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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 17h

He's so close to getting the point, isn't he?

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 4d

Yes I believe that is the term in functional linguistics. It's much more helpful actually!

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 4d

Words matter but so does knowing how the truth is being concealed (passive) and who is doing it (active). Here endeth today's grammar lecture.

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 4d

The problem is the use of intransitive verbs (possibly ergative since one cannot land oneself after having been bodily launched by said agents). Passive voice implies agency (and directly states the agent if there's a by phrase). So it's often *more* transparent than using intrans/ergative active vb

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 4d

Just saw a great ad on here for my linguistics courses. Apparently "she landed on the ground" is passive voice but "she was thrown to the ground by federal agents" is not. Yes, it's lousy writing but the first is active and the second clause is actually psssive.

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 10d

"This settlement sends a clear message to the Big Tech companies splashing generative A.I. over every app and page and program: You are not above the law. And it should signal to consumers everywhere that A.I. isn’t an unstoppable tsunami about to overwhelm us." < Bravo to this!

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 10d

I'm not a lawyer, just a writer whose work was stolen and an educator trying to do my job, but I wish they'd actually brought down Anthropic. We don't need "AI." We do need creators.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/o...

Opinion | I Sued Anthropic, and the Unthinkable Happened

www.nytimes.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 20d

You mean it's not inevitable? Gasp.

Ian Linkletter @linkletter.org · 20d

Google backtracked after I tipped the Washington Post to how they were pushing AI functionality during exams. wapo.st/47OPRzL

Column | Teachers got mad about a cheat button in Chrome. Now Google’s pausing it.

Google quietly added a “homework help” button to the world’s most-used web browser. Educators say it makes cheating too easy.

wapo.st

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 21d

I appreciate universities who tell me so clearly where not to send my son's tuition dollars. First major school to announce its education is 100% human will clean up. Come on, Delaware. After 250 years, it's time to be the first state again

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 21d

“Beginning this year, all freshmen are required to take a course in generative AI and multiple workshops aimed at real-world applications to help them master the technology.”

Ohio State University launches initiative requiring that students study AI

Beginning this year, all Ohio State University freshmen are required to take a course in generative AI and multiple workshops aimed at real-world applications to help them master the technology.

www.cbsnews.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 24d

I needed a good laugh. It is not indicative of a "restrictive worldview" to describe this column as a steaming pile of narrow minded, linguistically flawed, old man shouting at the wind bullshit

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...

Opinion | Why Does Everybody Swear All The Time Now?

www.nytimes.com

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 29d

Ask yourself ... if you were a 12th grader today with <gestures in 2025> around you, how seriously would you take a test with these parameters? Really?

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 29d

NYT blames public health measures during the first year of the covid pandemic, because of course they do. That was 4 years before last year's 12 graders took the test. The changes over the last decade are actually quite small - in fact only 2 points +/- in reading from 2019 to 2024.

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · 29d

Happy hysterical ed reporting day, to all who celebrate. A few reminders about NAEP: it tests a sample of students, not all of them. Each student takes a part of the test, not the whole thing. The test is inconsequential to the student, teacher, and school. And it's not based on any curriculum.

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Sep 8

Good. This deal is good for Big Tech and lawyers. As a member of the class, I say no deal. Run these "AI" vultures into the ground.

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · Sep 8

Judge Alsup doing Judge Alsup-like things, rejecting the Anthropic settlement in its current form. news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/anthr...

Anthropic Judge Rejects $1.5 Billion AI Copyright Settlement (1)

The federal judge overseeing Anthropic PBC’s proposed $1.5 billion copyright settlement is concerned class lawyers are striking a deal behind the scenes that will be forced “down the throat of authors...

news.bloomberglaw.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Sep 4

Something important missed from the article - while Haidt is probably wrong to say that tech has caused a decline in learning/school performance/etc, a more salient observation is that it is has absolutely failed to realize any measurable *benefits* despite decades of hype (cf Watters, etc.)

