There's an open letter circulating this week entitled "Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia", initiated by academics at Radboud. I agree with quite a lot of it, but their demands are quite sweeping and as a result I can't sign this letter. My reasons, my response, are in this post. I'd be interested in your reaction too.

Here's my comment:

One of my big concerns is that they don't specify what it is they want to ban. We all know that "AI" is a widely-used term which is sometimes taken broadly and sometimes narrowly. I believe that the aim of the letter is to ban big-industry generative AI from the classroom (judging my the motivations they express). I sympathise with that. However, the authors have chosen to simplify this to the term "AI" without explanation, and that turns their demands into quite extreme ones.

The closest we get to a definition in this letter is AI "...such as chatbots, large language models, and related products." So is it only text generation they want to ban, ignoring image generation? Maybe, but that's probably too narrow. Do they want to ban all use of machine learning, even the teaching of machine learning? I very much doubt it, but it's easy to read the demands that way, since "AI" is understood by many people to include all of that.

(The title of the letter seems to exhibit nuance: "Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI" is much better than "Stop the Adoption of AI". But the letter's demands go further.)

For myself, I'd like to

• (a) keep the Big GenAI industry out of the classroom (I'd like it to be possible to complete my course without sending data outside the country, without helping to train some VC company's algorithm, without supporting unknown amounts of energy waste);
• (b) take seriously the threat to learning from "cognitive shortcuts" and bullshit text;
• (c) never use any AI whose energy/climate footprint cannot be measured;

while I also want to

• (d) make my course robust and fair even when some students might over-use LLMs outside my control;
• (e) take account of LLMs' valuable use cases - most notably in programming, for code debugging and writing code to adapt data formats.

For me, the open letter's demand to "ban AI use in the classroom for student assignments" accounts for (a,b,c) but fails at (d) and (e).

I've avoided LLMs so far but I don't believe I can achieve (d) without taking some nuanced tactical alterations to the course that I teach. I might use EduGenAI or possibly an offline local LLM since it helps with points (a) and (c) (but not completely).

So, for my own personal perspective: I don't agree with the open letter because it "throws the baby out with the bathwater": the "baby" being ML tools in the classroom, the "bathwater" being Big GenAI and LLM-induced de-skilling. I would prefer our strategy to be one that deliberately guards against both of those without banning all "AI".

I also have in mind the fatalistic voices who will comment: "Students will use ChatGPT anyway" and "But ChatGPT is better than ____". I work at Tilburg University, whose motto is "Understanding Society". Surely, this now includes understanding the societal context and implications of using LLMs, including the societal position of one LLM versus another LLM. For me, tools like GPT-NL or EduGenAI should help to make this case. (Or offline LLMs?) We can disentangle LLMs as a tool from Big GenAI as an industry, in the messaging we give to students.

I'm grateful to the letter authors for taking a stand, and for providing good food for thought.

Dear editors,

Today I saw some news about the Royal Society which made me very uncomfortable. As a result, I am afraid I will withdraw my voluntary reviewing work for Royal Society. I will not after all be completing this review for Royal Society Open Science.

The uncomfortable news is about the Royal Society's refusal to uphold its code of conduct with regard to Elon Musk. It's very clear that Musk's continued association with the RS brings the society into disrepute. I can feel this disrepute - in my own changed opinion of the society.

I am not a member of the RS, although I have been proud to act as a reviewer for some of its journals. I don't feel proud today, and I don't feel I can continue donating my voluntary labour to the society so long as it fails to uphold its own values.

Please pass this message on to your colleagues. The society's honour can be restored, I hope.

Best wishes

Dan Stowell

I was concerned to see news of sonic weapons apparently used against the public attending a peaceful vigil in Belgrade. These are powerful tools that could ruin many people's hearing and their lives. I don't know the details of the protest, but I don't like the idea of governments dabbling in how to use these tools against civilians.

I don't expect this to happen in my country. However, in these increasingly turbulent times, we should prepare for such things to happen - at least to someone, somewhere. There's not much public info about sonic weapons, and so there's almost no information for an average innocent citizen, to know what the dangers are or how to protect themselves against harm.

