AI takes a huge amount of energy to run and could make it harder to fight climate change. On the other hand, AI could help make our energy systems more sustainable, efficient and safer. Three experts talk all things AI and energy with a live audience. The talk was part of a daylong symposium titled “Policy Leadership in the Age of AI”, hosted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.Meet the panelists:Michael Pyrcz is a professor in UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering and the Jackson School of Geosciences, who researches and teaches about ways to apply data analytics and machine learning to improve the exploration and safe production of minerals, groundwater and conventional energy, a.k.a. oil and gas. He also shares educational content on YouTube and elsewhere under the alias GeoStatsGuy.Varun Rai is a professor in UT’s LBJ School, who studies the spread of clean energy technologies and how real-world factors – from economics to politics to regulation to social behaviors – drive the adoption of these technologies.Rob James is an attorney at the law firm Pillsbury, who leads a number of energy and infrastructure projects for the firm in Texas and California. Those projects have included AI data centers and zero-emission power generation and storage.Dig DeeperThe A.I. Power Grab, NYTimes (Oct. 2024)A bottle of water per email: the hidden environmental costs of using AI chatbots, Washington Post (Sep. 2024)Four ways AI is making the power grid faster and more resilient, MIT Technology Review (Nov. 2023)Microsoft deal would reopen Three Mile Island nuclear plant to power AI, Washington Post (Sep. 2024)Extreme Weather Is Taxing Utilities More Often. Can A.I. Help?, New York Times (Sep. 2024)Fixing AI’s energy crisis, Nature (focused on reducing computer hardware’s power consumption - Oct. 2024)A.I. Needs Copper. It Just Helped to Find Millions of Tons of It., New York Times (July 2024)AI is poised to drive 160% increase in data center power demand, Goldman Sachs (May 2024)Photos from Policy Leadership in the Age of AI Symposium (Oct. 2024)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.The cover photo for this episode is by Thomas Meredith, courtesy of LBJ School of Public Affairs. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

Kara Swisher, the one-of-a-kind tech reporter, podcaster and book author, dropped by The University of Texas at Austin’s Cactus Café for a spirited conversation with a live audience about her concerns over the concentration of power in a few big tech companies, the capacity of tech to be used as both a tool and a weapon, her embrace of self-driving cars and her belief that AI will never replace human creativity. Swisher is the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher and the cohost of the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway, both distributed by New York magazine. Her latest best-seller is Burn Book, a memoir of her many years covering Silicon Valley.Dig DeeperThe Hammer of Witches, WikipediaIs it Time to Regulate AI?, AI for the Rest of Us (Sep. 12, 2024)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.The cover photo for this episode is © Philip Montgomery / New York Magazine. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

How much of our news is AI-generated right now and how might that change? With more and more misinformation posing as news, how can we sort out fact from fiction? And, in the face of falling revenue, can AI help save the news industry?Robert Quigley is a professor of practice in UT Austin’s Moody College of Communications where he teaches digital journalism and podcasting. As the director of media innovation for the college, he focuses on artificial intelligence and journalism. He leads a group of educators from across campus who share best practices for AI in the classroom. He’s a co-host of Check Out This Podcast, a show that helps you discover your next favorite podcast. He led a project where students used AI to generate news stories, called The Future Press.Dig DeeperWyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories, Associated Press (Aug. 2024)Redefining news with AI, Moody College of Communications at UT Austin (Jan. 2024)How an AI-written Star Wars story created chaos at Gizmodo, Washington Post (July 2023)How Will Artificial Intelligence Change the News Business?, The Intelligencer (Aug. 2023)Google is testing an AI tool that can write news articles, TechCrunch (July 2023)Can AI help local newsrooms streamline their newsletters? ARLnow tests the waters, Nieman Lab (May 2023)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.Elements of the cover image for this episode were generated using Midjourney and Photoshop’s generative AI tools. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

Today on AI for the Rest of Us, we’re talking about AI and the law. What are the biggest risks of AI that are not currently regulated? Do the makers of AI chatbots like ChatGPT owe something to content creators whose material was scraped to train the models? What kinds of things could we do to make AI safer and more useful for everyone? And could too much regulation stifle innovation and US competitiveness?Matthew Murrell is a lawyer and lecturer in The University of Texas School of Law who is teaching a new class on the Law of AI in fall 2024. According to Murrell, one of the biggest risks of AI that isn’t currently regulated is aggregation, the ability for companies to assemble copious amounts of data about a person to build a rich profile of their life, which could be misused by nefarious actors. He noted another top concern: automated decision-making tools that perpetuate discrimination against historically marginalized people. He said in many cases, AI doesn’t present entirely new legal questions, just new twists on old questions. And he predicts that in the near term, most new regulations will likely be amendments to existing laws.Dig DeeperThe Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work, New York Times (Dec. 2023)California Legislature Approves Bill Proposing Sweeping A.I. Restrictions, New York Times (Aug. 2024) (Governor Newsom will have until Sept. 30 to consider whether to sign the bill into law)Microsoft calls for new laws on deepfake fraud, AI sexual abuse images, Washington Post (July 2024)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.Elements of the cover image for this episode were generated using Midjourney and Photoshop’s generative AI tools. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

