01
Against the Banking Model
Generative AI risks becoming the largest banking-model classroom ever built — passive consumption of pre-packaged answers. We refuse that. We use dialogue, problem-posing, and praxis.
A COURSE BY THE KIWI DIALECTIC · DUNEDIN · AOTEAROA
BECOME AN
AI WARRIOR
Six modules. Six thinkers. One purpose — to train workers, organisers, and writers to navigate the machine without being colonised by it. Pedagogy of the oppressed, refitted for the algorithm.
01 · The Manifesto
Why We Train
Freire warned us about the banking model — students as empty vessels. Gramsci warned us about hegemony — the common sense that serves the ruling class. AI now scales both at once. The course is the counter-position.
02
Against Manufactured Consent
Models trained on the existing internet inherit its hegemony. Our job is to name the frame, to read what the machine cannot, and to write back into the record.
03
For the Working Class
The most dangerous tool is a trained mind. Literacy in AI is now as foundational as literacy in print. We refuse to let the working class arrive late to its own century.
02 · The Course
Every Lesson Lives on Substack.
Every lesson is free to read on Substack. The full course — workbooks, prompts, weekly Q&A — is $7/month at kiwidialectic.com.
All Courses · Kiwi Dialectic
Every Lesson. One Index.
The full courses catalogue lives on Substack — Gramsci, Kropotkin, Graeber, Freire, Deleuze, Bakunin, and every new lesson as it lands. Free to read; subscribe for the workbooks, prompts, and weekly Q&A.
View all courses on Substack →
03 · The Thinkers
Six Comrades in the Reading
Every module is anchored to a thinker whose work explains a stake of the AI moment. Tap a card to read the corresponding lesson at Kiwi Dialectic.
Gramsci
1891 – 1937 · Course 1
"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born."
Kropotkin
1842 – 1921 · Course 2
"Mutual aid is a factor of evolution."
Graeber
1961 – 2020 · Course 3
"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make."
Freire
1921 – 1997 · Course 4 · Pedagogy of the Algorithm
"Education either functions to conform or to liberate."
Deleuze
1925 – 1995 · Course 5
"There is no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons."
Bakunin
1814 – 1876 · Course 6 · Tangi o te Tāheke
"The passion for destruction is also a creative passion."
04 · The Pillars
What is an AI Warrior?
Not a prompt engineer. Not a hype merchant. A worker who can read the machine, write back into it, and refuse what should be refused.
See the Frame
Read the ideology embedded in every model, dataset, and default. Make the invisible legible.
Build with Purpose
Every tool you build should serve community, mutual aid, or class power — or not be built.
Emotional Sovereignty
Refuse the attention economy embedded in the chat box. Choose meaning over engagement metrics.
Advocate by Creating
Publish. Teach. Make the work public. A trained mind that doesn't share is a closed shop.
Systems Thinking
The chat window is the smallest part of the machine. Read the data centre, the labour pipeline, the extraction, the policy.
05 · The Tools
What We Use
A working-class toolkit. Cheap, open where possible, sharp always. Each tool is a chapter in the broader course.
Perplexity
Search with citation. Use it as a research scaffold, not a verdict.
AI Building
Local + hosted models. Build small. Ship to your people first.
Substack
The press you own. Where the writing actually lives.
Arts as Pedagogy
Poetry, posters, zines — teaching that bypasses the algorithm.
Systems Thinking
The discipline of seeing what connects, before what shines.
06 · The Author
About Robert
Writer, organiser, and editor of The Kiwi Dialectic, based in Dunedin, Aotearoa.
YOUR PHOTO HERE
Robert writes from Ōtepoti / Dunedin on socialist pedagogy, AI literacy, and the political economy of media. The Kiwi Dialectic is a weekly working-class read covering Aotearoa politics, ideology, and the long tradition of refusal — Gramsci to Graeber, Freire to Bakunin — refitted for the algorithmic century.
07 · The Social Kit
Finish the Course. Arm Your Feed.
Eight constructivist posters in Twitter/X, LinkedIn and Instagram sizes — free to download once you've worked through the modules. Use them to declare yourself. Take the work into the algorithm.
Caption Prompts
Suggested Posts
Working-class voice. Plain words. Short lines. Tap to copy, paste it into your platform, attach the matching poster.
Twitter / X · Completion
I finished AI WARRIOR — six modules on AI literacy from a working-class, socialist angle. The most dangerous tool is a trained mind. Read the course free at kiwidialectic.com.
Twitter / X · Thread Opener
Gramsci. Kropotkin. Graeber. Freire. Deleuze. Bakunin. Six thinkers, refitted for the algorithmic century. The AI Warrior course is live at kiwidialectic.com.
LinkedIn · Professional Post
Just completed AI Warrior — a free course in AI literacy, ideological clarity, and systems thinking. Six modules, six thinkers, one praxis: train the mind, arm the class. Highly recommend for organisers, educators, and anyone using AI tools at work. Course → kiwidialectic.com
Instagram · Square / Portrait
Six modules. Six thinkers. One praxis. Finished AI WARRIOR by The Kiwi Dialectic — a working-class course in AI literacy. Reading: Gramsci, Kropotkin, Graeber, Freire, Deleuze, Bakunin.
Train the mind. Arm the class. Free at kiwidialectic.com.
#AIWarrior #KiwiDialectic #AILiteracy #SocialistPedagogy #Aotearoa
Instagram · Story / Reel
TRAIN THE MIND. ARM THE CLASS. New course on AI literacy and ideology — free at kiwidialectic.com. Swipe up.
Universal · Short Caption
Pedagogy of the oppressed, refitted for the algorithm. The AI Warrior course is live — six free lessons on reading the machine without being colonised by it. kiwidialectic.com
08 · The Media Kit
Hotere Aesthetic. Three Languages. One Praxis.
Two kits in the spirit of Ralph Hotere — matte black field, protest red, ochre gold. Built for the algorithm, built for the picket line. Use in English, te reo Māori, or Tagalog. More languages coming as the cohort grows.
English · Train the mind. Arm the class.
Te Reo Māori · Whakangungua te hinengaro. Whakangaihia te iwi.
Translation review by native speakers welcome. Open an issue or email if you can help.
Tagalog · Sanayin ang isip. Armasan ang uri.
Translation review by native speakers welcome.
For Graduates
Finish the Course. Announce the Praxis.
A press release template, a certificate of completion, and graduate share cards in all three languages. For anyone finishing AI Warrior who wants to tell their workplace, their union, their feed.
Open the certificate or share cards in Preview, Pixelmator, Photoshop, GIMP, Figma, or Canva. Replace {NAME} and {DATE} with your own. Print the certificate at A4 landscape, 300 dpi. The press-release template is in the ZIP — fill in your details and send it to a community paper, a union newsletter, or a Substack publication.
In tribute to Ralph Hotere (1931–2013) — Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa — of Port Chalmers / Aramoana / Ōtepoti. The aesthetic borrows from his black-field paintings, the corrugated iron of his Aramoana protests, and the urgent typography of his text works. The cause is ours.