Speaking Today at the 51st Annual Conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions

Dear Commons Community,

I will be at the 51st Annual Conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions in New York City today.  The program looks quite good.  If you are going to the conference, I will be on a panel this morning entitled, Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Implications for Pedagogy, Research, and Collective Bargaining.  It meets at  10:45 am – 12:15 pm ET (C201-202). On the panel with me will be: Kyle Arnone, AFT Collective Bargaining Center, Amanda M. Blair, Associate, Fisher & Phillips LLP, and Rob Weil, AFT Director of Policy, Research and Field Services.

If you are going to the Conference, I would love to see you!

Tony

Biden Takes Down Trump at DC Roast:  “two candidates have clinched their party’s nomination for president. But one is too old, too mentally unfit for the job…”  “The other’s me,”  

Dear Commons Community,

The big news this week, President Joe Biden said at a Washington roast, was that two candidates had clinched their party’s nomination for president. But one was too old, too mentally unfit for the job, he said.

“The other’s me,” Biden quipped.

The digs against Republican Donald Trump kept coming from the president at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, as Biden deflected ongoing criticism that his memory is hazy and he appears confused, instead highlighting moments when the 77-year-old Trump has slipped up, too.  As reported by The Associated Press.

“Don’t tell him, he thinks he’s running against Barack Obama, that’s what he said,” said Biden, 81, who also quipped that he was staying up way past his bedtime.

It was the first time Biden has attended the dinner during his presidency, and comes as the 2024 election looms and the rematch between Biden and Trump heats up. The annual bacchanalia, now in its 139th year, traces its history to 1885 — that was the year President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since has come to at least one Gridiron.

Biden veered quickly into the somber, though, highlighting what he sees as a real threat to democracy should Trump — who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen — return to the White House. The speech had echoes of Biden’s campaign remarks, criticizing Trump as well as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” he said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin’s on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want.’”

Biden then introduced the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

“We will not bow down. They will not bow down, and I will not bow down,” he said.

Biden, dressed in white-tie attire as is the custom, brought his daughter Ashley.

The dinner has a reputation as a night of bipartisan mirth, and was jam-packed with politicians and who’s-who of Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, at least eight other Cabinet members, at least five members of Congress, five governors and at least five ambassadors. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who’s in town for St. Patrick’s Day, also attended.

Also speaking at the dinner were Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican.

Biden closed out the dinner, speaking about the importance of a free press. Although he may not agree with everything the news media prints, he said, he understands the necessity of journalism and said he was still working to bring home journalists Evan Gershovich and Austin Tice, one held in Russia, the other who disappeared during a reporting trip in Syria.

“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” he said. “We need you.”

Amen!

Tony

 

Artificial Intelligence ‘assistant’ being tested by NYC teachers to create lesson plans!

Dear Commons Community,

An artificial intelligence program from South America that creates lesson plans for teachers is now being piloted in several Brooklyn high schools. As reported by The New York Post.

Teachers in northern Brooklyn are being trained on how to use YourWai, an AI “teaching assistant” created by developers in Colombia for the company Learning Innovation Catalyst, Superintendent Janice Ross announced at a parent council meeting on Wednesday.

“Teachers spend hours creating lesson plans. They should not be doing that anymore,” said Ross, who oversees high schools in Sunset Park, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville and East New York.

Teachers can enter students’ needs and the standards they want into the app and a lesson plan will be generated, Ross explained at the Citywide Council for High Schools meeting. She called it a “game changer” that will give teachers more time to “think creatively” and less time spent creating curricula.

“Will it take time, will we have to adjust it if you want more of this, want more of that? Yes,” Ross added. “We can never replace humans.”

But some educators and observers warned AI lesson planning is concerning on many levels: fledgling AI systems have been shown to lean left and present absurd historical inaccuracies, and lesson planning itself is an essential and creative teaching activity.

“The mistake is to see lesson planning as drudgery that can be off-loaded to a machine,” Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor David Bloomfield told The Post.

“Using AI, like long-available commercial or free materials, shouldn’t be a crutch yielding sterile, depersonalized work, but a tool that teachers will need to be taught to use if it’s to be effective,” he added.

