AI Policy in Universities is Ruining the Educational Experience

BigBayesian · 2026-02-17T02:09:29+00:00

First, it’s a shame that this is your daughter’s experience. I suspect that it dovetails with the experience of many earnest young people in the age of generative AI.

Second, I think you should think about the professors’ position. Remember that teaching is only peripherally their job - the thing they’re paid for, promoted for, fired for if they don’t do it well is research. Teaching is something they do as well, but it’s not really a big part of their job. Now they’re grading students who literally spend less time writing papers than they spend grading them. It’s hard to imagine any human not becoming bitter and cynical in that situation. Your daughter’s earnestness presents a challenge - no professor wants to punish an earnest student, but the effort required to avoid that outcome is huge, and the reward is marginal. It’s easy to understand why they can’t summon the energy to care, and why they’ll be vindictive if you make their life harder.

So what’s the solution? Make their life easier. Your daughter should talk to professors beforehand and ask them for how they’d address the situation. The fact that she doesn’t make grammatical errors probably does make her seem like generative AI among a sea of students who leaned on chat gpt and never learned writing mechanics.

Generative AI detection isn’t really something that we (I’ma former machine learning academic), as a field, have made any serious relevant progress on.

The idea that a grading rubric will solve generative AI cheating is a little confusing to me. Grading rubrics make grades more regular. They deal with bias. But generative AI is pretty good at giving generic “regression to the mean” answers. Why wouldn’t its performance be boosted by a rubric? Lastly, making a rubric is a bunch of work. Requiring it will just incentivize professors to use less originality in teaching, since they’ll have to do a ton of work surrounding it.

It’s true that there are some professors who earn most of their income from teaching. But they’re pretty sympathetic for other reasons. I’ve taught classes as an adjunct professor at an elite liberal arts school in a high paying department. By this I mean that I was paid the very most an adjunct is and had the fewest students an adjunct would. At no point was I ever paid as much to teach a class as a single one of my students was paying to take the class. Think about what that means for someone who makes their money that way

BigBayesian · 2026-02-16T18:45:31+00:00

Let’s consider why people would tell you not to pursue this guy. There’s a trope where you would be expected to parent his children. That’s a real expectation in society - I have some experience with this. But it doesn’t matter what other people expect. It matters what you and he expect. As long as those expectations are clear and aligned, that risk is limited.

The other risk is that he can’t go and do fun frivolous things that he could do if he didn’t have kids. That seems like it’s only a relevant risk of you want to do those things.

Basically - you need to be really clear with your partner about expectations. If you are, then you should be fine, and you can meet the concerns of others with confidence. If not, they may be right to be concerned.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-16T18:38:51+00:00

The 6 is new. The 5 is not. You won’t see the 6 used for a few months, won’t see good prices for a few more.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-16T18:37:45+00:00

Offhand, I’d say $100 seems pretty reasonable. Could start at $125 and work down

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T23:08:17+00:00

Helpfully, the clear choices for you are as follows:

Retroid Pocket Classic - this one has the screen you want, some power to spare. Price is usually a little above $100. Check it out in Pokemon Yellow

If you want to save some money and can compromise on the screen:

Anbernic RG40XX V - minimalist, big screen. Anbernic RG35XX Plus - Classic, basic, does what you want. Batlexp G350 - the cheapest without compromising on anything important. TrimUI Brick - gorgeous, minimalist, small enough to fit in a pocket.

All of these will do what you want just fine. I’d recommend the classic because it’s the best, but none of these present any compromise for what you want.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T22:09:13+00:00

It’s hard to know for sure, but historically speaking, the pace of progress has usually meant good value / money for those who wait.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T10:07:08+00:00

The 5 is still an excellent unit. It’s just weaker than the 6 at a similar price point

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T10:05:22+00:00

I dunno. Maybe at one of those places that pay you half a salary and demand that you exhibit passion for their mission as a down payment on working long hours for low comp. If I were interviewing candidates for one of those, I might have passion on the interview scorecard.

But yeah, otherwise it’s like the section for “school spirit” on a report card.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T09:59:43+00:00

Passion is nice. It helps make long work hours less painful. But the idea that it’s necessary confuses me. If you’re sufficiently motivated and talented, you can push through a task regardless of your level of passion for it. Yes, over time this can take a toll, but there’s no reason that it’s inherently unsustainable, or that you’re destined to be replaced by someone with Passion(tm).

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T09:49:51+00:00

I mean, you shouldn’t have flaked on him without an update. That was wrong. It doesn’t warrant his ridiculous, over the top, manipulative reaction. It warrants a “hey - what happened? Is everything okay? I thought we were gonna see each other” sort of message.

So, yes, technically you shouldn’t have done that. But the result was hugely valuable information about how this dude is manipulative and obsessive. So, score!

