Next Wednesday 2/25 at U Kentucky

Thinking Through...The AI Con & Deconstructing the Hype YouTube video by Thinking Through Podcast

Worth waiting for! @alexhanna.bsky.social and I did a LOT of podcast guesting last spring & summer and this one, one of my favorites, is finally available:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmk...

We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI' | TechPolicy.Press We share a responsibility to create and use empowering metaphors rather than misleading language, write Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie.

"The media has largely let [tech companies] set the terms of the debate, right down to the terminology used in any discussion of these systems."

From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".

Political cartoonists are not fuckin’ around this week. (thread)

1. Pat Bagley

THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS

THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context

"I refuse." This is it. There's no reason we should accept a narrative of an already settled future which marginalizes humans and individual agency. No one wants this. No one asked for it.

The impact of generative Ai on the Novel, Dr Clementine Collett. The logos of BRAID, MCTD, the Institute for the Future of Work, the Uni of Cambridge, and UKRI all feature. The image is a curved wall bookcase filled with books.

NEW REPORT – The Impact of Generative AI and the Novel 📚

Today we've published new research by @clemicollett.bsky.social examining how industry practitioners, from novelists to publishers, are experiencing AI’s significant impacts.

Read now: www.mctd.ac.uk/impact-of-ge...

What’s the Point of Learning a Language? For me, it’s always started with a feeling. A leap into somewhere unfamiliar. A desire not just to visit, but to understand. Not just to speak, but to connect. It’s never been about ticking boxes, …

I didn’t learn languages to get somewhere; I learned them to be somewhere. I’ve done it for the taxi rides, the balcony conversations, the glances of shared understanding. Not to perform, but to belong. To connect. That’s the real point. And it changes everything. albarolanguages.com/2025/06/21/w...

Opinion | Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It? Technology should facilitate learning, not substitute for it.

Here's a more in-depth article: www.chronicle.com/article/is-a... It's good

Great to connect, Nancy! Please get in touch if you’re ever passing through Lex

Looking forward to spending the coming months building out a website and digitizing parts of the collection to make it more accessible for researchers near and far

Crossing the uncanny valley of conversational voice At Sesame, our goal is to achieve “voice presence”—the magical quality that makes spoken interactions feel real, understood, and valued.

Have you come across Sesame yet? Pretty amazing stuff in the works for voice assistants www.sesame.com/research/cro...

I created a thing! It is definitely missing people - if you are a person who should be on it, pls let me know! go.bsky.app/8HazBeR

The Democracy Index February 14, 2025

Proud to be a contributor to a weekly feature in The Contrarian called The Democracy Index. We’ll filter out the noise and focus on news that threatens democracy. Here is the first installment.

I am increasingly distressed by academia's uncritical adoption of what are marketed as AI tools, as it is increasingly clear how many of the adopters (both individuals and uni reps purchasing services) have no idea what they're actually buying.

Photograph of Anastasia and Marina Tsvetaeva in their childhood, advertising the opening of the American Archive on Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva at U Kentucky Libraries

Join us this Tues, Dec 3 at 4:00pm on the 2nd floor of King Library (special collections side) to mark the opening of the American Archive on Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva. I'll be giving a lecture, and we'll have an exhibit of items from the collection and a reception. Free and open to the public!

I love the new affiliate talks for UKY's Committee on Social Theory. Come meet our colleagues and learn about their amazing research! Fri Nov 22 noon at Bingham Davis House

As of the most recent call, *not a single one of Kentucky's 120 counties*, even across deep red parts of the Commonwealth, went in favor of private school vouchers.

Kentuckians fucking love public education, and we know it deserves our protection.

agb.org/trusteeship-...