Connection Topics

Overview

Connection topics is an umbrella term that refers to a set of activities, which will allow us to cover one of the big ideas of the course, interdependence, the idea that computational technology should be in service of human flourishing.

In our AI-powered tools policy, we discussed that we will be reading in this class about how the newest advances in AI, like Chat-GPT, work. ChatGPT is one instance of a family of technologies that are collectively known as generative AI. The evolution and the human and societal impact of such technologies is the focus of the connection topics this semester.

The activities in a connection topic include:

• Read an article (or watch a video) for the day an article is posted (see list below)
• Participate in group discussions and the class pop quiz on lecture (using plickers or otherwise)
• Attend the Jordan Lecture by Dr. Safiya Noble on Nov 11, 5-6:30 pm.

Note: Some articles in this list are from New York Times. Wellesley community has access to NYT through our library subscription. Sign up before trying to read the articles.

• 09/13/24, On how an LLM (large language model) is trained, Watch an A.I. Learn to Write by Reading Nothing but Jane Austen. Published on April 27, 2023.

• 10/04/24, On how AI is affecting education, The impact of AI on Computer Science Education. Published on July 30, 2024.

• 10/25/24 A writer's thoughts on ChatGPT, ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the web, by the celebrated scifi author, Ted Chiang, writing for the New Yorker magazine, published on Feb 9, 2023.

• 11/08/24 Dr. Safiya Noble is visiting Wellesley on Nov 11. To prepare you to attend Dr. Noble's Jordan Lecture (11-11-24, 5:00-6:30 pm in Tishman) we are asking you to watch her short lecture: Challenging the Algorithms of Oppression from 2016. She followed this lecture with the book "Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism", an electronic copy of which can be found at our library. We encourage you to skim the book and share what you read in the class discussion. Warnning: Dr. Noble talks about racism and white supremacy and some of the examples might be disturbing, since they recall tragic events.

• 11/26/24 A study by Wellesley College researchers, How Beginning Programmers and Code LLMs (Mis)read Each Other, published on May 2024.

• 12/06/24 Fun reading: Can you tell which short story ChatGPT wrote?. The short storis in full are here: An experiment in Lust, Regret, and Kissing, published in August, 2024.