Emilie A
@ebullientem.bsky.social
Manager, Curricular Innovation Initiatives @OCAD. Recovering medievalist, #ADHD. Interests: GAI, Raciolinguistics, Faculty Dev., Academic Integrity.
Reposted by Emilie A
Since this article and its perspectives are generating a bit of buzz, I'd like to dig into what I find distasteful and, frankly, disingenous about it, particularly the ethical values it proclaims. 1/8
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Since this article and its perspectives are generating a bit of buzz, I'd like to dig into what I find distasteful and, frankly, disingenous about it, particularly the ethical values it proclaims. 1/8
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
Reposted by Emilie A
"“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social , a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart
Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:56 PM
"“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social , a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Emilie A
This article from @biblioracle.bsky.social explains why AI summaries can't match the power of reading the original.
Each of us is a "unique intelligence," and when that collides with the unique intelligence expressed in an author's full work, the collision of unique intelligences throws off sparks.
Each of us is a "unique intelligence," and when that collides with the unique intelligence expressed in an author's full work, the collision of unique intelligences throws off sparks.
Paying Attention
What you pay attention to is a reflection of what you value.
biblioracle.substack.com
September 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
This article from @biblioracle.bsky.social explains why AI summaries can't match the power of reading the original.
Each of us is a "unique intelligence," and when that collides with the unique intelligence expressed in an author's full work, the collision of unique intelligences throws off sparks.
Each of us is a "unique intelligence," and when that collides with the unique intelligence expressed in an author's full work, the collision of unique intelligences throws off sparks.
Reposted by Emilie A
'By integrating gen AI into the teaching and learning process, we are not only misleading ourselves into thinking we are tackling education’s challenges, but..outsourcing a social, civic and democratic process of cultivating the coming generation to...capitalist enterprises whose priority is profit'
In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV...
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"
September 7, 2025 at 1:56 PM
'By integrating gen AI into the teaching and learning process, we are not only misleading ourselves into thinking we are tackling education’s challenges, but..outsourcing a social, civic and democratic process of cultivating the coming generation to...capitalist enterprises whose priority is profit'
Reposted by Emilie A
Remember, kids: A real big goal of "AI" is to entirely sever capital from labor, and no, there will be no universal basic income, you can all just starve and die, thanks
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
AI is already taking jobs away from entry-level workers
Software and customer service are most at risk right now and could be the canary in the coal mine.
www.axios.com
August 31, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Remember, kids: A real big goal of "AI" is to entirely sever capital from labor, and no, there will be no universal basic income, you can all just starve and die, thanks
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
Reposted by Emilie A
Thread: LLMs👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 SEARCH 👏 ENGINES 👏 AND 👏 THEY 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 BUILT 👏 FOR 👏 THAT 👏 TASK 👏
My video about how LLMs are not search engines has led to many, MANY comments telling me that I should be using Perplexity. Some insisting that Perplexity does not hallucinate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
August 29, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Thread: LLMs👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 SEARCH 👏 ENGINES 👏 AND 👏 THEY 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 BUILT 👏 FOR 👏 THAT 👏 TASK 👏
Reposted by Emilie A
Chatbots are destructive of information literacy and of our information ecosystem. Just saying it might not be accurate is not enough -- by posting this, you are promoting this very misguided use case.
For more detail:
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
For more detail:
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Information literacy and chatbots as search
By Emily This post started off as a thread I wrote and posted across social media on Sunday evening. I'm reproducing the thread (lightly edited) first and...
buttondown.com
March 19, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Chatbots are destructive of information literacy and of our information ecosystem. Just saying it might not be accurate is not enough -- by posting this, you are promoting this very misguided use case.
For more detail:
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
For more detail:
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Reposted by Emilie A
Proud to be a life member of @lingsocam.bsky.social, who has just come out with:"Four Reasons Why English Should Not be the Official Language of the United States: Statement Against White House Executive Order “Designating English as the Official Language of The U.S.”
www.lsadc.org/content.asp?...
www.lsadc.org/content.asp?...
LSA
Four Reasons English Should Not be the Official Language: Statement Against White House Executive Order Designating English as the Official Language of The Un
www.lsadc.org
March 6, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Proud to be a life member of @lingsocam.bsky.social, who has just come out with:"Four Reasons Why English Should Not be the Official Language of the United States: Statement Against White House Executive Order “Designating English as the Official Language of The U.S.”
www.lsadc.org/content.asp?...
www.lsadc.org/content.asp?...
Reposted by Emilie A
🗞️ Today in Government Officials Who Don't Understand how Data Processing Works (And Are Allowing it to be Used to Harm Americans).
Let's take a look at the claim "data doesn't lie", shall we? 🧵
Let's take a look at the claim "data doesn't lie", shall we? 🧵
Johnson: "Elon's cracked the code. He's now inside these agencies. He's created these algorithms that are constantly crawling through the data & as he told me in his office, data doesn't lie. We're gonna be able to get the information. We're gonna be able to transform the way federal govt works."
February 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
🗞️ Today in Government Officials Who Don't Understand how Data Processing Works (And Are Allowing it to be Used to Harm Americans).