I study sound so I believe I can offer some thoughts. I don't study anything remotely like these weapons hardware, so please consider me only a "half-expert": I have studied sound analysis for around 20 years, BUT primarily recorded/digital sound, not the physical acoustics of devices or their effects on people. Please feel free to find better expert advice - and to tell me about it! Collectively, we should build up some public knowledge on this topic.

Background: LRAD and vortex cannon

I am actually referring to 2 different technologies that have recently been acquired by police forces and military:

1. LRAD ("long range acoustic device") or "sound cannon": a device that emits a narrow beam of sound energy, unlike a standard loudspeaker which radiates energy widely. The narrow focussed beam means that sound can be projected much, much farther and with higher loudness than you might expect. They can be used simply to project audible sound such as a spoken message, but can also be used at high energy to hurt or disorient you.

   (The "LRAD" is a specific commercial product which uses a technique to encode the sound into ultrasound, which then becomes audible when it hits a target. In this article I'm using the term "LRAD" quite generically.)

2. Vortex cannon or vortex ring: a device that creates the same phenomenon as the "smoke ring" that cigar smokers used to blow... but with higher energy. The physics of a vortex ring means that the energy doesn't dissipate much, and the invisible ring (invisible because there's usually no smoke) can travel a long way through a street or into a crowd, with a loud and disorienting "whooshing" sound. I believe that this would have more physical force than an LRAD - you might actually feel it pushing against you as a sudden wave of wind.

These are two very different technologies. But what they have in common is the ability to project energy "invisibly" along a straight line, and a risk of hearing damage. For technical details about how both of these things work, see this article by Black Mountain Analysis.

I don't have any special knowledge of the events in Belgrade on March 15th 2025, but from this analysis by Netzpolotik and the audio analysis shown in the first article I linked, it seems there was at least one LRAD mounted on a jeep, BUT in fact the mysterious loud sound which scattered the crowd is more likely have been a vortex cannon. (Though I didn't see any footage that would show the device that produced it.)

Differences between LRAD and vortex cannon

The vortex cannon is different from the LRAD in how it operates, but also in its effect on you.

The LRAD can project almost any sound, e.g. voices or tones, and I don't believe it's restricted to short bursts. If one of these was fired at you, I think you would hear that sound, coming mysteriously from an unknown direction. It would also be a harsh distorted version of the sound (not a "hi-fi" version).

The vortex cannon, however, is all about projecting a short burst. Looking at the videos from Belgrade, reading the eyewitness accounts, and listening to the sound recordings, you get a consistent message: people heard a very loud roaring/whoosing sound, like a jet engine or a military vehicle suddenly roaring at them at very close range. The effect on the crowd is notable, especially that people all seem to run in a unified direction, so suddenly that they can't all just be following each other. It must be caused by a strong perception that "the jet engine is behind you" from one particular direction, which will be the "middle" of the line of fire.

Some thoughts on how to be prepared

PREPARE IN ADVANCE

• Listen to some examples of what these devices sound like. This way, if it happens to you, you're likely to know what's going on.
• Look at some of the videos (e.g. from Belgrade) to see how crowds tend to react to these devices. Think about how you could be safe in that situation.

ON THE DAY

• Take some hearing protection with you. Don't rely on "noise-reducing" (ANR) headphones, because I don't think they would respond well to high-energy, high-bandwidth, bursts. I don't believe they would protect you. ANR can also make it harder to understand ordinary sound events in a busy situation. Instead, use proper physical hearing protection: ear defenders would be best, but of course that's quite bulky and would mean that you can't hear much at all. You could also use the kind of earplugs that people use for sleeping, made of foam or gel or wax for example -- those would be better than the ones people use for listening to music, but much less protection than ear defenders.
• Maybe you don't want to be wearing ear defenders on every public protest. Indeed you shouldn't have to! You could consider wearing an earplug in one ear when you're in a low-risk situation but want to be a little bit careful.
• Know how to spot the acoustic devices. Often mounted on a van or jeep, they're not very big, but they do also need a non-trivial electric supply.

