Ben Williamson
@benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Researching data, tech, futures, and biological sciences in education | Senior Lecturer and co-director at the Centre for Research in Digital Education | University of Edinburgh | Editor of Learning, Media and Technology @lmt-journal.bsky.social
Pinned
Tracing the social half-life of a zombie citation
Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” This term refers to references of academic publications that do not ex…
codeactsineducation.wordpress.com
Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” I tried following one to see how these references are infecting academic knowledge systems codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/t...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
As AI reshapes how governments analyze public input and write laws, questions of transparency and democratic legitimacy loom large, Chris-Stokel Walker reports for Tech Policy Press.
Governments Are Using AI To Draft Legislation. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The power of AI to parse public responses or draft legislation is recognized worldwide. But how should lawmakers and leaders use the tech?
www.techpolicy.press
February 10, 2026 at 4:16 PM
As AI reshapes how governments analyze public input and write laws, questions of transparency and democratic legitimacy loom large, Chris-Stokel Walker reports for Tech Policy Press.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
"When you see those sparkles next time, remember: you’re witnessing the tech industry’s commitment to mystification over clarity, vibes over user research, and enchantment over explanation,” writes Berk Alkoç.
The Mystical Art of Making Maths Sparkle: A Wizard's Guide to Statistical Sorcery - Better Images of AI Blog
Berk Alkoç traces the emergence of this visual metaphor and unpacks the implications of using sparkles to represent AI. In his own 5 steps of statistical sorcery, Berk criticises the corporate narrati...
blog.betterimagesofai.org
February 10, 2026 at 3:11 PM
"When you see those sparkles next time, remember: you’re witnessing the tech industry’s commitment to mystification over clarity, vibes over user research, and enchantment over explanation,” writes Berk Alkoç.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
📣 The public deserves more than basic training on how to use AI. That’s why we’re launching a new AI Civics initiative, treating AI not as a tool to be mastered, but as a domain of civic life where people have rights, responsibilities, & avenues for collective action. datasociety.net/points/build...
February 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
📣 The public deserves more than basic training on how to use AI. That’s why we’re launching a new AI Civics initiative, treating AI not as a tool to be mastered, but as a domain of civic life where people have rights, responsibilities, & avenues for collective action. datasociety.net/points/build...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
New today in The Important Work from @kconrad.bsky.social. Questions to ask when the ed tech companies come to your campus. Wise and useful.
What to ask when AI vendors show up on campus
These procurement decisions are coming, whether or not they benefit student learning
theimportantwork.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:33 PM
New today in The Important Work from @kconrad.bsky.social. Questions to ask when the ed tech companies come to your campus. Wise and useful.
The 3 forms of academic content assetization we explore are:
- universities enclosing educators' content for use in platformized learning programs
- edtech companies building databases of academic assignments and manuscripts
- publishers licensing academic papers to AI companies for LLM training.
- universities enclosing educators' content for use in platformized learning programs
- edtech companies building databases of academic assignments and manuscripts
- publishers licensing academic papers to AI companies for LLM training.
February 10, 2026 at 10:53 AM
The 3 forms of academic content assetization we explore are:
- universities enclosing educators' content for use in platformized learning programs
- edtech companies building databases of academic assignments and manuscripts
- publishers licensing academic papers to AI companies for LLM training.
- universities enclosing educators' content for use in platformized learning programs
- edtech companies building databases of academic assignments and manuscripts
- publishers licensing academic papers to AI companies for LLM training.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
The social function of AI:
February 10, 2026 at 8:54 AM
The social function of AI:
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education
Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...
link.springer.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:13 AM
New OA article just out on "assetizing academic content" led by @jkom.bsky.social with me, @keanbirch.bsky.social & Klaus Beiter, exploring how academic materials are turned into value-generating digital assets by HE institutions, edtech platforms, and AI companies link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
"Assetization of academic content (and assetization in HE more broadly) constructs students and staff as a new kind of economic actor – an ‘assetizen’...with diminished educational and social rights as assetization becomes a governance principle in higher education.”
Assetizing academic content and the emergence of the ‘assetizen’: education platforms, publisher databases, and AI model training - Higher Education
Higher Education - Academic content, such as teaching materials and academic publications, has become an economic resource. This has occurred through assetization as the key economic regime in...
link.springer.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:26 PM
"Assetization of academic content (and assetization in HE more broadly) constructs students and staff as a new kind of economic actor – an ‘assetizen’...with diminished educational and social rights as assetization becomes a governance principle in higher education.”
Reposted by Ben Williamson
This classified is from the Ann Arbor Sun, 1973. An essay writing (and computer programming!) service promising fast relief from “the verbal constipation of synthetic education.”
In other words, the transactional model has been with us for a long time and students are smart enough to know it.
In other words, the transactional model has been with us for a long time and students are smart enough to know it.
