Will Berard 🫳🎤🫶

MrBerard@mastodon.acm.org

"I just want to make the world a better (read) place"Former tech bro turned tech uncle, computer science teacher, and Education PhD. My research is about LLMs (the AI chatbots of Big Tech, really) in Higher Education.I have a sideline in audio work. Providing occasional smutty narration for @ALTAfterDark, because <a href="https://mastodon.acm.org/tags/AccessibilityIsHotAF" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#AccessibilityIsHotAF</a>What a time to be alive! (derogatory)

Posts

Post #4334395
Fellow denizens of the United Kingdoms, I will be in Clacton for results night on 13 Aug. If Binface gets in, I want to be able to say I was there. This sounds like the kind of pointless trip some of y'all would be well into, so let's connect! Please boost this for visibility, and why not join us witness a key moment of postmodern British politics where a cartoonishly ridiculous gets elected MP. If he can beat Binface, that is #UKPol #Clacton #Binface4Clacton #CountBinface
Post #3956745
You know that trend of running AI models through psychological tests run for humans? To little surprise, this pre-print finds that instruments designed for human minds cannot be meaningfully applied to statistical engines for the production of text. Meyer, J., Garcia, D. and Wulff, D.U. (2026) ‘Apparent Psychological Profiles of Large Language Models are Largely a Measurement Artifact’. arXiv. Available at: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.20205. #AI #LLM #AIAlignment
Post #3956744
I&#39;ll just leave this here. Generative AI Can Harm Teaching by Alp Sungu, Benjamin Lira, Angela Duckworth :: SSRN https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7007339 #AI #Teaching #Education @edutooters
Post #3956743
“In reclaiming our science and our dignity, we need to reject the idea that fast is good or even neutral (Stengers 2018). When we show our students how slow science is not only possible, but necessary for a truly sustainable and liveable world, we empower critical scholars to resist fast science, and reject the concomitant AI infiltration.” ([Guest et al., 2025, p. 7]
Post #2559024
Ok, but hear me out: what if we called the billion monkeys with typewriters &#39;agentic&#39;? #GenerativeAI #AI
Post #2366574
RE: https://toot.community/@openculture/116545770378772943 &quot;recently, I have adopted the practice the Japanese refer at &#39;Tsundoku&#39;&quot; -- Me, on a first date #Books #bookstodon
Post #2363340
Why are we calling a machine &#39;intelligent&#39;, it&#39;s not like we call forklifts &#39;strong&#39;?
Post #2313028
Two years ago, I called gen AI 'Mid-as-service'. This has now been quantified. TL;DR, AI models return the same business advice regarding of context, the average of all the internet slurry they've been trained on. Who could have thought, eh. Researchers Asked LLMs for Strategic Advice. They Got “Trendslop” in Return. https://hbr.org/2026/03/researchers-asked-llms-for-strategic-advice-they-got-trendslop-in-return #AI #Trendslop #HarvardBusinessReview
Post #1452077
&quot;Modern AI is fundamentally dependent on corporate resources and business practices, and our increasing reliance on such AI cedes inordinate power over our lives and institutions to a handful of tech firms.” (Whittaker, 2021) Whittaker, M. (2021) ‘The Steep Cost of Capture’. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4135581 (Accessed: 6 July 2025). #AI #BigTech
Post #1442931
Dig this: Google proposes to train model on synthetic data, for &#39;reasoning&#39; in data-scarce domains. Meaning AI decision making in, say healthcare, and the latter as, say particular combinations of genotype, demographics and certain disabilities and chronic diseases, maybe in comorbid combinations. Designing synthetic datasets for the real world: Mechanism design and reasoning from first principles https://research.google/blog/designing-synthetic-datasets-for-the-real-world-mech...
Post #1347512
Don&#39;t get me wrong, I dig a MILF, but we need more love for the CCLILF (Childless Cat Lady ILF) #MILF #CCLILF
Post #909223
Finally managed to draft a paper below the maximum recommended word count! Title: Toward a Normative Theory of &#39;Generative AI&#39; use in education Body text: Don&#39;t.
Post #909221
&#39;After all, a witticism is merely the half-life of an emotion&#39; -- Henry Wotton, in _Dorian_ by Will Self #quotes #bookstodon #WillSelf
Post #909220
I have been doing audio engineering for the podcast of the University of Roehampton&#39;s sustainability team. It features interviews with members of UR&#39;s community on student-led sustainability initiatives. Available in all the places. https://shows.acast.com/the-roey-sustainability-cafe #Podcasts #Sustainability
Post #909218
This is what we are at risk of losing, folks. #Memes #AI #University
Post #858674
Me:&#39;See, I wanted a supervisor on the AI group of uni, cause I wanted to be inside the tent, pissing in&#39; Them: ...out? You mean out? Me:...
Post #858673
Conferences fill me with energy, but it&#39;s pick-me energy
Post #858671
(getting vaccinated) Nurse:... Sharp prick! Me: rude but fair.
Post #858667
“In a 1958 interview about the future of surveillance, Aldous Huxley commented that ‘these new techniques of propaganda will bypass the thought of rational side of man and appeal to the subconscious and deeper emotions and his physiology even and so making him actually love his slavery’ (Huxley, 11:04-11:18).” (Griffiths and Stockman, 2022, p. 78) Griffiths, P. and Stockman, C. (2022) ‘Dark Patterns and Epistemic Ignorance: An Educational Crisis’ #Surveillance #Information #SocialMedia
Post #858666
“Large Language Models (LLMs) are so confounding for education in part because the very same use of technology can be hostile to familiar forms of education, yet educational in its own right.” (Bialystok, 2024, p. 105) Bialystok, L. (2024) ‘Lines in the Sand: Originality and Cheating in the Age of ChatGPT’, Philosophy of Education Society [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47925/80.1.103. #AI #Education #Philosophy #Bialystok
Post #858665
&quot;The strongest proponents of the SToE often ignore the stubborn fact that phones are global but their worst effects are strangely concentrated in the richest, English-speaking countries.&quot; I think there are a couple of genocides in the global south that bet to differ, but sure. Is the Smartphone Theory of Everything Wrong? A Comprehensive Investigation https://www.derekthompson.org/p/is-the-smartphone-theory-of-everything #Smartphones #DerekThompson #Technology #SocialMedia
Post #824222
&quot;YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHY HURTING MAKES YOU SAD!&quot;
Post #763085
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D - Rhode Island) delivers a 45 mins speech that could be the script for a well researched, compellingly presented, true crime podcast episode. The speech goes viral. Please do your bit to this effect. https://www.youtube.com/live/ylvTFvJvB84 #USPol #Trump #Epstein #Russia