AI

A refreshing take on AI from a perhaps unexpected angle: Cory Doctorow defending the use of LLMs.

Stephen's fascinating conversation with author Michael Pollan continues with a look at how consciousness begins and whether AI will achieve it. "A World Appe...

Stephen's fascinating conversation with author Michael Pollan continues with a look at how consciousness begins and whether AI will achieve it. "A World Appe...

There might be a better point here just poorly expressed but "GenAI is like Ozempic because you're going to be on it forever (and shame on you for being that weak!)" is inadvertently a succinct summary of a certain type of judgmental rot that gets in the way of real analysis. Who says "yeah, the housing industry wants you to get used to living in a house, so you will need a house forever! The scam!" Look around your living area, with electricity, heat, refrigeration, books, running water, internet. Can you do your work without these things that society has rendered you dependent on? Are these things immoral shortcuts? The question is not about dependence. If you believe you are independent from your technical environment you have already lost me. If you believe the solution to obesity is everyone just has to try a little harder, and that Ozempic is worrisome "because it works" I don't know what to do with that. Our starting point is not the value of the human stripped of technology as the mythical "real" human. Our starting point is the inherent potential of every human and how technology can best augment that and help people to realize that potential. True, that requires careful thought and design, and attention to developing the skills that allow one to harness its potential rather than be steamrolled by it. But start with these moralistic notions and we won't get there at all.

AI literacy has become synonymous with prompt engineering. It should mean something else entirely.

An AI like Claude is actually a pretty good fortune cookie. You can ask a simple question and get a simple answer, sometimes a profound one. But this is a waste of the tool’s potential. The A…

One of the tricky things about technology in education is that figuring out whether a technology is more likely to be helpful or harmful is highly context dependent. The same technology, applied in the same way, can help one student and harm another based on their own individual circumstances. This week I tried to get at a framework to help articulate four different categories of work and think through how we might think about AI's potential to support or undermine the purpose of our work in those four areas. Link to the full post with a fuller articulation of each of these areas in the comments.

The biweekly newsletter of the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo

We’re entering a new renaissance of software development. We should all be excited, despite the uncertainties that lie ahead.

Over the past few years, a handful of arguments about AI in education have been repeated so often that they now function as slogans.

Large-language models are useful and that's the problem

Today, we’re talking about the camera company Ring, lost dogs, and the surveillance state. Since it aired for a massive audience at the Super Bowl, Ring’s Search Party commercial has become a lightning rod for controversy. It’s easy to see how the same technology that can find lost dogs can be used to find people, and then used to invade our privacy in all kinds of uncomfortable ways, by cops and regular people alike. Although Ring has since canceled its partnership with controversial surveillance company Flock, the company is now facing hard questions about its plans to use AI to promote safer neighborhoods, and how that intersects with its ongoing relationship with law enforcement. Links: Ring cancels partnership with Flock after surveillance backlash | The Verge Ring’s lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of surveillance | The Verge Ring says it’s not giving ICE access to its cameras | The Verge How police recovered Nancy Guthrie’s Nest Doorbell footage | The Verge Ring’s Jamie Siminoff thinks AI can…

Tech companies are racing to build thousands of huge data centers to power the artificial intelligence revolution. To find the land they need, they are barreling into rural communities across the United States with the promise of good jobs. But not everyone is buying that pitch. Karen Weise, a technology correspondent for The New York Times, tells the story of one county pushing back against big tech.

Teaching with Writing in an Age of AI: Supporting motivation and setting up guardrails Anna Mills, College of Marin A presentation for Southwestern College January 29, 2026

Learn how to build and deploy complete websites using Claude Code and agent teams. This step-by-step guide walks through the process of turning existing content (PDFs, eBooks, articles) into fast, accessible static websites using Astro 5 and Cloudflare Pages. Includes a downloadable Claude Code skill file, real examples of five published websites, and practical advice on accessibility audits, security checks, and iterative development from the terminal. Intermediate to advanced: some technical confidence required.

From zines to silent protest records, the DIY resistance to AI is picking up steam. A personal look at the artefacts — handmade, rough-copied, and stubbornly human — pushing back against Big Tech. #ArtificialIntelligence #AIEducation #AIEdu #AIInEd #AIInEdu

Stanford HAI's AI+Education Summit 2026 brought together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore AI's transformation of learning. This playli...

The step most people skip when using Claude Code.

Does your institution need to buy AI?

The biweekly newsletter of the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo

Gen Z jobs aren’t dead yet: $240 billion tech giant IBM says it’s rewriting entry-level jobs—and tripling down on its hiring of young talent.

For Rex McKenzie, higher education assessment has always privileged certain discourses – but the rise of artificial intelligence means that this can no longer hold For Rex McKenzie, higher education assessment has always privileged certain discourses – but the rise of artificial intelligence means that this can no longer hold

Most AI literacy courses teach you how to write better prompts.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a breakaway group of former OpenAI employees who pledged to design a more safety-centric approach to AI development.

An eight-month study found that these tools made productivity surge—as well as cognitive fatigue, unsustainable hours, and other problems.

Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient injuries.

Reflections on the past year, looking ahead to the next

Introducing a new project