Beyond the Hype and Fear: Two Seniors Prompt Dialogue on AI

The duo began discussing AI together during their first year at Bowdoin after ChatGPT was released, and realized that others may want to join the conversation. As a result, they established the AI Impacts Club, a group that meets weekly to discuss AI ethics, current events, tools and uses, and the broader AI landscape.

"Our modus operandi is to create a space for students to talk about what's happening with AI and come to their own conclusions," Mott said.

At Bowdoin, Mott studies English and philosophy while Kurup is majoring in computer science and math. With different interdisciplinary backgrounds, they are able to learn from each other, something they aim to incorporate in the culture of the club as well.

"Being at Bowdoin and a liberal arts environment also made me think more deeply about some of the implications of these tools, and I wanted to have conversations about how we might think of AI in the world, not just from a technical standpoint, but from a broader standpoint," Kurup said.

"Our interdisciplinary backgrounds add to the club in that we're having conversations about both the technical and the non-technical side of things," he added, "and we want to bridge that gap and also give people the tools to think about that for themselves."

Kurup and Mott noted that at the start, people came in with varying backgrounds in and knowledge of AI. Their hope was to bridge those gaps for students through AI education and discussions and engage a wide variety of people in their conversations.

"The prevailing opinion about AI is, 'It's awful,' 'I hate it,' or 'I'm scared of it,' or some combination thereof. And those can all be super, super valid feelings about AI, but what we hope to do is give people the basis to have a grounds a stand on if they want to hate AI or if they want to love it," Mott said.

Each week, meetings begin with a discussion of a current event involving AI before during into a discussion on what people are thinking about at the time. The club has also partnered with the Hastings Initiative to host workshops for students in AI topics, like the math behind large language models or tips for using AI.

Both Mott and Kurup are Hastings Ambassadors for the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity, helping with AI research, peer education, and student feedback for the initiative.

While both are graduating this spring, they hope to see the club continue to strive to increase AI knowledge and comprehension on campus, especially as the AI landscape changes.

"AI is here to stay regardless of how we feel about it," Mott said. "We have some underclassmen who are super passionate and participate a lot in the club, and we're excited to see where they take things. I think the heart of it is that people are always going to continue having these discussions, so we should have space for that."