Authoritarianism and the Agentic State (and Andor)
(I'm interested in questions of agency, and how automation and artificial intelligence serve to undermine this – agents versus agency, I've previously argued. It's particularly striking that "agents" are being marketed as an easy way to optimize one's personal and professional
I Am Waiting at the Counter for the Man to Pour the Coffee
Political reporters love a Midwest diner. Even though most Americans live in urban areas, even though a third of Americans live in California, Texas, Florida, or New York, even though around 40% live on the coast (east or west), even though more than half are under age 40, the depiction
Swords into Plowshares
Yesterday marked my fifth Mother's Day without him. Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of his passing. My beautiful boy, for whom I still grieve and will grieve every day forever; and despite his death, why I still fight. When I was a sophomore in college (about a year
AI Slop Education
There's a tendency to write about technological change as an "all of a sudden" occurrence – even if you try to offer some background, some precursors, some concurrent events, or a longer, broader perspective, people still often read "all of a sudden" into any discussion
What We Talk about When We Talk about AI in Education
What do folks mean when they talk about AI in education? Most of the time – and I'm certainly at fault here too – no definition or description of AI is even offered. You’re supposed to just known what AI means, what it does – or at the least, you’
Sycophancy as a Service
On Sunday, Ben Smith published a lengthy investigation into what he describes as "The group chats that changed America" – the private, digital banter of venture capitalists, tech executives, and influencers/journalists that, according to Smith at least, have fostered the "intellectual counterculture" of the tech right
Dishonor Code
Tressie McMillan Cottom recently offered a neat little summary of how universities have responded to generative AI: "Academics initially lost our minds over the obvious threats to academic integrity. Then a mysterious thing happened. The typical higher education line on A.I. pivoted from alarm to augmentation. We need
Executive Disorder
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order: "Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth." You should approach this as a Rorschach Test, of sorts: use it to evaluate what others – particularly those who are trying to sell a vision of education's AI future (with a
Matter and Dystopia
I'm not sure if we can call it an official launch – there's no actual product yet – but a new education company Matter and Space unveiled its website last week. The company, co-founded by former SNHU president Paul LeBlanc, MOOC pioneer George Siemens, and clinical psychologist Tanya
AI is Carceral Ed-Tech
I've always been deeply uncomfortable with the casual observation that "schools are prisons," even if there are undoubtedly schools that do almost everything in their power to circumscribe the freedom and mobility of their students. This assertion – "schools are prisons" – flattens the many important
Technologies of Individualization Are Technologies of Inequality
The 74 published an op-ed this week, penned by an AI industry consultant, invoking Sputnik and claiming that "AI education is the new space race." I'm going to set aside its problematic call for "AI literacy" for another day; and although it's