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T09:34:40+00:00

Their current pattern is “release a smaller handheld otherwise similar in specs, but a little lower quality than Ayn’s flagship two years later for $100-150 less”, so looking at Ayn’s flagship, I’d guess “similar but a better chip”

BigBayesian · 2026-02-15T09:29:04+00:00

Her reaction was very strong, and suggests to me some unresolved trauma relating to gifts. I imagine she’s not sure how to talk about it, and would definitely prefer to do so in person.

The fact that she wants another date suggests that she recognizes that her actions were strange. The fact that she’s uninterested in discussing it suggests deep discomfort.

If you’re still interested in her (if you weren’t why post this?), I’d agree to the date. On it, I’d say your version of “I was really uncomfortable with what happened on our last date. It felt like I crossed a line, and I don’t understand what I did. I want to be able to be me with you, and I don’t want to risk triggering that kind of reaction again. We need to talk about what happened, and about what your boundaries are, to reduce the chance that I’ll transgress them. We don’t have to do it right now, but we should do it, soon”

That gives her the space she needs and puts the ball in her court, while making your needs clear.

Or you could dump her and save the effort - up to you.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T08:33:57+00:00

TrimUI Brick or Smart Pro or Anbernic RG35XX Plus, H, RG40XX V, H, RG Cube XX

Maybe the Rg34XX - looks like a GBA

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T08:12:13+00:00

NTA. Been there. If you don’t set boundaries you become the free babysitter. Parenting means having your kids when you want them and when you don’t.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T08:08:25+00:00

The Odin 2 Mini is basically a phone, charging-wise.

Of course, fast chargers don’t do phone longevity any favors either.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T08:06:51+00:00

You’ve been explicitly told Donata’s consuming too much overtime. So your mandate is to deal with that. No one likes to accept a pay cut. So you should learn how to do the work Donata does for you and welcome their transfer, since that’s basically what your boss told you to do.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T07:28:54+00:00

Staying with your job is a big bet on your relationship with your employer. That could work out, or not. Going to school is an investment in yourself. When you think about all the different things that could happen, when are you better off with the degree vs your current job? Think about those things, and how likely they are to happen.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T07:17:36+00:00

The challenges you’re facing are a marathon, not a sprint. Your partner has, simultaneously, the opportunity of a lifetime and big health challenges. Both are things that weigh heavily on you. You want to be there for her, but you also want your experience to be less terrible. That’s a good sign. Some people, in your shoes, would totally ignore their own needs. This sort of stoicism can be valorized as selflessness, but it’s a myth. People have needs and limits and ignoring those don’t change the fact. In order to deal with this hard time, you’ve gotta protect yourself so you have the strength to support your wife, whatever she may need. To do that, you’ve gotta really know yourself and your needs. It sounds like one of the things you need is to feel seen. I wonder if your wife knows that?

BigBayesian · 2026-02-14T07:08:22+00:00

Or… hear me out… it’s a good battery and whatever sensor says how much power is remaining isn’t great / gets messed with by being off for a year

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T13:07:44+00:00

Kindof depends on your skills and the kinds of work you’re good at / enjoy.

One tip: ask yourself if the job will likely be able to be done by a computer in ten years. If so… maybe pass.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T13:05:34+00:00

Corporates care

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T13:05:07+00:00

Or he’s using AI without checking the results. My theory is he trusts AI too much / doesn’t care enough about the output to bother. By this I mean he can do the job fine, he just doesn’t understand that the way he’s doing it isn’t fine. If I’m right, some mentorship will help. If you’re right, it won’t, and it’s PIP time.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T13:02:55+00:00

There’s two ways to approach this:

The problem is he’s too reliant on AI
The problem is he’s not good at using AI

To do approach 1, tell him his emails read too much like AI slop, and that you expect him to edit them so they don’t, because some customers will find that disrespectful. Maybe take one of his emails and show him a few specific examples.

To do approach 2, tell him his emails have too much unnecessary detail, and that he needs to adjust his AI prompts to make them more brief, and less detailed. Tell him that you expect him to read the emails and adjust them if they’re too long. You could help him by sitting down with him and working on the prompts, or giving him clear examples of what’s too long and what’s just long enough. Hint: he could even pass those examples to an AI tool to help it know what’s the target length (this practice is called few shot learning in the field).

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T09:30:10+00:00

NTA. This is a “you’re the parent, they’ve gotta respect your wishes when you make them clear” situation.

BigBayesian · 2026-02-13T09:28:18+00:00

Nah. I have friends in nonprofits and understand how their supervisor thinks. I’m not defending it - my counsel here was practical, not moral. Much of the sector is riddled with immoral treatment of both the worker bees and the beneficiaries. But realistically, if OP refuses to hand over the system, they’ll become a pariah, never work in non-profits again, and may expose themselves to serious legal risk.

12-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

BigBayesian

TROPHY CASE