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Sep 4

This is a well balanced piece, but I think we can actually find consensus (well, Haidt can't b/c its not in his self interest): we need to divest from most ed-tech because many reasons while still teaching digital and media literacy. Just doing it more on paper. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Is Jonathan Haidt right about smartphones?

In ‘The Anxious Generation’, Haidt makes the case that social media and smartphones have ‘rewired’ today’s teenagers, but his critics say the evidence tells us something very different - and that bann...

www.tes.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Sep 4

Trinity understands the assignment

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · Sep 4

Opinion: We are lecturers in Trinity College Dublin. It is our responsibility to resist AI

Even if all the known issues were magically resolved, we would still not want our students to use GenAI

www.irishtimes.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 27

Funny how the tech hypists are so close to understanding: yes, if every "AI" company followed the law in collecting training data, they would be unable to develop their products and make $$$ (exactly, they shouldn't); if every author sued, they would destroy these predators (we should)

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · Aug 27

Thanks for the reminder!

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 27

Friends don't let friends accept bad deals. Authors, including academic authors, register for the class action and demand that the case go to trial and bring down Anthropic and these other predatory corporations. authorsguild.org/news/anthrop...

Anthropic AI Class Action: Important Information for Authors - The Authors Guild

Earlier this summer, a federal court in California issued a major ruling in Bartz v. Anthropic, one of the copyright class action lawsuits involving AI. The court held that a trial should occur over w...

authorsguild.org

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 27

I don't understand why the Authors' Guild would give these corporations a lifeline. They broke the law. They are harming people. They are wrong. We are right. Take them down. Reject the deal.

Kate Knibbs @knibbs.bsky.social · Aug 26

NEW: A major AI copyright legal showdown just took a huge twist today. Facing a class action on behalf of book authors that could've seen it pay over a TRILLION in damages for alleged piracy, Anthropic has agreed to settle instead: www.wired.com/story/anthro...

Anthropic Settles High-Profile AI Copyright Lawsuit Brought By Book Authors

Anthropic faced the prospect of more than $1 trillion in damages, a sum that could have threatened the company’s survival if the case went to trial.

www.wired.com

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 26

Yes, this. As a wonderful Professor of medieval French literature used to tells, we need to beware of the modern tendency to patronize the middle ages. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

Opinion | The University’s Best Weapon Against A.I.: The 14th Century

www.nytimes.com

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 23

Come for the cultural criticism. Stay for the ethno nationalism.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 23

KPopped: the bizarre musical duel where South Korea’s hottest stars make the Spice Girls look like dead weight

This battle of the bands-style show teams western pop artists with K-pop stars to retool their songs. And it isn’t exactly flattering to the likes of Boy George, Vanilla Ice and TLC

www.theguardian.com

Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 22

Gift link this time (finally found the right button!): "we can use subtitles to rate the out-loud-ness of any English word by comparing its popularity in movies to its popularity in books." - err, sure. That's a thing in corpus linguistics, right? Right?
wapo.st/4oLF7Is

Column | What are the most American and most British words?

Is American English really that different than its British ancestor? And if so, what words truly separate the American from the Brit? The Department of Data is on the case.

wapo.st

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 22

I'm glad WaPo is drawing attention to the hypocrisy and racism at the heart of the administration's chaotic approach to multilingual learners, but yet again I am begging them to talk to an actual expert so they can frame language acquisition as an asset not a deficit. wapo.st/4nfNKcX

Opinion | The Trump administration’s funny way of promoting English

If assimilation is the goal, why not make sure kids get every opportunity to learn our language?

wapo.st

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Nigel Caplan @nigelc.bsky.social · Aug 22

See my previous post. Shot and chaser! Well said

Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · Aug 22

Word I should use more:

grammaticaster: a pretender to or a smatterer in the art of grammar, without being really skilful (Dythe & Pardon's New English Dictionary, 1735)

In a sentence:
Grammaticasters in the media make strong claims despite their unsubtle analysis of the language.

grammaticaster (s.) a pretender to or a smatterer in the art of grammar, without being really skilful

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