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On the plans to hyperscale Alpha School’s “AI” tutoring software to “a billion kids.”

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 22h

The Civility Files from the @uncivilcollective.bsky.social are a great place to start understanding the cringey & deeply unpopular Civics Centers & Programs that have draw attention in Iowa, Ohio, & West Virginia, but which are sprouting up all over. www.uncivilcollective.org

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Katina Rogers @katinalynn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As great as the Britt shocked face memes are, the funniest part to me is when Smith corrects Klobuchar. He was not in Maryland to see the Hawkeyes. He was there to see Caitlin Clark. He's like, "No, actually, I have the weirdest Caitlin Clark fetish in this room. Who would've thought, right?!?"

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Bleak. I think higher ed folks don’t always pay enough attention to what’s happening in k-12 so I appreciate Matt’s analysis that spans both. Alpha may be small in numbers but the rhetoric echoes so much of what I hear (and what folks are fighting against) in many nyc school districts.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is my data politics collection. I’m not saying it’s exhaustive. It’s growing almost every day. And several volumes (like “The Nerd Reich”) are scattered elsewhere & in use. But my point is: I have one. And I think you should too.

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We are going to occasionally talk about AI, work, data politics, and sociality here for everyday people. Some ground rules: 1. we won’t cotton to a lot of intellectual elitism (“morons” etc.) 2. This will focus on how I ask questions. This is *my* lens on the world. YMMV is always implied.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

So you know previous waves of technological fabulism the tech companies threw a little loose change at social behavioral research and user interface experience. whats interesting about AI interesting is that they aren’t even pretending to care about how people use the technology.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Old friend who’s accelerationist, & sometimes angry about my NeoLudditry, texted me this morning to say, “AI apps & their CEOs shouldn’t be anywhere near children.” Another friend, resigned to “inevitability,” messaged that “tech bros should augment teacher salaries.” Alpha shit drops the veil.

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It’s also really clear to me this week that the people telling us that AI will transform work…haven’t seen a lot of jobs where people work.

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Robert Cruickshank @robertcruickshank.com · 29/09/2026

This is basically terrifying

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I probably should not have read this. The sterile language of this timeline only heightens the effect. There are so many layers of anger, but the “afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to CORNELL” part hits me where I live. I have measured out my life in essays…

174. At around 5:45 AM, this assault concluded and Plaintiff lost consciousness.
175. When Plaintiff awoke later that day, on October 20, 2024, Plaintiff returned to her
residence within the ALPHA BETA CHAPTER sorority house.
176. At this point, Plaintiff was in a state of shock.
177. At her residence, Plaintiff noticed a large bruise that had formed on her buttocks
and took preemptive medication for a urinary tract infection (UTI).
178. Later that day, Plaintiff became aware that what had happened to her at the XI
CHAPTER house the previous night was becoming public knowledge on CORNELL's campus.
179. With the encouragement of her friends, on or about November 8, 2024, Plaintiff reported the incident to CORNELL's private police force known as Cornell University Police
Department located at 117 Statler Drive G2 Barton Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853.
180. On or about November 8, 2024, XI CHAPTER was placed on a temporary
suspension for alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct.
181. On or about November 8, 2024, temporary suspensions were also issued for several
students, including Defendants INGALLS, NEWELL, LEE, LOPES, SARABIA, NORRIS, and
KRETZSCHMAR, who were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting
essays to CORNELL.

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While working on Alpha I was frequently reminded of Cory Doctorow’s “Funny Math Gets Dangerous.” With the AI entrepreneurs, if you listen to them long enough, you will eventually encounter a speculative vision that can only be a.) wild delusions of grandeur, or b.) transnational totalitarianism.

Liemandt has many times regurgitated this intention to scale to "a billion kids."
According to UNESCO, there are only about 1.67 billion school-aged children in the world. So what Liemandt's describing would be one of the most totalizing global monopolies in world history.

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I totally understand this frustration, & it especially enrages me how many insubstantial puff pieces have been published about Alpha & its founders, including by pubs that should’ve seen through the bullshit. That said, my essay is built atop investigative work done by others. Ben +

open.substack.com

On the plans to hyperscale Alpha School’s “AI” tutoring software to “a billion kids.”

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Ambrose @ambrosia-engine.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This school just keeps getting more and more horrific. It needs to be shut down, why are Benjamin Riley and Matt Seybold the only ones doing real reporting on this blatantly abusive sham? Is anyone trying to help these kids?

