how ai can raise the baseline of human knowledge

reflecting on a short piece i wrote for the chronicle of higher education

I enjoyed writing a short piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Chronicle Review forum on ‘How AI Is Changing Higher Education’:

“In an attempt to take stock at this crucial moment, The Chronicle Review asked 15 scholars and academic administrators about how generative AI has transformed higher education over the past 18 months.”

I chose to write about one of my greatest current hopes:

“I have this hope that AI will raise the baseline of human knowledge. What I mean by this is that many people currently miss out on learning important facts about the world and the discoveries and creations of humankind — bits of information about things ranging from science to sonnets, which have been reliably deemed “true.” Everyone has the right to the opportunity to know these things. Even a small rise in the baseline of human knowledge, in this sense, would not only further individual goods, such as achievement and well-being; it would also drive innovation and worldwide prosperity.”

You can read the rest of my piece, which focuses in on the way in which AI has the potential to “move beyond human epistemic limitations in educational institutional design in ways we can’t yet imagine”, here. I’m generally very positive about AI, and have written various times about its philosophical value as well as its limitations. But this hope about its capacity to raise the baseline of human knowledge — even if only by a tiny bit — really is one of my greatest current hopes.

You should also check out the pieces by the other 14 contributors — including Hollis Robbins and Danielle Allen, both of whom have featured recently in my weekly ‘5 top things I’ve been reading’ series. (Next edition of that out later today!)