Warning: This content has not yet been fully revised for this year.
Initial Post
Tell your classmates something interesting or concerning about the datasets that generative AI models were trained on. Your post should be:
- Substantive: you’ll probably need 100-200 words.
- Factual: give a specific source or example.
- Specific: name specific models or datasets; give specific examples.
- Unique: try to pick something that hasn’t been mentioned yet.
- Clear: write in a way that is easy to understand.
The best posts should also be provocative or controversial, but back up your claims with evidence.
Inspiration
Here are a few sources to get you started; you can also find your own:
- Generative AI Has a Visual Plagiarism Problem - IEEE Spectrum
- New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Use of Copyrighted Work - The New York Times
- https://knowingmachines.org/models-all-the-way
- U.S. Copyright Office’s Questions about Generative AI – Communications of the ACM
- Exploring AI: Capabilities, Legal Problems, and Better Models
- Word embeddings quantify 100 years of gender and ethnic stereotypes | PNAS
- Datasets Have Worldviews (or see other PAIR Explorables)
You might also search on questions like:
- What happens when AI gets trained on AI-generated text or images?
- What happens when AI gets trained on data that includes the answers to the benchmark questions? (See this highly tongue-in-cheek paper: Pretraining on the Test Set Is All You Need | Abstract)
- What happens to online communities when people can use AI systems instead of engaging with them? (a possibly relevant article)
Replies
Reply to at least two of your classmates. In your reply (of perhaps 50-100 words), discuss how a Reformed Christian perspective might apply in this situation. You might consider:
- Virtues (e.g., honesty, integrity, humility) or vices (e.g., pride, greed, envy) that are relevant.
- Shalom or human flourishing (right relationships with God, others, and creation).
- the arc of the Biblical narrative (creation, fall, redemption, new creation).
- the implications of the image of God in humans.
- any other relevant theological or ethical considerations.
Rubric
- Initial post is on time and addresses the prompt.
- Initial post is substantive and clear.
- Initial post is factual and specific.
- Initial post is unique and interesting.
- Replies are on time and address the prompt.
- Replies are substantive and clear.
- Replies engage with the Reformed Christian perspective.
Remember to cite your sources!