The Year I Found My Voice
A year of speaking truth to hype.
In 2024, I did something I had never done before: I wrote about generative AI. When the year started, I was ten years into writing about educational technology on my old WordPress site. On February 20, 2024, I published my first post about generative AI: Pedagogy, And The AI Guest Speaker Or What Teachers Should Know About The Eliza Effect. That post is now available on this Substack, which I started in April after Katie Fielding suggested the platform. Thank you, Katie!
For ten years, I wrote about educational technology. I never blogged anything negative. I usually wrote detailed educational technology tutorials or ideas that teachers often found helpful.
But I never found my voice.
My posts were informative but not equity-informed. I wrote about technology without addressing its flaws or ways it could amplify inequity in P-12 education.
This year, I found my voice. And rocked out to some bangers. Read to the end for my Finding My Voice playlist.
Why It Took So Long
In late 2020, I saw a news item about Dr. Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s AI ethics team, losing her job after co-authoring a paper about Large Language Models’ biases and limits. That made me uncomfortable, considering I regularly wrote and presented about Google Workspace for Education.
At the time, “Artificial Intelligence” was not something I wrote or presented about, so I compartmentalized this information and moved on. Then, November 2022 happened.
The hype about AI and education took off like a rocket ship. Books claiming AI would revolutionize education were published and promoted widely on social media by May 2023. A next-character prediction algorithm with no communicative intent could tutor students, give them feedback on their writing, and “democratize learning,” whatever that means.
As this happened, I listened to Gebru and her co-authors, such as Dr. Emily M. Bender, who warned of the inherent harms and flaws of generative “AI.” As Bender said, Large Language Models are not well-matched to tasks requiring accuracy. And here I was, in a field (P-12 educational technology professional development) awash in a massive hype wave.
I have never heard an expert as renowned as Dr. Gebru or Dr. Bender say that Google Docs or FigJam inherently amplifies racism and misogyny, steals from artists, or degrades the environment. Now, the majority of my social media feeds were selling generative AI to teachers - harms and flaws be damned. Or just ignored.
I voiced concerns about generative AI’s inherent bias and theft at a retreat that Spring. The leadership there let me know it was not welcome. So, I kept my mouth shut for months.
That was a blessing. It gave me time to listen, think, consider, and learn. My posts on generative AI are the greatest hits album of everything I learned in that time.
Speaking Truth to Hype
So what broke the damn? Keeping your mouth shut is not very positive or affirming. Being depressed in silence about my industry served no one.
Earlier this year, I saw a presentation touting predictions that generative AI would change the world more than electricity, gain consciousness, ethics, and values, and could be a billion times smarter than humans by the late 2030s.
It was a risk, but it was time to speak up.
I resolved to write about the Eliza Effect, something I heard no edtech influencers reference. I also had posts in mind about what makes Google’s AutoDraw an ethical app, which experts in the field teachers should listen to, and AI vocabulary terms. Ironically, when I started on WordPress in August 2014, I had four posts in mind to start. Maybe that is the test of whether or not to start a Substack: Do you have ideas for four posts?
The reaction has been shockingly positive, although I know where to go for negative feedback (see below). It was even more positive in private conversations at the ISTE conference, which told me I was not the only one who struggled with voicing their concerns about generative AI in education.
It is not fun being a critic. I would much prefer to write posts about things teachers should do. To be fair to myself, some of my AI posts have plenty of resources for teachers. Here are some examples:
The previously mentioned vocabulary and experts posts.
A post about precise language to use with students: Be Precise When Talking About AI.
Pedagogy, Thinking, And The First Draft Or What Teachers Should Consider About AI And Writing.
Speaking of finding my voice, I want to thank Kasey Bell for including mine in her Shake Up Learning Summer Series.
I also need to thank Amanda Fox for inviting me to share about the harms of AI during her Week of AI event.
Thank you, Jen Giffen, GEG Italia, Daniel A. López, Fonz Mendoza, BustED Pencils, Christopher Nesi, and Rachelle Dené Poth for inviting me to share my voice on your podcasts.
Positive Instead of Toxic Spaces
Thank goodness for BlueSky! While not perfect, it is a dramatic improvement over Twitter, which I happily left. Sober experts write research-informed posts about generative AI there. I made a starter pack to help teachers get started.
This is the year I discovered a community of academics, researchers, activists, and P-12 educators raising questions about generative AI. Many of them are in the starter pack.
Benjamin Riley listed many of them in his post, Who and What comprise AI Skepticism?
