Ben Williamson
@benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Researching data, tech, futures, and biological sciences in education | Senior Lecturer and co-director at the Centre for Research in Digital Education | University of Edinburgh | Editor of Learning, Media and Technology @lmt-journal.bsky.social
Pinned
European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies (ECCES) 2026 Futuring Studio - Professur für Soziologie, insbesondere Transformation von Governance in Bildung und Gesellschaft
www.hsu-hh.de
REMINDER for anyone interested in how critical edtech research can inform design and practice
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org
January 15, 2026 at 7:23 PM
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
REMINDER for anyone interested in how critical edtech research can inform design and practice
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies (ECCES) 2026 Futuring Studio - Professur für Soziologie, insbesondere Transformation von Governance in Bildung und Gesellschaft
www.hsu-hh.de
January 16, 2026 at 7:29 PM
REMINDER for anyone interested in how critical edtech research can inform design and practice
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
"For three years now, we’ve heard arguments about making education and work more purposeful, more meaningful, so students and employees don’t simply offload their thinking to a machine. I’ve made such arguments many times, but I’m also beginning to see how far removed from reality this is."
@marcwatkins.bsky.social gives a list of 10 great scenarios worth discussing and thinking through with higher ed colleagues - I will be using this gift!
marcwatkins.substack.com/p/what-we-gi...
marcwatkins.substack.com/p/what-we-gi...
What We Give Up When We Let AI Decide
Automation Is Easy. Judgment Is Not.
marcwatkins.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:49 PM
"For three years now, we’ve heard arguments about making education and work more purposeful, more meaningful, so students and employees don’t simply offload their thinking to a machine. I’ve made such arguments many times, but I’m also beginning to see how far removed from reality this is."
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Thanks to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social for the nine framings of AI in education and inviting further work to “trace out how certain constructions of AI get prioritized, build momentum, and embedded into practices and systems—and then to track the effects of these framings as they are enacted.”
Constructing AI in education
Photo by Lachlan Donald on Unsplash Most definitions of “AI in education” start from technical categories. First there was rules-based AI, followed by data-driven predictive AI, and now generative …
codeactsineducation.wordpress.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Thanks to @benpatrickwill.bsky.social for the nine framings of AI in education and inviting further work to “trace out how certain constructions of AI get prioritized, build momentum, and embedded into practices and systems—and then to track the effects of these framings as they are enacted.”
Reposted by Ben Williamson
☀️ Summer School 📚
“Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming"
Organisers and teachers:
👉 @marentierra.bsky.social
👉 @olivia.science
👉 myself
Deadline for application:
🐦 31 March 2026 (early bird fee)
1/🧵
www.ru.nl/en/education...
“Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming"
Organisers and teachers:
👉 @marentierra.bsky.social
👉 @olivia.science
👉 myself
Deadline for application:
🐦 31 March 2026 (early bird fee)
1/🧵
www.ru.nl/en/education...
Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming | Radboud University
This course is designed to foster critical AI literacies in participants to empower them to develop ways of resisting or reclaiming AI in their own practices and social context.
www.ru.nl
January 16, 2026 at 8:36 PM
☀️ Summer School 📚
“Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming"
Organisers and teachers:
👉 @marentierra.bsky.social
👉 @olivia.science
👉 myself
Deadline for application:
🐦 31 March 2026 (early bird fee)
1/🧵
www.ru.nl/en/education...
“Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming"
Organisers and teachers:
👉 @marentierra.bsky.social
👉 @olivia.science
👉 myself
Deadline for application:
🐦 31 March 2026 (early bird fee)
1/🧵
www.ru.nl/en/education...
REMINDER for anyone interested in how critical edtech research can inform design and practice
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies (ECCES) 2026 Futuring Studio - Professur für Soziologie, insbesondere Transformation von Governance in Bildung und Gesellschaft
www.hsu-hh.de
January 16, 2026 at 7:29 PM
REMINDER for anyone interested in how critical edtech research can inform design and practice
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
After a big European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies in Zurich last year, we're running a "Futuring Studio" this September in Hamburg
Pls share and submit here www.hsu-hh.de/sozgov/europ...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
I've put together a list of the most helpful activities/visualizations/tools I've found for introducing students to the mechanics of LLMs (which I do every year). miriamposner.com/blog/introdu...
Introducing beginners to the mechanics of machine learning – Miriam Posner
miriamposner.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:04 PM
I've put together a list of the most helpful activities/visualizations/tools I've found for introducing students to the mechanics of LLMs (which I do every year). miriamposner.com/blog/introdu...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
This new paper by @hartzog.bsky.social and @jessicasilbey.bsky.social makes "one simple point: AI systems are built to function in ways that degrade and are likely to destroy our crucial civic institutions."
Grim but important reading:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Grim but important reading:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
How AI Destroys Institutions
Civic institutions—the rule of law, universities, and a free press—are the backbone of democratic life. They are the mechanisms through which complex societies
papers.ssrn.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:11 PM
This new paper by @hartzog.bsky.social and @jessicasilbey.bsky.social makes "one simple point: AI systems are built to function in ways that degrade and are likely to destroy our crucial civic institutions."
