Feature Essay
Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously to a) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues.
Guest, Olivia, Marcela Suarez, Barbara Müller, Edwin van Meerkerk, Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, Ronald de Haan, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, et al. “Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia”. Zenodo, September 5, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17065099.
Selected Resources
Millenials Are Killing Capitalism Project. 2025. “‘AI’ In the Classroom? What In the Fresh …? The Tech Industry’s ‘AI’ Play for Education Dollars with Dwayne Monroe.” Video Interview. Millenials Are Killing Capitalism Project, October 2025. Available at https://youtu.be/sey7TS4JV68.
Sano-Franchini, Jennifer, Megan McIntyre, and Maggie Fernandes. 2025. “Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies: A Quickstart Guide.” Webpage. Resources on Refusing, Rejecting, and Rethinking Generative AI in Writing Studies and Higher Education. https://refusinggenai.wordpress.com/. These authors have also published the following 12-point summary.
Selected Resources continued
Abbas, M., F. A. Jam, and T. I. Khan. 2024. “Is It Harmful or Helpful? Examining the Causes and Consequences of Generative AI Usage Among University Students.” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 21, no. 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00444-7.
DISCO Network. 2025. Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refusal. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP. Open Access. https://www.sup.org/books/media-studies/technoskepticism/excerpt/open-access-edition.
Fernandes, M., and M. McIntyre. Everyone’s Writing with AI (Except Me). Podcast Series. https://open.spotify.com/show/61rtA0ObNmHEIQlLk4a4eg.
Fernandes, M., McIntyre, M. Gray, K., & Messina, C.M. 2024. Resources on Refusing, Rejecting, and Rethinking Generative AI in Writing Studies and Higher Education. Refusing Generative AI in Writing Studies (website). https://refusinggenai.wordpress.com/. https://tinyurl.com/ewwaibib (Google document).
Furze, L. 2024. “It’s Uncomfortable on the Fence but at Least the View Is Nice.” Leon Furze Blog (Nov 20). https://leonfurze.com/2024/11/20/its-uncomfortable-on-the-fence-but-at-least-the-view-is-nice/
Furze, L. 2025. “Resist, Refuse, or Ratonalise — Just Don’t Roll Over.” Leon Furze Blog (Jan 27). https://leonfurze.com/2025/01/27/resist-refuse-or-rationalise-just-dont-roll-over/.
Guest, O. 2025. “What Is Critial AI Literacy?” Webpage list of resources maintained by Olivia Guest. https://olivia.science/ai.
Jarke, J. and F. Macgilchrist. 2021. “Dashboard Stories: How Narratives Told by Predictive Analytics Reconfigure Roles, Risk and Sociality in Education.” Big Data & Society 8, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211025561.
Komljenovic, J. et al. 2024. “Digitalised Higher Education: Key Developments, Questions, and Concerns.” Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 46, no. 2. Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2024.2408397.
Komljenovic, J., B. Williamson, R. Eynon, and H, C. Davies. 2023. “When Public Policy ‘Fails’ and Venture Capital ‘Saves’ Education: Edtech Investors as Economic and Political Actors.” Globalisation, Societies and Education, October, 1–16. Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2272134.
Lee, H.P., I. Drosos, A. Sarkar, L. Tankelevitch, S. Rintel, R. Banks and N. Wilson. 2025. “The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers.” Paper presented at CHI ’25, April 26–May 01, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf.
Livingstone, V. (2024). “I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT.” Time Magazine (Sept 20). https://time.com/7026050/chatgpt-quit-teaching-ai-essay/.
Palumbo, E. 2025. “A Student’s Right to Refuse Generative AI.” Blog post. https://refusinggenai.wordpress.com/.
Perkins, M., L. Furze, J. Roe and J. MacVaugh. 2024. “The Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS): A Framework for Ethical Integration of Generative AI in Educational Assessment.” Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice 21, no.6. https://doi.org/10.53761/q3azde36.
Prinsloo, P. 2020. “Of ‘Black Boxes’ and Algorithmic Decision-Making in (Higher) Education – A Commentary.” Big Data & Society 7, no.1. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720933994.
Riley, B. 2024. “Resist the AI Guidance You Are Being Given: Things Go Off the Rails with Chicago Public Schools and the AI for Education Organization.” Cognitive Dissonance Substack (Aug 21). https://buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/resist-the-ai-guidance-you-are-being.
Riley, B. 2024. “Pedagogy of the Depressed: An Illustrated Guide to a Smattering of Online AI Courses for Educators.” Cognitive Disonance Substack (Dec 4). https://buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/pedagogy-of-the-depressed.
Riley, Benjamin and Paul Bruno. 2024. The Educational Hazards of Generative AI. Illustrated Guide. https://refusinggenai.wordpress.com/.
Watkins, M. 2025. “The Chatboot Generation.” Rhetorica Substack (Mar 30). https://substack.com/home/post/p-160002051
Watkins, M. 2024. “AI Instructional Design Must Be More Than a Time Saver.” Rhetorica Substack (Jun 14). https://marcwatkins.substack.com/p/ai-instructional-design-must-be-more.
Watters, A. 2025. “AI Unleashed.” Second Breakfast: Essays on Engineering Bodies and Minds (Jan 24). https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ai-unleashed/.
Watters, A. 2025. “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Second Breakfast (Jan 10). https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ai-unleashed/.
Williamson, B. 2025. “Piloting Turbocharged Fast AI Policy Experiments in Education.” Code Acts in Education (Jan 17). https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2025/01/17/piloting-turbocharged-fast-ai-policy-experiments-in-education/.
Williamson, B. 2024. “Re-infrastructuring Higher Education.” Dialogues on Digital Society 0, no. 0. Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768640241251666.
Williamson, B. 2024. “Critical Keywords of AI in Education.” Code Acts in Education (Nov 8). https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2024/11/08/critical-keywords-of-ai-in-education/.