REACT WELL TO A SONIC WEAPON

• The sonic weapon seems to cause a sudden "flow" of the crowd. Be aware of this - you'll probably be safest if you move with the crowd a little, but try not to panic, try to stay standing, and please protect anyone who falls over.
• Put your hands over your ears, if they're un-protected.
• Get out of the direct line of the shot. Normal sound goes around corners pretty well, but these devices use "coherent" phenomena whose effects mostly fall apart when dissipated around obstructions. So, hiding behind a car or some other big bulky object would help.
• Since these devices are currently so new, many people will not know what's happened. You should tell them. Shout "sonic weapon" or some phrase that will quickly convey the situation.
• The forces that shot the sonic weapon: what will they do next? There are a lot of unknowns. Maybe nothing. But it occurs to me that the effect seen in the Belgrade videos was to clear a channel down the middle of the "beam". I wouldn't be surprised if some forces use this to clear a channel, and then send personnel rushing in through that cleared channel.
• Will there be another shot immediately after? I don't know how quickly these things can be re-charged. A vortex cannon uses fuel, which has a finite supply. I wouldn't expect a lot of rapid shots.

AFTER CARE

The negative effects of these weapons are broadly the same as "ordinary" loud noise trauma. Short-term hearing problems which might or might not become long-term. Disorientation and nausea.

• Follow the standard advice for looking after your hearing after traumatic loud noise. I don't have that advice, but you'll find it online. Give your hearing some time to recover. Visit your doctor.

...

That's all I have for now. I hope that there are better experts than me out there who can document more precisely what is known and what can be expected of these things. And I hope governments and other forces will act with restraint and care.

Video of the year 2024:

• "The glymphatic system"

This was an absolute eye-opener. If you've ever wondered about sleep, you NEED to know about the glymphatic system. It's a 1-hour special guest lecture by the scientist who discovered this whole thing.

Fiction book of the year 2024:

• "Semiosis" by Sue Burke

I read a few sci-fi books this year which centre on some kind of non-human mind, and how their complex societies might work. For my favourite book, it was a close call between "Children of Time", which creates a society of sentient spiders on a new planet, and "Semiosis", which creates a society of sentient plants on a new planet. They're both great. Semiosis wins because the characters are better-written. The book manages to create this entire world of sentient plant life (plus humans too) - and then on top of that, to draw the reader into engaging twists of detective fiction and psychological intrigue. A remarkable read.

Non-fiction book of the year 2024:

• "White Skin Black Fuel" by the Zetkin Collective

Probably essential reading, given the prospects for 2025. This is a multi-country examination of what's going on in white nationalism, anti-green conspiracy theories, and the ideas that lead to xenophobic violence in the middle of a climate crisis. You might not like the idea of reading this book, but I found it essential knowledge. The first half especially, which gives really good summaries of what's going on in different countries and how they're all connected.

Album of the year 2024:

• Godspeed You! Black Emperor: "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28-340 DEAD"

You need patience to appreciate Godspeed. I know that people on the WWW generally don't have patience, but I'm going to recommend this anyway. It's not obvious at first that the music is anything more than the many other post-rock guitar bands out there, but Godspeed have the ability to be very subtly soulful, life-affirming, emotionally dynamic, which for me usually doesn't even emerge on the first listen. But this 2024 album of theirs is one I'll listen to again and again for years.

Person of the year 2024:

The person of the year is, quite clearly, Gisèle Pélicot. This goes without saying. Her determination and grace are a model for us all.

Cookbook of the year 2024:

• "Fresh India" by Meera Sodha

An utterly fabulous recipe book. In fact her recipes are impressively useful while also creative.

Drink of the year 2024:

• Coffee tonic

It sounds crazy at first, but it's a lovely refreshing drink (quite cola-like), and surprisingly easy to make. 2 parts tonic water, 1 part "short" coffee (such as an espresso, or I make a short aeropress), plus ice. Remember this for the next heatwave!

The man in the little Turkish shop got excited when I bought a tin of coconut milk and a fennel. "Oh, are you making fennel soup?" "...No?" But then he persuaded me, telling me how he used coconut milk to make it creamy and rich.

What I love is that the "grassy" fennel flavours actually balance against the coconut milk well, so the end result is rich but makes perfect sense. I emphasise the fennel-ness with the other herbal flavours of dill seed and lemon zest.

Serves 2, takes 30 minutes.

• 50g vegan butter
• 1 bulb fennel
• 1 tsp dill seed
• 1/2 a courgette
• a small handful of parsley
• 100ml coconut milk
• salt and pepper
• zest of 1/4 lemon

Rinse the fennel. If your fennel has dill-like sprigs of "hair" on, cut them off and save them to use as garnish at the end.

