AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.

Exactly!!

Dan Martin@danmartin7.bsky.social · 6h ago

They also don't want comp around cause comp/rhet has been responsible for publishing scholarship on the realities of teaching writing. Like writing takes time & practice & can't be assessed well w tests, which admin don't like cause it means $ for resources like small classes & good pay for NTTs.

"The push for AI is a continuation and intensification of de-skilling and de-professionalization in K12 and higher ed work with new and troubling social and labor consequences that we are just beginning to understand..." futureschools.substack.com/p/just-say-n...

Just Say No to Corporate AI Partnerships in K12 and Higher Ed

Soon after the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced a partnership with Microsoft and OpenAI to create a brick-and-mortar national AI training center for teachers located at the United Feder...

futureschools.substack.com

Lois Weiner@drloisweiner.bsky.social · 6h ago

I'm following @ncaaupgip.bsky.social and have subscribed to their substack because the resistance of higher ed faculty to AI is extraordinarily important to our society and prek-12 schools. We're in this together. futureschools.substack.com/p/just-say-n...

Within the article is a quote from a Microsoft spokesperson saying the initiative is valuable for Microsoft ‘to learn from teachers’. This is familiar language to publishers who enter these deals. But name 1 initiative where a company has developed products that benefit professionals at its own cost

This is 💯 not true. It is never a choice between ‘taking big tech’s money and doing nothing’. A stronger moral imperative is NOT to take the money and the strings attached to it - particularly if you do not and cannot yet understand the implications

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7h 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.”

Yes, we need to teach teachers CRITICAL AI literacies, but we don't need to pump them full of Big Tech hype. I wonder which Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI will be paying for? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Teachers need help with AI. A union is offering training – with $23m in funding from big tech

Partnership between American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest labor unions in the US, and AI firms has stirred controversy

theguardian.com

Please read and consider signing if you have not already!

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 2d ago

Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia It's been a year & people tell me they've changed their mind, feel safer now to sign, etc. So I'm sharing it again for them. We're almost at 2k & anybody from anywhere can add their names. openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Please read and consider signing if you have not already!!!

Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · yesterday

"The unfettered introduction of AI (…) undermines our basic pedagogical values and the principles of scientific integrity. It prevents us from maintaining our standards of independence and transparency. And most concerning, AI use has been shown to hinder learning and deskill critical thought.”

'AI' guys (or people who make decisions about 'AI' adoption), you just have to listen to @irisvanrooij.bsky.social @olivia.science @alexhanna.bsky.social @emilymbender.bsky.social @felienne.bsky.social

Exactly! "With so much risk, what's the rush?" We'd love to see a generative AI moratorium in place at universities in the UNC System! Or at least they could let faculty and students opt-out of technologies that undermine student learning. Is that really too much to ask?

AI Moratorium for NYC Schools@aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social · 2d ago

38 days until schools starts. We need a moratorium on AI in schools. Here's why. @climatefamsnyc.bsky.social @comixaction.com @gregpak.net

Everyone is wondering who caused this! The platform literally has a "Write with AI" button...

404 Media@404media.co · 3d ago

Following 404 Media's reporting on how LinkedIn is full of AI slop, the platform is giving users a chance to report it when they see it. www.404media.co/linkedin-int...

This kind of thinking is driving university "AI" adoption as well. Any research or feedback you can show is overridden by, "Well, it's here whether we like it or not." It's only here because you're letting it in! You're letting it destroy our students opportunities for actual learning and growth!

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 4d ago

The world is full of people who insist "AI is changing everything" but who - when pressed - have to admit that what they mean is that they're pretty sure that AI *will* change everything. Eventually. After we allow it to consume all the planet's energy, carbon, water and financial resources. 8/

Amazing ethics washing here, pure lying since ethical use that forecloses rejection isn't really normal ethical reasoning at all

Tim Ellis 🍁@djdynamic.ca · 2mo ago

Q: In which class will AI ethical use/the tools etc will be taught? Will there be a specific class or just somewhat included in case they are using AI tools on any class? A: There is no specific class where it's taught. The ethical use of AI is part of learning how to use AI responsibly.

The reputation-laundering operation known as AlphaFold has been shut down. It changed culture in damaging ways, and similar protein-structure packages carry the mantle of black-box short-cuts that break the "chain of custody of why", offloading labor to often-haphazard and de-emphasized validation.

Google shuts down its Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold project as it focuses on Gemini - Engadget

DeepMind's award-winning AlphaFold team is no more.

engadget.com

Jed Brown@jedbrown.org · last mo.