February 8, 2026 at 7:04 PM
This classified is from the Ann Arbor Sun, 1973. An essay writing (and computer programming!) service promising fast relief from “the verbal constipation of synthetic education.”
In other words, the transactional model has been with us for a long time and students are smart enough to know it.
In other words, the transactional model has been with us for a long time and students are smart enough to know it.
Yes, and Anne-Marie used to be here at Edinburgh U and is one of few thinking hard abput tech procurement
February 8, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Yes, and Anne-Marie used to be here at Edinburgh U and is one of few thinking hard abput tech procurement
Reposted by Ben Williamson
The PowerSchool breach exposed 62M students’ most sensitive records. It also revealed a policy vacuum, argues Danai Nhando, as accountability mechanisms failed to address systemic problems, including the centralization of data, weak security defaults, and governance failures.
Unmasking EdTech's Surveillance Infrastructure in the Age of AI
Danai Nhando discusses how the PowerSchool breach, which exposed 62M student records, reveals systemic edtech data governance failures.
buff.ly
February 7, 2026 at 11:54 PM
The PowerSchool breach exposed 62M students’ most sensitive records. It also revealed a policy vacuum, argues Danai Nhando, as accountability mechanisms failed to address systemic problems, including the centralization of data, weak security defaults, and governance failures.
Technology procurement in education is indeed boring, which is why it gets little attention, but it is possible to have procurement processes that start with, for example, *public values*. I doubt OpenAI would get through such a process because it's predating the public for private gain.
The boring work of procurement and the need for public scrutiny of proposed contracts with tech companies are essential safeguards against the uncritical adoption of GenAI in K-12 schools.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
SFUSD Approves OpenAI Contract, Bypassing School Board
The San Francisco Unified School District signed a contract with OpenAI three weeks before seeking approval from its school board.
www.sfpublicpress.org
February 8, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Technology procurement in education is indeed boring, which is why it gets little attention, but it is possible to have procurement processes that start with, for example, *public values*. I doubt OpenAI would get through such a process because it's predating the public for private gain.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
The boring work of procurement and the need for public scrutiny of proposed contracts with tech companies are essential safeguards against the uncritical adoption of GenAI in K-12 schools.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
SFUSD Approves OpenAI Contract, Bypassing School Board
The San Francisco Unified School District signed a contract with OpenAI three weeks before seeking approval from its school board.
www.sfpublicpress.org
February 7, 2026 at 5:07 PM
The boring work of procurement and the need for public scrutiny of proposed contracts with tech companies are essential safeguards against the uncritical adoption of GenAI in K-12 schools.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
As a parent and educator, if my district leaders did something like this, I would be furious.
One of our neighbours in rural Scotland recently moaned on FB about the local kids building a fire pit in the woods and suggested they should all go to cub scouts instead ... where most of them were actually taught to build fire pits [sigh, big sigh]
February 8, 2026 at 12:23 AM
One of our neighbours in rural Scotland recently moaned on FB about the local kids building a fire pit in the woods and suggested they should all go to cub scouts instead ... where most of them were actually taught to build fire pits [sigh, big sigh]
Here's the Viewpoints piece on the "role of AI in education" from a few decades back, which also explicitly claims that technology plays a large part in "determining" education. Fascinating historical text looking back at it from now www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) A role for AI in education: Using technology to reshape education
PDF | An abstract is not available. | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate
www.researchgate.net
February 8, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Here's the Viewpoints piece on the "role of AI in education" from a few decades back, which also explicitly claims that technology plays a large part in "determining" education. Fascinating historical text looking back at it from now www.researchgate.net/publication/...
AI in education has never been just a commercial intrusion, but a scientific field-building business centred on well-funded technical innovations and "learning science". Its apparent "success" today builds on that, by adding value-generating platform subscriptions and contractual lock-ins.
February 7, 2026 at 11:38 PM
AI in education has never been just a commercial intrusion, but a scientific field-building business centred on well-funded technical innovations and "learning science". Its apparent "success" today builds on that, by adding value-generating platform subscriptions and contractual lock-ins.
The much longer history of AI in education - as a scientific practice, as a public-private enterprise, as an interest of consultancy and defence funders - seems to offer some genealogical clues to why many AIEd researchers today are so happy about OpenAI et al realizing their field's ambitions.
February 7, 2026 at 11:20 PM
The much longer history of AI in education - as a scientific practice, as a public-private enterprise, as an interest of consultancy and defence funders - seems to offer some genealogical clues to why many AIEd researchers today are so happy about OpenAI et al realizing their field's ambitions.
Not only were these authors pushing the idea of AI in education, but they were also building a centre set up outside of the discipline of educational research with funding from a Chicago-based corporate consulting firm and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defense.