Grim but important reading:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Grim but important reading:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
January 15, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
📣 SEMINAR: Critical Ed Tech Studies and the University
📅 16 January 2026
⌚ 11am - 1pm
📍 Dept of Education
This event is co-hosted by the Critical Digital Education Research Group at the Department and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).
Register now 👉 bit.ly/4oYya5V
📅 16 January 2026
⌚ 11am - 1pm
📍 Dept of Education
This event is co-hosted by the Critical Digital Education Research Group at the Department and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).
Register now 👉 bit.ly/4oYya5V
December 15, 2025 at 9:38 AM
📣 SEMINAR: Critical Ed Tech Studies and the University
📅 16 January 2026
⌚ 11am - 1pm
📍 Dept of Education
This event is co-hosted by the Critical Digital Education Research Group at the Department and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).
Register now 👉 bit.ly/4oYya5V
📅 16 January 2026
⌚ 11am - 1pm
📍 Dept of Education
This event is co-hosted by the Critical Digital Education Research Group at the Department and the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).
Register now 👉 bit.ly/4oYya5V
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Hundreds of staff leave Edinburgh University amid cuts drive
According to the university, 345 of these departures were the result of a targeted voluntary severance (VS) scheme run by the institution in 2025.
www.heraldscotland.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Missing from the coverage of redundancies at Edinburgh: this was done in such a haphazard, uncoordinated way, there are now core teams who have gone from 5 people to 1 with no change in workload or pressure and huge loss in knowledge of institutional process. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2576321...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Something else that really struck me in this report is this paragraph. "AI is doing things for students that they used to enjoy."
January 14, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Something else that really struck me in this report is this paragraph. "AI is doing things for students that they used to enjoy."
Reposted by Ben Williamson
The new framing by promoters of AI Scientists is that you still need an experienced human in the loop (as stated in this article). But HOW do you get such a human if these tools are used earlier and earlier in training and education. Also, the article gives the answer to the title's question: no.
Can A.I. Generate New Ideas?
www.nytimes.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:43 PM
The new framing by promoters of AI Scientists is that you still need an experienced human in the loop (as stated in this article). But HOW do you get such a human if these tools are used earlier and earlier in training and education. Also, the article gives the answer to the title's question: no.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Pop-up AI defacing your article critical of AI captures a lot of what it feels like to work in this space.
@lmesseri.bsky.social
@lmesseri.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Pop-up AI defacing your article critical of AI captures a lot of what it feels like to work in this space.
@lmesseri.bsky.social
@lmesseri.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Williamson
This analysis of papers from 1980 to 2025 goes beyond LLMs, but notes one challenge that arises when research questions rely on the same tools and datasets: “the adoption of AI seems to induce authors to converge on the same solutions to known problems rather than create new ones.”
AI has supercharged scientists—but may have shrunk science
Analysis of 41 million papers finds that although AI expands individual impact, it narrows collective scientific exploration
www.science.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:25 PM
This analysis of papers from 1980 to 2025 goes beyond LLMs, but notes one challenge that arises when research questions rely on the same tools and datasets: “the adoption of AI seems to induce authors to converge on the same solutions to known problems rather than create new ones.”
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Gotta say: it takes a white guy emeritus prof from Yale to proclaim that faculty life hasn't changed in 40 years — amidst adjunctification, platformization, public funding cuts, the substitution of tech for competent support staff, the disappearance of those jobs *my* senior advisors enjoyed...
Opinion | Why Professors Fear the Future
Academic life has barely changed in 40 years. Why? The faculty likes it that way.
www.chronicle.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Gotta say: it takes a white guy emeritus prof from Yale to proclaim that faculty life hasn't changed in 40 years — amidst adjunctification, platformization, public funding cuts, the substitution of tech for competent support staff, the disappearance of those jobs *my* senior advisors enjoyed...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...
The Age of Academic Slop is Upon Us
what happens when AI automates "normal science"?
open.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:38 PM
I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
"Any school adopting these [tutorbot] applications tacitly accepts that learning can largely be reduced to a narrow range of behavioral responses and tacitly rejects more complex child-centered understandings of learning."
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...
nepc.colorado.edu
January 12, 2026 at 4:25 PM
"Any school adopting these [tutorbot] applications tacitly accepts that learning can largely be reduced to a narrow range of behavioral responses and tacitly rejects more complex child-centered understandings of learning."
Reposted by Ben Williamson
‘Our tech overlords like the idea of being Thomas Edison, genius inventor-businessman, but they often have more in common with P.T. Barnum, genius of marketing and hype. Altman could go toe-to-toe with Barnum, and I wouldn’t want to pick a winner.’
John Lanchester:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Lanchester:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Lanchester · King of Cannibal Island: Will the AI bubble burst?
