A Panel with Professors Dean Amanda Claybough, Dean David Deming, Professor Marc Aidinoff, Professor Moira Weigel, and Professor Elena Glassman

On Saturday October 25th, as a part of Family Weekend, students and their families gathered in Sanders Theatre for a moderated panel conversation on how Harvard should understand and adapt to the increasing usage of generative artificial intelligence. The panel, composed of faculty across disciplines, reflected AI’s impact within all spheres of the University. Rather than narrowly focusing on how classroom policy might adapt to AI, panelists discussed the broader intellectual and cultural implications of AI in universities.

Moderated by Dean for Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh, each panelist was invited to share their researched-informed thoughts. Dannoff Dean of the College and Professor of Economics, David Deming, stated that he is hopeful about AI’s potential to increase our overall productivity by doing the work “we might not need to do ourselves.” Deming is optimistic that AI can perform some of the more mundane tasks of everyday life, allowing us to spend more time on important things. Although he sees AI as a promising tool, he noted that the boom of AI usage requires universities to rethink how to prepare students for a world where the need for human and machine labor is changing.

Comparative Literature Professor, Moira Weigel, focused on problematic distortions inherent in AI-generated responses. Weigel described how AI systems often fail to represent truth or historical depth, using the example of Don Quixote. She said that she once asked the AI to provide her with an example of marginalized literature and its response was Don Quixote, a Spanish novel written when Spain was one of the most powerful empires in the world. She argued through this example that AI subtly reshapes cultural memory by privileging certain narratives over others, underscoring the fact that human cognition and intervention is still needed for critical thought.

Professor Marc Aidinoff, from History of Science, voiced his concerns about the lack of regulation regarding AI. AI has been rapidly integrated into social and political systems in ways which regulatory frameworks can’t yet accommodate. He hopes that governing bodies determine how to ensure ethical usage of artificial intelligence so that it can do more good than harm to the world.

Elena Glassman, a Professor of Computer Science specializing in human-computer interaction and the lead of her own lab building “AI-resilient interfaces”, talked about how, in her work, she’s realized the many ways in which AI is beneficial and the ways in which it needs great improvement. She’s clearly interested, too, in how AI is affecting the relationship between knowledge and power. Is it still true, in a world using AI, that “knowledge is power”?

Despite their differing ideas and disciplinary backgrounds, the panelists all expressed that generative AI necessitates structural changes pertaining to teaching and learning within Harvard University, which the administration is currently working on. In order to maintain Intellectual Vitality, we must be open to rethinking long-standing assumptions about the creation of knowledge.