The Rise of the Machines: John Etchemendy, Fe-Fe Li and our AI Future
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This is a little scattered, but it brings up important themes.
What is AI? MIT Technology Review
Joshua Rothman, “Why the Godfather of A.I. Fears What He’s Built,” Profiles, The New Yorker, November 13, 2023. This is a profile of one of the people who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024, for conceiving the AI that we use now in products such as ChatGPT.
Why do you think Rothman decided to frame his discussion of Hinton around his visit with him on an island in Ontario? What did your learn about the development of AI through these articles? Was it new to you? What questions did this article raise in your mind?
AI and Education
Ashanty Rosario, “I’m a High Schooler. AI Is Demolishing My Education.,” Technology, The Atlantic, September 3, 2025
Meghan O’Rourke, “Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind,” Opinion, The New York Times, July 18, 2025.
How do these articles see AI helping, hurting the education process? Does this track with your own experience? What questions do these articles raise for you
AI and Economics
“For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here – The New York Times,” accessed September 17, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/ai-jobs-college-graduates.html.
Just a few years ago Computer Science was seen as the most marketable engineering skill, the key to a secure future. I know of many 2024 NCSU CS grads with great GPAs who have not gotten jobs. Why might this be so?
AI and Philosophy
In what ways do the authors Rothman cities think we are overselling the capacity of AI? What does it mean to be human? Does AI have that capability?
AI and Non English Languages (optional)
Matteo Wong, “The AI Revolution is Crushing Thousands of Languages,” The Atlantic
Browse through some of the material from the Stanford Center for Human-Centered AI
Look at some articles in the Understanding AI Substack
New York Times articles on AI. (Access them through NCSU Library)