February 7, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Not only were these authors pushing the idea of AI in education, but they were also building a centre set up outside of the discipline of educational research with funding from a Chicago-based corporate consulting firm and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defense.
This "Viewpoint" article was authored from the new "Institute of Learning Sciences" at Northwestern U and set out "A role for AI in education" and argued "AI people" were well qualified to "improve education" because of their combined knowledge of technology and learning and understanding.
![Screenshot of article titled "A role for AI in education: uding technology to reshape education". Text includes:
AI concerns itself with getting machines to read, to reason, to express themselves, to make generalizations, and to learn. These issues are the stuff of education after all. … AI people are in a unique position to improve education … . [W]e can couple our expertise in computer technology with our theories of learning and understanding to build computer-based instructional systems that will have a positive impact on education.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rl2szulxujlgdcmx4avx7jyn/bafkreigvqcwtl2rpmii4ej5me6w5y2oocqdiczxocwpx4oof6nhrqrj33m@jpeg)
February 7, 2026 at 11:11 PM
This "Viewpoint" article was authored from the new "Institute of Learning Sciences" at Northwestern U and set out "A role for AI in education" and argued "AI people" were well qualified to "improve education" because of their combined knowledge of technology and learning and understanding.
When most people think of AI in education they probably don't think of scientific journals old enough to exist online as black and white photocopies. Here's a cover from the first volume of the Journal of AI in Education 1989/90. It contains a really signficant paper...
February 7, 2026 at 11:01 PM
When most people think of AI in education they probably don't think of scientific journals old enough to exist online as black and white photocopies. Here's a cover from the first volume of the Journal of AI in Education 1989/90. It contains a really signficant paper...
I remain to be convinced that AI-generated research syntheses on the effects of AI in education will make great resources - esp if the stated caveat is their underlying sources need to be checked manually - but I don't doubt they'll be widely consulted and cited without such checks taking place. 😑
February 7, 2026 at 10:10 PM
I remain to be convinced that AI-generated research syntheses on the effects of AI in education will make great resources - esp if the stated caveat is their underlying sources need to be checked manually - but I don't doubt they'll be widely consulted and cited without such checks taking place. 😑
I reviewed a "review of reviews" of edtech effects on learning outcomes recently. Many underlying studies in the meta-reviews were so shonky:
- isolating tech from contexts as if the school environment *does not exist*
- reporting *perceptions* of benefits as evidence of learning improvement 😬
- isolating tech from contexts as if the school environment *does not exist*
- reporting *perceptions* of benefits as evidence of learning improvement 😬
February 7, 2026 at 10:04 PM
I reviewed a "review of reviews" of edtech effects on learning outcomes recently. Many underlying studies in the meta-reviews were so shonky:
- isolating tech from contexts as if the school environment *does not exist*
- reporting *perceptions* of benefits as evidence of learning improvement 😬
- isolating tech from contexts as if the school environment *does not exist*
- reporting *perceptions* of benefits as evidence of learning improvement 😬
The "gold standard" for research syntheses has always been meta-analyses but many on AI in education are already polluted by their inclusion of junk studies. Are AI-generated syntheses that require readers to "check the sources" an improvement? codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/e...
Enumerating AI effects in education
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash Over recent weeks, controversy has surfaced over research publications claiming to show statistical evidence that generative AI has beneficial effects on learning.…
codeactsineducation.wordpress.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:13 PM
The "gold standard" for research syntheses has always been meta-analyses but many on AI in education are already polluted by their inclusion of junk studies. Are AI-generated syntheses that require readers to "check the sources" an improvement? codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/e...
The production of evidence of effects of AI in education is now so frenzied and fast-paced that the new effort is to synthesize it all and of course that means these "Research syntheses are AI-generated" and come with caveats www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/stanfor...
February 7, 2026 at 9:05 PM
The production of evidence of effects of AI in education is now so frenzied and fast-paced that the new effort is to synthesize it all and of course that means these "Research syntheses are AI-generated" and come with caveats www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/stanfor...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
"As AI transforms academic labor, much more is at stake than the terms & conditions of our employment. At stake is the very integrity of the teaching & learning process & the notion that all humanity—not just a few individuals—should benefit from the production of knowledge at our universities."
Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor.
Who benefits when AI is introduced into higher education?
By Ulises A. Mejias (adapted from an earlier op-ed at Future U blog.) www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
Who benefits when AI is introduced into higher education?
By Ulises A. Mejias (adapted from an earlier op-ed at Future U blog.) www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor
AI is reinscribing academic labor in ways that privilege certain economics interests.
www.aaup.org
February 6, 2026 at 4:55 PM
"As AI transforms academic labor, much more is at stake than the terms & conditions of our employment. At stake is the very integrity of the teaching & learning process & the notion that all humanity—not just a few individuals—should benefit from the production of knowledge at our universities."