Who Provosts Better?
Who Provosts Better?
UMass Boston's Provost or ChatGPT? You decide!
Breaking news, The Flickering Beacon exclusive! The Applied AI institute that took UMass Boston by complete surprise last spring, was finally launched in a much celebrated event on Oct. 31. Ever since the initial announcement, we’ve been scratching our heads with the following questions:
What is the institute’s goal?
What is it going to achieve, other than creating a lot of publicity for our administration?
If the faculty are to contribute to the work of the institute on top of their already very busy schedule, will they get resources and support from the institute and/or the administration?
And most importantly: Can artificial intelligence be a substitute for natural stupidity?
Fortunately, the event was posted on YouTube. It included a panel with two UMass Boston professors, two outside speakers and the founder, Paul English, a UMass Boston alum and entrepreneur.
Being the diligent reporters that we are, we sifted through the nearly two-hour video. Soon we realized that we were probably not going to get answers to the first two questions, but luckily, we are well on our way to figure out the answer to the third and fourth ones! See, for example, the questions in 19:35 and 1:09:35. Since we want you to enjoy it as much as we did, we bring you the video and the Provost’s answer’s full transcript. Off we go…
If the faculty are to contribute to the work of the institute on top of their already very busy schedule, will they get resources and support from the institute and/or the administration?
19:35:
Moderator: How can AI opportunities help the diverse body of UMass Boston students? How are you (as Provost) going to help the computational departments create modules to help the entire community at UMass Boston?
Provost’s Tl;Dr: CSM departments are not going to play a role in our AI institute, and I am a 0th-order Markov chain of thoughts.
Provost: I think that it’s important, right, for us to recognize that even where we have expertise on AI, um, what we know today is not going to be sufficient next week or the week after or the following week, and so that actually we want to tap into, um, all of the different types of expertise that we have on campus and beyond to be figuring out as we go along because we’re gonna have to, right, how best to most responsibly, most ethically and most advantageously, um, tap into the power of AI, recognizing, um, that this is an incredibly dynamic powerful tool that has very real implications for how we are going to teach and learn and so, um, I think one of the differences here at UMass Boston is that, um, we’re really focusing not just on building smarter faster AI - other people are doing that, uh, very well, but how are we going to be smarter and more adaptive to using AI, um, throughout the curricula and again, this means we can’t do it just one department or one place, there’s certainly expertise embedded throughout the campus, um, and so we need to figure out, right, how to best to use a rapidly evolving set of tools. Um, I think our faculty will be key in doing this and it’s gonna look a little different, um in each part of the university, but I also wanna emphasize that our students are incredibly important in doing this, uh we need to be open to working with, learning with, learning from our students about what are the best and most useful rigorous and responsible ways to incorporate and utilize AI and this institute gives us a forum for doing that but this will be an evolving project by definition and by nature and I think that having an inquiry mindset, right, how best, um, to use this is the key, right, um, to our success. It’s not just one thing or two things we can say we’re going to do now, it’s really having that inquiry mindset and them embedding it into all of our work.
Moderator (dying inside): Wonderful. Thank you for those senseless ramblings insightful perspectives on the diversity in an AI empowered world.
1:09:35
Moderator: For faculty members, what support and resources will the applied AI institute offer to enhance their expertise in AI?
Provost’s Tl;Dr: You are not getting any support or resources, and my slam poetry skills need a lot of polishing.
