AI Literacy and the Politics of Academic Labor

Abstract This article examines the burgeoning impact of the use of large language models (LLM) on academic labor, where the surge in anxiety is reflected in attendance at professional development events. Although LLMs are ostensibly labor-saving technologies, writing faculty in precarious positions find themselves burdened with new tasks. It underscores the tension between embracing assistive technologies and safeguarding the integrity of knowledge-generation, both of which require investments of instructional labor. This article also acknowledges labor issues about the career-readiness of college graduates for white-collar professions. The MLA-CCCC task force's advocacy role is outlined, promoting institutional investment in teaching writing, a rights-based understanding of civic participation, and attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Drawing inspiration from a recent successful strike by the Writers Guild of America, the author argues that faculty should consider labor actions of their own as a form of resistance when administrators are tempted to outsource pedagogical labor to machines.