TIL that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) just published a report on what AI is doing to education

This has been going on for a while. Even before llms. When I was younger, I was actually educated as in trying new things and learning about them. Then came the proficiency test focus of leave every child behind. Then came in gutting classes and programs to only focus on tests and sports. Then came the charging money for sports. Then when I worked in education; it got worse. You would have kids that are 14 that can't write two sentences; can't write an email without auto-correct; struggled to read, it looked like someone smacked a keyboard to try and write something. And so on; it's just the next level of going downwards.

It was sad to see that students with so much access to tech became so ... I don't even know.

When I was thirteen I was writing programs, using pretty much any multimedia software, beta testing games (how to get free games for 500), tweaking the lawnmower engine (to mow the lawn faster, that pesky governor lol), and so on.

So you're right, this won't change, maybe when it backfires it might. But this is creating a huge void, not even a brain drain anymore. There's going to be a general malfunction to society. I mean it's sad

I just realised why I find AI enthusiasts so repulsive. I was already aware of how rude it is for someone to share the output from an LLM. Someone sharing an opinion they formed based on such an interaction, I realised is exactly as repugnant, if not more.

Or to put it in a different way: "I couldn't form my own opinion on the matter. So I shook a magic 8 cube a bunch of times, and the conversation we had, is something I think is worth while for others to hear".

Agreed except the office hours/study groups. I worked full time at uni and could not go to these as often as I wanted.

My partner was a grad student in Italy and I liked how they administered an oral exam for each student. Pretty easy to separate wheat from chaff that way I think, and quickly

Why not just start enforcing Anti-AI? Underperformers would still be tempted to use AI and then flunk themselves when they otherwise could have succeeded.

Thanks for posting this. It bothered me too but I wasn't sure how to put it into words. It's almost as bad as the soapbox rants that get posted to the asklemmy comms with "What do you think?" at the end.

The last Windows Patch Tuesday had almost 1000 patches.

I try not to have discussions about AI online that are too lengthy, because I know no one really convinces anyone else, but every time I see someone talk about how they use local open weight models and how that makes their AI use ethical I think of scenarios exactly like this. That AI got the information from somewhere and that book or forum post or think piece is not getting the buys/engagement/ad revenue because the AI basically stole it. People aren't joining communities and adding to a public knowledge base. They are just quietly solving their issue alone without contributing to the ecosystem that helped fix the issue and the ecosystems that sprung up around those.

It feels like a loss of so much. A loss of interest in research, but also of community, of a desire to share. I remember being on forums and knowing that if user X responded it was going to be the most thorough, interesting read. I remember following specific users because even if their post wasn't directly relevant to me at the moment, I wanted to learn all I could from them. Not to be an old man screaming at a cloud, but I think AI is stripping a lot away from the younger generation that they don't even know to miss, and I think that'd be true even if AI always provided the most engaging, in depth, accurate responses you could find on the internet.

I feel for you. I'm sure for authors, publishers, and consumers that such books and reviews have lost all credibility if sloppers can generate fakes with ease. It's difficult to know whats real and can be trusted versus what's just wasting our time.

Save time on learning? Isn't that where you should take time?

...finding LLMs that write half-decent prose?

They don't. In fact, newer LLMs are regressing on that aspect.

But I am surprised the institutional response has been so slow. This is existential; every school should be moving heaven and earth to do stuff exactly like blue book tests.

We still teach math that calculators can solve for you. If they don't understand the foundational stuff how will they understand things too complicated for the AI?

What does that have to do with the topic?

Ya for those who don't know MIT banned a number of students from their own graduation for protesting in support of Palestine on campus... This was a HUGE deal among both the student body and many alumni. Unfortunately every US college is beholden to the their endowment, and in MIT's case the massive endowment isn't primarily from their own alumni. I wouldn't say this impacts the quality of research occuring on campus though, with such a large endowment they do a very good job separating the funding from the science.