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AI, University Legitimacy, and the New Social Contract

BY NATE BENNETT When a Northeastern University professor was discovered secretly using generative AI tools to create course materials while prohibiting students from using them, the controversy exposed more than personal hypocrisy. It illustrated a broader legitimacy crisis confronting higher education. Versions of this story surface repeatedly in conversations with colleagues: AI is already woven…

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Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Fakery

BY DAVID PICKUS AND ROBERT NIEBUHR Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just a tool, they say. For universities, the idea is that this tool enhances learning. Furthermore, the promise continues that AI is a great equalizer that will increase access to knowledge. Our objection to AI in universities does not center on the march of technology,…

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Don’t Believe the AI Hype

BY JONATHAN REES Do you remember MOOCs? I realize that that question is itself cliche now, but if you do remember massive open online courses you almost certainly remember the quote about how in the future there were only going to be ten universities and that “There’s a tsunami coming.” Needless to say, there are…

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Fighting Weaponized AI in Higher Education

BY BRITT S. PARIS, LINDSAY WEINBERG, AND EMMA MAY Tomorrow, July 23, the Trump administration plans to release an “AI action plan” that reflects the White House’s priorities for expanding the artificial intelligence industry. It builds on one of the first directives from the second Trump administration, Executive Order (EO) 14179, “Removing Barriers to American…

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Set a Good Example

BY JONATHAN REES I have seen exactly one use of AI of which I actually approve. My friend Alegria fed our faculty handbook into NotebookLM, a Google product that can set bounds on what your artificial intelligence digests. Our handbook is an absolute monstrosity. It gives me a headache just to think about it because…

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Why You Should Be Unrelentingly Hostile to AI

BY JONATHAN REES This post is about the biggest threat to the jobs of college professors in America today. No, not that guy. Not the guy with the chain saw either. I’m writing about that other subject that you’re sick of reading about because it just makes you depressed. I first wrote about AI for…

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On Meme Culture Today

BY AMIR HUSSAIN Critics and educators may plausibly perceive social media as preferring and promulgating fragmentary thinking, consumerist scrolling, and buzzwords over the attention to nuance and context that is cultivated in university settings. But the emergence of this arena nonetheless needs to be seen as relevant—even vital—for considering the intellectual and political landscape of…

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Online Classes That Are Close to the Bottom

BY JONATHAN REES Did your online social life survive the Great Twitter Exodus of 2022? Although I’ve found Mastodon to be somewhat useful in this regard, I lost track of far too many online “friends” to count. That has only just now started to change. For example, Audrey Watters made her well-earned reputation during the…