James Andrew Smith

James Andrew Smith

@drsmith.bsky.social

Engineering professor at York University

7.3K followers5.2K following7.1K posts

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

Peer review is for humans. Because my peers are human. What's being proposed is robot review. It is fundamentally different than peer review. Part of the goal here is to stem the tide of AI-slop submissions... so basically robots reviewing robots. It's basically an arms race between LLMs.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

'Announcing the move...Springer Nature said the project would explore how AI could help create a more “rewarding reviewer experience”, streamlining analysis of large volumes of text and figures, freeing up researchers’ time to allow them to focus their expertise where it is most needed.'

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

The solution isn't to put more LLMs in the mix. We need to finally admit that the publication model for academic success is flawed and has been flawed for decades. LLMs just made it impossible to ignore. What we have right now is a hot dog eating contest where the prize is more hot dog eating.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

The LLMs will extrude more hot dogs and will grind them up to make more hot dogs. In the end, all you will have are tasteless mush. Academics need to find a new approach to work and reward -- one that is resilient to AI gaming.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

The DARPA roots go back a long, long way. Anyone who wasn’t comfortable knowing that the military would come calling should have done their homework. It’s a little like SpaceX employees or Tesla owners suddenly protesting Elon when they discover what he’s really about.

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James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

"the drone caused the crash."

Faine Greenwood@faineg.com

“The city release of documents confirmed a police drone flew through the windshield of a Peterbilt tractor-trailer truck in June, cutting the face of a Canadian driver and sending him to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Temple.” This is a key reason why I’m opposed to these drone 911 programs.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

Dear university management, You told us that we had to focus on in-person teaching after the COVID lock-downs. How about we continue to focus on people rather than AI-everything? Seems like at least company is banking on a "more human" approach. Seem likes a good idea.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

Probably the coolest thing about being a prof that I didn’t expect when I started in 2008 is having the opportunity to learn from incredibly talented and smart students.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

The sharing of knowledge as a social interaction is an incredible thing. And whenever AI gets in the middle of that I feel sad for the lost social opportunity.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

Went to get my car's oil changed and the service guy tried to upsell me by pointing to "recommendation" by Google's Gemini. Not impressed. I care what a qualified expert has to say. I care what the user manual for the car says. I don't care what the stochastic parrot has to say.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

My wife took a First Aid course a few days ago. Her classmate-partner in the course was asked what he would do when trying to control a bleeding wound. His answer? "Uh, first I'd check with ChatGPT" Really? In an emergency? After taking the course? Cognitive offloading at its "best".

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

It's time to have a rethink of higher-ed ... these guys clearly don't get it.

Chronicle of Higher Education@chronicle.com

Opinion: If AI is now part of academic writing, what should institutions actually evaluate? This essay argues that analytical writing should be judged by evidence, structure, argument, and accountability not by guesses about how each sentence was produced. https://chroni.cl/4eDRdjg

chroni.clOpinion | Who Cares Whether Academics Use AI to Write?We should judge analytical writing by its quality, not its source.

James Andrew Smith reposted

T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦
@tryangregory.bsky.social

Another one embracing our new plagiarizing, brain-eating, water-guzzling word-guessing machine overlords. 🤖🫧💥

Chronicle of Higher Education@chronicle.com

Opinion: If AI is now part of academic writing, what should institutions actually evaluate? This essay argues that analytical writing should be judged by evidence, structure, argument, and accountability not by guesses about how each sentence was produced. https://chroni.cl/4eDRdjg

chroni.clOpinion | Who Cares Whether Academics Use AI to Write?We should judge analytical writing by its quality, not its source.
James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

Brad Bradford is on CBC telling the host that his construction plans require taking on debt and making our children pay later. Why? Because "it's not fair" to make today's residents pay for stuff that they'll only get to use later. Pass the buck. On construction, the environment, the economy...

James Andrew Smith reposted

Asheesh Kapur Siddique
@asheeshks.org

Maybe universities shouldn‘t be tying which departments and programs they decide to invest in based on projected job trends they have no actual clue about. Why not just invest proportionally in every field of inquiry rather than underfund some disciplines and overfund others?

