About the PhD: Audits and evaluation of AI systems — and the broader context that AI systems operate in — have become central to conceptualising, quantifying, measuring and understanding the operations, failures, limitations, underlying assumptions, and downstream societal implications of AI systems. Existing AI audit and evaluation efforts are fractured, done in a siloed and ad-hoc manner, and with little deliberation and reflection around conceptual rigour and methodological validity. This PhD is for a candidate that is passionate about exploring what a conceptually cogent, methodologically sound, and well-founded AI evaluation and safety research might look like. This requires grappling with questions such as: What does it mean to represent “ground truth” in proxies, synthetic data, or computational simulation? How do we reliably measure abstract and complex phenomena? What are the epistemological or methodological implications of quantification and measurement approaches we choose to employ? Particularly, what underlying presuppositions, values, or perspectives do they entail? How do we ensure the lived experiences of impacted communities play a critical role in the development and justification of measurement metrics and proxies? Through exploration of these questions, the candidate is expected to engage with core concepts in the philosophy of science, history of science, Black feminist epistemologies, and similar schools of thought to develop an in-depth understanding of existing practices with the aim of applying it to advance shared standards and best practice in AI evaluation. The candidate is expected to integrate empirical (for example, through analysis or evaluation of existing benchmarks) or practical (for example, by executing evaluation of AI systems) components into the overall work.

are you displeased with today’s AI safety evaluation landscape and curious about what greater conceptual clarity, methodological soundness, and rigour in AI evaluation could look like? if so, consider coming to Dublin to pursue a PhD with me

apply here: aial.ie/hiring/phd-a...

pls repost

'Ludicrous' professors can't be appointed - ATU President The inability of Technological Universities to appoint professors is causing significant regional imbalance that needs to be urgently addressed, according to the President of Atlantic Technological Un...

Clear and unambiguous statement from @oflynnatu.bsky.social President of @atu-ie.bsky.social on the potential of Professorships in #technologicaluniversities across the country - www.rte.ie/news/educati...

OpenAI's rapid rush into education has been achieved by habituating users through training programs, institutional lock-ins, strategic marketing partnerships, and third party integrations that together are helping it become infrastructural to teaching and learning. It's going to be hard to get out.

But what iseducation? Embodied and enactive cognitive sciences remind us that knowledge is not something discrete that an individual possesses and passes down but an inherently dynamic and evolving endeavour that develops in the process of embodied, curious and engaged interaction through dialogue. The pinnacle of cognition, particularly ‘human knowing’, is inextricably interwoven with interactions we engage in

with each other and the physical, cultural and social world we inhabit, ‘so much so that individuals are not thinkable outside of their interactions and embeddedness in their (social) world’ (De Jaegher, 2019). Dialogic models of knowledge and education emphasize that interactions between a student and teacher and/or peer provide ‘scaffolding’ for how that child understands the world. The always in flux, active and continually transforming nature of human cognition necessitates that education be fundamentally an ongoing activity. Far from the reductionist view whereby ‘formal knowledge’ can be packaged and acquired from an LLM, the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care and humility are fostered and mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions

In this short piece, I lean on embodied cog sci to argue that we should refuse & resist llms in education (pp. 53-58) unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentV...

"the classroom is an environment where love, trust, empathy, care & humility are fostered & mutually cultivated through dialogical interactions"

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

An excerpt from the article, "Silicon Valley’s Drive to Get AI Into America’s Schools Is Working" by Vauhini Vara. The excerpt reads, "As long as a student did well enough on the school’s on-screen knowledge assessments, Price said, she applauded the shortcut. Showing through quizzes that they’d mastered concepts earned the students XP—experience points, like in video games—which they could convert into dollars for investment into personal projects called 'masterpieces.'"

This detail from the recent Bloomberg Businessweek article on AI in education about how Alpha School rewards students with XP (experience points) is literally part of the plot in @savasavasava.bsky.social short film #tresdancing and its dramatization of surveillance and ed-tech.

The Less You Know About AI, the More You Are Likely to Use It AI can seem magical to those with low AI literacy, a new study finds. That, in turn, might make them more willing to try it.

So new studies showcase that the more you know how GenAi works, the less likely you are to use it! 😌

This reminds me of ai advocates who claim that those who refuse to use GenAi do so because they dont know how it works, yet it’s the opposite!
The less you know the more you are likely to use GenAi

Time for a Pause: Without Effective Public Oversight, AI in Schools Will Do More Harm Than Good. Ignoring their own well-publicized calls to regulate AI development and to pause implementation of its applications, major technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta are racing to fend o...