Nvidia shares are the purest bet you can make on the impact of AI. The leading firms are lending money to one another in...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 11, 2026 at 12:11 PM
‘Our tech overlords like the idea of being Thomas Edison, genius inventor-businessman, but they often have more in common with P.T. Barnum, genius of marketing and hype. Altman could go toe-to-toe with Barnum, and I wouldn’t want to pick a winner.’
John Lanchester:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Lanchester:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
“Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good requires a return to not-for-profit models & sustainable open-access systems. Quality, accessibility & integrity need to be put ahead of profit. Change is needed to protect the purpose of academic research: to advance knowledge in the public interest”
The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing
Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.
theconversation.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:49 AM
“Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good requires a return to not-for-profit models & sustainable open-access systems. Quality, accessibility & integrity need to be put ahead of profit. Change is needed to protect the purpose of academic research: to advance knowledge in the public interest”
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Who are the experts / journalists / researchers you turn to for critical perspectives on AI & the tech world? I created a feed of experts who watch AI developments with a skeptical & critical (but *informed*) POV. I'd love more people to follow it, but I'm also looking to add people - recs welcome!
January 7, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Who are the experts / journalists / researchers you turn to for critical perspectives on AI & the tech world? I created a feed of experts who watch AI developments with a skeptical & critical (but *informed*) POV. I'd love more people to follow it, but I'm also looking to add people - recs welcome!
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Well of the schools I’ve visited with UNICEF in Africa they all need the following:
1) Desks
2) Chairs
3) Trained Teachers
4) Pens and paper
5) Paid Teachers
6) Free Schooling
7) School Roof
8) Free Uniforms
9) Kids Shoes
10) Free Food
11) Power
12) Lighting
AI ain’t on this list.
1) Desks
2) Chairs
3) Trained Teachers
4) Pens and paper
5) Paid Teachers
6) Free Schooling
7) School Roof
8) Free Uniforms
9) Kids Shoes
10) Free Food
11) Power
12) Lighting
AI ain’t on this list.
January 11, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Well of the schools I’ve visited with UNICEF in Africa they all need the following:
1) Desks
2) Chairs
3) Trained Teachers
4) Pens and paper
5) Paid Teachers
6) Free Schooling
7) School Roof
8) Free Uniforms
9) Kids Shoes
10) Free Food
11) Power
12) Lighting
AI ain’t on this list.
1) Desks
2) Chairs
3) Trained Teachers
4) Pens and paper
5) Paid Teachers
6) Free Schooling
7) School Roof
8) Free Uniforms
9) Kids Shoes
10) Free Food
11) Power
12) Lighting
AI ain’t on this list.
Always been pretty sceptical of "AI inevitability" claims in education but jeez the cash being pumped into it by the Gates Foundation and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund to make AI happen in education in sub-Saharan Africa ... investment is how you make AI "inevitable" www.wamda.com/2025/12/adq-...
ADQ, Gates Foundation commit $40 million to scale responsible AI, edtech across Africa
ADQ and the Gates Foundation have announced a four-year, $40m partnership to scale the responsible use of AI and EdTech to improve...
www.wamda.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Always been pretty sceptical of "AI inevitability" claims in education but jeez the cash being pumped into it by the Gates Foundation and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund to make AI happen in education in sub-Saharan Africa ... investment is how you make AI "inevitable" www.wamda.com/2025/12/adq-...
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Today in FB ads for AI. "Perfect for students"! In addition to everything else I think we need to talk more about how this relentless messaging is shaping the way students think about writing and what this layering of tools--generators, checkers, humanizers--is doing to the way we see each other.
January 10, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Today in FB ads for AI. "Perfect for students"! In addition to everything else I think we need to talk more about how this relentless messaging is shaping the way students think about writing and what this layering of tools--generators, checkers, humanizers--is doing to the way we see each other.
Reposted by Ben Williamson
Good reading.
'How the financial problem is described is not neutral. It reflects and reinforces a particular way of understanding what a university is....If the financial situation is framed as a classic demand-and-cost problem....the obvious actions are to emphasise tight cost controls'. 1/4
'How the financial problem is described is not neutral. It reflects and reinforces a particular way of understanding what a university is....If the financial situation is framed as a classic demand-and-cost problem....the obvious actions are to emphasise tight cost controls'. 1/4
WEEKEND READING: What if, in trying to ‘fix’ universities, we are quietly unmaking them? - HEPI
Join HEPI and Advance HE for a webinar onTuesday, 13 January 2026, from 11am to 12pm, exploring what higher education can learn from leadership approaches in other sectors. Sign up here to hear this a...
www.hepi.ac.uk
January 10, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Good reading.
'How the financial problem is described is not neutral. It reflects and reinforces a particular way of understanding what a university is....If the financial situation is framed as a classic demand-and-cost problem....the obvious actions are to emphasise tight cost controls'. 1/4
'How the financial problem is described is not neutral. It reflects and reinforces a particular way of understanding what a university is....If the financial situation is framed as a classic demand-and-cost problem....the obvious actions are to emphasise tight cost controls'. 1/4