Michael Black
@mblack.us
Reposted by Michael Black
Note that these docs are pending full review by NCTE. They've been approved by the CCCC Executive Committee. They have not been fully approved by the NCTE Presidential Team. However, we felt it important to share given the timeliness of the documents. We hope others find them helpful.
December 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Note that these docs are pending full review by NCTE. They've been approved by the CCCC Executive Committee. They have not been fully approved by the NCTE Presidential Team. However, we felt it important to share given the timeliness of the documents. We hope others find them helpful.
Reposted by Michael Black
Understanding Generative AI: A Primer for College Writers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
December 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Understanding Generative AI: A Primer for College Writers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Michael Black
The CCCC Special Committee on Generative AI in College Composition & Writing Studies is pleased to share two docs that have been in the works since this past summer:
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
December 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The CCCC Special Committee on Generative AI in College Composition & Writing Studies is pleased to share two docs that have been in the works since this past summer:
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Michael Black
I think one of the most helpful ways to think about AI systems comes from Jasmina Tacheva and Srividya Ramasubramanian's article, "AI Empire: Unraveling the interlocking systems of oppression in generative AI’s global order" and this figure. Open article is at: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
December 1, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I think one of the most helpful ways to think about AI systems comes from Jasmina Tacheva and Srividya Ramasubramanian's article, "AI Empire: Unraveling the interlocking systems of oppression in generative AI’s global order" and this figure. Open article is at: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
Reposted by Michael Black
As someone who works on the interaction layer of software: it's this.
Stupid trends in hardware self correct after a generation or two, but *software* ratchets in the direction of unusable because designers are occupied with interaction patterns and not whether the fucking thing works properly.
Stupid trends in hardware self correct after a generation or two, but *software* ratchets in the direction of unusable because designers are occupied with interaction patterns and not whether the fucking thing works properly.
i think it's useful to look at areas where the *tech* has gotten much better while tech *interactions* have gotten way worse. streaming has gotten worse, google search has gotten worse, digital cameras are leaps better. apple's silicone is so good it's threatening their user upgrade cycle
it’s so weird to look around and realize like, tech and media are materially worse than a decade ago
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
As someone who works on the interaction layer of software: it's this.
Stupid trends in hardware self correct after a generation or two, but *software* ratchets in the direction of unusable because designers are occupied with interaction patterns and not whether the fucking thing works properly.
Stupid trends in hardware self correct after a generation or two, but *software* ratchets in the direction of unusable because designers are occupied with interaction patterns and not whether the fucking thing works properly.
Reposted by Michael Black
Wild to see this on a Windows fan site, but also probably true. They want to be infrastructure so they can get bailed out of their debt commitments and be the last app standing when the collapse comes.
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Wild to see this on a Windows fan site, but also probably true. They want to be infrastructure so they can get bailed out of their debt commitments and be the last app standing when the collapse comes.
Reposted by Michael Black
I agree with sentiments I’ve seen expressed to the effect that the rush to generative AI is an opportunity to see best what is human; if human understanding isn’t the point of education then I don’t think there is a point to it. That said, it is only an opportunity, and we’ve passed those up before.
November 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I agree with sentiments I’ve seen expressed to the effect that the rush to generative AI is an opportunity to see best what is human; if human understanding isn’t the point of education then I don’t think there is a point to it. That said, it is only an opportunity, and we’ve passed those up before.
Reposted by Michael Black
much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade
oh this is absolutely what i think. i think they feed him fake polls and outright AI slop
At this point, I wonder if he isn't lying when he says he has "my highest Poll Numbers, ever" since it's entirely possible that's what his aides are telling him. It's quite likely that there's an entire Potemkin village built around Trump right now.
November 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade
Reposted by Michael Black
"We should measure the impact of actually existing AI rather than worry about terminators or gray goo. And in this respect, while it's early days yet, the labor market effects are mostly justifying layoffs rather than increasing productivity. But there are strong use cases in surveillance fascism."
a painting of a man wearing sunglasses and a scarf with stars on it
ALT: a painting of a man wearing sunglasses and a scarf with stars on it
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
"We should measure the impact of actually existing AI rather than worry about terminators or gray goo. And in this respect, while it's early days yet, the labor market effects are mostly justifying layoffs rather than increasing productivity. But there are strong use cases in surveillance fascism."
I would echo this for writing instruction, specifically the idea that students should just revise/edit LLM output.
I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.
November 25, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I would echo this for writing instruction, specifically the idea that students should just revise/edit LLM output.
Reposted by Michael Black
In some cases, maybe. But this exercise often won’t work because students (like most of us) are very bad at intuitively understanding the limits of their knowledge without being trained to recognize it, and “fact check the AI” quickly becomes “using AI to fact check AI” and the cycle repeats.
November 24, 2025 at 1:17 PM
In some cases, maybe. But this exercise often won’t work because students (like most of us) are very bad at intuitively understanding the limits of their knowledge without being trained to recognize it, and “fact check the AI” quickly becomes “using AI to fact check AI” and the cycle repeats.
