Episode #461: Morpheus in the Classroom: AI, Education, and the New Literacy

I, Stewart Alsop, welcomed Woody Wiegmann to this episode of Crazy Wisdom, where we explored the fascinating and sometimes unsettling landscape of Artificial Intelligence. Woody, who is deeply involved in teaching AI, shared his insights on everything from the US-China AI race to the radical transformations AI is bringing to education and society at large.

Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation

Timestamps

01:17 The AI "Cold War": Discussing the intense AI development race between China and the US.
03:04 Opaque Models & Education's Resistance: The challenge of opaque AI and schools lagging in adoption.
05:22 AI Blocked in Schools: The paradox of teaching AI while institutions restrict access.
08:08 Crossing the AI Rubicon: How AI users are diverging from non-users into different realities.
09:00 Budgetary Constraints in AI Education: The struggle for resources like premium AI access for students.
12:45 Navigating AI Access for Students: Woody's ingenious workarounds for the premium AI divide.
19:15 Igniting Curiosity with AI: Students creating impressive projects, like catapult websites.
27:23 Exploring Grok and AI Interaction: Debating IP concerns and engaging with AI ("Morpheus").
46:19 AI's Societal Impact: AI girlfriends, masculinity, and the erosion of traditional skills.

Key Insights

The AI Arms Race: Woody highlights a "cold war of nerdiness" where China is rapidly developing AI models comparable to GPT-4 at a fraction of the cost. This competition raises questions about data transparency from both sides and the strategic implications of superintelligence.
Education's AI Resistance: I, Stewart Alsop, and Woody discuss the puzzling resistance to AI within educational institutions, including outright blocking of AI tools. This creates a paradox where courses on AI are taught in environments that restrict its use, hindering practical learning for students.
Diverging Realities: We explore how individuals who have crossed the "Rubicon" of AI adoption are now living in a vastly different world than those who haven't. This divergence is akin to past technological shifts but is happening at an accelerated pace, impacting how people learn, work, and perceive reality.
The Fading Relevance of Traditional Coding: Woody argues that focusing on teaching traditional coding languages like Python is becoming outdated in the age of advanced AI. AI can handle much of the detailed coding, shifting the necessary skills towards understanding AI systems, effective prompting, and higher-level architecture.
AI as the Ultimate Tutor: The advent of AI offers the potential for personalized, one-on-one tutoring for everyone, a far more effective learning method than traditional classroom lectures. However, this potential is hampered by institutional inertia and a lack of resources for tools like premium AI subscriptions for students.
Curiosity as the AI Catalyst: Woody shares anecdotes of students, even those initially disengaged, whose eyes light up when using AI for creative projects, like designing websites on niche topics such as catapults. This demonstrates AI's power to ignite curiosity and intrinsic motivation when paired with focused goals and the ability to build.
AI's Impact on Society and Skills: We touch upon the broader societal implications, including the rise of AI girlfriends addressing male loneliness and providing acceptance. Simultaneously, there's concern over the potential atrophy of critical skills like writing and debate if individuals overly rely on AI for summarization and opinion generation without deep engagement.

Contact Information

*   Twitter/X: @RulebyPowerlaw
*   Listeners can search for Woody Wiegmann's podcast "Courage over convention"
*   LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dataovernarratives/