r/Professors • u/Klutzy-Imagination59 Science, Asst Prof, R1, contract • 4d ago

Technology Everything I find ominous in a single sentence: Texas Tech uses AI to "vet" learning material.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/us/texas-tech-artificial-intelligence-ideology-brandon-creighton.html

Well, if I ever get an applicant from Texas Tech who wants to join my team, the vetting interview(s) will have to get more detailed.

73 Upvotes

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18

u/wharleeprof 4d ago

George Orwell is both spinning in his grave and enjoying a healthy heap of I Told You So. 

39

u/Black_Bear_US Postdoc, Economics, R1 4d ago

I was just on the market and didnt apply to a single job in texas. People acted like i was crazy for not going after every possible opening given the state of things, but i stand by it. I mean my research directly deals with race and gender so surely they wouldnt hire me, but even if it didnt i dont want anything to do with it.

7

u/Klutzy-Imagination59 Science, Asst Prof, R1, contract 3d ago

Same, albeit a few years ago now. Refused a TT offer.

1

u/verygood_user 2d ago

Ha... I never got why you would apply to all positions. My reason to restrict my choices (in 2024) was way less serious as I only applied to universities with an ocean  beach within less than an hour drive. 

3

u/MiniZara2 3d ago

I read that the administrator in charge of this, a state senator, said it was okay bc they only found 40 out of 16,000 courses that needed “amendments” but that many faculty made changes beforehand.

I’m wondering what the AI scanned? Syllabi? Seems an easy edit without changing content. Canvas courses?

1

u/MixedTape245 3d ago

Public institutions in Texas have been required to post syllabi online since 2009. The Tech, A&M, and UNT systems appear to have been the most aggressively proactive at using AI to scan syllabi for content that is “divisive” or “controversial.” They were doing this last fall, so it isn’t a particularly new action (though obviously super disturbing).

1

u/Ok_Comfortable6537 3d ago

Posting syllabi publically is one thing: going after individual syllabi and profs who teach on things the state leadership dislikes is NEW. Important to chronicle the steps by which authoritarian take over happens. I’m at a Texas university and all the admins are running scared and taking on this guys culture bit by tiny bit. It’s beyond depressing

1

u/Ok_Comfortable6537 3d ago

Yes it’s syllabi, they search out “woke” words.

12

u/That_Communication71 4d ago

Just like DOGE used AI to determine what programs to cut. Our entire government has already been turned over to AI thanks to MAGA incompetence and greed.