The "chain of custody of why" is a load-bearing element of science. In numerical solutions of PDE (as in fluid and structural mechanics), the modern practice of verification (solving the equations right) and validation (solving the right equations) as distinct emerged from painful epistemic flailing

Yes!

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 6d ago

"Students anted to know what their classmates thought rather than what a large language model produced; they wanted to wrestle with difficult readings+complex ideas. They didn’t want to outsource any of this effort to gen AI. They wanted to do the work.” www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...

According to this poll, 39% of people now believe AI does more harm than good, but 34% of people still believe it can "assist with homework or studying" as well as a person. Our schools and universities need to stop uncritically promoting generative AI. news.gallup.com/poll/712751/...

Americans Cool Toward AI

A Bentley University-Gallup survey finds that Americans are more familiar with AI but more cautious about businesses' use of AI and its effect on jobs.

news.gallup.com

When you put AI into classes, you are teaching students to be reliant on a tool for feedback, thought formation, emotional support and friendship. It is a failure on so many levels. Educational, emotional, social.

Full of despair today. Massive lay offs in social sciences and humanities across the country, Burnham puts out a video saying 'AI can write an essay', and my university is busy integrating co-pilot into all staff and student computers. We are being told we're defunct and there's no resistance.

This is an excellent resource for helping to counter the "workplace readiness" hype narrative that seems to be driving a lot of the push toward generative AI in our universities. As this microsite says, "none of this is inevitable," and "the future is up to us."

TechEquity@techequity.bsky.social · last wk.

But what the headlines say is happening and what the research actually shows are two very different things… Scroll through our new microsite to learn more: aijobstory.org

The AI industry “designs its tech and sells it as a tool for automating knowledge work... it’s degrading the work opportunities that exist right now — taking knowledge workers out of full-time employment into gig-work" - @karenhao.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Karen Hao: AI Doesn't Have to Be Built This Way

The author of Empire of AI argues artificial intelligence can be developed without concentrating power, exploiting workers or consuming vast amounts of resources.

bloomberg.com

Important thread!

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2w ago

1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.

From the LinkedIn of an academic I have a lot of respect for.

Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

“Compressing or reducing the curriculum threatens to narrow students’ education at precisely the moment when society needs graduates with stronger critical thinking, communication skills, scientific literacy, & civic understanding." — @proftwolf.bsky.social, @rweingarten.bsky.social #academicsky

Pennsylvania state universities weigh 3-year bachelor’s degree option

The development comes as colleges continue to face criticism over costs and some schools try to stem declining enrollments.

pennlive.com

Just think of all the pedagogical innovations and research on best practices for teaching over the decades that have gotten zero support and funding for implementation, but AI has no proven pedagogical value and is literally sucking up all the funding available in higher ed. These are facts.

How about a jet-lagged live posting while I read? Trying to read this because I keep getting tagged in posts about it, but the first paragraph already contains synthetic text (a quote from Claude). I will skip that bit and persevere... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Could AI be conscious?

Experts believe it’s at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications

theguardian.com

Yes! Absolutely! It is VERY easy to just not use AI! And the benefits are immense: no pesky deskilling, no delusional thinking caused by exposure to chatbot sycophancy, no guilt over wasting resources and ruining other people's lives for the sake of your own convenience, etc.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 3w ago

> Something seems to be lost on my peers today: it’s still easy to not use AI. [...] Eschewing AI is one thing that we can actually do to live out ethics that affirm values of human and environmental rights. It’s almost a gift! Just use a computer the same way you did three years ago!

I am responsible for the academic skills line in our AI programme and I think part of the 26/27 curriculum needs to be to help students understand that all those “AI assistants” that publishers and apps force on them are in fact “traps” for them to avoid. >>

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 3w ago

> Something seems to be lost on my peers today: it’s still easy to not use AI. [...] Eschewing AI is one thing that we can actually do to live out ethics that affirm values of human and environmental rights. It’s almost a gift! Just use a computer the same way you did three years ago!

"don't cite what you haven't read" remains the basic entry level academic responsibility; & if your discpline "doesn't have that as a norm" then sorry, your discipline needs reforming for this new world. Citations are structural parts of trust and knowledge building, not trinkets or optional extras

Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

It should not be like this 😔 Our computers and science software should be default set up in a way that supports scientific integrity and academic autonomy. If you agree, please read, sign, and share our open letter if you have not yet. openletter.earth/open-letter-...