In summer 2026, we wrote a statement called "AI Is Problematic. Why Does PAIRR Use It?" which we invite all students in our program to read and respond to. Below is a selection of student-friendly sources linked and referenced in the statement.
What Is AI, Anyway?
From references
Introducing OpenAI. OpenAI's brief 2015 announcement introducing itself as a nonprofit research company meant to benefit humanity, naming its founders and a $1 billion funding pledge.
Generative AI exists because of the transformer: This is how it works. A Financial Times visual story that explains how the transformer, the technology behind generative AI, works.
Environmental Impacts
From statement
We’re Doing AI All Wrong. Here’s How to Get It Right | Sasha Luccioni | TED. A TED talk video in which AI researcher Sasha Luccioni argues that AI is being built the wrong way for the planet, and lays out how to get it right.
Compare the environmental footprint of digital tasks (What Uses More?). An interactive calculator by Jon Ippolito that compares the estimated energy and water use of AI tasks with everyday digital habits like streaming video or web searches.
What your digital life uses. An interactive calculator that adds up the energy and water behind a whole day of online activity, from AI prompts and gaming to streaming and video calls.
AI is an energy and water hog, here’s what you can do to counter that. An AP news article on how much energy and water AI uses and what ordinary users can do about it, with comments from researcher Sasha Luccioni.
Using AI chatbots? Here are four ways to reduce the energy drain. A clear, illustrated magazine article with charts and a tip carousel offering four ways to cut the energy used when working with AI chatbots.
The impact of California's environmental regulations ripples across the U.S. A short NPR radio segment, with audio and a transcript, on the California effect, where the state's strict environmental rules end up shaping products and laws nationwide.
From references
We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. A long, multimedia MIT Technology Review investigation, with videos and charts, that adds up the energy cost of AI text, image, and video requests. (May require a subscription or library access.)
Labor Concerns
From statement
Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath. A news column in which Anthropic's CEO warns that AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs and push unemployment to 10 to 20 percent.
Teaching AI Ethics: Human Labour. A blog post on the hidden human labor behind AI, including Kenyan workers paid between $1.32 and $2 an hour to label harmful content, with classroom activities.
AI Resist List (Labor pillar: Advocate for the Rights of Workers). An illustrated online directory of ways communities resist AI harms; its labor section lists eight worker-led efforts from around the world, from unions and campaigns to a tracker of worker actions.
Madhumita Murgia: "AI can do harm when people don't have a voice." A readable interview in which journalist Madhumita Murgia talks about underpaid data labelers, gig workers managed by algorithms, deepfakes, and who gets a say in AI.
We Must Act Now: A Statement on AI's Transformation of the Economy. A three-point public statement, signed by economists and tech leaders, warning that AI could reshape the economy quickly and cause large-scale job displacement.
The Real Job Destruction from AI Is Hitting Before Careers Can Start. A Yale School of Management article with four charts showing that AI is cutting entry-level openings for recent graduates more than it is causing mass layoffs.
From references
Future of Jobs Report 2025: The jobs of the future and the skills you need to get them. A short World Economic Forum summary, with a chart and table, of which jobs are expected to grow or shrink by 2030 and which skills will matter most.
A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria. A magazine article, with audio, that checks AI job loss predictions against labor data and finds the clearest signs of harm among 22-to-25-year-olds in the jobs most exposed to AI. (May require a subscription or library access.)
“Data” and Bias
From statement
Humans Are Biased. Generative AI Is Even Worse. An image-filled feature that analyzes 5,100 AI-generated pictures and shows, strikingly, how the tool exaggerates race and gender stereotypes about jobs and crime. (May require a subscription or library access.)
Artificial Intelligence Is Putting Innocent People at Risk of Being Incarcerated. A short news article from the Innocence Project on how police use of facial recognition has led to wrongful arrests, mostly of Black people.
Should Writers Use They Own English? A short, lively essay by Vershawn Ashanti Young, written in a blend of African American English and standard written English, that makes the case for code meshing.
AI is already rewriting reality for billions of people. It is getting women wrong. A short UN Women statement that gathers findings on gender bias in AI systems, deepfake abuse of women online, and how few women work in AI.
From references
Critical Language Awareness: Language Power Techniques and English Grammar. A free online guide that pairs language power techniques like metaphor, doublespeak, and name calling with the grammar behind them, plus readings, videos, and activities.
Are We Different People in Different Languages? On Being a Multilingual Writer in the 21st Century. A personal essay by a writing teacher on whether people become different selves in different languages, drawing on multilingual writers from Dante to Edwidge Danticat.
When Good Algorithms Go Sexist: Why and How to Advance AI Gender Equity. A magazine article on how gender bias gets into AI, from credit limits to hiring tools, with seven actions for building fairer systems. (May require a subscription or library access.)
Contesting Standardized English. A magazine essay by a composition professor arguing that privileging standardized English sorts people by race and social standing, and that educators must question it.
How AI Reduces the World to Stereotypes. A visual representation of the LLM’s reductionism and bias when representing nationalities and cultures.
Your Data Privacy, Your Intellectual Property, Your Voice
From statement
How can I protect my privacy when using ChatGPT & similar tools? A short university library FAQ with step-by-step settings for keeping chats with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot and similar tools out of AI training.
Nobel Physics Prize Awarded for Pioneering A.I. Research by 2 Scientists. A New York Times news report on the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for neural network research behind modern AI. (May require a subscription or library access.)
From references
We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here's what it says. A news explainer from MIT Technology Review that summarizes the four risks named in the Stochastic Parrots paper and the dispute over Timnit Gebru's exit from Google. (May require a subscription or library access.)
Google execs warn company's reputation could suffer if it moves too fast on AI-chat technology. A CNBC news report on Google executives warning in 2022 that moving too fast on ChatGPT-like chat technology could hurt the company's reputation.
A Second Google A.I. Researcher Says the Company Fired Her. A New York Times news report on a second researcher from Google's ethical AI team saying the company fired her, months after Timnit Gebru's exit. (May require a subscription or library access.)
A Prominent AI Ethics Researcher Says Google Fired Her. A Wired news report from December 2020 on Timnit Gebru, a prominent AI ethics researcher, saying Google fired her. (May require a subscription or library access.)