Abigail Gray

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 toa) 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.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

you, finding a similar paper to one you're writing: scooped, career over

me, finding a similar paper to one i'm writing: strengthens my introduction, builds on literature, stronger argument

No, a LOT of them think that. Science may be one of the most social forms of knowledge production we have. Arguably it’s at least as social as creative writing. Actual scientists will tell you this. Yet, millions of people think they can do science alone with an LLM.

There is much enthusiasm, in principle, for adversarial collaborations (ACs), a scientific conflict resolution technique that encourages investigators with clashing models to collaborate in designing studies that test competing predictions. Adversarial collaborations offer the promise of breaking deadlocked debates, resolving disputes, and providing a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of a research domain. In practice, however, adversarial collaborations are more the exception than the rule, and there is almost no evidence on how scholars who have ventured into ACs assess the experience. To understand these perspectives, we surveyed and interviewed 29 scholars who participated in 13 AC projects. The data revealed that interpersonal conflicts were generally minor, that these projects required more upfront effort than typical collaborations, but benefited from high-quality results and more thoughtful post-publication debates. Rather than producing a clear “winner,” the most common outcome was a deeper understanding of the problem space through the integration of opposing perspectives. Although the generalizability of these findings is limited by a sample consisting only of scholars who completed an AC, they nonetheless highlight the value of ACs as a tool for advancing scientific inquiry and offer practical guidance for scholars and journals exploring this approach.

29 scholars reflect on their participation in adversarial collaborations:

“Rather than producing a clear 'winner,' the most common outcome was a deeper understanding of the problem space through the integration of opposing perspectives”

Open Access: doi.org/10.1007/s111...

#MetaSci #Methodology 🧪

very exciting! congrats!

My friend and colleague Remco Heesen once told me study of social epistemology of science made him "less trusting of any particular scientific paper but more impressed by science as a whole." I honestly think that's the right lesson to draw. But I think holding both attitudes doesn't come naturally.

great article—give it a read!

NSF is rejecting near-perfect applications for DEI-related projects on the grounds that they don't fit administration priorities. And I worry that the administration's goal isn't just to stop DEI research but to push the scholars doing this work out of academia, since tenure often hinges on grants.

Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard University's student body. Harvard says the government's actions, which could cut off a major revenue stream, are "unlawful."

International students upend their lives to join American science, bringing their novel insights that drive innovation.

Now, they are being illegally targeted by Trump, because Harvard won't back down.

Classic bully behavior.

We Stand Up for International Students.

www.npr.org/2025/05/22/n...

Cover of the Handbook of Social Psychology 6th edition 2025

Since 1954, "The Handbook of Social Psychology" has been the field’s most authoritative reference work, and today is the launch of the 6th edition with 50 new chapters by 100 leading scholars. Best news? The HSP is now an open-access public resource—free to read, download, and share. the-hsp.com

There’s been some “advice” coming from some quarters for scientists not to focus on DEI-related funding cuts.

I wholly reject this concept.

Cutting programs designed to reduce science and healthcare disparities is as detrimental to science as anything else, both morally and functionally.

There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.

University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.

These are important points. Univ. of Michigan is the 3rd largest employer in Michigan. Due to stable jobs and good benefits, people with all educ. backgrounds have jobs. So do places UM buys from.

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

“This hollowing out [of NSF] … has material consequences for which research questions get asked, which datasets get produced, which knowledge gets produced, and which perspectives shape our understanding of pressing societal challenges.”
time.com/7285045/resi...

i’ve used ERIC for both my own research and especially as a library ref worker helping students find resources for writing papers. ERIC getting shut down will be so detrimental on so many levels

Our Librarian of Congress was terminated by the Trump Admin yesterday despite her exemplary service. Dr. Carla Hayden is a librarian non pareil - an historian, researcher, & dedicated public servant. Fear of Black excellence cannot erase her accomplishments or the gift of her service. #Blacksky

I am teaching my phd writing workshop course this quarter, question: are there any words/phrases said to you by an advisor/mentor that stuck with you, were memorable, or particularly helpful? If so please reply below!

fascinating paper, gave me a lot to think about—greatly enjoyed!

as i’m writing up a manuscript right now this is clearer then ever, and it’s remarkable to see things that took up so much intentional thought make up one line in the final paper

Table 1 Summary Guidelines for Conducting Lab Experiments in Motivation and Emotion ___________________________________________________________________________ Pre-Manipulation Setup • Consider physical environment on the way to the lab room • Consider physical environment of lab room (e.g., cameras, mirror, room size, social) • Create a plausible cover story • Be mindful of the psychological state of participants at the start of experiment Experimenters/Confederates • Ensure consistency between multiple experimenters/confederates • Compare effect of multiple experimenters statistically • Keep appearance/clothing consistent • Be cognizant of informal/formal style of interacting • Note differences in physical attractiveness • Track emotion and personality variables of experimenters • Keep blind to condition Independent Variables (IVs) • Use a strong IV – aim for a psychological sledgehammer • Be careful that IV is not so strong that participants ignore DV • Ensure multiple IVs are similar in strength • Check effectiveness of manipulation and appreciate its complexity • Pre-test to insure IVs are the same psychologically in different times and places • Avoid experimenter demand • Avoid confounds Dependent Variables (DVs) • Create sensitive DVs • Consider challenges with self-reported effort • Consider challenges with self-reported emotion • Be aware that the order of presentation of variables might influence results • Pretest Applying Guidelines to Replications • Consider the benefits of conceptual replications for theory testing • Select studies for replication that have a reasonable chance of being replicated • Note that expectations of non-replication influence researchers and outcomes • Use exact original method when replicating a specific effect • Test correlations that logically follow from experimental hypotheses if possible • Insure participating labs in projects follow instructions of the study coordinators Data Management • Take steps to avoid errors i…

Very useful set of guidelines for conducting social psychology lab experiments by @eddiehj.bsky.social, @davidamodio.bsky.social, and colleagues.

Preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Few quotes follow…

We *must* protect the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Our teaching and research only matter under general conditions of freedom and dignity. These conditions do not exist under the threat of arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, deportation, or suspension of medical care. “
Worth the read!

BREAKING: In response to our lawsuit, the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer force grant applicants to certify that they won't promote "gender ideology."

This is a big step toward defeating the NEA's unconstitutional censorship.

this was a great read, really thought-provoking; thanks for sharing!

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.

“It’s extremely alarming that grants that have been vetted by the scientific community and deemed important and impactful to understand the world are now being cancelled because of political ideology,” says @lkfazio.bsky.social.

“This is direct censorship of scientific research.”

Excellent 🧵 on this evening's NIH announcement of a dramatic reduction in indirect rates for research institutions, which amounts to a generational restructuring of the US research and development ecosystem. These cuts are effective immediately, not just for new grants but for existing ones.

The entire archive of CDC datasets can be found here.

HUGE shoutout to data archivists- this work is important 👏🙌🏻

archive.org/details/2025...

i’ve used the YRBSS several times for school projects and the fact that it’s just GONE is insane—and so so concerning

"I encourage researchers to take risks and submit daring work to Social Psychology, even when they fail or might fail in the future."

Editorial from @akfetterman.bsky.social, the new Editor-in-Chief of Social Psychology (@socpsyjournal.bsky.social).

doi.org/10.1027/1864...