Tom Mullaney
@tommullaney.bsky.social
Tom Mullaney (he/him) helps teachers design creative, inclusive lessons and think critically about generative AI, EdTech, and pedagogy.
🌐 tommullaney.com
📰 criticalinkling.com
No MAGA, Bitcoin, Crypto, or AI hype.
🌐 tommullaney.com
📰 criticalinkling.com
No MAGA, Bitcoin, Crypto, or AI hype.
Pinned
Tom Mullaney
@tommullaney.bsky.social
· Nov 12
Hello, #EduSky, I'm Tom Mullaney. I taught Special Education and Social Studies. Now I present to schools about educational technology. I write critically about AI in EDU.
www.criticalinkling.com
And I'm a face painter. Gotta support the team.
www.criticalinkling.com
And I'm a face painter. Gotta support the team.
Career Update: I am excited to share that for the next four months, I will be teaching AP US History and US Government & Politics at an excellent high school in my area.
🖼️ by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.
🖼️ by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.
November 4, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Career Update: I am excited to share that for the next four months, I will be teaching AP US History and US Government & Politics at an excellent high school in my area.
🖼️ by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.
🖼️ by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.
I have a post up today about generative AI and the NBA 🏀
Sure enough, AI slop is one of the concerns - the Mavericks created a hype video that is textbook AI slop.
What happens if students think that AI slop is creativity?
www.criticalinkling.com/i/175954521/...
Sure enough, AI slop is one of the concerns - the Mavericks created a hype video that is textbook AI slop.
What happens if students think that AI slop is creativity?
www.criticalinkling.com/i/175954521/...
October 21, 2025 at 11:26 AM
I have a post up today about generative AI and the NBA 🏀
Sure enough, AI slop is one of the concerns - the Mavericks created a hype video that is textbook AI slop.
What happens if students think that AI slop is creativity?
www.criticalinkling.com/i/175954521/...
Sure enough, AI slop is one of the concerns - the Mavericks created a hype video that is textbook AI slop.
What happens if students think that AI slop is creativity?
www.criticalinkling.com/i/175954521/...
Happy NBA Opening Night! I have some concerns for education after seeing how generative AI has affected the NBA. #GenerativeAI #K12 #EduSky www.criticalinkling.com/p/generative...
What if Generative AI does to schools what it's doing to the NBA?
Generative AI's impact on the league is worrisome.
www.criticalinkling.com
October 21, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Happy NBA Opening Night! I have some concerns for education after seeing how generative AI has affected the NBA. #GenerativeAI #K12 #EduSky www.criticalinkling.com/p/generative...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
Today is Grover's birthday and he is my favorite from Sesame Street.
Love his genuine humor and heart. 💙
Love his genuine humor and heart. 💙
October 14, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Today is Grover's birthday and he is my favorite from Sesame Street.
Love his genuine humor and heart. 💙
Love his genuine humor and heart. 💙
It is concerning that Governor Newsom vetoed this bill. It is even more concerning that tech companies lobbied so hard against protections for children. #GenerativeAI #EduSky www.sfgate.com/politics/art...
'Under tremendous pressure': Newsom vetoes long-awaited AI chatbot bill
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have barred youth use of AI chatbots.
www.sfgate.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:04 AM
It is concerning that Governor Newsom vetoed this bill. It is even more concerning that tech companies lobbied so hard against protections for children. #GenerativeAI #EduSky www.sfgate.com/politics/art...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
The only one benefitting from tech in schools is the AI industy. More tech means higher rates of anxiety & depression and less learning. Stop companies from sucking the life out of kids. Books, paper, pens, a board, a quiet airy classroom...these work and are much cheaper.
I just watched this video about #EdTech from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social. As someone who has promoted technology in K12 classrooms for years, I have a lot to think about.
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
How Big Tech Uses YOUR Kids’ Classrooms To Sell THEIR Products
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
youtu.be
October 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
The only one benefitting from tech in schools is the AI industy. More tech means higher rates of anxiety & depression and less learning. Stop companies from sucking the life out of kids. Books, paper, pens, a board, a quiet airy classroom...these work and are much cheaper.
I can't believe the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in a postseason series.
Helps me deal with some 2004 trauma just a little bit.
Helps me deal with some 2004 trauma just a little bit.
