Lois Weiner
@drloisweiner.bsky.social
Career teacher, education prof, teacher union activist. Researcher, writer, in the struggle for social justice, union democracy. Socialist. https://loisweiner.net/ and https://futureschools.substack.com/
"No thanks" indeed. Replies raise other critical issues. Is this happening at your university? Please share details.
My employer, Univ. Colorado will pay OpenAI $2M/year under the banner of “equity”. That’s 54 full scholarships / year. Plus, our IT will be able to read our chatGPT logs, and our chats can be requested under public records law. No thanks. Surveillance is not equity
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
CU signs $2M OpenAI deal for ChatGPT access
Students and faculty will gain access to ChatGPT Edu starting in March under a three-year deal.
www.axios.com
February 15, 2026 at 1:20 PM
"No thanks" indeed. Replies raise other critical issues. Is this happening at your university? Please share details.
Reposted by Lois Weiner
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
High school students on the cutting edge of resistance to Trump. Dems and unions could learn from them. www.latimes.com/california/s...
February 14, 2026 at 9:44 AM
High school students on the cutting edge of resistance to Trump. Dems and unions could learn from them. www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Lois Weiner
Another story where you realise that absolutely no one has any idea how to deal with all the AI papers being cranked out.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How AI slop is causing a crisis in computer science
Preprint repositories and conference organizers are having to counter a tide of ‘AI slop’ submissions.
www.nature.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:34 AM
Another story where you realise that absolutely no one has any idea how to deal with all the AI papers being cranked out.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Schumer has a lot to learn from Cardi B.
After DHS’s social media morons tried to call out Cardi B for criticizing ICE, she brought up the Epstein files. It’s been crickets ever since.
www.jezebel.com/cardi-b-shut...
www.jezebel.com/cardi-b-shut...
Cardi B Shut Up DHS Real Fast
After DHS’s social media morons tried to call out Cardi B for criticizing ICE, she brought up the Epstein files. It’s been crickets ever since.
www.jezebel.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Schumer has a lot to learn from Cardi B.
Reposted by Lois Weiner
*If* the federal government actually retreats in Minnesota, I will never, ever let anybody forget that it was the people, not the courts, that made them do it.
February 13, 2026 at 5:04 PM
*If* the federal government actually retreats in Minnesota, I will never, ever let anybody forget that it was the people, not the courts, that made them do it.
Organizing means showing leadership and isn't the same as being a clearing house for events others build. Alas, AFT's March 4 "Day of Fight" doesn't show what we need to fight the Right and Trump we need beyond voting, shown so well by those who are actually doing it: www.aft.org/protect-our-...
March 4 Day of Action to Protect Our Kids, Our Families and Our Communities
Fighting for a Better Life for AllJoin Us on March 4!Visit and share AFT’s Mobilize page to find an event.Find an event near youLife is getting harder—not easier. Instead of helping kids and families ...
www.aft.org
February 12, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Organizing means showing leadership and isn't the same as being a clearing house for events others build. Alas, AFT's March 4 "Day of Fight" doesn't show what we need to fight the Right and Trump we need beyond voting, shown so well by those who are actually doing it: www.aft.org/protect-our-...
Reposted by Lois Weiner
Google provided ICE with a wide array of personal data student activist and journalist Amandla Thomas-Johnson, including his credit card and bank account numbers.
Google Handed ICE Student Journalist’s Bank and Credit Card Numbers
Amandla Thomas-Johnson didn't know how much information ICE requested in a subpoena now. Google never gave him a chance to fight it.
interc.pt
February 10, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Google provided ICE with a wide array of personal data student activist and journalist Amandla Thomas-Johnson, including his credit card and bank account numbers.
Interesting in-progress study suggests AI use (in tech companies, at least) increases workload, any productivity gains come at workers' expense: hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It
One of the promises of AI is that it can reduce workloads so employees can focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks. But according to new research, AI tools don’t reduce work, they consisten...
hbr.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Interesting in-progress study suggests AI use (in tech companies, at least) increases workload, any productivity gains come at workers' expense: hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d...
Reposted by Lois Weiner
They're not stopping at your birth certificate. SAVE 2.0 would END online voter registration in , KILL mail-in registration, and STOP voter registration drives.
It's a full-scale attack on your right to vote.
Call (202) 224-3121 #StopTheSaveAct
social.demcast.com/s/R45R2G16
It's a full-scale attack on your right to vote.
Call (202) 224-3121 #StopTheSaveAct
social.demcast.com/s/R45R2G16
February 11, 2026 at 1:07 AM
They're not stopping at your birth certificate. SAVE 2.0 would END online voter registration in , KILL mail-in registration, and STOP voter registration drives.
