e318. A.I. in Academia: Balancing Technology and Traditional Learning

(Note from Mav. This is an episode about A.I. and Academic writing… so I decided to just let Descript‘s A.I. take a stab at writing the show notes all by itself. Parentheticals are by me. So here’s how it did!) This episode of VoxPopcast explores the multifaceted impact of artificial intelligence, especially ChatGPT, on academia and education. Hosts Christopher Maverick, Katya, Annette Vee (Annette should be listed as a guest not a host), and others(there are no others just the three of us) engage in a nuanced discussion on AI’s role in academic writing, the challenge of maintaining academic integrity, and the potential for AI to revolutionize teaching and learning methods in higher education. The conversation spans the opportunities for enhancing educational processes through AI, the ethics of AI usage, and the importance of fostering digital literacy among students. A shift toward utilizing AI for creative and critical engagements in educational contexts is advocated, along with a curriculum that is aware and inclusive of AI technologies. A specific focus is placed on innovative projects that integrate AI into learning, such as teaching AI to understand Gen Z slang, and the potential for AI to be a tool beyond mere plagiarism prevention. The podcast episode emphasizes the importance of adapting to technological advancements in education and encourages listener engagement and contributions on the subject. (Not bad. Not perfect, but serviceable I guess. I don’t think it really has much personality and it doesn’t feel great for our show. But still, it’s something, and at least it didn’t use a billion emojis like the Call For Comments. So, I also let it generate a prompt to generate the episode artwork… Here’s the prompt it came up with) “Create an engaging and visually striking thumbnail for a podcast episode titled ‘e318. A.I. in Academia: Balancing Technology and Traditional Learning’. The design should feature a balanced mix of traditional academic elements (such as books, a classroom, or a graduation cap) and modern A.I. technology symbols (like a computer, code snippets, or robotic figures). Incorporate vibrant colors to catch the eye, but ensure the academic and technological aspects are equally represented to reflect the episode’s discussion on integrating A.I. into academic settings. Add text for the episode title in a clear, legible font.” (Not so much with the clear legible font. It really wanted to include the title I guess, but Playground AI wasn’t great at figuring it out. A lot of the “e318” attempts just… didn’t work. And any attempt to “do text” was pretty much just greeking, even though it knew what text it was supposed to use. It probably would have been better with one of the more advanced pay ArtGen AIs, but I didn’t really care for this. Also, it took some serious tweaking of Playground AI to get the artwork I am using and I had to train it on our regular logo, but I figured it’d also be fun to include some of the other suggestions in the gallery below. I will note that AI art generation SERIOUSLY prefers random white people for academic podcast artwork I guess.)