Thanks for another enjoyable class with you this week! In building a sense of connection together, we began by sharing some stories regarding our names, and had a good time exploring a bit more of who we are. Trust is such a key part of the learning experience (something that only builds after some time with each other). I am glad to devote some of our time in getting to know a bit more about everyone in the room. And in thinking further about trust in the age of AI, it was fascinating to turn to your AI of choice in order to generate or consider “personal snapshots” of ourselves. What does AI do with the traces of us that can be scraped from the internet? What did we discover along the way? Everything from the outright fallacies it so confidently shares, to the relational values it builds upon steadily. With each new prompt we feed it more about our inclinations, our interests. It learns more about your values each time you feed it. In turn, it refines it’s own capacity to offer the responses you seek.

Some early thoughts

Our slides for this week

Some thoughts in response to your early blogs

It has been a pleasure to get to know you further by reading your blogs for a couple of weeks now. I am starting to recognize each of your voices. I am pleased to discover that many of you feel that struggle must inherently be part of the writing process, and there is sometimes discomfort in thinking through language …while figuring out what to say. It seems to me that most of you value that tension. Even dreaded writer’s block which is potentially very frustrating, and yet an important aspect of growing in order to think/write on your own. And many of you mourn the loss of trust and authenticity in this world, in the wake of AI tools-for-everyone. We find ourselves in a sea of slop. And it seems like we might just drown in it. I also noticed that creativity and the freedom of imagination is of the highest value to most of you. You hold this idea of “creativity” to a higher standard. All of this gives me hope, as we set out on this investigative journey together.

Your to-do list for next class:

1. Return to our  Reading Roster, and be prepared to let me know your topic and theme title. You can also share with me any possible reading selection(s) you would like to integrate into the Course Calendar. **For those already scheduled to present between now and the end of February, please have your readings selected and ready to share.
2. Please read the opening of “Burnout From Humans”. (Dorothy’s Foreword and Aidan Cinnamon Tea’s Introduction, pg. 4-9).
3. Please read: Hoffman, R. (2023, January 29). Technology makes us more human. The Atlantic. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/chatgpt-ai-technology-techo-humanism-reid-hoffman/672872/  – this pertains to our first presentation by Hunter.
4. Please read: University of Michigan News. (2026, January 8). When AI learns an author’s voice, even experts prefer it. https://news.umich.edu/when-ai-learns-an-authors-voice-even-experts-prefer-it/ 
5. Blog 3 due: Please write a reflection/response to the above two brief readings.