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not feeling very light-hearted today, but Tressie somehow herding chatbot boosters, grammar police, & meal prep evangelists into her little corner of the internet & then mercilessly trolling them has been enough to get me through. Skeet is art. And everyday we get to watch Michelangelo go to work.

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FIFTH REPORT: CHILDREN HARMED AT ALPHA SCHOOL'S BOOT CAMP Just over a week ago, 73 Alpha School high school students were left almost entirely unsupervised for three days in the Texas wilderness. It was a Fyre Festival-like disaster. buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/fifth-repo...

buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com

FIFTH REPORT: CHILDREN HARMED AT ALPHA SCHOOL’S BOOT CAMP

Student hospitalized during Survival Challenge on wilderness ranch; police investigation is ongoing; other concerning incidents re student safety and privacy; one guide fired; also Little B. Diddies

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Vauhini Vara @vauhinivara.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thanks for tagging me, @mattseybold.bsky.social. Yeah, so, Texas state filings show that Alpha School is literally a subsidiary of Trilogy — it's part of the business. (My posts on this below so people can see.)

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A couple people tagged me here. Thank you. Following the money is definitely a precept of my EdTech research. When it comes to Alpha, the trail is both obvious, & deceptively complex. The obvious part leads to Joe Liemandt, his software company (Trilogy) & investment firm (ESW Capital).

theamericanvandal.com

On the plans to hyperscale Alpha School’s “AI” tutoring software to “a billion kids.”

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lizardbreath 🦎🪦🎃 @spindlypete.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

not saying alpha schools and their entire milieu are a CIA mind control project akin to project artichoke. not not saying that tho

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John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 29/09/2026

I’m asking for just like, a couple days without some new, weird George Washington bullshit please

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Larisa Aitch @llarisah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“[…] Alpha School’s […] eLearning platform […] […] The platform, […], has since been rebranded as Timeback, which the Alpha School website now describes as “a ‘Shopify for schools’ that empowers entrepreneurs to build the next generation of highly effective, for-profit educational institutions.””

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caithow @caithow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What gets me, apart from these people being absolute monsters, is that the whole thing is predicated on the belief that testing is education. Like at least 3/4 of their project falls apart if we get rid of high stakes testing.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.

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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Liemandt does not suggest Alpha School is an antidote to “mind virus,” but rather the introduction of a variant...The goal, as he frames it, is not to release young people from indoctrination, but to replace brainwashing by radical teachers you can’t trust with brainwashing by tech bros you can."

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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 29/09/2026

Uphold Dawkins Thought

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Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"The goal was to destabilize U.S. educational infrastructure and carve out a large space for reactionary indoctrination within it." This is 100% part of the story—of Alpha School's momentum and education overall—and far too often gets left out. Very glad it's appropriately hammered here.

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Ithaca Mayor responds to reopened sexual assault case

“Given this appalling response from university administration, I have no choice but to declare a new policy directive…implementing an immediate moratorium on all student event & special event permits, including, but not limited to Greek life.” - Mayor of Ithaca, actually doin’ shit

mytwintiers.com

ITHACA, N.Y. (WETM) – Robert G. Cantelmo, Mayor of Ithaca, has issued a statement on suspending Greek life at Cornell University until certain official procedures are put into place. Below is the s…

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 28/09/2026

“The goal was to destabilize U.S. educational infrastructure and carve out a large space for reactionary indoctrination within it. I think we have to acknowledge…it has been substantial everywhere and in some places the goal has already been reached.”

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Kevin Kasch （他妈/他妈的） @tenletters.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Been waiting for this article all morning, here in a town where Alpha School has a—not yet very successful, thankfully, but still concerning—location.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I am grateful to @mattseybold.bsky.social for writing an extraordinary and comprehensive essay that places Alpha School at the heart of a much larger question: whether the social compact that both provides and protects public schooling will endure. The battle has been joined. It's time to fight.

theamericanvandal.com

On the plans to hyperscale Alpha School’s “AI” tutoring software to “a billion kids.”

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Alpha School's "software is just techwashing for [Christopher Rufo and his coalition's] dream of teacherlessness and totalitarian surveillance of students and schools. That’s what they really want to hyperscale," writes @mattseybold.bsky.social.

theamericanvandal.com