Robert Kelchen@robertkelchen.com

Oregon State bet big on computer science. After a profitable run, things have gone south.

chronicle.comOregon State U. Put Its Chips on Computer Science. Then the Bottom Fell Out.The university’s $19-million loss shows the risk of betting enrollment on job trends.

James Andrew Smith reposted

Jen the Feisty Librarian
@feistywaters.com

Local woman wakes up, thanks 76% of Alberta for not being fucko buckos but reminds us that as we get the results from the rest of the 9 questions, this province still has a long way to go developing critical thinking skills and unlearning systemic racism, makes oatmeal.

James Andrew Smith reposted

AFP News Agency
@en.afp.com

Canada's province of Alberta has rejected a plan to hold a binding independence referendum, results show, a setback for separatists backed by allies of US President Donald Trump u.afp.com/SCah

James Andrew Smith reposted

Anne Applebaum
@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu

Despite the Trump administration's best efforts, Alberta votes not to break up Canada

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com

Canada's province of Alberta has rejected a plan to hold a binding independence referendum, results show, a setback for separatists backed by allies of US President Donald Trump u.afp.com/SCah

James Andrew Smith reposted

T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦
@tryangregory.bsky.social

We also need non-stagnant funding for discovery research. And we need leaders like Carney (and Harper before him) to stop directing huge amounts of money to recruiting a handful of "stars" and supporting their favourite industries like fossil fuels and AI.

Council of Canadian Academies/Conseil des académies canadiennes@cca-reports.ca

Canada has considerable strengths across its research ecosystem, but lacks the coordinated planning needed to fully realize its value. go.cca-reports.ca/4hWNe3z

go.cca-reports.caCanada needs a strategic approach to national-scale research infrastructure to seize emerging opportunities: New CCA expert panel reportCanada is missing an opportunity to draw greater value from the national-scale research infrastructure that...
James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

On CBC they’re reporting how “[Meta’s] Muse doesn’t check with me… and gives some guy my address.” Expect more bad stories about people using AI like this. blogflow.ca/en/article/y...

blogflow.caYouTuber says Muse gave his address to a Facebook Marketplace buyer after a button click: 'A guy just showed up' - Business InsiderMatt Robb said Muse coordinated a deal and gave out his address without his knowledge. Update: In a Tuesday update, Robb said that he checked an "Allow Always" option that allowed Muse to send a templ...

James Andrew Smith reposted

Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈
@patigallardo.bsky.social

We need whole cross discipline, college level, courses on how the human mind is primed for this. How we are forged to form community, how we seek a deeper meaning to our existence, how we Want To Believe so fucking much. We were built to fall for this. We are in so much trouble.

Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈@patigallardo.bsky.social

Honestly, this is worse than NFTs and cryptocurrencies. People I really thought would know better, are falling for this. Your brain is fucking with you. You’re seeing Jesus on toast.

James Andrew Smith
@drsmith.bsky.social

The Canadian military had better not be designing systems to rely on Musk’s Starlink / Starshield. The Americans applied the kill switch to it… degrading Ukrainian defence systems in the process. Doesn’t matter who applied the switch. The fact is they did. #ElbowsUp www.npr.org/2026/10/18/n...

npr.orgUkraine and the U.S. are at odds over Starshield. Here's what to knowUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he believes the U.S. government is behind his military's loss of normal access to the key satellite communications service used by the Ukrainian milita...

James Andrew Smith reposted

Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈
@patigallardo.bsky.social

LLMs produce statistically plausible text given a particular context. «Agents» run that in a loop, «given everything we’ve said so far and this new text, what is the most plausible next piece of text?» There is nothing there. It’s all in people’s heads.

James Andrew Smith reposted

Rachel Gilmore
@rachelgilmore.bsky.social

After over two years living in Montreal, I can safely say the family doctor situation is absolutely fucked. I FINALLY got a letter that I got one. But after weeks of trying, I haven't been able to contact them. Phone? Hangs up, no voicemail. Email? No reply. In person while 'open'? Door locked.