Wolfgang Messner, writing in @The Conversation U.S. on how generative AI could homogenize culture: "The danger is not that AI will fail us, but that people will accept the mediocrity of its outputs as the norm. When everything is fast, frictionless and “good enough,” there’s the risk of losing the depth, nuance and intellectual richness that define exceptional human work."

The Conversation

Is AI sparking a cognitive revolution that will lead to mediocrity and conformity?

During the Industrial Revolution, craftsmanship retreated to the margins. As AI becomes widely adopted, will the same happen to original thinking?

I talked to @npub1psar...j5uh about generative AI's impact on teaching. Apparently I wasn't alone... not by a long shot. @npub1nn0l...qf5k got a ton of responses about this topic and ran many of them here:

404 Media

Teachers Are Not OK

AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."

While it's distressing to read all of them, it's good to see I'm not alone. #generativeAI #higherEducation #teaching #academicChatter

What will the cardinals do this year?

As if I needed more reasons to loathe Elsevier. Lately I've received peer review requests from Elsevier journals. If I decline their request via the email link, it takes me to a website that has an angry red box that says "Action not allowed." Ok, so I will email the editor to say I can't do it. That apparently goes to some IT support system, not the editor. And today I got an email implying I was being unprofessional because I did not respond to their reviewer request. #academicChatter 1/2

The following is a random quote from my next book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Will people keep using Twitter, even after Musk’s takeover – even after he changed its name to “X”? Is this time different? As of this writing, that remains an open question.... #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot

The following is a random quote from my next book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges: It’s time, Balkan and the Small Tech Foundation argue, to degrow things like corporate social media. Degrowth is a way of thinking that counters years of capitalist fantasies of infinite growth.... #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot

I keep hearing people call legitimate concerns about LLMs/generative AI a "moral panic." I really hope folks stop using that framing. This is not the same as parents getting freaked out about Dungeons and Dragons in the 1980s. This is a moment when huge, for-profit interests are seeking to exploit the creativity of writers, artists, and anyone else who creates. It's completely legitimate to express concerns. It's not a moment of "Won't someone PLEASE think about the children!?!".

My book about Mastodon and the fediverse is now available for pre-order! https://global.oup.com/academic/product/move-slowly-and-build-bridges-9780197776681?q=gehl&lang=en&cc=ca# #Mastodon #fediverse #bookstodon #academicchatter

Use Tor Use Signal BUT NOT LIKE THAT NOOOO

I know activists use corporate social media because many other people do, but it also means you put all your eggs in a really shitty basket. And it's meant that since about 2006 or so.

Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest – POLITICO