Google’s Gemini was recently blasted for creating “diverse” images that were not historically or factually accurate — like female popes and Native American Founding Fathers.

Adobe’s Firefly recently generated depictions of black Nazis.

A study conducted by New Zealand professor David Rozado for the right-wing Manhattan Institute last year found “instances of political and demographic bias” and “left-leaning” undertones in ChatGPT responses.

“Another potential problem with AIs creating lesson plans for students is the relatively high frequency with which AIs display hallucinations/confabulation,” he said. “That is, they make stuff up that is simply not true.”

Rozado presented the potential scenarios that could play out: AI can reinforce a human’s biases, a human can correct or learn from the technology, or, “in a more disturbing scenario, a biased system could present incorrect content in such a persuasive fashion that it convinces the user of its veracity,” he said.

“We know that AI can sometimes be wrong, and it must be used cautiously,” Queens Councilman Bob Holden, a member of the City Council’s Committee on Technology, told The Post.

But it is the future, the former educator noted, and has “hit us at warp speed.”

“As we embrace this technology in our daily lives, educators and students must use it responsibly and under careful supervision in schools,” Holden said.

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks last May moved to embrace OpenAI’s ChatGPT following the DOE’s ban on the technology earlier in the year.

The city’s network of Urban Assembly schools introduced using AI for teacher coaching, Chalkbeat reported in January.

The district-led pilot is allowing teachers more time to engage with students, DOE spokeswoman Jenna Lyle told The Post.

“In order to prepare our young people for lifelong success and prepare them today to lead tomorrow, our students and educators must take full advantage of the technological advancements at their fingertips,” she said.

AI is here!

Tony

Fani Willis Can Stay on the Trump Election Meddling Case But Judge’s Criticism Is Devastating!

(John Bazemore / Associated Press)

Dear Commons Community,

Fani Willis won the court battle to stay on in the Georgia election-meddling case against Donald Trump, but the judge’s opinion contained damning statements that could be “devastating” to Willis’ career, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said yesterday.

Honig noted that the judge made several critical comments about Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, even as he ruled that she can remain on the prosecution if prosecutor Nathan Wade removes himself.

Willis and Wade were romantically involved, leading to a motion by Trump’s lawyers to dismiss the case on the grounds that Willis improperly benefited from their relationship.

Judge Scott McAfee dismissed the claim, but questioned Willis’ professionalism, character and truthfulness in a “bruising” opinion that would be a “career ender for a normal prosecutor,” Honig said.

“These are really serious findings by the judge about the D.A., and these are all verbatim from the opinion,” Honig said. “First of all, there is a quote, ‘significant appearance of impropriety that infects the prosecution team.’ Second, ‘a tremendous lack in judgment.’ Third, ‘the unprofessional manner of the D.A.’s testimony.’ Fourth, ‘the odor of mendacity remains.’”

Honig said the judge also suggested that Willis cast “racial aspersions on the defendants.” The CNN wonk saved for last what he thought was the most devastating comment of all: “There are reasonable questions about whether the D.A. testified untruthfully.”

“Any one of these statements by a judge would be a career ender for a normal prosecutor,” Honig said. “To have an on-the-record finding that there are reasonable questions about whether you lied under oath? That would be devastating.”

Willis has an election in November and a primary in May.  Her credibility will be on full display!

Tony

Mike Pence: “I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump”

Dear Commons Community,

Mike Pence said yesterday that he would not endorse former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, months after the former vice president ended his own bid for the presidency.

As reported by NBC News.

“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said of his former running mate during a Fox News interview this afternoon. “Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years, and that’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign.”

Trump’s former running mate said that while he’s “incredibly proud of the record of our administration,” he and Trump diverge on a series of issues.

“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January 6th,” Pence said.

Among their differences, Pence cited the national debt, attitudes about abortion rights, and Trump’s reversal on legislation that would mandate the sale of TikTok, whose parent company is China-based ByteDance.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Trump has drawn criticism from abortion opponents for declining to support a federal abortion ban and calling Florida’s six-week ban “too harsh.”

