Degenerative AI and the management of Higher Education: from the matrix of metrics to Marx

Dr Vassilis Galanos, University of Edinburgh, will offer reflections from more than two years of closely engaging with the introduction of generative AI in the classroom and the management of Higher Education.

The eighth of a series of events as part of AI Collaborations Series II. Reflections on the use of generative artificial intelligence in Higher Education.

Vassilis will reflect on more than two years of closely engaging with the introduction of generative AI in the social science classroom and the management of Higher Education, offering insights as to (1) what GenAI can tell us about learning objectives, (2) the status of Higher Education as symptomatic of a metrics-oriented culture, and (3) potential routes for 'otherwising' the academic landscape. These will be done with some help from Karl Marx's Capital, as well as theorisations by Jean Baudrillard, Paul Virilio, and Félix Guattari, offering pathways for an ecological HE that challenges the velocity of educational simulacra, currently expressed in the form of AI hype and proclaimed GenAI adoption rates.