We Don't need no AIducation

This was the title of one of the best podcasts I have ever listened to, in the sense of, leaving me thinking about it afterwards. The presenter was Abby Bertics, who was the Economist science correspondent - she quit (WTF?!?) to pursue a PhD (oh, OK). She presented herself as somewhat of an AI skeptic, interviewing AI (in the context of education) enthusiasts.

As usual, I didn't "learn anything new" per se, but she did have a few observations:

1. AI can be extremely useful to make people who are already experts in a field much more productive. The problem is, to become an expert, you have to do the hard work, and there exists a great temptation to avoid that hard work entirely.

2. Universities serve two purposes: to train people for careers, and, to indulge people who want to improve themselves for its own sake. (Also, research). Most people are probably in the former category and don't really care if AI is ultimately harmful, they just want the piecer of paper. In other words: what is the fundamental goal of the education system?

3. A student using AI vs one not using AI is like two people riding their bike up Mount Seymour, one a traditional bike and one an eBike. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with either, and both people will nominally achieve the same result. But their goals, and the benefits they derive, will be totally different. I guess it's obvious, but I think this is a great analogy.

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Despite my describing her as an "AI skeptic", Abby Bertics also authored my second-favorite podcast, which talked about "grief tech". She evaluated an AI startup that offers a product that ingests content produced by a deceased and generates an AI capable of realistic (?) conversations (at the time, there was no visual component).

To nobody's surprise, the result was, according to AB, unbelievably authentic, and AB reported distinctly mixed feelings about whether this was ultimately a positive idea or not.

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One last thing about Abby Bertics. I googled her. Like most Economist employees, she is easily found on YouTube. Having been an Economist correspondent, she comes across as crazy smart and articulate. What I might not have predicted is, alongside these accomplishments, she is, or was, apparently, a college volleyball superstar. Interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O4CtWvytFk


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