In spite of that criticism, Trump claimed credit for the overruling of Roe v. Wade in 2022, highlighting his role in nominating three Supreme Court justices who voted to end the precedent that held there was a constitutional right to abortion.

Earlier this week, the former president also reversed course on legislation that would ban TikTok unless it cuts ties with ByteDance, an arrangement that has drawn national security concerns on Capitol Hill. Trump said on Monday he now opposes a ban on the video-sharing social media platform “because there are a lot of people who talk that love it.”

During his presidential campaign last year, Pence suggested during an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that Trump is “walking away” from conservative principles, including “a clear commitment to the right to life,” and accused Trump of holding a position on the national debt that “is identical to Joe Biden’s.”

Many former 2024 rivals have endorsed Trump since ending their own bids. After ending his bid following the Iowa caucuses in January, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed Trump. Days later, after suspending his own presidential bid, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed the former president.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a former presidential candidate and potential vice presidential pick, also backed Trump’s presidential bid.

But others have not lined up behind the presumptive nominee. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who ended her presidential bid this month, hasn’t endorsed Trump and told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” earlier this month that she’s no longer bound by a pledge made to the Republican National Committee to support the GOP presidential nominee. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ruled out voting for Trump, though he added that he “can’t imagine” voting for President Joe Biden.

President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign seized on Pence’s comments, and pointed at other former senior administration officials who served in Trump’s administration but haven’t endorse him, including former Attorney General Bill Barr.

“Those who worked with Donald Trump at the most senior levels of his administration believe he is too dangerous, too selfish, and too extreme to ever lead our country again — we agree,” Ammar Moussa, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.

Glad to see Pence putting concern for the country over party loyalty!

Tony

Gov. Gavin Newsom Calls House Speaker Mike Johnson “a Fraud”

Gavin Newsom and Mike Johnson

Dear Commons Community,

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) bashed each other’s efforts as leaders over topics such as immigration. The two leaders got into a direct spat on X on Wednesday. The exchange began when Newsom, quoting an article about machines used to detect fentanyl sitting unused, attacked Johnson over his record on border security.  As reported by The Washongton Examiner and The Gazette.

“As @GOP screams ‘BORDER CRISIS!’…Here’s what they are doing to help: NOTHING. Actually, worse than nothing,” Newsom wrote. “Machines that could stop the flow of fentanyl across our border are now literally sitting in warehouses. Unused. Not installed. All thanks to the fine leadership of @SpeakerJohnson, going above and beyond the call of Donald Trump.”

Johnson responded within hours, citing legislation opposed by Democrats that sought to secure the border while bringing attention to California’s response to immigration.

“Actually we’ve passed: HR 2, The Laken Riley Act, Bills to deter illegals from committing social security fraud, fleeing border patrol, or drunk driving,” the House speaker responded. “Much better than the Newsom approach of free health care, lodging & ‘sanctuary to all who seek it.'”

Newsom gave a concluding remark by accusing Johnson of blocking funding for border security, also calling the speaker a “fraud.”

“Oops. You left out that whole part about how you blocked $20 billion in funding for things like: – 1,500 new border agents. – 4,300 asylum officers. – New cutting edge tech to detect and stop the flow of fentanyl. You’re a fraud,” he said.

Johnson once again responded by questioning calls for further funding, accusing the Biden administration of being responsible for the border crisis that necessitates such funding.

“Why is the Administration asking for more money? Because their policies opened the border. And those failures are amplified by reckless mayors and Governors like yourself,” Johnson wrote. “Doubling down on these failed policies is why people are leaving California faster than any other state.”

Democrats and Republicans have blamed each other for the worsening situation at the border for months. Republicans allege that Democrats are aiming for an open border policy, while Democrats allege that Republicans are purposefully blocking border security legislation to harm Biden politically.

Good topic for these political leaders to debate!

Tony

 

University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee to close branch campus in Waukesha making it the 5th marked for closure!

