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Opinion

EducationOpinion
Azeez Adeoye

Digital Cocaine: The Business Model of AI Addiction, When the Savior Becomes the Dictator

When artificial intelligence systems were first introduced to the public around 2022, they were celebrated as revolutionary assistants, tools designed to augment human productivity, creativity, and efficiency. The early versions were freely accessible or offered generous trial capabilities. Students used them to summarize readings; professionals used them to draft emails; programmers relied on them to debug code. The public welcomed these tools with enthusiasm, regarding them as the next great step in technological progress. Yet by 2026, the situation has evolved in ways that invite deeper reflection.

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FeaturedOpinion
Elaine Kong

The Double Silence: When Scholarly Publishing Can’t Hear Immigrant Survivors

In my previous career as a systems librarian, I saw information privilege as a technical problem: who has the password to the database, and who has the funding for the subscription? But as I transitioned into research with Chinese immigrant cancer survivors, I realized that privilege runs deeper than a personal login. Even if we made every medical journal in the world “Open Access” tomorrow, many of the survivors I work with would still be excluded from the conversation. Removing a paywall doesn’t help if the person behind it can’t read the language or can’t find their cultural realities reflected in what counts as evidence.

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EducationFeaturedOpinion
Elisa Tattersall Wallin

How Will You Respond to the Unacceptable Costs of GenAI?

We must remember that those who profit the most from our growing reliance of GenAI are the tech companies themselves. Meanwhile, the people who are the most excited about AI are the ones who understand it the least. While machine learning can be useful, I argue that GenAI comes at an unacceptable cost. Taking in to consideration GenAI’s role in the spread of disinformation, the complex damages caused to people and the planet along with the proven negative effect to cognitive skills among users, this text advocates for critical perspectives, and ideally, critical refusal of GenAI.

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FeaturedOpinion
Ponego Letswalo

The Human Stack: Why Soft Skills Are the Ultimate Competitive Advantage In Tech

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, the most durable competitive advantage may be fundamentally human. This article introduces the concept of the “Human Stack” the layered suite of soft skills like communication, empathy, and adaptability that employees bring to an organization. While technical skills are essential for entry, it is these uniquely human capabilities that drive true differentiation and success. As automation encroaches on routine tasks, soft skills become critical differentiators that machines cannot replicate.

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Opinion
Pathum B Rathnayake

Co-Pilot, Not Autopilot: Navigating the Future of Qualitative Research

Recently, a group of 3 published an open letter signed by over 400 qualitative researchers. Their message was clear: “Keep AI away from our work.” They argue that using AI to find themes in data kills the “reflexive” process, the deeply human act of interpreting nuance, emotion, and meaning. I have spent my career championing the human touch in the EdTech works and research. I understand their fear. However, I believe this total rejection is a mistake. We should not be banning Gen AI; we should be teaching researchers how to master it.

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FeaturedOpinion
Ponego Letswalo

Can AI Have a Conscience? A Look at Ethics in Machine Learning

Can AI have a conscience? Of course, today’s AI isn’t a sentient being with feelings or guilt. It won’t lose sleep over a tough decision. But as artificial intelligence plays a bigger role in our lives, we do expect it to act responsibly. In essence, we want AI to follow ethical principles,  a sort of programmed “conscience” so that it helps society without harming it. This is the crux of AI ethics, an increasingly important topic now that machine learning systems are making decisions that matter.

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FeaturedOpinion
Alissa Centivany

The Great Canadian Breakdown: What will it take to get a “Right to Repair” in Canada?

Fixing things in Canada has never been more difficult. Smartphones, laptops, refrigerators, washing machines, smart speakers, virtual assistants, cars, bicycles, wheelchairs, pacemakers, ventilators, tractors, tanks, fighter jets, and almost every other device or piece of equipment in our homes and workplaces is more costly, more inconvenient, and more difficult, if not impossible, to repair. Barriers to repair impact all industries, sectors, and regions. No one is spared from the Great Canadian Breakdown. As breakdown becomes more pervasive, the need for a comprehensive Canadian “right to repair”  becomes more critical.

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Opinion
Dariush Alimohammadi

Professional Qualifications Matrix: An Ongoing Debate on Matching Information Science Education with the Market Needs

Christina J. Steffy and Meg Massey wrote in the October 2024 issue of C&RL News about a challenge that has plagued Information Science education and professional librarians for many years. They specifically focus on one job position at the American Library Association (ALA) and pose reasonable questions to all of us. Can the specialized training of library schools (even if they are innovative and have joined the iSchool movement) prepare graduates for the jobs available in the ALA? Is it not possible to find a person who is more qualified to hold the desired job among the graduates of the adjacent fields, such as Computer Science and Management? Basically, should librarians run the ALA?

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