In a large pan with a lid, melt the butter over a medium heat, while you slice the fennel fairly finely. Start the fennel frying, adding the dill seed too, and let it fry (with stirring) until it only-just starts to take a bit of golden colour (not too much!).

Meanwhile boil a kettle, then add about 400ml of boiling water to the fennel to cover it. Add about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt too. Bring it to the boil, and let it bubble modestly for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the courgette, and zest the lemon. When the fennel is nicely softened, add the courgette and give that just a couple of minutes to soften. Add the parsley. Then take the pan off the heat and, using a blender, whizz it all to a nice smooth consistency. It's up to you whether you blitz it to uniformity or you leave some different-coloured bits in it.

Return the soup to the pan if you took it out. Add the coconut milk - maybe not all of it, hold some back for now and maybe add the rest according to taste. Add the lemon zest, add salt and pepper. Stir it and check the seasoning.

Serve in bowls, with the garnish on top if you have it, with bread on the side.

"Stamppot" is the Dutch way of making a big hearty mashed-potato dish for the autumn/winter months. It's good to serve it with something savoury and "meaty" like a sausage, which contrasts against the texture and flavour of the mash -- but of course we want a veggie version. I invented this lovely umame-packed miso mushroom ragout which works superbly and is no trouble to make.

I also used an old crust of bread to add to the mushrooms and it made a fabulous addition as chewy chunks. Ideal for this is for the bread to be crusts rather than the middle, for it to be old (and thus dry), and also something tasty like a sourdough. It becomes almost meaty in texture when used in the way we do here.

Two veg that Dutch people often add to their mash are witlof (a kind of endive) and kale. We used both, but it doesn't matter much, use what's available. The endive has a more interesting slightly bitter flavour. If you don't have endive, then plenty of kale is also fine.

Serves 2, takes 25 minutes.

For the stamppot:

• 500g potatoes
• 2 witlofs (endives)
• a handful of chopped kale (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g vegan butter

For the mushrooms:

• 1 very small onion (red or white)
• A handful of mushrooms (I guess I had 8?)
• An old crust of bread (approx 50g)
• 50g vegan butter
• 1 tbsp dark miso paste
• 250ml recently-boiled water
• 1/2 tsp maggi sauce, vegan Worcestershire sauce or similar (optional)

To serve:

• Something fresh e.g. a few salad leaves or fresh beans

Prepare the ingredients. Wash the potatoes and chop them into ~2cm dice. (I didn't peel mine - you can choose.) Chop the bread into ~1.5cm dice. Clean the mushrooms, then slice them not too thinly e.g. half a centimetre. Slice the witlof, also to about half a centimetre slices. Chop/slice the onion finely.

Boil a large amount of water. Put the potatoes into a big pan with the boiling water and boil them for 20 minutes. Note that you'll be adding more to this pan - but for now, move on to prepare the mushrooms.

In a good-sized frying pan on a medium heat, melt half (25g) of the butter and start the onion frying. After a minute add the mushrooms too. Fry these for a couple of minutes. No need to stir too much.

The pan will dry out, as the mushrooms absorb the liquid. You can then add the other 25g butter to the pan, let the butter melt, and then stir the bread cubes into this mixture too. Once the bread has started to fry, turn the heat down to medium-low, and continue frying but be careful not to let it burn.

It's probably now about time to add the chopped witlof to the potatoes that are boiling (about half-way through, i.e. with 10 minutes remaining). Do that, and the kale too, and stir. Continue to boil this until the potatoes have had their 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, back to the mushrooms. Mix the miso paste with 200ml of boiling water. Once the bread has taken on some colour, add the miso broth to it, plus the maggi sauce. Let this little stew bubble gently for the remaining five to ten minutes. The water will get soaked up quite quickly. Keep an eye on it add add more if it gets too dry.

Once the potatoes are cooked, turn off the heat on both pans. Drain the potatoes and veg, then return them to the pan, add the 50g butter, and mash them with a masher, to a smooth mash.

Serve each portion as a big blob of mash, with the mushrooms laid on top, and a bit of something fresh on the side e.g. a few salad leaves. (I served mine with some fresh soy beans, which adds freshness and also a bit more protein.)

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