Reposted by Michael Black
Asking a chatbot isn't better than nothing -- it's worse than nothing. Unless the goal isn't learning but rather "turning in assignments".
November 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Asking a chatbot isn't better than nothing -- it's worse than nothing. Unless the goal isn't learning but rather "turning in assignments".
Reposted by Michael Black
There is a flaw in the argument, “This is the worst LLMs will ever be. They will get better.”
Consider: when people pay for token usage, there is an incentive for building bad models to maximize token usage. The models will not necessarily get better but instead be designed maximize user payment.
Consider: when people pay for token usage, there is an incentive for building bad models to maximize token usage. The models will not necessarily get better but instead be designed maximize user payment.
November 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
There is a flaw in the argument, “This is the worst LLMs will ever be. They will get better.”
Consider: when people pay for token usage, there is an incentive for building bad models to maximize token usage. The models will not necessarily get better but instead be designed maximize user payment.
Consider: when people pay for token usage, there is an incentive for building bad models to maximize token usage. The models will not necessarily get better but instead be designed maximize user payment.
Reposted by Michael Black
Reposted by Michael Black
Based on our research (although this not mentioned cwa-union.org/ghost-worker...) and featuring data workers you should follow here including @kristap.bsky.social & @brookh.bsky.social!!
November 22, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Based on our research (although this not mentioned cwa-union.org/ghost-worker...) and featuring data workers you should follow here including @kristap.bsky.social & @brookh.bsky.social!!
Reposted by Michael Black
Every time I see a study trying to use AI to improve early childhood development it seems designed as a desperate wish for AI to be useful to a field where it has no practical application and likely never will. Secondarily, a grasp for funding in the over-funded shiny object of optimizing childhood.
“This study is trying to understand how we can leverage AI and machine-learning principles to improve recognition for toddlers and preschoolers.”
Canadian researchers look into how AI can better understand toddler talk like 'doodidees' | CBC News
Two researchers at Western University in London, Ont., are studying how to improve the way artificial intelligence understands toddlers' speaking patterns. They're recruiting preschool-age children to...
www.cbc.ca
November 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Every time I see a study trying to use AI to improve early childhood development it seems designed as a desperate wish for AI to be useful to a field where it has no practical application and likely never will. Secondarily, a grasp for funding in the over-funded shiny object of optimizing childhood.
Reposted by Michael Black
everyone on a game is a storyteller and the storytellers on Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator fuckin’ despise the incentives of late stage capitalism
also that kid beto is pretty cool
also that kid beto is pretty cool
November 22, 2025 at 1:44 AM
everyone on a game is a storyteller and the storytellers on Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator fuckin’ despise the incentives of late stage capitalism
also that kid beto is pretty cool
also that kid beto is pretty cool
The spirit is willing but my retirement accounts are weak.
this is like one of those online quizzes where 90% of people on earth will come away saying "yep, that's me"
November 21, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The spirit is willing but my retirement accounts are weak.
Reposted by Michael Black
talkin' about the AI bubble
November 20, 2025 at 6:56 PM
talkin' about the AI bubble
Reposted by Michael Black
Instead of trying out the teacher version of ChatGPT or worrying about the AI bubble, I'd love for you to read my 4,500 word (lol, what?!) blog post about AI and genre. I poured myself into it, literally.
meresophistry.substack.com/p/the-generi...
meresophistry.substack.com/p/the-generi...
The generic abyss of artificial intelligence
A long, long, long blog post about AI and genre
meresophistry.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Instead of trying out the teacher version of ChatGPT or worrying about the AI bubble, I'd love for you to read my 4,500 word (lol, what?!) blog post about AI and genre. I poured myself into it, literally.
meresophistry.substack.com/p/the-generi...
meresophistry.substack.com/p/the-generi...
Reposted by Michael Black
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by Michael Black
A little belatedly sharing this piece that I published in @chronicle.com 's Opinion Forum (sorry full text is paywalled)
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
November 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM
A little belatedly sharing this piece that I published in @chronicle.com 's Opinion Forum (sorry full text is paywalled)
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Michael Black
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but AP exams won’t fix the literacy crisis either.
November 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but AP exams won’t fix the literacy crisis either.
Starting to wonder if stuff like this is why I mostly play history themed spreadsheet simulators these days.
November 18, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Starting to wonder if stuff like this is why I mostly play history themed spreadsheet simulators these days.
Reposted by Michael Black
What this reveals is that for most people in charge right now “AI” is less useful as a technology than as a piece of language to shift a conversation in whatever direction they need it to go. In one minute it will propel a new economy; in another it’s the reason for a recession.
November 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
What this reveals is that for most people in charge right now “AI” is less useful as a technology than as a piece of language to shift a conversation in whatever direction they need it to go. In one minute it will propel a new economy; in another it’s the reason for a recession.