Feedback is a gift. At the same time, Twitter is not the only social media network toxically overrun with AI hype. I usually share my posts to AI in Education Facebook communities and on LinkedIn. I often regret that choice. I suggest teachers seeking pedagogically sound ideas avoid these Facebook communities and LinkedIn altogether.
I notice that people in these spaces are especially eager to claim generative AI does not violate copyright even though Former General Counsel of the U.S. Copyright Office Jacqueline Charlesworth and now-deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have said it does. Seeing people stand up for tech giants against starving artists despite the law and common sense is disheartening. Witnessing it is bad for my mental health. If generative AI does not violate copyright, then copyright does not exist.
Dan Meyer documented how LinkedIn and BlueSky differ. A post on LinkedIn and accompanying comments praised a pedagogically wanting “AI” tutor app. Meyer posted it on BlueSky. The nuanced responses reflected an actual understanding of teaching and learning. Compare for yourself.
What’s Next
I see people who publish on Substack once a week. Cheers to them. I tend to write when I feel I have something to say.
I envision working on a new project in 2025, which may curb my ability to publish as often as I did this year. I can see posts reacting to news stories and connecting them to the pedagogy of using generative AI in classrooms, as I did in my post, John Mulaney's AI In Education Joke Should Give Teachers Pause.
Thank You!
Thank you if you read, considered, commented on, or subscribed to my writing this year. You validated my choice to speak up.
If you haven't yet, please consider subscribing. That way, you'll receive an email anytime I use my voice. Who wouldn’t?
Let’s Talk
What do you think? Are you struggling to speak your truth? Especially about generative AI and education? Comment below or connect with me on BlueSky: tommullaney.bsky.social.
Does your school or district need a tech-forward educator to help make sense of generative AI? I would love to work with you. Reach out on BlueSky, email mistermullaney@gmail.com, or check out my professional development offerings.
Finding My Voice Jams
These are the songs I rocked out to as I found my voice.
Brave by Sara Bareilles. I heard the lyrics, “Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live, Maybe one of these days, you can let the light in, And show me, how big your brave is” a lot in the days leading up to publishing the Eliza Effect post.
Born This Way by Lady Gaga. This song speaks to my not going with the flow about generative AI and education. Why do I have solidarity with those harmed instead of joining the bandwagon? Baby, I was born this way!
Pink Pony Club by Chapell Roan. If a song about someone determined to do what they want to do in the face of disapproval does not speak to me, what does? And, that guitar solo! Wow. Yes, I get that these three songs are LGBTQ anthems. My appropriating them to get psyched reminds me of the importance of striving to be a good ally.
Talkin’ About A Revolution by Tracy Chapman. Words for this and every era: “Poor people gonna rise up, And get their share, Poor people gonna rise up, And take what's theirs.”
Waffle House by Jonas Brothers. I was depressed about the situation in Spring 2023 when I heard this song. It became my anthem that somehow, some way, it would be OK.
22 (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift. This song entered the mix the day Taylor Swift expressed “fears” about generative AI and misinformation when she endorsed Kamala Harris for president.
The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen (featuring Rufus Wainright). As good as finding my voice was, advocating for students in the face of AI hype can be very lonely.
You and I by LÉON. The emotional ride of this song perfectly fits 2024 and my journey.
Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. I played this one regularly when writing Who Ya Gonna Call? AI Hype Busters!
Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. This feels like a good time to remind the reader there were 252 sessions devoted to “AI” at ISTE this year - not including Exhibit Hall presentations.
Look Out Any Window by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. A perfect song for anyone speaking truth to power.
Weatherman by Wild Rivers. This speaks to the melancholy of waiting for things to change and AI hype to abate.
It’s Only a Matter of Time by Olly Dobson, Back To The Future The Musical. I saw Back To The Future The Musical in May. This original song for the musical is the opposite of Weatherman. The AI hype fever will break. It’s only a matter of time with so many informed critics doing the work.
The Clocktower/For The Dreamers (reprise) by Roger Bart, Back To The Future The Musical. This music captures the tension of getting Marty back to 1985. Will Doc connect the electric cable to the Clock Tower by the time the lightning strikes? Will the DeLorean start? Will it all be timed right? Getting Marty back to 1985 feels like speaking truth to AI hype. There are many obstacles in the way. The song ends with Doc singing about how he is a dreamer. “This one’s for the dreamers. Like me!!!” So am I. Thanks again for reading.
Blog Post Image: The blog post image is a picture by Lauren McCann Ryan. I edited it with Procreate.
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.