Provost’s Answer: I think that… um… a theme here, right, is the promise and the perils of applying AI in all aspects of our work, our lives, and so how will we be intentional about how AI impacts our work here at the university, right? And there’s gonna be trade-offs. If we choose to ignore it then we’re making a decision, right, that’s gonna have particular trade-offs for ourselves, our students in the university even if the other end of the spectrum if we choose to embrace it then how we do that matters and so I think that for the faculty to think about how can we enhance, right, our ability to cultivate student learning in productive ways that respond to the very real opportunities and challenges in the world is important, none of us can do that alone, that the institute can be a forum for bringing us together, across our departments, across our disciplines, across our centers and institutes, how can we learn from each other and maybe even how can we accelerate understanding where each of us is coming from because we’ve been trained in very different ways depending on our fields and disciplines. How can we create a way to share what we’re learning with this new set of tools in… uh… for our pedagogical practices, so how can we create opportunities to engage with each other to improve our pedagogical practices, to protect against the things I know so many of you have shared with me that you’re concerned about in terms of improper uses of AI, ways in which AI might, um, keep students from exercising those thinking and judgment and decision making muscles that Nir was talking about. We can’t do that alone, so this creates a forum, a campus wide forum, for us to engage together as colleagues and the research implications, right, how we can more rapidly, um, keep up with knowledge, right now, you know the lag time in most journals is about a year and a half if we’re lucky, right, so how can we more rapidly stay on top of all the knowledge that’s being more rapidly produced in each field, so how do we responsibly do that, and how do we still do that while, um, you know, uh… not just protecting but building upon, right, some of the important principles and values that guide our work as scholars, as educators and academics, and so for me that’s not a simple answer is what do faculty need. What we need is each other, right, and so this provides a forum for us to actually leverage the various types of knowledge and expertise that we have, so that we can be engaged in purposeful and intentional strategic work together about how we incorporate and use AI to benefit our students, to benefit our communities and our society. That’s the mission of UMass Boston, and so we can help each other help ourselves in this dynamic world.
Moderator: Someone shoot me please Excellent…
Our in-house reporters were able to obtain exclusive images of the audience during the provost’s replies:
We also have exclusive photos of the five panelists:
Can artificial intelligence be a substitute for natural stupidity?
Since we’re open to the possibility that the Provost’s line of thought is simply too high and mighty for us mere mortals, we posed the exact same question to ChatGPT. Since we’re much more compassionate than the Provost, we limited the answer to 250 words:
Q: How can AI opportunities help the diverse body of UMass Boston students? How are you (as Provost) going to help the computational departments create modules to help the entire community at UMass Boston?
ChatGPT: AI opportunities can greatly benefit the diverse body of UMass Boston students by enhancing their educational experience and preparing them for the evolving job market. As Provost, I am committed to collaborating with the computational departments to create modules that cater to the unique needs of our community.
First, we can develop personalized learning tools powered by AI, which adapt to individual students' learning styles and pace, ensuring that each student receives the support they require. This approach can level the playing field for students with different backgrounds and abilities, fostering a more inclusive learning environment.
Furthermore, AI can facilitate research opportunities for our students, helping them engage in cutting-edge projects across various disciplines. By working closely with faculty and industry partners, we can create interdisciplinary AI courses and research projects that promote innovation and diversity of thought.
To ensure accessibility, we'll prioritize equity and diversity in AI initiatives, actively recruiting underrepresented groups and providing resources to support their success. Moreover, we'll collaborate with local communities to extend AI education and skills beyond our campus, benefiting society at large.
In sum, AI-driven solutions can enhance educational access, research opportunities, and diversity at UMass Boston. As Provost, my role will be to foster collaboration, secure resources, and prioritize inclusivity to maximize these opportunities for our diverse student body.
Q: For faculty members, what support and resources will the applied AI institute offer to enhance their expertise in AI?
ChatGPT’s answer to question 2: An Applied AI Institute typically offers faculty members a comprehensive set of resources and support to enhance their expertise in AI. These may include research funding opportunities, collaborative initiatives, and access to data and computing infrastructure. Faculty can benefit from workshops, training, and educational resources to stay updated with the latest AI advancements. The institute often organizes networking events and conferences, fostering connections with industry partners and peers in the AI community. Technical support, grant writing assistance, and ethical guidance are also common offerings, helping faculty navigate the complex landscape of AI research. The institute may promote research visibility through outreach and marketing efforts, and provide access to AI-related courses and materials to enhance teaching. In summary, an Applied AI Institute serves as a valuable hub for faculty members, empowering them to conduct cutting-edge research, engage in interdisciplinary collaborations, and stay at the forefront of AI developments.
So? Who provosts better? Who is more fit to run the university? The Provost or ChatGPT?
Maybe the following question should be the Institute’s first research task: