#stoptheaicorruption

First lecture in a course that I have taken over and teach for the first time. A very large class, second-year students who are eager to learn and who are also anxious, as the course was taught very rigidly before. I have discarded slides altogether and develop the material on the whiteboard, as I used to do. So liberating. 10-20 minutes for setting the scene, then I give them a mini case to work through with their neighbours. The students are wonderful. The room buzzes in eager discussions between them; they compare notes, check each others calculations, argue earnestly with each other. Live discovery of fundamental truths, in a shared space. The subject is alive and speaks to us. After the session I release my notes, which put all the micro insights together. Real teaching, I and Thou, is possible. I am lucky to be a teacher and to have these students. Life is good. #teaching #lectures #HigherEducation #IAndThou #AcademicChatter #StopTheAICorruption

@jonny@neuromatch.social 《 Fable in particular is known to have baffling gibberish intermediate messages, and in general if any of the intermediate "thinking" text was visible it would make it abundantly clear that the only reason these things appear to work is by sheer brute force, just keep generating text until something seems plausible. 》 Oh, lovely. This example shows us in archetypical form the original sin of genAI, doesn't it. Brute force being used to hide the absence of substantive alignment. Highly instructive (and entertaining), as is your entire thread. #noLLM #StopTheAICorruption

You can see the empty eyes, Lestrade. The self-satisfied smile. This man is no murderer, Inspector. He is an AI victim. Holmes's voice revealed something akin to pity for the man in custody. It is plain that our man here has lost all capacity to plan anything as complex as an actual murder of a physical human being. Notice his hand, still grasping the ergonomic mouse even though you have taken away his laptop. Too much ego boosting from the Affirmation Machine has closed him in on himself. If you check his laptop, you will find an open Claude session, not a floor plan of the victim's apartment. Your murderer is still out and about, Lestrade. What the man before us needs is rest and an Affirmation detox. #SherlockHolmes #noLLM #StopTheAICorruption

BREAKING: Scientists at Angelus Silesius University have discovered that under certain conditions, humans are capable of writing and thinking unaided, without the help of standard prompt-driven AI software bots. "It sounds counterintuitive, but it almost looks as if our subjects wanted to do these things on their own", texts Professor Melanchton, the project lead. "We don't fully understand the mechanisms yet, but our study suggests that humans may have some sort of in-built agentic capabilities." #StopTheAICorruption #LiveThePromptfreeLife

@bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot Well put. Reading the Dawkings piece is useful for all sorts of reasons, including alerting us to the self-mirroring state of mind that is being created by intensive exposure to the Dark Machine. #StopTheAICorruption#noLLM #RichardDawkins

@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz "Did Turing every discuss how well flattery works for winning the imitation game?" Oh, excellent. You've earned the Pithy Remark of the Year 2026 award. (Yes, I dare the rest of year to prove me wrong!) #RichardDawkins #TuringTest #GenerativeNarcicsm #noLLM #StopTheAICorruption#PithyRemarkOfTheYear

@xtaldave@social.vivaldi.net Remarkable. Perhaps not surprising, but remarkable nonetheless, and truly frightening. To read Dawkins's exchanges with claude gives me a glimpse into the faux-dialogical LLM exhanges that many of my coworkers will have on a daily basis. I can see how having these experiences will change one's entire outlook on life and on others, and how language gets corrupted along the way. Frightening. #StopTheAiCorruption #noLLM

@bosak@flx.masto.host Wow, yes, a very thoughtful and on first reading compelling argument. Also, a (to me) new and deeper look at the Narcissos myth and its relevance. Bookmarked for repeat-reading! Intensive use of AI tools changes the user and makes them speak _to_ and _for_ the AI, and that in turn changes the person's subtle pre-conscious germination of ideas and makes them lose creative spaces within themselves: " ... deeper reliance on A.I. would desiccate those less legible aspects of myself, ...". An important essay. Thank you for the link. #EzraKlein #noAI #StopTheAICorruption #MarshallMacluhan #Narcissus

Watching #TheMission (1986) in light of the current AI crisis in #HigherEducation. The other day I happened to re-watch this 1986 #film by #RolandJoffé. I had last seen it 40 years ago when it came out. It has aged quite well. The depiction of the indigeneous #Guaraní people is embarrassingly superficial. And the idea that the Jesuit order was a benevolent force is of course laughable. But as a story of an institution that willingly sacrifices its purpose and moral integrity in a power game, the film works. I can't help drawing parallels to the current AI corruption of higher education. In Cardinal Altamirano (played by the excellent #RayMcAnally), we see the manager who knows that his action destroys the very rationale of his institution, yet he does it. The two priests (Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro) are the ground-level staff who stay true to their calling and fight, in different ways. They vanish. Years later, the manager has the luxury of regret. #StopTheAICorruption

Inspector Lestrade did not try to hide his pride. "Charlotte, our new AI agent, really is the ticket. We gave her the data and she found the murderer within seconds. We have arrested Jones, the plumber. Not sure whether we will need your services much longer, Holmes," he laughed. "Charlotte does the work." Sherlock smiled drily. What can one do about someone like Lestrade, Watson, he said to me once we sat in the cab. Someone who can't think can't see the truth even when it stares them in the face. Jones would never have twisted the compression coupling counter-clockwise, he's a trained plumber, for Heaven's sake! It was Lord Jenkins who removed the pipe, ignorant of the nature of the fittings. Hence the scratch marks on the brass. Lestrade will call on us again by evening. It is Tuesday, Watson, I believe Mrs Hudson has some cake for us. We can keep some for Lestrade. #SherlockHolmes #InspectorLestrade #HolmesAndWatson #StopTheAICorruption #noLLM

@rysiek@mstdn.social Well put. And, like the original quote, it's also a fine #SixWordStory! #StopTheAICorruption

Higher Education's march toward our eventual genAI suicide continues. N is an enthusiastic young colleague who's been promoting genAI all along. This week he shares a new paper he's written. In it we find a lengthy list of the dangers of genAI and why we shouldn't be using it. Wait, what? Is this the same guy? Let's read on. What is N's solution to the recognised genAI failure? "Agentic AI." Ah, that's where we're heading! A long list of agentic AI's presumed powers follows, along with presumed supporting pedagogical theory. No reference to actual practice: like Sam Altman we trade on future promises. The soulless, person-less future we are promised, without any hint of irony: "AI as a collaborative partner"; "from AI as a servant to AI as a learning companion". Heaven help us. #StopTheAICorruption #HigherEducationChatter

@mirijb2@c18.masto.host Heartbreaking. Young people are prevented from developing their own self-determined writing voices --- by their own teachers. A pedagogical crime. #StopTheAICorruption