It's a full-scale attack on your right to vote.
Call (202) 224-3121 #StopTheSaveAct
social.demcast.com/s/R45R2G16
It's a full-scale attack on your right to vote.
Call (202) 224-3121 #StopTheSaveAct
social.demcast.com/s/R45R2G16
You can help stop Israel's propaganda campaign in our schools by signing this excellent letter to educators: "The ADL is Not a Social Justice Partner." I signed, hope you do too: actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-o...
Sign-on to Open Letter to Educators: The ADL is Not a Social Justice Partner
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has long marketed itself as an expert advisor to school communities on antisemitism and other forms of bias. However, despite its reputation as a civil rights organiza...
actionnetwork.org
February 11, 2026 at 7:46 AM
You can help stop Israel's propaganda campaign in our schools by signing this excellent letter to educators: "The ADL is Not a Social Justice Partner." I signed, hope you do too: actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-o...
Sometimes cynicism is the correct response. Read the comments!
SEN. LUMMIS: “.. I’ve not been one of the members who has glommed on to this as an issue. .. I’ve sort of intentionally deferred to others to find out about it. But 9-year-old victims … wow.”
@thehill.com
thehill.com/homenews/sen...
@thehill.com
thehill.com/homenews/sen...
February 10, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Sometimes cynicism is the correct response. Read the comments!
Exactly right! Which is why the AFL-CIO's deal with Microsoft on AI contradicts what working people need - and what our unions should be doing: aflcio.org/press/releas...
February 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Exactly right! Which is why the AFL-CIO's deal with Microsoft on AI contradicts what working people need - and what our unions should be doing: aflcio.org/press/releas...
Wow! If it weren't in the works it would be dystopian. But it is, so it's here, our present not a future imagined. Question is what we do with this info? Emails and phone calls to our representatives are not adequate!
NEW: Ring has introduced "Search Party", a horrifyingly dystopian feature nominally designed to turn all of the Ring cameras in a neighborhood into a dragnet that uses AI to look for, in their commercial, a cute lost dog.
With Ring, US consumers are actually building a surveillance dragnet.
With Ring, US consumers are actually building a surveillance dragnet.
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.
www.404media.co
February 10, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Wow! If it weren't in the works it would be dystopian. But it is, so it's here, our present not a future imagined. Question is what we do with this info? Emails and phone calls to our representatives are not adequate!
Please ignore all stories about diminished academic achievement that rely solely on standardized test scores that are based on criteria established far away from schools, teachers, students, parents.
Last year, Michigan third graders posted the worst reading and writing results in the 11-year history of a state exam. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hopes to turn that performance around with new budget proposal.
Whitmer aims to boost literacy as Michigan students struggle with reading
Last year, Michigan third graders posted the worst reading and writing results in the 11-year history of a state exam. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hopes to turn that performance around with new budget proposal.
bit.ly
February 10, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Please ignore all stories about diminished academic achievement that rely solely on standardized test scores that are based on criteria established far away from schools, teachers, students, parents.
ICYMI: Dan Kaufman's NYT mag piece on the rank-and-file movement of federal workers to make their union AFGE fight is noteworthy because of the particulars but perhaps even more so because maybe, finally, it's OK to write as a critical friend of the unions, which the left press mostly shuns.
February 10, 2026 at 10:18 AM
ICYMI: Dan Kaufman's NYT mag piece on the rank-and-file movement of federal workers to make their union AFGE fight is noteworthy because of the particulars but perhaps even more so because maybe, finally, it's OK to write as a critical friend of the unions, which the left press mostly shuns.
Educators in SF are on strike demanding conditions that allow all kids and those who work in schools to succeed. That means well-staffed classrooms, supports for teaching to be a career. I signed this letter to show my support. Hope you do too: actionnetwork.org/letters/san-...
San Francisco Families, Educators, and Community Demand Stable Schools NOW!
Educators in San Francisco have been demanding that district leaders address the stability crisis in our district for years. Year after year, our educators, students and families must endure staffing ...
actionnetwork.org
February 10, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Educators in SF are on strike demanding conditions that allow all kids and those who work in schools to succeed. That means well-staffed classrooms, supports for teaching to be a career. I signed this letter to show my support. Hope you do too: actionnetwork.org/letters/san-...
Training AI to distinguish right for wrong requires one understands the difference. Anthropic stole our work. Was that right? If not, what's an employee's responsibility to challenge that decision, name it as theft, insist on "intelligence" that respects more than profit? Just asking!
“She compares her work to the efforts of a parent raising a child. She’s training Claude to detect the difference between right and wrong while imbuing it with unique personality traits.”
