Launch – Reclaiming Futures

With the roll out of our new GTA AI Incident Report Form Reclaiming Futures is officially (and unofficially) live! This form is intended as an initial test of the concept where those of you engaged in GTA work at King’s can give feedback on concerning experiences with Artificial Intelligence in your work (classroom, marking, lesson planning etc.), helping to create a clearer picture of how it’s impacting on staff and students. Too much of the time the headlines presented by tech companies are assumed to be the reality, we want to explore what’s really happening and help push for change that reflects that. In future we intend to extend this to include other staff and students at KCL too.

You can find out more about what we’re doing here but for the short version – we’re a group of King’s College London students and staff taking a critical perspective on the roll out and use of AI within the institution and Higher Education in general. As a broad group our concerns range from the environmental through to the detrimental effects AI can have on students, staff and the educational experience as a whole. For some of us that means being fully Luddite or abolitionist while others are more open to the potentials of the broad range of technologies that fall under the increasingly vague label of ‘Artificial Intelligence’.

What we all share though are concerns about how corporate, state and institutional hype is imposing those new technologies without any consideration of the material or ethical harms, the impact on those involved in higher education or the effect they’ll have on an already underfunded and austerity hit educational system. Especially given the routine lack of clarity and consultation as new platforms are pushed, often with limited consideration and understanding from those enamoured with the promise of magical fixes and unexplained ‘improvements’ to the university experience.

Moving forward we’ll be looking to add new projects under the Reclaiming Futures banner both around research and organising within KCL. We’d also like to connect with other HE institutions to see what resources and experiences can be shared but for now we’re focusing on where we are as a starting point.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Reclaiming Futures you can subscribe to our newsletter or e-mail us if you’re interesting in a specific ongoing project or want to suggest a new one of your own.

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