Dear Commons Community,

The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee announced earlier this week that it will close its branch campus in Waukesha in the spring of 2025, making it the fifth two-year campus in the UW system to be marked for closure as the state grapples with the sustainability of its higher-education infrastructure.  As reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The latest closure plays out against the backdrop of a larger debate about the size and makeup of, and the competition among, the state’s public institutions of higher education. For decades, Wisconsin’s two-year branch campuses existed as a separate network. Amid declining enrollment and a sharp drop in state funding, the university system consolidated its 13 two-year colleges under several four-year institutions in 2018. Advocates for the two-year institutions argue the move pulled away funding, resources, and students, hurting the mostly rural campuses. They also point to a long history of state disinvestment that has made Wisconsin’s four-year public campuses among the lowest funded in the nation as having manufactured a crisis for the smaller campuses.

Enrollment at the Waukesha campus dropped by 65 percent over the past decade, which was similar to the 60-percent decline seen across the system’s other two-year branch campuses since enrollment peaked in 2010. As is also the case at many of the branch campuses, competition with nearby technical colleges played a role. UW-Milwaukee pointed to recently expanded associate-degree offerings at Waukesha County Technical College — located just miles away from its branch campus — as a driving factor behind the closure decision.

“You essentially have this duplication at a higher cost,” Mark Mone, UW-Milwaukee’s chancellor, told The Chronicle, adding that the cost-per-student is the same at the main R1 four-year campus as at its two-year campuses, but that the latter brings in half as much revenue. “There simply isn’t a positive path going forward.”

Mone’s reasoning echoed that provided for four other closures of UW system branch campuses in the past few months. In January, UW-Green Bay ended in-person classes at its campus in Marinette, Wis. A few months before that, in October 2023, Jay O. Rothman, the system’s president, closed a branch in Richland Center, Wis., and scheduled two others for closure, the campuses in Fond du Lac and Washington County.

Unfortunately, campus closures will continue in Wisconsin and elsewhere as projected student enrollment declines continue.

Tony

Europe Passes World’s First Law Regulating AI

Getty Images.

Dear Commons Community,

The European Union made history yesterday, passing the world’s first comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence. The AI Act is expected to officially become law by May or June, pending formal approval from EU member countries, with provisions starting to take effect six months after the rules enter the lawbooks.

Rules for general-purpose AI systems like ChatGPT will start applying a year after the law takes effect. The complete set of regulations is expected to be in force by mid-2026.  As reported by The Hollywood Reporter and CNBC.

The EU has taken a risk-based approach to its AI regulation, ranking the use of artificial intelligence according to the potential damage it could do. The law bans AI systems that carry “unacceptable risk,” including using biometric data to detect a person’s ethnicity or sexual orientation. High-risk applications, including the use of AI in hiring or law enforcement, will be more tightly regulated, with developers required to show that their models are safe and transparent and adhere to privacy regulations.

For lower-risk AI tools, there will be little to no regulation but developers will still be required to label AI-generated deepfake pictures, video, or audio of existing people, places, or events as artificially manipulated. The law applies to models operating in the EU and any firm that violates the rules risks a fine of up to 7 percent of its annual global profits.

When it comes to enforcement, each EU country will set up its own AI watchdog, and citizens will be able to file complaints if they think their rights have been violated. Brussels will create a stand-alone AI Office tasked with enforcing and supervising the law for general-purpose AI systems.

There will be extra scrutiny for the biggest and most powerful AI models that the EU judges to pose “systemic risks,” which include OpenAI’s GPT4 and Google’s Gemini. Companies providing these systems will have to assess and mitigate the risks, put cybersecurity measures in place, report any serious incidents as a result of their systems and disclose how much energy their models use.

All general-purpose AI systems will have to draw up a policy showing that the content used for training their models respects European copyright law.

As with other digital regulations — like last year’s Digital Services Act, which targeted abuse on social media or the Digital Markets Act, which went into effect March 7 and has the goal of combating market dominance by so-called digital “gatekeepers” — the EU’s AI act aims to be the global default legislation. Similar laws are on the way in countries from Brazil to Japan.

I don’t know how the EU will be able to enforce this law given the global nature of AI companies.

Tony

House passes a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban if Chinese owner refuses to sell – Now It Goes to the Senate!

Credit…Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Dear Commons Community,

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a national security threat.

The bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear.

TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd.

The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. whenever it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.  As reported by The Associated Press.

