February 14, 2024
10:00 am – Noon
CUE Commons,
Posvar Hall

Hidden Labor & Hidden Costs

In our day-to-day interactions with apps and websites, we are often only privy to the up-front, monetary costs and user interfaces. When we order a mug from Amazon, or like a picture of puppies on Facebook, we enjoy the ease and entertainment of these services, but the inner workings that make these transactions so seamless and satisfying are hidden from us. We are promised and have come to expect technology to ensure our package arrives in two days or that our latest post is seen by our followers, but we are rarely compelled to question the “how” of these operations. What might we uncover if we dared to look into the mechanisms that make our lives so convenient and efficient? During this session, we will collectively explore our questions about costs, labor and automation, and critically consider the true price of the technological infrastructure that supports our ways of living.

Registration

For more information, please email beadias@pitt.edu.

Grappling with AI, Education, and Our Future study group series, presented by the School of Education

March 27, 2024
10:00 am – Noon
CUE Commons,
Posvar Hall

Collective Futures

As humans, we are inherently future-oriented. Our dreams and hopes fuel our lives and livelihoods. When you think of the words “future” and “progress”, what comes to mind? Our popular media and rhetoric is filled with narratives that essentially equate progress and the future with the emergence of superior technology that will either solve all human problems or destroy humanity entirely. Who drives these dominant visions of the future that we are steering toward? How might we conceptualize future possibilities, outside of a framework of technological inevitability and centrality? For example, what might future families, communities, gardens, and schools look and feel like? During this session, we will collectively explore our questions about progress, and imagine education futures rooted in justice and freedom.

Registration

For more information, please email beadias@pitt.edu.

Grappling with AI, Education, and Our Future study group series, presented by the School of Education

• Archives, Data Storage, and Surveillance. Panelists explored the present state of our personal histories as data in archives and storage sites around the world, November 10, 2023. 
• Generative AI in/as Theater and Performance. Panelists examined theater as a space of language development, political discourse, and technological innovation, October 27, 2023.​
• Preliminary Model of Moral Disengagement and Re-engagement of AI Developers. Dr. Mildred Cho considered possible facilitators and barriers to the development of ethical machine learning, October 3, 2023. 
• Generative AI and Digital Humanities. Panelists examined popular thought on AI and reconceptualized its role in the digital humanities, September 29, 2023.
• ChatGPT, Knowledge, and Misinformation: Technology and Its Many Impacts on Health, Wellness, and Society. Panelists discussed AI and other technologies that are changing the landscape of society, health, wellness, and scientific research, June 21, 2023. 
• ChatGPT Wrote this Title: Exploring the Impact of AI on Our Minds and Society, panelists discussed how generative AI affects the way we think, write and speak, and the associated impacts on society, April 19, 2023.