This Philosopher Is Teaching AI to Have Morals
The tech company has entrusted the philosopher to endow its chatbot with a sense of right and wrong.
www.wsj.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Training AI to distinguish right for wrong requires one understands the difference. Anthropic stole our work. Was that right? If not, what's an employee's responsibility to challenge that decision, name it as theft, insist on "intelligence" that respects more than profit? Just asking!
To teach AI to know right from wrong, one has to know the difference. Anthropic stole my work. Was that moral? If not, what's an employee's responsibility to correct the damage? Not the convo this philosopher wants us to have.
“She compares her work to the efforts of a parent raising a child. She’s training Claude to detect the difference between right and wrong while imbuing it with unique personality traits.”
This Philosopher Is Teaching AI to Have Morals
The tech company has entrusted the philosopher to endow its chatbot with a sense of right and wrong.
www.wsj.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
To teach AI to know right from wrong, one has to know the difference. Anthropic stole my work. Was that moral? If not, what's an employee's responsibility to correct the damage? Not the convo this philosopher wants us to have.
NYT column of two expert tech bros about "the rapidly changing world of tech" captures what's wrong with most tech reporting - no critical understanding of basic political and economic questions, like "Why do we need increased productivity created by AI?" and "Who decides?" and "Who should decide?"
February 9, 2026 at 3:28 PM
NYT column of two expert tech bros about "the rapidly changing world of tech" captures what's wrong with most tech reporting - no critical understanding of basic political and economic questions, like "Why do we need increased productivity created by AI?" and "Who decides?" and "Who should decide?"
This generation has been changed by resistance to Trump. They and our society won't be the same.
in their walkout speech, Nathalie told their classmates,
"We’re being dehumanized and there’s nothing we can really do about it because we’re high schoolers... Not only are our parents being hunted, taken and kidnapped, but it’s also our little siblings being used as bait and then being taken."
"We’re being dehumanized and there’s nothing we can really do about it because we’re high schoolers... Not only are our parents being hunted, taken and kidnapped, but it’s also our little siblings being used as bait and then being taken."
These are the high schoolers taking a stand against ICE: ‘You can’t let despair take over’
Thousands of students across the US have been walking out of their schools to protest ICE in their communities
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:18 PM
This generation has been changed by resistance to Trump. They and our society won't be the same.
Reposted by Lois Weiner
Tom Holman said that 700 ICE agents were being moved from Minneapolis but can anyone actually confirm that they did? It sure seems like he was lying.
A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:
February 8, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Tom Holman said that 700 ICE agents were being moved from Minneapolis but can anyone actually confirm that they did? It sure seems like he was lying.
Contract faculty are full-time, do arguably the hardest teaching, (those large lecture classes), and are hired on contracts that have to be renewed, sometimes annually. NYU shows utter disdain for students and teaching by refusing to treat these faculty with the respect they and their work deserve.
"Fifteen months after they began talks for their first union contract, more than 900 professors at New York University will begin voting on whether to authorize a strike on Monday, Feb. 9."
@uawregion9a.bsky.social
www.work-bites.com/view-all/nyu...
@uawregion9a.bsky.social
www.work-bites.com/view-all/nyu...
NYU ‘Falls Flat’ Without Us: More than 900 NYU Professors to Vote on Strike Authorization — Work-Bites
By Steve Wishnia Fifteen months after they began talks for their first union contract, more than 900 professors at New York University will begin voting on whether to authorize a strike on Monday, F...
www.work-bites.com
February 8, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Contract faculty are full-time, do arguably the hardest teaching, (those large lecture classes), and are hired on contracts that have to be renewed, sometimes annually. NYU shows utter disdain for students and teaching by refusing to treat these faculty with the respect they and their work deserve.
Reposted by Lois Weiner
One of my favorite songs is "Dare to be Stupid." This is about as stupid as I can imagine. I think it's time for the leadership of the Florida GOP to consider everything they know is wrong.
This week at Group Threat, I spoke with @grundrza.bsky.social about Florida's censorship regime, teaching under authoritarianism, and how folks are coping (or not).
What's the Matter with Florida? An Interview with Zachary Levenson
A discussion about Florida's censorship of sociology and teaching under authoritarianism
groupthreat.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:40 PM
One of my favorite songs is "Dare to be Stupid." This is about as stupid as I can imagine. I think it's time for the leadership of the Florida GOP to consider everything they know is wrong.
Good news. Better: Media attention to how teachers unions have "partnered" with tech moguls, who can't be separated from the donors funding Trump: newpol.org/issue_post/e...
February 8, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Good news. Better: Media attention to how teachers unions have "partnered" with tech moguls, who can't be separated from the donors funding Trump: newpol.org/issue_post/e...