A group lead by cognitive scientists and AI researchers from universities in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and the US, has published a position paper urging educators and administrations to reject corporate AI products. The paper is called, fittingly, “Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia,” and it makes an urgent and exhaustive case that universities should be doing a lot more to dispel tech industry hype and keep commercial AI tools out of the academy, reports Brian Merchant from Blood in the Machine.

Here’s the abstract:

Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users—in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research… universities must take their role seriously to a) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity.

This latest position paper joins what seems to be a growing opposition to Generative AI within the research and academic community in Europe at the very time when policy makers seem to be embracing approaches from the big AI technology companies.

Vocational education and training practitioners though face another dilemma. AI increasingly forms part of the work process in different occupations and is thus a part of the curriculum for vocational programmes. It is one thing to reject the use of AI for teaching and learning and there are many reasons for arguing so. But that does not get round the problem of learning about AI, often in the context of different occupations.

About the Image

The image represents the increasing use of biometric and security surveillance such as facial reocgnition and fingerprint scanning to identify individuals. While the technology can be used to enhance security, the constant surveillance of individuals can erode individual’s privacy and human rights. There have also been examples of biometric systems, particularly facial recognition, which have been misused and exhibit bias, leading to discrimination and targeting of groups.