A thought-provoking very human post about the UK government’s #AI plans from @helenbeetham.bsky.social helenbeetham.substack.com/p/automatic-... that I hope lots of people will read. My favourite line is “…to be read only when you have a strong antidote to despair close by”.

Automatic for the people?

A prescription for AI 'mainlined into the veins' of government is a bad metaphor for a dangerous policy

helenbeetham.substack.com

When I see @audreywatters.bsky.social Second Breakfast newsletter in my morning inbox, I stop everything and read it and I always learn something, and she always makes me think. This is why AI syntax generation will never supplant human writing. 2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/sputnik-was-...

Cold War Creativity and Sputnik Moments

“DeepSeek R1,” venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declared last week, “is AI’s Sputnik moment.” And as Sputnik – in its original 1957 instantiation and in its subsequent and repeated invocations – has...

2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com

Delighted to share this Imperfect Offering x Second Breakfast podcast in which i chat Trump, cybernetics and generative AI with the original and unbeaten tech Cassandra, @audreywatters.bsky.social helenbeetham.substack.com/p/the-audrey...

Enjoying listening to a “voice from home” at #ascilite2024 @czernie.bsky.social talking about Higher Education for Good and @helenbeetham.bsky.social conversation around what a Good University could/should be. More from Laura here czernie.weebly.com

I have a new podcast - a wonderful interview with @danmcquillan.bsky.social about his book Resisting AI, and the possibilities for resistance in education. Recorded in November but this week it feels more urgent than ever. helenbeetham.substack.com/p/the-dan-ma...

The Dan MacQuillan episode

"All that was once directly lived has become mere representation" (Guy Debord)

helenbeetham.substack.com

I have a heap more followers after a lovely plug for my blog from John Naughton in the Observer, and a new post on the fall-out from the Gemini wokery-fakery debate helenbeetham.substack.com/p/who-pays-f...

I have a post on 'Gods, slaves and playmates' or why we can't get enough of humanising AI. helenbeetham.substack.com/p/gods-slave.... Plus updates on 'Deepfake pedagogy' helenbeetham.substack.com/p/deepfake-p... and why things aren't getting better helenbeetham.substack.com/p/things-don...

The AI boom requires massive data centers that consume enormous amounts of water and energy. Tech CEOs have plans for hundreds more hyperscale facilities in the coming years, but activists around the world are fighting back and forcing us to ask who really benefits from Silicon Valley’s future.

AI is fueling a data center boom. It must be stopped.

Silicon Valley believes more computation is essential for progress. But they ignore the resource burden and don’t care if the benefits materialize.

disconnect.blog

The assault on humanities & critical social sciences continues. We see this agenda for what it is. Critical thinking and artistic expression will be taught at a few elite universities. Professional and technical subjects for everyone else. Sign the latest petition: chng.it/FyRc22hnXY

As we read the news about Meta's turn to AGI, we also must (re)read the brilliant essay by Emily F. Gorcenski: Making God: The millenarianism and manifest destiny of AI and techno-futurism

Making God · EmilyGorcenski.com

The millenarianism and manifest destiny of AI and techno-futurism.

emilygorcenski.com

I have a new post: never mind the quality, feel the speed: how AI is reshaping research and the research environment. Would love some feedback/pushback whatever. helenbeetham.substack.com/p/never-mind...

Never mind the quality, feel the speed

How AI is reshaping research and the research environment

helenbeetham.substack.com

Gary Marcus and I explore whether guardrails are the bandaid to stop OpenAI's copyright infringement problem. Spoiler alert: nope. open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

First year writing instructors are among the best and most important teachers in a university—and, already, among the lowest paid and most precarious. That ASU would choose to outsource that work to ChatGPT instead of investing in those teachers will hurt students and faculty alike. t.co/9y2ZcDHUn6