Let's take a look at the claim "data doesn't lie", shall we? 🧵
Let's take a look at the claim "data doesn't lie", shall we? 🧵
Reposted by Emilie A
BBC just released damning research on AI assistants' news accuracy.
Results: 51% of AI responses had significant issues. 19% introduced errors when citing BBC. 13% misquoted or made up BBC content entirely. 🤐🤐
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/... via @ezraeeman.bsky.social
Results: 51% of AI responses had significant issues. 19% introduced errors when citing BBC. 13% misquoted or made up BBC content entirely. 🤐🤐
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/... via @ezraeeman.bsky.social
February 11, 2025 at 7:22 AM
BBC just released damning research on AI assistants' news accuracy.
Results: 51% of AI responses had significant issues. 19% introduced errors when citing BBC. 13% misquoted or made up BBC content entirely. 🤐🤐
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/... via @ezraeeman.bsky.social
Results: 51% of AI responses had significant issues. 19% introduced errors when citing BBC. 13% misquoted or made up BBC content entirely. 🤐🤐
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/... via @ezraeeman.bsky.social
Reposted by Emilie A
The UNESCO 2025 International Day of Education focuses on preserving human agency. Education "can help people understand and steer AI to better ensure that they retain control over this new class of technology and are able to direct it towards desired objectives." www.unesco.org/en/articles/...
International Day of Education 2025 global event in Paris - Artificial Intelligence and education: Preserving human agency in a world of automation
The 2025 International Day of Education – AI and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation – will explore how education can help people understand and steer AI to better ensure that ...
www.unesco.org
January 23, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The UNESCO 2025 International Day of Education focuses on preserving human agency. Education "can help people understand and steer AI to better ensure that they retain control over this new class of technology and are able to direct it towards desired objectives." www.unesco.org/en/articles/...
Reposted by Emilie A
This comes up a lot in linguistics; it’s one of the first issues you run into trying to explain linguistic discrimination. It doesn’t matter that lots of languages have zero copula and that’s it’s not a structural deficiency…people often want to believe that AAE speakers are just bad at language.
Social scientists use models and evidence to understand world. Social scientists sometimes fall into the trap of extrapolating out to other people and modeling them as if they do the same.
January 23, 2025 at 2:25 PM
This comes up a lot in linguistics; it’s one of the first issues you run into trying to explain linguistic discrimination. It doesn’t matter that lots of languages have zero copula and that’s it’s not a structural deficiency…people often want to believe that AAE speakers are just bad at language.
Reposted by Emilie A
How two Indigenous artists are keeping their traditions alive: quilter Alice Olsen Williams (Curve Lake First Nation) and quillworker Sandra Moore (Hiawatha First Nation) tell Laetitia Dogbe how they use their art to pass on their Anishinaabe heritage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZkw...
November 22, 2024 at 5:45 PM
How two Indigenous artists are keeping their traditions alive: quilter Alice Olsen Williams (Curve Lake First Nation) and quillworker Sandra Moore (Hiawatha First Nation) tell Laetitia Dogbe how they use their art to pass on their Anishinaabe heritage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZkw...
Reposted by Emilie A
I introduced the term "race evaders" for those in the field of language development (or any field) who rhetorically circumvent race so that racist assumptions embedded in their arguments become more palatable.
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Language development, linguistic input, and linguistic racism
Given meaningful linguistic input, either spoken or signed, children become successful language users in their families and communities. However, institutionalized racism pathologizes any language va...
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 20, 2024 at 8:44 PM
I introduced the term "race evaders" for those in the field of language development (or any field) who rhetorically circumvent race so that racist assumptions embedded in their arguments become more palatable.
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Emilie A
Humans learn a new word by attaching it to a set of concepts in the real world. Computers “learn” a new word by creating associations with other words
In this episode we get enthusiastic about how computers process language with @emilymbender.bsky.social
In this episode we get enthusiastic about how computers process language with @emilymbender.bsky.social
98: Helping computers decode sentences - Interview with Emily M. Bender
When a human learns a new word, we're learning to attach that word to a set of concepts in the real world. When a computer
soundcloud.com
November 22, 2024 at 2:56 AM
Humans learn a new word by attaching it to a set of concepts in the real world. Computers “learn” a new word by creating associations with other words
In this episode we get enthusiastic about how computers process language with @emilymbender.bsky.social
In this episode we get enthusiastic about how computers process language with @emilymbender.bsky.social
Reposted by Emilie A
If you're a Black woman in academia recycling boilerplate sentences (this is the main charge against Dr Gay) you get excessive scrutiny even on acknowledgment section and plagiarism case slapped on you.
If you're an AI Bro in OpenAI doing the same thing you're a tech messiah ushering in a new era.
If you're an AI Bro in OpenAI doing the same thing you're a tech messiah ushering in a new era.
January 3, 2024 at 1:51 AM
If you're a Black woman in academia recycling boilerplate sentences (this is the main charge against Dr Gay) you get excessive scrutiny even on acknowledgment section and plagiarism case slapped on you.
If you're an AI Bro in OpenAI doing the same thing you're a tech messiah ushering in a new era.
