AI is a big thing in our world today. You can punch anything you want into CHATGPT and get an answer that sounds authoritative. But what do we, what do our fellow students know about AI? The goal of this project will be to produce “A Student’s Guide to AI in 2025,” that will enable our fellow students to think more deeply about AI and its implications. This assignment will be a collaborative one for us all. We will work together to identify key themes that a comprehensive guide to AI should address. Then each group will pick a topic/chapter. We will talk about what the final form of each of these chapters should be. As of right now I imagine it to be a series of 15-20 minute podcasts, but it could be something else.

My plan is to break the class into 12-13 groups of three people to work on a podcast. (That might change.). I might like to have 2 people who would serve as overall coordinators, flitting around between groups, ensuring things fit together, and keeping things on track.

Here are the topics we are working on:
AI Skepticism
What is AI?/History of AI
AI and Non English Languages
AI Hype
Ai and Philosophy
AI and xxx Engineering
Education and AI
Economics of AI
Government Policy and AI
AI and the Arts
AI and Social Dependency
Ethics of AI
Ethics of AI

I encourage you to be creative. You might illustrate a theme by the use of AI. (But in this project any use of AI and the limits it introduces should be identified.) You might talk to students or professors.

We will discuss each group’s work in classes between Nov 10 and Nov 24. We will read/listen to each group’s work before class and then have a 25 minute discussion of it. Three groups will present/lead discussion for each class period.

I envision we will share this podcast series, at least with current Franklins and Franklin alums, but perhaps more broadly.

Zotero

We will be using the reference manager Zotero to develop a class bibliography on AI. I have created a zotero group and will send you an invitation to it. This will enable the entire class to share references.

Upload your finished podcast here.

Schedule

9/22 Initial Discussion
10/6 Choice of Topics
10/25 Prospectus/Bibliography Due
This should be 2 pages stating how you plan to approach your topic, giving a basic outline of your paper/podcast which describes your main points. You should also include a bibliography.
11/10 First 3 Papers/Podcasts Due. (1/3 grade bonus) If more than three groups volunteer to go first, I will choose the three presenters at random. Upload podcasts here.
11/15 All Papers/Podcasts Due