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michael veale @michae.lv · 3h

i mean all that is nonsensical. assessment needs overhaul and education needs to adapt, it’s true — but to embrace the idea that AI often makes it harder, not easier, to gain foundational skills (incl. those required for any future use of AI). universities can’t just continue! need a real vision.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 12h

i’d be interested to see documentation if it exists around what aspects of the tool the firm allows universities to disable

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michael veale @michae.lv · 12h

does the university’s governance have meaningful control over how you run your classrooms and exams?

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michael veale @michae.lv · 18h

(it is impossible to get a chinese mobile number via esim so don’t bother looking, but a HK esim from eg Airalo can have full fast data for very little money just no local phone number)

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michael veale @michae.lv · 18h

If it requires a chinese phone number (most things accept foreign numbers now but some don’t) you can go to China Unicom and get a no data SIM contract which costs £1-2 and comes with a phone number (use Airalo or Holafly esim for data in combination). SIM will expire if you don’t pay for it.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 18h

Try it in Amap, it’s an AutoX partner and Amap’s english translated app with ride hailing is in the UK app store (unlike Baidu apps). Amap best map for foreigners. Otherwise general tip is that even where Chinese apps are not in UK store, you can get them through Alipay & Wechat mini apps instead.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 18h

Do the Zendesk agents resolve 80% of customer service issues in the presence or absence of a proper FAQ and easy-to-use and powerful customer user interface?

TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 18h

This has been a big week for AI companies signing enterprise deals, with Zendesk unveiling new AI agents that are supposed to be able to resolve 80% of customer service issues, Anthropic and IBM announcing a strategic partnership, and Deloitte also announcing a deal with Anthropic.

Ready or not, enterprises are betting on AI | TechCrunch

This has been a big week for AI companies signing enterprise deals, with Zendesk unveiling new AI agents that are supposed to be able to resolve 80% of customer service issues, Anthropic and IBM announcing a strategic partnership, and Deloitte also announcing a deal with Anthropic.

techcrunch.com

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michael veale @michae.lv · 18h

Does your university have a contract with Grammarly? Write to the decision-maker asking if they think the university should be paying for a tool that is fast integrating features that can only be used for academic misconduct and cognitive offloading and request they drop the contract.

Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · Aug 18

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur.
www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

For help with attribution and sourcing, Grammarly is releasing a citation finder agent that automatically generates correctly formatted citations backing up claims in a piece of writing, and an expert review agent that provides personalized, topic-specific feedback.

Screenshot from Grammarly's demo of inserting a post-hoc citation.
https://www.grammarly.com/ai-agents/citation-finder

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TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 18h

This has been a big week for AI companies signing enterprise deals, with Zendesk unveiling new AI agents that are supposed to be able to resolve 80% of customer service issues, Anthropic and IBM announcing a strategic partnership, and Deloitte also announcing a deal with Anthropic.

Ready or not, enterprises are betting on AI | TechCrunch

This has been a big week for AI companies signing enterprise deals, with Zendesk unveiling new AI agents that are supposed to be able to resolve 80% of customer service issues, Anthropic and IBM announcing a strategic partnership, and Deloitte also announcing a deal with Anthropic.

techcrunch.com

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Privacy International @privacyinternational.org · 1d

🚨 BREAKING: Microsoft illegally tracked students, data watchdog finds.

The Austrian DPA has ruled that Microsoft 365 Education used tracking cookies without consent — illegally collecting student data - following a complaint supported by @noyb.eu

noyb.eu/en/noyb-win-...

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michael veale @michae.lv · 4d

OpenAI’s Sora opt-out for IP is clearly OpenAI trying to do a Google ContentID pivot to turn rightsholders of key trademarked characters into price-takers not price-setters.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 5d

ppl are so angry about article that poorly summarises v good work in JAMA. Advocates for ‘silent swaps’ of clinically appropriate, environmentally harmful inhalers to better ones. There are bigger villains, but in a climate crisis we cannot ignore such opportunities. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

it’s the antidote to the wide legged tory power pose from years back

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

It’s good to stand up for colleagues’ rights elsewhere. But what exactly is being won here? A one and a half percent rise that isn’t being even implemented at those same institutions? Colleagues are being asked to sacrifice their home institutional leverage to gain so, so little national leverage.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

If a strike is called, my colleagues and I realise that we would be increasingly striking against an org w/ extremely limited ability, even were it to shout at its loudest voice in UCEA, to alter pay.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

Sector wide bargaining works when you have a coherent sector. Sadly, the UK university sector has morphed into something entirely different than that found in places like NL, DK or so on where you have this, and there is clearly zero political will, nor a credible plan from anyone, to morph it back.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

National wage bargaining for academics is failing. UCU will likely argue to retain for solidarity, but with it no university can meaningfully respond to strike action due to an untenable tryst, amongst a sector with vastly different financial models. Local bargaining? Tiering? It needs discussion.

Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 6d

At least five UK universities have told staff they will not be paying them the sector-wide uplift that was due in August for almost a year. Juliette Rowsell reports
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/five-uk-universities-tell-staff-they-cant-afford-pay-rises

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Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 6d

At least five UK universities have told staff they will not be paying them the sector-wide uplift that was due in August for almost a year. Juliette Rowsell reports
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/five-uk-universities-tell-staff-they-cant-afford-pay-rises

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

… when did I assume that? when did I assume you used word? windows? obsessed with it? character limited messages are easy to misinterpret, sure. i can only express that i am writing in good faith, believe we share many goals, and urge you to read these character limited messages that way.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

I think you’ve entirely got the wrong end of the stick. When did I say you can’t ask your employer that? I was sharing experience in good faith, as someone who spends hours every week on this: it feels to me you’re assuming the worst from every msg. Even on clarifying SURFdrive (SURF does loads!)

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

I don’t disagree that the principles matter, but most people are not employed at institutions which are convinced by principle alone. Strategy and tactics matter. SURF (drive I assume you mean) or Own/NextCloud sadly is nowhere close to a drop in replacement for the infrastructural depths of MS365.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 6d

the integration of it into apps etc with RAGs is extortionate as an extra fee. the actual chatbot being accessible is stupid but i doubt it gets much use. if RU tries to add the app stuff i would make them tell you how much usage the copilot chat (probably on) gets as a % of users.

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Kate Leader @leader-kate.bsky.social · 7d

The Home Secretary is now planning to find a way to criminalise the "cumulative effect" of protest.

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office

Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

www.theguardian.com

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The Verge @theverge.com · 8d

Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and scanned photo IDs

An “unauthorized party” may have accessed the names of users, the last four digits of credit card numbers, and more.

buff.ly

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