The chatbot boosters are looking for educators to play brand ambassador for more intrusion of so-called "AI" into the classroom. From the American Federation of Teachers' new partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft for a "national academy for AI instruction" to yet more articles extolling the alleged time-saving and future-proofing virtues of LLM-powered ed tech, the hype can feel relentless. Charles Logan joins Alex and Emily for a critical look at the latest propaganda for "AI" in the classroom.

Charles Logan is a former English teacher and current PhD candidate in Learning Sciences at Northwestern University.

References:

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

AI isn’t replacing student writing – but it is reshaping it

AFT to Launch National Academy for AI Instruction with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and United Federation of Teachers

Also referenced:

Tressie McMillan Cottom on "predatory inclusion"

Daniel Greene's "The Access Doctrine"

The Group Chats that Changed America

Fresh AI Hell:

Missouri AG investigating why chatbots don’t like Trump

Gig workers calling ICE on other undocumented gig workers

Tech billionaire Trump adviser Marc Andreessen says universities will ‘pay the price’ for DEI

USF makes a PTSD detector...trained on children

People falling in love with Replika chatbots

Elon Musk thirsting over xAI anime construct

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Music: Toby Menon.
Production: Christie Taylor.
Graphic Design: Naomi Pleasure-Park.

The Washington Post is going all in on AI -- surely this won't be a repeat of any past, disastrous newsroom pivots! 404 Media journalist Samantha Cole joins to talk journalism, LLMs, and why synthetic text is the antithesis of good reporting.

References:

The Washington Post Tells Staff It’s Pivoting to AI: "AI everywhere in our newsroom."
Response: Defector Media Promotes Devin The Dugong To Chief AI Officer, Unveils First AI-Generated Blog

The Washington Post's First AI Strategy Editor Talks LLMs in the Newsroom

Also: New Washington Post CTO comes from Uber

The Washington Post debuts AI chatbot, will summarize climate articles.

Media companies are making a huge mistake with AI

When ChatGPT summarizes, it does nothing of the kind

Fresh AI Hell:

"AI" Alan Turning

Google advertises Gemini for writing synthetic fan letters

Dutch Judge uses ChatGPT's answers to factual questions in ruling

Is GenAI coming to your home appliances?

AcademicGPT (Galactica redux)

"AI" generated images in medical science, again (now retracted)

You can check out future streams at http://twitch.tv/dair_institute.

Follow Emily at https://twitter.com/EmilyMBender and https://dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Follow Alex at https://twitter.com/alexhanna and https://dair-community.social/@alex

Music: Toby Menon.
Production: Christie Taylor.
Graphic Design: Naomi Pleasure-Park.