learning so much about how pervasive what I’m calling “the capitulation to inevitability” has made higher ed faculty totally abandon our learning contract w/ Ss. Succumbing to the snake oil of the techbros. #AIResistance

What a thoughtful, succinct response to the fabricated rush toward GenAI and higher ed’s continued capitulation to the techbros pushing their crappy products into academia! And the shoutout to Melville’s Bartley the Scrivener: “I would prefer not to”—the universal response we all should adopt. 👏🏼👏🏼

I made it past the "magic" comment, barely recovered, and then was hit by the quotations from "district administrators" doing administrator stuff with AI like: "generating ideas for projects that I am starting on" "[h]aving AI write questions, letters of reference, memos" Then closed newsletter!