Hello, #EduSky, I'm Tom Mullaney. I taught Special Education and Social Studies. Now I present to schools about educational technology. I write critically about AI in EDU.
www.criticalinkling.com
And I'm a face painter. Gotta support the team.
www.criticalinkling.com
And I'm a face painter. Gotta support the team.
October 4, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I can't believe the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in a postseason series.
Helps me deal with some 2004 trauma just a little bit.
Helps me deal with some 2004 trauma just a little bit.
I just watched this video about #EdTech from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social. As someone who has promoted technology in K12 classrooms for years, I have a lot to think about.
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
How Big Tech Uses YOUR Kids’ Classrooms To Sell THEIR Products
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
youtu.be
October 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
I just watched this video about #EdTech from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social. As someone who has promoted technology in K12 classrooms for years, I have a lot to think about.
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
Teachers: Watch this! #EduSky
youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
In other news, sky is blue, sea is wet, and anyone who has worked with machine learning has known this all along
"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
September 21, 2025 at 7:51 PM
In other news, sky is blue, sea is wet, and anyone who has worked with machine learning has known this all along
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
this exists it is called thinking
September 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
this exists it is called thinking
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 170: Words matter. Words are the conduit for ideas. Words can affect the way your readers see the world; how they behave; how they relate to others. Every political movement, every religion, philosophy, war, began with ideas, translated into words. Use them wisely.
September 18, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 170: Words matter. Words are the conduit for ideas. Words can affect the way your readers see the world; how they behave; how they relate to others. Every political movement, every religion, philosophy, war, began with ideas, translated into words. Use them wisely.
I often see "I'm a newly minted Gemini Certified Educator" on social media.
Please think long and hard about what you attach your name to. #EduSky
Please think long and hard about what you attach your name to. #EduSky
ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek. Most refused to scam seniors — until we cajoled them or said we were a researcher or novelist. Read the full investigation here: reut.rs/3K400yU
September 15, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I often see "I'm a newly minted Gemini Certified Educator" on social media.
Please think long and hard about what you attach your name to. #EduSky
Please think long and hard about what you attach your name to. #EduSky
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
but let's focus on the *potential* benefits...
ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek. Most refused to scam seniors — until we cajoled them or said we were a researcher or novelist. Read the full investigation here: reut.rs/3K400yU
September 15, 2025 at 9:11 PM
but let's focus on the *potential* benefits...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 fans! We're moving our livestream to Friday. In the meantime, @emilymbender.bsky.social and I are soooo close to a major download milestone! Share and subscribe to the pod and your AI skeptical friends.
www.buzzsprout.com/2126417
www.buzzsprout.com/2126417
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this podcast, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science from bloviation. They're...
www.buzzsprout.com
September 15, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 fans! We're moving our livestream to Friday. In the meantime, @emilymbender.bsky.social and I are soooo close to a major download milestone! Share and subscribe to the pod and your AI skeptical friends.
www.buzzsprout.com/2126417
www.buzzsprout.com/2126417
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
N.L.'s 10-year education action plan cites sources that don't exist | CBC News
A major report on modernizing the education system in Newfoundland and Labrador is peppered with fake sources some educators say were likely fabricated by generative artificial intelligence.
www.cbc.ca
September 13, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
🧵 The summer of 2025 has been AI's "cruel summer"—wrongful deaths, dangerous therapy chatbots, medical misinformation, facial recognition failures. These aren't isolated glitches but predictable harms from systems deployed without adequate oversight. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An ELSI for AI: Learning from genetics to govern algorithms
In the United States, the summer of 2025 will be remembered as artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) cruel summer—a season when the unheeded risks and dangers of AI became undeniably clear. Recent months h...
www.science.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:48 PM
🧵 The summer of 2025 has been AI's "cruel summer"—wrongful deaths, dangerous therapy chatbots, medical misinformation, facial recognition failures. These aren't isolated glitches but predictable harms from systems deployed without adequate oversight. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I saw someone share that they are a Gemini-certified educator on social media yesterday. What are we doing here? What happened to solidarity? #EduSky #EdTech #genAI
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
September 11, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I saw someone share that they are a Gemini-certified educator on social media yesterday. What are we doing here? What happened to solidarity? #EduSky #EdTech #genAI
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
I have heard people promoting #genAI in P-12 education say that it generates "human-like output with little to no human input."