“We have given TikTok a clear choice,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”

House passage of the bill is only the first step. The Senate would also need to pass the measure for it to become law, and lawmakers in that chamber indicated it would undergo a thorough review. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’ll have to consult with relevant committee chairs to determine the bill’s path.

President Joe Biden has said if Congress passes the measure, he will sign it.

The House vote is the latest example of increased tensions between China and the U.S. By targeting TikTok, lawmakers are tackling what they see as a grave threat to America’s national security — but also singling out a platform popular with millions of people, many of whom skew younger, just months before an election.

In a video posted on Wednesday evening, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the company has invested to keep user data safe and the TikTok platform free from outside manipulation. If passed, he said the bill would give more power to a handful of other social companies.

“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you. We will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights, to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you,” Chew said in his message to the app’s users.

In anticipation of the vote, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, accused Washington of resorting to political tools when U.S. businesses fail to compete. He said the effort would disrupt normal business operations and undermine investor confidence “and will eventually backfire on the U.S. itself.”

Overall, 197 Republican lawmakers voted for the measure and 15 against. On the Democratic side, 155 voted for the bill and 50 against.

Some Republican opponents of the bill said the U.S. should warn consumers if there are data privacy and propaganda concerns, but the final choice should be left with consumers.

“The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”

“We have a national security obligation to prevent America’s most strategic adversary from being so involved in our lives.”

Democrats also warned of the impact a ban would have on users in the U.S., including entrepreneurs and business owners. One of the no votes came from Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee.

“One of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We do not,” Himes said. “We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy. We do not trust our government to decide what information they may or may not see.”

The day before the House vote, top national security officials in the Biden administration held a closed-door briefing with lawmakers to discuss TikTok and the national security implications. Lawmakers are balancing those security concerns against a desire not to limit free speech online.

“What we’ve tried to do here is be very thoughtful and deliberate about the need to force a divestiture of TikTok without granting any authority to the executive branch to regulate content or go after any American company,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the bill’s author, as he emerged from the briefing.

“Not a single thing that we heard in today’s classified briefing was unique to TikTok. It was things that happen on every single social media platform.”

TikTok has long denied that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has said it has never shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it is asked. To date, the U.S. government also has not provided evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with Chinese authorities.

Republican leaders moved quickly to bring up the bill after its introduction last week by Gallagher and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. A House committee approved the legislation unanimously, on a 50-0 vote, even after their offices were inundated with calls from TikTok users demanding they drop the effort. Some offices even shut off their phones because of the onslaught. Supporters of the bill said the effort backfired.

“(It) provided members a preview of how the platform could be weaponized to inject disinformation into our system,” Gallagher said.

Lawmakers in both parties are anxious to confront China on a range of issues. The House formed a special committee to focus on China-related issues. And Schumer directed committee chairs to begin working with Republicans on a bipartisan China competition bill.

Schumer is likely to feel some pressure from within his own party to move on the TikTok legislation. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner announced after the House vote that he would work to “get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”

In a joint statement with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the intelligence panel, Warner said that “we are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok — a platform with enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs another panel with jurisdiction on the issue, said she would “try to find a path forward that is constitutional and protects civil liberties.”

Roughly 30 TikTok influencers and others who traveled with them spoke out against the bill on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. They chanted phrases like “Keep TikTok” ahead of the vote. They also held signs that read “TikTok changed my life for the better” and “TikTok helped me grow my business.”

Dan Salinger, a Sacramento, California-based TikTok creator in attendance, said he started creating content on the app during the COVID-19 pandemic purely out of boredom. But since then his account, which features videos about his life and his father, who suffers from dementia, has grown in popularity. Today, he has 2 million followers on the app.

“I’m actually appalled for many reasons,” Salinger said. “The speed with which they’re pushing this bill through does not give enough time for Americans to voice their concerns and opinions.”

Former President Donald Trump has spoken out against the House effort, but his vice president, Mike Pence, is urging Schumer to bring the House bill to a vote.

“There can be no doubt that this app is Chinese spyware and that a sale to a non-foreign adversary company is in the best interests of the American people,” Pence said in a letter to Schumer.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the Senate!

Tony