Mentoring
Resources
A curated collection of readings, papers, and tools I use in mentoring, across eight themes: AI ethics, understanding AI, cognitive sovereignty, philosophy of technology, critical thinking, digital rights, open source, and work. Pick where to start: everything is free and open, and each entry tells you in one line why it matters.
AI ethics
- On the Dangers of Stochastic ParrotsWhere a model’s “speech” comes from: statistical prediction, not understanding. The read that dismantles anthropomorphism.
- Model Cards for Model ReportingDocumenting a model the way a drug is documented: intended use, limits, data. A practice to demand, not to be granted.
- Datasheets for DatasetsEvery dataset has a history: who collected it, for what, who is left out. The counterpart to model cards.
- Toward Trustworthy AI DevelopmentHow to make AI promises verifiable: evidence, audits, accountability. Read it when someone says “it’s safe”.
- Data FeminismData as power. Seven principles for reading classification, bias, and who pays for automated decisions.
- A People’s Guide to AIA zine that explains AI to people who don’t code. Made to be used in a group, not read alone.
- Ethics of AIA free seven-chapter course with no prerequisites. The starting point I recommend.
Understanding AI
- Elements of AIWhat AI actually is, without the maths. Clears the magical vocabulary before you argue about ethics.
- ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the WebLarge language models as lossy web compression: the clearest metaphor for why they hallucinate.
- Transformer ExplainerAn interactive Transformer running live in the browser: visualising attention weights, vectors, and token probabilities.
- Neural NetworksThe best intuitive, visual introduction to neural networks, gradient descent, and backpropagation: the geometry behind the weights.
- The Illustrated TransformerThe canonical visual walkthrough of the Transformer architecture: self-attention, Query-Key-Value matrices, and layers made clear.
- Why AI Is Harder Than We ThinkFour cognitive fallacies that lead us to overestimate AI progress. Essential to separate narrow skill from real understanding.
- Deep LearningThe benchmark textbook of the field, freely accessible online: from linear algebra to generative architectures.
Cognitive sovereignty
- Stand Out of Our LightOur attention as contested territory. Williams frames it as a matter of will, not productivity. Open access.
- Data Detox KitConcrete exercises, in over forty languages, to take back control of data, privacy, and screen time.
- The Glass RoomA travelling exhibition that makes tracking tangible. Visit it, or rebuild it in a classroom with the open materials.
- Surveillance Self-DefensePractical guides to decide what to protect and how. The opposite of fear: choices, not alarmism.
- Privacy GuidesConcrete alternatives to surveillance services, with explicit criteria. A reference, not a catechism.
- Your Undivided AttentionThe podcast that popularised the critique of the attention economy. A good way into the conversation.
- Tech Won’t Save UsA weekly counter-narrative on tech capitalism. So you don’t confuse innovation with progress.
Philosophy of technology
- Philosophy of TechnologyA free, regularly updated encyclopaedia entry: the map before you cite. An entry point, not a substitute for the texts.
- Do Artifacts Have Politics?Artifacts have politics. The essay that grounds the idea that a design is never neutral.
- Free Software, Free SocietyStallman collected: why readable code is a political question, not a technical one.
- The Cathedral and the BazaarHow open collaboration beats the closed model. A dated original, still a current argument.
Critical thinking
- Lateral Reading: Reading Less and Learning MoreShows that fact-checkers read laterally, opening new tabs instead of trusting a site: a solid empirical basis for practical exercises.
- Critical Ignoring as a Core CompetenceWhy critical ignoring matters in the attention economy: discarding low-value sources, not just verifying them.
- Web Literacy for Student Fact-CheckersAn open textbook with concrete exercises on fact-checking, confirmation bias, and going upstream: a source of mentoring activities.
- SIFT (The Four Moves)The four moves (Stop, Investigate, Find coverage, Trace) on one page: a checklist to drill until it becomes automatic.
- The Debunking Handbook 2020The scientific consensus on correcting misinformation without reinforcing it (truth sandwich): useful to communicate, not just to verify.
- Calling BullshitAn open course on data reasoning: ideal for debunking misleading charts and statistics with real examples.
Digital rights
- EU regulations on algorithmic decision-making and a “right to explanation”A reference text on the GDPR right to explanation: how legal duties translate into technical requirements for interpretability.
- Anatomy of an AI SystemAn open map of a single AI device, from extraction to disposal: it reveals the chains of labour and resources behind everyday surveillance.
- The EU Artificial Intelligence ActA navigable AI Act with summaries and a compliance checker: useful for reasoning about risk classification and concrete obligations.
- noyb – None of Your BusinessMax Schrems’s cases show the GDPR in action: good for following real cases on consent, tracking, and data protection authorities.
- Ranking Digital RightsAn index ranking the privacy and free-expression policies of major platforms: comparing companies against public criteria.
- The Tech Policy Press PodcastA weekly podcast on tech governance and digital rights: targeted listening to follow the international regulatory debate.
Open source
- The GNU ManifestoThe founding manifesto of free software: useful to discuss the difference between user freedom and “open source”.
- Producing Open Source SoftwareA free, practical guide to governance, community, and project sustainability: excellent for reasoning about rules and long-term maintenance.
- Roads and BridgesA report on the invisible labour sustaining digital infrastructure: it frames maintainer sustainability and the digital commons.
- Choose an Open Source LicenseAn interactive tool on permissive and copyleft licences (GPL, AGPL): practical for comparing licence choices on real cases.
- Public Money, Public CodeA campaign with an open letter to make publicly funded software free: a prompt to discuss the commons and public procurement.
- The ChangelogA weekly podcast on open-source software and maintenance: targeted listening to follow current debates on governance and sustainability.
Work & technology
- The Future of EmploymentThe paper that framed the automation-risk debate (≈47% of US jobs): an entry point to quantitative estimates and their methodological limits.
- Automation and New TasksAn economic model separating displacement from task reinstatement: reasoning about employment and wages beyond doom narratives.
- On the Phenomenon of Bullshit JobsA provocative essay on jobs people consider pointless: useful to discuss meaning, overwork, and the social prestige of professions.
- Exploring Universal Basic IncomeAn open-access, evidence-based guide to the basic income debate: distinguishing policy designs from empirical evidence.
- World Employment and Social Outlook 2021A global report on digital platforms, gig-worker conditions, and algorithmic management: a solid basis for discussing regulation and protections.
- Why are there still so many jobs?A short talk showing the long-run paradox of employment: an accessible intro before more technical readings.