If you're an AI Bro in OpenAI doing the same thing you're a tech messiah ushering in a new era.
Reposted by Emilie A
Still masking against COVID-19?
“A small team of feminist disability justice researchers want to hear from you! Consider participating in a short survey with researchers at York University and Athabasca University.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... “
“A small team of feminist disability justice researchers want to hear from you! Consider participating in a short survey with researchers at York University and Athabasca University.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... “
December 12, 2023 at 6:04 PM
Still masking against COVID-19?
“A small team of feminist disability justice researchers want to hear from you! Consider participating in a short survey with researchers at York University and Athabasca University.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... “
“A small team of feminist disability justice researchers want to hear from you! Consider participating in a short survey with researchers at York University and Athabasca University.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... “
Reposted by Emilie A
Did you know that I created a database of marginalized scholars in language? Check it out here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#linguistics #language
#linguistics #language
Scholars to Read/Know in the Field of Language
By Subfield
This database contains the names of marginalized scholars in the field of language. ,Maintained by Dr. Megan Figueroa (Bluesky: @meganfigueroa)
Submit here: https://goo.gl/forms/zh6wYc4nr...
docs.google.com
December 4, 2023 at 8:44 PM
Did you know that I created a database of marginalized scholars in language? Check it out here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#linguistics #language
#linguistics #language
Reposted by Emilie A
I was just talking with @brennacgray.bsky.social about this. How much data do people feed into these systems that is then used to create something for someone else? And how much of it is proprietary/confidential?
“Security researchers and technologists probing the custom chatbots have made them spill the initial instructions they were given when they were created, and have also discovered and downloaded the files used to customize the chatbots.”
OpenAI’s Custom Chatbots Are Leaking Their Secrets
Released earlier this month, OpenAI’s GPTs let anyone create custom chatbots. But some of the data they’re built on is easily exposed.
www.wired.co.uk
November 29, 2023 at 3:06 PM
I was just talking with @brennacgray.bsky.social about this. How much data do people feed into these systems that is then used to create something for someone else? And how much of it is proprietary/confidential?
Reposted by Emilie A
Dear New Yorker, NYT, CNN, WaPo, &c: stop interviewing Sam Altman & Geoffrey Hinton, & start interviewing Timnit Gebru, Meredith Whittaker, Emily Bender, Chris Gilliard, Rua Williams, Ruha Benjamin, Margaret Mitchell, Abeba Birhane, Alex Hanna, Kendra Albert, Jonathan Flowers, Robin Zebrowski, Damie
November 26, 2023 at 2:54 AM
Dear New Yorker, NYT, CNN, WaPo, &c: stop interviewing Sam Altman & Geoffrey Hinton, & start interviewing Timnit Gebru, Meredith Whittaker, Emily Bender, Chris Gilliard, Rua Williams, Ruha Benjamin, Margaret Mitchell, Abeba Birhane, Alex Hanna, Kendra Albert, Jonathan Flowers, Robin Zebrowski, Damie
Reposted by Emilie A
Students using AI as a way of “correcting” their writing is a direct consequence of instructors prioritizing prescriptivist conventions over supporting students in developing unique authorial voices. How about we use this as a chance to shift our priorities?
November 15, 2023 at 12:16 PM
Students using AI as a way of “correcting” their writing is a direct consequence of instructors prioritizing prescriptivist conventions over supporting students in developing unique authorial voices. How about we use this as a chance to shift our priorities?
Reposted by Emilie A
I don't know how many times in how many ways i have to say "AI encodes, reinforces, & iterates on the prejudicial biases & other values & beliefs of humans, so events like this are entirely predictable as long as we keep building & training these systems the ways we do" before it fucking sinks in.
WhatsApp’s AI shows gun-wielding children when prompted with ‘Palestine’
By contrast, prompts for ‘Israeli’ do not generate images of people wielding guns, even in response to a prompt for ‘Israel army’
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2023 at 6:01 PM
I don't know how many times in how many ways i have to say "AI encodes, reinforces, & iterates on the prejudicial biases & other values & beliefs of humans, so events like this are entirely predictable as long as we keep building & training these systems the ways we do" before it fucking sinks in.
Reposted by Emilie A
A sluggish session on Joyce's "Araby" brought me back to this 2010 post on the vexed relationship between emotions and analysis, especially in the classroom. rohanmaitzen.com/2023/11/02/c...
Chartres Cathedral, Redux
I taught Joyce's "Araby" recently in my first-year class, the first time in years I have done so in person. I love the story, but I've never reacted to it as intensely as I did this year: I found myse...
rohanmaitzen.com
November 2, 2023 at 11:14 PM
A sluggish session on Joyce's "Araby" brought me back to this 2010 post on the vexed relationship between emotions and analysis, especially in the classroom. rohanmaitzen.com/2023/11/02/c...
Reposted by Emilie A
what if instead of classifying students as "high need" we classified institutions as "low support" or "low adaptability"?
October 25, 2023 at 5:30 PM
what if instead of classifying students as "high need" we classified institutions as "low support" or "low adaptability"?