Who Ya Gonna Call? AI Hype Busters!
Spirit Halloween has your last-minute costume.
It’s All Hollows Eve Eve. You’re inundated with pedagogically questionable hype about AI in education and still don’t have your costume. Don’t worry, Spirit Halloween just stocked a new costume perfect for any teacher: The AI Hype Buster!
The AI Hype Busters Costume
These AI Hype Busters are featured in my post, Teachers: Follow These Experts To Learn AI.
The costume helps you look like these AI Hype Busters:
Dr. Timnit Gebru, former co-head of AI ethics for Google. She was dismissed because of her co-authorship of On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜 (the Stochastic Parrots paper). The paper argued that Large Language Models (LLMs) amplify bias and environmental racism. It is the seminal review of work in this field. Dr. Gebru is now a Founder and Executive Director of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and the founder of Black in AI, a community of Black researchers working in AI.
Dr. Emily M. Bender, a computational linguist at the University of Washington. A co-author of the Stochastic Parrots paper.
Dr. Alex Hanna, formerly of Google’s Ethical AI team. She is a Founder and Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR).
Dr. Margaret Mitchell, formerly Dr. Gebru's co-head of Google's AI Ethics team with Gebru until she co-authored the Stochastic Parrots paper, lost her job two months after Gebru. She is now Chief Ethics Scientist and researcher at AI startup Hugging Face.
The AI Hype Busters Costume Includes…
The contents of the costume include some deep cuts for those following these experts’ work on AI harms and limits.
Plush stochastic parrot - Dr. Bender coined the term to describe how LLMs stochastically parrot text devoid of meaning like parrots do.
ACM Digital Library publishing access refers to the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library where the Stochastic Parrots paper was published.
Podcast microphones refer to Bender and Hanna’s fantastic Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 podcast. All teachers should listen to it. This is their latest episode, Stop Trying to Make “AI” Scientist Happen.
The steel-toed boot refers to Dr. Gebru’s fantastic social media presence. Gebru is a champion of the oppressed who speaks truth to power. Teachers should follow her Twitter and LinkedIn. Her courageous posts are a breath of fresh air in those toxic spaces. Whether skewering OpenAI’s dishonesty, the Nobel committee awarding the “Godfather of AI” for selling science-fiction and ignoring actual AI harms, or general AI hype, Gebru is a forceful advocate for truth.
Ability to change your names so they begin with "S" refers to Dr. Mitchell responding to Google’s request to remove her name from the Stochastic Parrots paper by replacing it with "Shmargaret Shmitchell."
The Song Parody
I love this time of year because “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. is in season.1 That song is so catchy, like Cotton Eye Joe.
The Hype Busters need a theme song. I wrote a parody of “Ghostbusters” to meet this need. Here is an excerpt that starts at 0:36 of the original song.
If there's AI hype
But it don't sound right
Who you gonna call?
Hype Busters!
I ain't fallin’ for no hype
I ain't fallin’ for no hype
“AI” will have consciousness, self-awareness, emotions, and values”
Who can you call?
Hype Busters!
“AI” can carry out complex tasks with little or no human intervention.”
Ow, who you gonna call?
Hype Busters!
I ain't fallin’ for no hype
I ain't fallin’ for no hype
Who you gonna call?
Hype Busters!
If they say “AI” can tutor kids alone
Pick up the phone
And call
Hype Busters!
Continuing the Conversation
What do you think? What “AI” hype have you encountered in your school?
Does your school district need help fighting AI hype? I would love to work with you. Reach out on Twitter, email mistermullaney@gmail.com, or check out my professional development offerings.
Spirit Halloween Meme Images:
Dr. Timinit Gebru from the Wikimedia Commons.
Dr. Emily M. Bender from the University of Washington.
Dr. Alex Hanna from her website.
Dr. Margaret Mitchell from her website.
Photo of Red, Blue, and Yellow Parrot on Tree Branch by Silas Leupold from Pexels.
AI Disclosure:
I wrote this post without the use of any generative AI. That means:
I developed the idea for the post without using generative AI.
I wrote an outline for this post without the assistance of generative AI.
I wrote the post using the outline without the use of generative AI.
I edited this post without the assistance of any generative AI. I used Grammarly to assist in editing the post. I have Grammarly GO turned off.
If my dream of being a middle-relief pitcher in a professional wiffleball league ever comes true, Ghostbusters is in the mix as the song that plays when I walk in from the bullpen and warm up on the mound. Yes, in my dream I am a middle-reliver, not the closer. That’s too much pressure!