Christian Kerr

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Social Work Guidance and resources for social workers in relation to use of AI.

Find out more on our AI hub (member login required):
basw.co.uk/about-basw/c...

BASW members! Help us to lead the conversation on AI in Social Work... Join our new member-led group to explore, influence, critique, and innovate around the use of digital tools, data, and emerging technologies in social work.

Contact: rosanne.palmer@basw.co.uk

Very sad to hear of the passing of social worker and activist Angi Naylor, who gave so much of herself, her humour, her unforgettable character, her time and energy to standing up for people and supporting others whenever and wherever she could. Rest well Angi xxx

Resources Review Editor needed for Practice

Resources Review Editor sought for Practice: Social Work in Action journal.

Want to build your own networks, develop and promote the research in your field, and be recognised as a leading figure within the academic community?

Read on: think.taylorandfrancis.com/editor_recru...

Reform branded ‘threat to democracy’ over Farage plan to remove thousands of migrants with leave to be in UK – politics live Nigel Farage says Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship

Truly astonishing that other parties, politicians and the media aren’t taking Farage and his ilk to task over the fact that net immigration INCREASED as a direct result of Brexit.

Do your homework and challenge this pernicious disinformation.

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Wes Streeting mixes with tech billionaires at Bilderberg summit | Christian Kerr Largely unreported by the press (save for a piece in the Daily Mail, of all places) was health and social care secretary Wes Streeting's attendance at the secretive, invitation-only Bilderberg 2025 su...

Largely unreported by the press, Wes Streeting attended the secretive, invitation-only Bilderberg 2025 summit at which politicians and billionaires met to opaquely and unaccountably discuss things that profoundly affect all of us.

Why was he there?
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.

They never change unless we make them: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

‘Racists Started Hurling Rocks and Abuse at My Family’: New Deputy Green Leader On His Own Experience of Far Right Hate Mothin Ali, co-deputy leader of the Green Party, on being on the receiving end of racist abuse – and his ‘disappointment’ in Jeremy Corbyn’s new project

🔴‘Racists Started Hurling Rocks and Abuse at My Family’: New Deputy Green Leader On His Own Experience of Far Right Hate

Mothin Ali, co-deputy leader of the Greens, on being on the receiving end of racist abuse and his ‘disappointment’ in Jeremy Corbyn’s new project
bylinetimes.com/2025/09/08/r...

What price social workers' time? Why a council’s decision to use Palantir AI in social work and children's services is alarming beyond belief | Christian Kerr Credit to workers and unions taking a stand against Coventry council’s contract with US spy tech firm Palantir for AI ‘solutions’ in children's services, which the council is now reviewing. Sadly, ca...

Credit to workers and unions taking a stand against Coventry council’s contract with US spy tech firm Palantir for AI ‘solutions’ in children's services, which the council is now reviewing.
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

Former social worker Janet Daby replaced by ex-Frontline chief Josh MacAlister as children's minister - Community Care | Christian Kerr Once again, reporting on MacAlister and Frontline fails to mention that he co-founded the organisation with Boston Consulting Group - which remains on Frontline’s board to this day - a multibillion do...

Once again, reporting on MacAlister and Frontline fails to mention that he co-founded Frontline with Boston Consulting Group - which remains on Frontline’s board - a $multibillion consultancy well known to be involved in deeply unethical activities.… 👇
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

"How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?"

What price social workers' time? Why a council’s decision to use Palantir AI in social work and children's services is alarming beyond belief Coventry council’s decision to use US spy-tech firm Palantir’s AI in social work, Send and children’s services, including to aid in case-note transcription and other time-intensive administrative task...

Coventry council’s decision to use US spy-tech firm Palantir’s AI in social work, Send and children’s services is ALARMING BEYOND BELIEF - here's why...

www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-p...

Drawing on timely debates and grounded in empirical evidence, Kalwant Bhopal reveals how #Race continues to shape access to power, opportunity and justice.

#WhitePrivilege #CriticalRaceTheory #BLM

Publishing next month:

This is a billionaire-funded Tony Blair lobbying project being funnelled unchallenged onto the front page of a national newspaper.
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‘AI is here to stay, so we better adopt it’ isn’t a hopeful or empowered position.

It’s capitulation in the face of coercion.

More hopeful and empowering is to
say, ‘let’s slow down on this until we better understand the implications so we can use it well and avoid inadvertent harm’.

