The Year of Curiosity Podcast

Sara Hooker '13, Vice President for Research at Cohere

We talk to Sara Hooker ‘13, the Vice President for Research at Cohere, who Time Magazine named one of the 100 Most Influential People in AI. We discuss how the machine learning community has evolved since the rise of ChatGPT and generative AI technology, the ways that AI can be used to empower not-for-profit organizations, and how to get chatbots to accuse each other of cultural bias.

Reference Librarians Sarah Calhoun and Sean Leahy

George and Jennifer welcome two of Carleton’s reference librarians, Sean Leahy and Sarah Calhoun. We talk about the ways AI is changing the ways students read and conduct research. We also touch on the origins of April Fools’ Day and the nature of reality and truth.

Melissa Scott, the Robert A. Oden, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Liberal Arts and Music, John Hurtubise and Henry Burkhart

In this episode, we talk to Melissa Scott, the Robert A. Oden, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Liberal Arts and Music, and two current Computer Science majors, John Hurtubise and Henry Burkhart. The three of them worked together this year to train a generative AI model to imitate Jordanian Oud music. They’ll talk about the origins of the project, the results they’ve achieved so far, and what they learned from the experience. Musical clips (both human and AI generated) are included!

Jay McKinney, Visiting Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science

Jay McKinney, our newly-hired Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science, joins Jenn and George to share their perspective on how AI generative thinks, the likelihood that this technology will lead us to the singularity, and the coolness of giant robots. (The answers are, in order, it doesn’t, it won’t, and they’re very cool. It’s a fun conversation, though, so you should listen!)

Sam Thayer, Director of the Office of Accessibility Resources

Sam Thayer, Director of the Office of Accessibility Resources (and our second alum from the Class of 2010) talks with us about the ways that AI technology is providing new options for meeting student accommodations, but why she tends to take a slow and skeptical approach when assessing new AI tools.

Quoc Nguyen '23

George and Jennifer chat with Quoc Nguyen, a recent alum and current PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Minnesota. Quoc tells us about his experiences as a CS major and Educational Associate in the age of generative AI and why he’s been reluctant to integrate AI tools into his own work.

Anastasia Salter, Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor in Digital Arts and Humanities

Jennifer and George chat with Anastasia Salter, Carleton’s Benedict Distinguished Professor in Digital Arts and Humanities and the co-author of the upcoming book, Critical Making in the Age of AI. Anastasia talks about the ways that AI changes our relationships with writing, from literature to code. Meanwhile, George talks about the limitations of AI powered sunglasses and Jenn discusses how to freak out self-driving taxis.

Janet Scannell, Chief Technology Officer

Janet Scannell, Carleton’s Chief Technology Officer, talks with Jennifer and George about defining Carleton’s Year of Curiosity around AI and the benefits and challenges that this technology holds for Carleton. Also, George wonders what defines a Minnesota winter and Jennifer plugs the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

William North, Professor of History and Sindy Fleming, Associate Dean of Students

Jennifer and George chat with Bill North (History/Medieval Studies) and Sindy Fleming (Sophomore Class Dean) about their first-year seminar course, Civil Discourse in a Troubled Age, and the ways that AI might change our students' ability to connect and engage with other people. Also, Jennifer gets curious about aptonyms.

Ross Elfline, Professor of Art History

Jennifer and George talk with Ross Elfline, Professor of Art History, about how the conversation around AI today echoes the artistic movements of the 1930s and 1960s and why he finds “AI slop” fascinating.  We also learn what one AI tool thinks about the podcast and speculate about how AI might affect airline safety.