Thanks for these! I will check them out. Critical hedonism, fun title.

That's a wonderful point that we shouldn't just look at the desire to work with chatbots as evidence of addiction to something pernicious. It's also a desire to return to a play space where it's easier than ever to play with ideas.

Agree it's very interesting! I think @boxomcfoxo.bsky.social is onto something--I do think the sycophancy is a sweetener for me at times when I'm looking for validation, but the main draw is just the quick responsiveness--having a willing partner in labor.

Thanks for sharing that--I also find myself responding to the praise even though I think I don't want it to be sycophantic... Tricky.

Craving for a dopamine hit often sends me to social media... I just noticed a similar impulse to switch over to Claude. That hadn't happened before, and I don't think it's a desirable rewiring. Maybe it's because it's getting better at giving me what I want. (Not sugarcoating here).

Glad I can now ask Gemini, "Which airline did I take to Baltimore in Spring 2025, and how much did I pay?"

It answers with links to the relevant emails.

This would probably work with Claude-Gmail integration too.

They lose all credibility...

New motto for Amazon: We may be rotten, but at least we’re not Instructure

@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social

Judge orders Perplexity to stop AI agents from shopping on Amazon The AI browser fight heats up.

Amazon doesn't want AI agents shopping on humans' behalf.

A judge just said the AI agent companies have to respect that and keep their agents out.

Where are the LMS companies saying, "We don't want AI agents completing learning activities on students' behalf"?

www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

What’s the Point of School When AI Can Do Your Homework? The creator of the AI agent “Einstein” wants to free humans from the burden of academic labor. Critics say that misses the point of education entirely.

Two members of the MLA Task Force on AI in Research and Teaching, @annamillsoer.bsky.social and
@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social, were interviewed about the future of agentic AI in higher education. Read their comments in this article from 404 Media: www.404media.co/whats-the-po...

I don't mean to imply that AI can only be mental junk food. No, it can spur thinking too. The potato chips are a metaphor for using it to avoid thinking.

AI = open bag of potato chips next to the keyboard?
@alexrockey.bsky.social suggested this metaphor for the temptation to use AI for autocompletion of homework.

It's not enough to just trust students or try to motivate them not to misuse AI. You have to make it harder to get to the bag.

As with the rise of the Internet, AI is overhyped and still a huge deal.

I'm pretty sure Ezra Klein is not taking the "we need to engage with AI" position because of marketing hype. Of course there are unconscious influences, but he's looked into it pretty deeply.

We also saw this with the rise of the Internet. Some things are both a big deal and overhyped in certain ways.

Exactly.

MLA, ACLS, and AHA lawsuit reveals use of ChatGPT in illegal termination of grants by DOGE. Motion for summary judgment asserts violations of the First Amendment; violations of the Equal Protection Clause; and violation of the separation of powers. mla.org/NEH-Lawsuit

The MLA, @acls1919.bsky.social, and @historians.org have filed a motion for summary judgment in our lawsuit to restore the NEH. Discovery documents reveal that DOGE rather than the acting chair led grant terminations and targeted grants using ChatGPT. More at mla.org/NEH-Lawsuit

Feeling more awe, fear and admiration as I read Claude outputs these days. Missing the era of frequent AI tells and absurdity a la Janelle Shane's AIWeirdness.com.

Reminders: our systems are not built to respect teacher time and labor. Not all that sparkles is AI.

1. For years, teachers are required to use a for-profit system that doesn't include a basic search function.

2. When the company finally offers search, it brands it as AI with double sparkles.

😂

Screenshot from Canvas of IgniteAI Search with an AI sparkle logo, a search box with grayed out text reading Search this course, and a search button with another sparkle AI logo.

Hilarious that Canvas' agentic AI features include search!
Really! There was no Canvas search before. They've added it and branded it "IgniteAI."

Thanks! I have made some corrections already based on feedback from people who said their session was omitted or should be classified elsewhere, and I hope people will offer more...

I can see where you're coming from; more caveats could be helpful. I provided what seemed appropriate in my judgement with the understanding that I wasn't making any grand claims about the implications and that interested folks would consider and draw their own conclusions...

I appreciate the input. Maybe someone else would want to adapt the spreadsheet and recategorize.

"This gives the readers the impression that the numbers are going to answer this question." Fair point. However, given the rest of the framing I gave, I hope it's clear that I'm suggesting that the numbers are one thing to consider when we try to answer the question.

I hear you that there are other ways to alleviate the concern too... that would be helpful.

You think it's misleading, though? I'm not making any grand claims about what it signifies or how precise it is. The intention is to go against polarization.

Thank you for these reflections; these are all great points. My experiment has its limits... I have run into people who are nervous that if they present about using AI they will be harshly criticized at C's, so I thought it was important to highlight how many people at C's are exploring uses.

One might also add this year's outstanding diss award was about using AI. So many Cs folks doing cool research on GenAI (incl. some of the leadership). In any event, YES, NO, WTF, and 'let's think about this more' are all viable positions. Our field is never just one thing, and I love that for us.

Watch out writing teachers, you might have a student like my son. He organized his friends to use the made-up word "intactalizes" in their essays. The teacher marked up various errors but made no comment on the unusual diction...

I just pray if it happens to me I'll notice and inquire....