Teachers, unions, education leaders: AI does not clearly do what it's being marketed and hyped as doing in education. It won't save time, solve inequality, raise achievement, and it's not inevitable. But it will line their wallets. Still time to call a pause on it nepc.colorado.edu/publication/ai

turns out there's a word in Gaelic for pretty much exactly the intersection of belonging & place that i set out to study at UHI. on Dùthchas as home & worldview...a report preview ;)

four key ways UHI staff frame belonging in their local communities & campuses:
bonstewart.com/belonging/po...

Sheltering Each Other: Longing for "Meitheal" in our Modern Times This summer at Irish school in Ballyferriter, mo mhúinteoir (my teacher) repeatedly used the word meitheal even when speaking English.

Beautiful work, Bonnie... and much needed.
I too am reminded of the word, 'meitheal' and the idiom (seanfhocal):
'ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine'
often cited by Mary Robinson during her presidency... more here:
diankillian.substack.com/p/sheltering...

Fabliss news!

GO-GN Member Research Special X (18 March 2025) | Join us on Tuesday 18 March 2025 at 16.00-17.00GMT for our 10th awesome GO-GN member research special! We're delighted to be joined by Dr. Jess O'Reilly (Cambrian College) and Kate Molloy (Dublin City...

Looking forward to presenting at the next #GO-GN Member Research Special tomorrow afternoon about the early stages of my doctoral research at @dcuioe.bsky.social. The session is open to all. go-gn.net/gogn/go-gn-m...

The story of computing is written in its artifacts, in the organizations in which they were forged, and expecially in the people who shaped them.

Thriving at @atu-ie.bsky.social - a warm welcome from @oflynnatu.bsky.social to a conversation about growing compassion, respect, inclusion and belonging at our University... looking forward to this!

The Dan MacQuillan episode "All that was once directly lived has become mere representation" (Guy Debord)

I have a new podcast - a wonderful interview with @danmcquillan.bsky.social about his book Resisting AI, and the possibilities for resistance in education. Recorded in November but this week it feels more urgent than ever.
helenbeetham.substack.com/p/the-dan-ma...

Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power since 1500 Explore how technical and social structures co-evolved over five centuries in this large-scale research visualization.

In case you havenʼt seen it yet, this website is such a great resource for all of us researchers and teachers working on and discussing technology and society:

Calculating Empires – A Genealogy of Technology and Power since 1500
calculatingempires.net

AI Accountability · ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology

Trinity College Dublin has established a new AI Accountability Lab (AIAL) led by @abeba.bsky.social launching today. A useful podcast on
www.adaptcentre.ie/podcasts/ai-... from earlier this year explains why this research is so important. Wishing it every success.

so apt and for some reason, my immediate thought is “it’d be nice to print and hang it up in the lab"

#booksky
#bookquotechallenge
Day 3 of 20

THE AI CON How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want

THE AI CON: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want (by yours truly & @alexhanna.bsky.social) is now available for pre-order!

All the details here: thecon.ai

How Abeba Birhane is cleaning up AI’s dirty data “We are not evaluating systems for some hypothetical, potential risks in the future. These audits are uncovering actual real issues, real problems, whether it's racism, sexism, or encoding of stereoty...

“‘We are not evaluating systems for some hypothetical, potential risks in the future,’ Birhane says. ‘These audits are uncovering actual real issues, real problems, whether it’s racism, sexism, or encoding of stereotypes and historical injustices and so on.’”

@gravesle.bsky.social Keynote Day 2 #DEC24

Leigh Graves Wolf @gravesle.bsky.social talking about the transformational power of N-TUTORR @ntutorr.ie during her keynote at the DEC 24 conference in Waterford @dec24conf.bsky.social

Keynote speaker @gravesle.bsky.social at podium under a screen showing the logo for the NTUTORR project

@gravesle.bsky.social gives the @ntutorr.ie programme a big shout out as part of her keynote talk at the #DEC24 conference

Leigh Graves Wolf

Watching @gravesle.bsky.social inject her passion for education along with her inspirations for wayfaring along the crossroads of technology and education.

It was a privilege to be in the room to hear President Mary Robinson assert the absolute truth of human rights and call out the international community for its double standards on human rights and climate change. She left us with a message of hope and humanity @atu-ie.bsky.social

Mary Robinson receives her honorary doctorate from Orla Flynn, President ATU, and Bill Bennett, VP for Academic Affairs

What a privilege to be at the honorary conferring of Mary Robinson at ATU Castlebar campus yesterday afternoon. She spoke about Human Rights and gave a message of hope, in dark times. Thank you to @jacqmccormack.bsky.social and @oflynnatu.bsky.social for inviting us.

Over 30 years since I was first lucky enough to share a space with Mary Robinson and have her voice inspire us... she's just as inspiring, hopeful, and insistent on fairness today!
Delighted to see her honoured by @atu-ie.bsky.social @oflynnatu.bsky.social yesterday with an honorary doctorate!