Eighteenth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

This paper is set against the backdrop of two inter-related crisis in humanities and social science (HASS) education: inconsistent levels of media literacy preparedness and the unbridled emergence of artificial intelligent agents and services (LLMs, GANs, generative media, machine vision, et al). The principal argument however is that this public, multi-sector near ubiquitous technological upheaval also represents an immense opportunity for HASS disciplines to play a key role in the critical inquiry of techno-culture as it relates to social justice policy and the age-old legislative debate between regulation and innovation. Recent comments by Bill Gates regarding the revolutionary potentialities of personal AI assistants at the same time as Tristan Harris is (once again) warning of the perils of forming deep and dependent relationships with artificial companions underscore the depth of the critical divide when it comes to emergent forms of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). However, if we pull back the frame, we should be able to see that the problems that exist within AI systems and their various “instances” - whether that be in education, journalism, the creative industries, policing and the military, virtual spaces and economies – are manifestly the stuff of critical debate within HASS studies. In 2022, at the University of Melbourne, we introduced a compulsory core research subject in the Bachelor of Arts, “Discovery” with the exploratory theme of New Futures. Lying at the heart of this curricula were ethical and historical provocations that speak to our anxieties – and perceived ethical shortcomings – of AI systems.