I'm tired of being treated like a crank because I want to uphold the integrity of the institution and of education more generally. I'm tired of my opinions, shaped by hours and hours of research, being dismissed because they don't align with what admin already decided they wanted

At my institution we all talk in circles around each other because the AI boosters and the AI critics aren't even speaking the same language and don't have the same worldviews. And none of the conversations matter because admin has already decided that the AI critics are cranks

I'm so tired of hearing that we need to "teach our students how to use AI" when the thing they most need to use it is a critical-thinking skill set that can only be acquired by NOT using it. I'm tired of hearing that it's inevitable. I'm tired.

The BritCard is xenophobic techno-totalitarianism straight out of the fetid imagination of Morgan McSweeney, the unelected, six-figure salaried 'most powerful man in politics' and his shady Labour Together think tank that has totally captured the PLP.

‘1 — We will not use GenAI to mark or provide feedback on student work, nor to design any part of our courses. | Christian Kerr ‘1 — We will not use GenAI to mark or provide feedback on student work, nor to design any part of our courses. 2 — We will not promote institutional GenAI products built on unethically-developed foun...

‘We are a global community of education professionals who refuse the call for generative AI (GenAI) adoption in schools and colleges, and reject the narrative of its inevitability.‘
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

Predicted benefits, proven harms: How AI’s algorithmic violence emerged from our own social matrix AI’s social benefits are unproven but its harms are clear. We must kick out the bad politics and mould a better future, says Dan McQuillan.

'AI increases what historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt called “institutional thoughtlessness” – the inability to critique instructions or reflect on consequences.'

Implications for social work?
thesociologicalreview.org/magazine/jun...

England’s state education system in one cartoon…

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education has published a case note and some case summaries relating to AI and academic misconduct. | Christian Kerr The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education has published a case note and some case summaries relating to AI and academic misconduct. What is clear from the note and summaries is ...

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education has published a case note and some case summaries relating to AI and academic misconduct.

What is clear from the note and summaries is that we educators need to get better at a few things...
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

Wales must turn promises into rights for its children Despite decades of promises, too many Welsh children still lack basic rights – now a bold new law aims to turn rhetoric into reality

"Since the dawn of devolution in 1999, Wales has proudly positioned itself as a nation that puts children’s rights at the heart of policy. But for too many babies, children, and young people – especially those in need of extra support – that promise remains unfulfilled."

Rachael Cummings from Save the Children: "The situation is absolutely desperate.. this is the worst its ever been.. there is not enough food.. the water is dirty.. there is open sewage in the streets.. there is nowhere safe.. the overcrowding is extreme.. people are exhausted"

OpenAI signs deal with UK to find government uses for its models Wide-ranging agreement with artificial intelligence firm behind ChatGPT comes after similar UK deal with Google

Literally, a solution in search of a problem: OpenAI signs deal with UK to find government uses for its models

Welcome to the era of business-led public services.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

UK government urged to offer more transparency over OpenAI deal Select committee chair says public need to be reassured about the use of their data after ‘major failures’ in the past

“The public sector is viewed as one of the most fertile areas for the implementation of AI”

Precisely why social work needs to slow down, exercise caution and remain in control, not be led by eye-catching promises of putative benefits from vested interests.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Beam, maker of the Magic Notes AI transcription tool that's currently in over 100 LAs, admits that its tool could actually lead to MORE work for social workers. | Christian Kerr Beam, maker of the Magic Notes AI transcription tool that's currently in over 100 LAs, admits that its tool could actually lead to MORE work for social workers. 'Speaking at BASW’s annual con...

Beam, maker of the Magic Notes AI currently in 100+ LAs, admits that it could actually lead to MORE work and urges SWers to 'challenge the business case put forward by commissioners for using AI.'

All while taking public £££ off the back of those business cases.
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...

Some pretty damning stuff from FT's investigation into Boston Consulting Group's (founding partner of English 'children's charity' and provider of a fast track social work qualifyi... Some pretty damning stuff from FT's investigation into Boston Consulting Group's (founding partner of English 'children's charity' and provider of a fast track social work qualifyi...

'Frontline is a children’s charity. Everything we do aims to make life better for children at risk of harm.' thefrontline.org.uk/who-we-are/

Unless you're a child in Gaza- you don't count and it's fine to keep partnering with an org linked to war crimes against you.
www.linkedin.com/posts/christ...