Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ

@olivia.science

👁️ https://olivia.science 🍃 https://metatheory.space associate professor of computational cognitive science · she/they · cypriot/kıbrıslı/κυπραία · σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρα κίνει

Asking on behalf of a department of graduate student instructors who were just told we need to rewrite our syllabi and lesson plans on 2 weeks notice, and on behalf of a me who has read so much good stuff here but for some reason thought just clicking like would be enough to help me find it later

I need your help! If you have been better than me at saving/bookmarking good threads, blogs, articles etc. explaining how LLMs function scientifically or critiquing/assessing their use in a complex way (ie not just calling them “plagiarism machines,” tho I do agree), can you share your links here?

Cc @olivia.science "Teaching children about smoking cigarettes is a 'moral imperative,' said Jan Janson, the Protect Children Union president. "And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tobacco's money or doing nothing." I renew my call for @rweingarten.bsky.social to resign.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

No discussion of psychology, just lots of atheoretical deep learning party tricks. I thought at the time it was indicative of a shift in the wrong direction, and it turns out I was right, except it wasn't deep learning but transformers that broke everything.

In maybe 2015 I was at a computational modelling conference. It was historically a venue for discussion of comp models of cognition and the intersection with psychological theory. But that year it was rammed with people from DeepMind talking about AlphaGo.

Yes, you're the competition from the viewpoint of AI companies, so they'll try and close you down. And we - academics generally - also. The war on expertise is very much in progress.

You were not wrong, transformers are "deep learning" too, though I'd prefer to call it M-connectionism as in @olivia.science and @andreaeyleen.eurosky.social 's work 🙂 mu.social/profile/oliv...

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 10mo ago

Proudly published with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social: A metatheory of classical and modern connectionism. doi.org/10.1037/rev0... We touch on what has been up with connectionism as a framework for computational modelling — & for everything it seems these days with AI and LLMs — pre-2010 vs post. 1/n

So I went to the Principal (VC) and explained that I was going to find out how those academics wanted the faculty to change for the better. That was accepted, finance and HR were told to work with me. And we achieved a lot. Those days have gone but the lesson from them is clear but ignored.

Here's an interesting comparison. When I became Dean (last century) it was because I had been elected as such by my fellow academics from the faculty professoriate. That meant those above had to negotiate with me rather than dictate to me.

It’s a flow of contamination. A huge problem with quite a few big “engagement” accounts here that post random images and inspirational bullshit. They’re the worst offenders and people share without discernment.

"As the AI summer rolls on with heatwave upon heatwave, we directly experience its damage. We witness severe deskilling to academic reading, to essay writing, to deep thinking, even to scholarly discussions between students, which are all now seen as acceptably outsourced to AI products ..."

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 11mo ago

💛🚫🤖 No AI Gods, No AI Masters 🤖🚫💛 I am massively excited to share the backstory ACADEMIC SHENANIGANS behind our Open Letter (& so this paper below too) — and as always big thanks to my co-authors {@irisvanrooij.bsky.social & @marentierra.bsky.social}: www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g... 1/n

In short, the proof intuition: Let H fail on only a finite subset of all possible inputs of f. Then we could make a lookup table (= finite) for that subset. Let us call it L. Then L + H combined make an exact algorithm for f. But this contradicts that no such algorithm exists. QED. 16/🧵

If anyone wants to make an adult neopets that's forums, games, and chat, I will dump here and be there in a heartbeat. BS has been a refuge from bs, but if they want to inject bs I am good with moving on. I just hope there is an alternative because I enjoy being online.

Talk about being completely out of touch with their user base. There are still so many spam bots here. I suspect many of the Bskyers are also just one flinch away from dumping this and finding the next platform. The downturn of Twitter still feels rather fresh.

💛🚫🤖 No AI Gods, No AI Masters 🤖🚫💛 I am massively excited to share the backstory ACADEMIC SHENANIGANS behind our Open Letter (& so this paper below too) — and as always big thanks to my co-authors {@irisvanrooij.bsky.social & @marentierra.bsky.social}: www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g... 1/n

No AI Gods, No AI Masters — Civics of Technology

More on their open letter, Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia  , and position piece, Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia , by Guest et al.

civicsoftechnology.org

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 11mo ago

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Published with some minor changes! Please share widely. 😊 Guest, O., Suarez, M., ... & van Rooij, I. (2026). Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia. Digital Culture & Education, 16(2), 85–118. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Journal: www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-162

Volume 16.2 — Digital Culture & Education (ISSN: 1836-8301)

digitalcultureandeducation.com

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 11mo ago

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Bsky has no respect for its current users, period. Incredibly funny for a platform that really tried its most to cultivate a specific user base by being invite only for a very long time.