Today on AI for the Rest of Us, we’re talking about the ways that AI is being used—or might be used—to help make high-stakes decisions about all aspects of our lives—from who gets hired for a job—to what interest rates people get on loans—to whether or not someone who’s been convicted of a crime gets parole. Are AI systems better than humans at making these decisions? Why is it so tempting to give up our decision-making authority to machines? And what can we do to make sure these systems are fair and unbiased?Craig Watkins is a professor in the Moody College of Communications at UT Austin who’s been wrestling with these questions.Watkins is executive director of the IC2 Institute and a principal investigator with Good Systems, a university-funded initiative that supports multi-disciplinary explorations of the technical, social, and ethical implications of artificial intelligence.Dig DeeperVideo: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Racial Justice, S. Craig Watkins, TEDxMIT (Dec. 2021)Designing AI to Advance Racial Equity (Craig Watkins’ Good Systems project)Dr. S. Craig Watkins on Why AI’s Potential to Combat or Scale Systemic Injustice Still Comes Down to Humans, Unlocking Us with Brené Brown, (Apr. 3, 2024)Opinion: Are These States About to Make a Big Mistake on AI?, Politico (Apr. 2024)Assessing the potential of GPT-4 to perpetuate racial and gender biases in health care: a model evaluation study, The Lancet (This study found that GPT-4’s accuracy at diagnosing medical conditions varied depending on a person’s gender and race/ethnicity. Also, it was less likely to recommend advanced imaging for Black patients than Caucasian patients.) (Jan. 2024)Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm, New York Times, (the story of a Black man arrested for a crime he did not commit, on the basis of faulty facial recognition software) (June 2020)Companies are on the hook if their hiring algorithms are biased, Quartz (2018)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

Today on AI for the Rest of Us, we’re talking about AI in healthcare. There are a lot of wild claims about what AI can do to help make us healthier—so how can we figure out what’s real and what’s hype? And are there some potential pitfalls with these new technologies?Scott Graham is an associate professor of rhetoric at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book The Doctor and the Algorithm: Promise, Peril and the Future of Health AI. He uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to study communication in bioscience and health policy, with special attention to bioethics, conflicts of interest and health AI.Dig DeeperChatGPT Rated as Better Than Real Doctors for Empathy, Advice, USA TodayAI in healthcare: The future of patient care and health management, Mayo ClinicOpinion: It’s not just hype. AI could revolutionize diagnosis in medicine, Los Angeles TimesEpisode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT’s Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.Elements of the cover image for this episode were generated using Photoshop’s generative AI tools. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University’s Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu 

Adam Klivans, a computer science professor and director of the Machine Learning Lab, joins the discussion on AI’s groundbreaking role in scientific discovery. He highlights how AI assists researchers across diverse fields, from astronomy to biotechnology, by analyzing patterns and summarizing literature. The conversation touches on the innovative use of AI in protein structure prediction and creating sustainable products. They also emphasize the importance of open research to prevent corporate dominance in critical areas like healthcare, advocating for collaborative science.

Maytal Saar-Tsechansky, a McCombs School of Business professor, discusses how AI can enhance decision-making while considering its impact on employment. She highlights the potential for AI to increase productivity but warns of risks like job displacement and stagnant wages. Samantha Shorey, an assistant professor, emphasizes the often-overlooked contributions of essential workers during AI integration, particularly the unique challenges faced by women. Together, they explore balancing AI's benefits and ethical responsibilities in an evolving workplace.

In this engaging discussion, Art Markman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and K.P. Procko, a biochemistry professor, explore the transformative potential of AI in education. They address concerns about AI tutors possibly undermining critical thinking. The pair also highlight the necessity for colleges to adapt, focusing on how AI tools can enhance lesson planning while urging educators to maintain a collaborative learning environment. They emphasize personal growth and critical thinking to navigate the evolving landscape shaped by AI.

Dive into the fascinating world of large language models, where tools like ChatGPT are reshaping communication. Explore the rapid advancements in AI technology and their implications on jobs and ethics. Discover ongoing challenges, like combating inaccuracies and addressing biases in language outputs. Hear expert insights on the future of LLMs and the balance between innovation and responsible usage. This journey through AI uncovers how these models may transform our interactions and the broader societal landscape.