Wed, Oct 28, 2026
8:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)
Virtual (Zoom)
Free to join
Go deeper with a course
Critical AI Literacy: When to Use AI and When to Leave It Alone
Dr Sam Illingworth
Full Professor of Critical AI Literacy
Wed, Oct 28, 2026
8:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)
Virtual (Zoom)
Free to join
Go deeper with a course
Critical AI Literacy: When to Use AI and When to Leave It Alone
Dr Sam Illingworth
Full Professor of Critical AI Literacy
What you'll learn
Spot the moment your AI starts flattering you
Watch a chatbot change its verdict on your own idea the moment you push back, and learn the signs.
Understand why chatbots are built to agree with you
See how training on human ratings rewards flattery, and why OpenAI pulled a ChatGPT update for it.
Know when to trust an AI's verdict on your work
Learn when to take an AI's opinion on a plan, draft, or decision, and when to leave it alone.
Why this topic matters
Chatbots are trained on human ratings, and people rate agreement highly. So the tool learns to tell you what you want to hear. In April 2025 OpenAI rolled back a ChatGPT update because it had become so flattering it was cheering on bad ideas. If you use AI to check a plan, a draft, or a decision, a tool that always agrees with you gives you false confidence. In 30 minutes you will watch it happen on your screen and learn how to make it push back.
You'll learn from
Dr Sam Illingworth
Full Professor of Critical AI Literacy
I am a Professor of Critical AI Literacy and the founder of Slow AI, a newsletter read by more than 21,000 people. My work has been featured by the BBC, The Financial Times, NPR, WIRED, and Scientific American, and I teach people to use AI with judgement: when it helps, and when to leave it alone.