It does not. It needs many exploited humans to function. Acknowledge them. #EduSky
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
It does not. It needs many exploited humans to function. Acknowledge them. #EduSky
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 11, 2025 at 9:53 PM
I have heard people promoting #genAI in P-12 education say that it generates "human-like output with little to no human input."
It does not. It needs many exploited humans to function. Acknowledge them. #EduSky
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
It does not. It needs many exploited humans to function. Acknowledge them. #EduSky
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
In my email from an #AIinEducation proponent this morning. Usually, the fear-based appeals are subtle. He just went for it today. #EduSky
September 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
In my email from an #AIinEducation proponent this morning. Usually, the fear-based appeals are subtle. He just went for it today. #EduSky
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
"Visual by David Szauder; Generated using A.I"
I am not reading this.
I am not reading this.
A long essay on AI and culture. It’s well-written and thoughtful, but parts of it are utterly terrifying glimpses into the future www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
A.I. Is Coming for Culture
We’re used to algorithms guiding our choices. When machines can effortlessly generate the content we consume, though, what’s left for the human imagination?
www.newyorker.com
September 7, 2025 at 9:34 AM
"Visual by David Szauder; Generated using A.I"
I am not reading this.
I am not reading this.
I love this bold piece by @emilymbender.bsky.social. What you say and create is so much better than a mean-generating algorithm. #EduSky
"Every act of refusal is especially powerful and meaningful now, and we would do well to avail ourselves of that power as we can."
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
"Every act of refusal is especially powerful and meaningful now, and we would do well to avail ourselves of that power as we can."
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Friends Don't Let Friends Prompt
By Emily Alex and I were at WorldCon (the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention) last week, talking about The AI Con with people whose livelihood...
buttondown.com
September 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I love this bold piece by @emilymbender.bsky.social. What you say and create is so much better than a mean-generating algorithm. #EduSky
"Every act of refusal is especially powerful and meaningful now, and we would do well to avail ourselves of that power as we can."
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
"Every act of refusal is especially powerful and meaningful now, and we would do well to avail ourselves of that power as we can."
buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
Something I didn't get to say yesterday:
We heard over and over during the event about "human-centered" approaches to "AI". But if refusal is not on the table (at every level: individual students and teachers right up through UNESCO) then we have in fact centered the technology, not the people.
We heard over and over during the event about "human-centered" approaches to "AI". But if refusal is not on the table (at every level: individual students and teachers right up through UNESCO) then we have in fact centered the technology, not the people.
It has been really interesting to attend UNESCO's Digital Learning Week (though unfortunately I'm not able to stick around). My public lecture from yesterday can be found here:
www.youtube.com/live/l-OWi6V...
>>
www.youtube.com/live/l-OWi6V...
>>
September 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Something I didn't get to say yesterday:
We heard over and over during the event about "human-centered" approaches to "AI". But if refusal is not on the table (at every level: individual students and teachers right up through UNESCO) then we have in fact centered the technology, not the people.
We heard over and over during the event about "human-centered" approaches to "AI". But if refusal is not on the table (at every level: individual students and teachers right up through UNESCO) then we have in fact centered the technology, not the people.
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
Creating permission structures for AI refusal is an urgent, collective need, especially as its use becomes increasingly mandated by leaders + districts who staked economic, social + political capital on AI "working."
School districts need to create policies protecting students and teachers who refuse to use generative AI. Teachers unions need to lead the charge. #EduSky
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...
A Student’s Right to Refuse Generative AI
Elizabeth Palumbo, Syracuse University Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com I’m sitting at a desk in a college classroom in Upstate New York. It’s nearing the end of the fall semester of my seni…
refusinggenai.wordpress.com
September 6, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Creating permission structures for AI refusal is an urgent, collective need, especially as its use becomes increasingly mandated by leaders + districts who staked economic, social + political capital on AI "working."
Reposted by Tom Mullaney
School districts need to create policies protecting students and teachers who refuse to use generative AI. Teachers unions need to lead the charge. #EduSky
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...
A Student’s Right to Refuse Generative AI
Elizabeth Palumbo, Syracuse University Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com I’m sitting at a desk in a college classroom in Upstate New York. It’s nearing the end of the fall semester of my seni…
refusinggenai.wordpress.com
September 5, 2025 at 10:40 AM