The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it could help us solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges, including predicting and curing diseases, and providing new solutions to combat climate change. But it will also speed up the flow of instant information from a vast array of unchecked sources, along with untold opportunities for misleading content and outright disinformation.
As these trends accelerate, the spread of misleading narratives across virtual spaces presents not only a technological challenge but also a critical threat to societal cohesion and informed decision-making – ironically around many of the very issues that AI could be solving. And this is where universities, as producers of knowledge, have a pivotal role to play in mitigating the consequences of the disinformation age.
Restating the case
Universities must renew their mission to provide students with the ability to critically assess information. The digital world will demand a new sort of education in the classroom, and a more assertive form of outreach into society that reminds us of the importance of peer-reviewed knowledge.
But it is not just about discerning between verified facts, opinions, and falsehoods. While generative AI can produce vast amounts of content, its knowledge is (for now) rooted in pre-existing data. As a result, while it can search through data and draw out previously hidden patterns and processes, it does not ‘think’ or reflect in the human sense. AI does not have beliefs, emotions, or epiphanies. This can be both a benefit and a limitation of AI.
AI lacks the ethical considerations inherent in human thought processes. Here too, universities have a pivotal role. By engaging students in ethical questions in the classroom and lecture halls, universities can encourage to be informed and conscientious thinkers.
Human debate and the collective search for wisdom and understanding is a core function of universities. Debates force individuals to defend their ideas and evolve their understanding, providing the spark for innovation and further discovery.
As a professor of Arabic literature, I focus in my research on the 10th and 11th centuries of Islamicate Civilization, which was a flourishing multi-ethnic, multi-religious environment for philosophical and scientific endeavors. The provision of spaces for intellectual debate was a feature of this environment, providing a multiplicity of arguments, and allowing for problems to be explored from multiple angles.
As we move forward, universities must step more into the public sphere to engage with major societal questions. The goal must be to reach as wide an audience as possible and be relevant to the complex modern world, taking a longer view of the past and future. It’s valuable to have institutions that are not beholden to short-term narratives and can offer a wider perspective of events.
For instance, we are constantly told that this moment is unprecedented. However, like all things, our issues are not without parallels. How did societies respond to other technologies that changed the world almost overnight? In what ways did such moments impact human thinking? What can we learn from them?
Read more: Creating an eco-friendly education ecosystem in the UAE
A public forum
The Institute at NYU Abu Dhabi was founded on the desire to reach beyond the university’s walls to convene public debates and formulate new ideas by seeking expertise from many different places. Speakers come from a variety of different perspectives, including humanists, historians, scientists, technologists, politicians, and business leaders.
Their insights are fascinating and remind me of Aristotle’s assertion that “wonder is the beginning of knowledge”. This notion inspired the title for our new season, A Series of Wonder and Reflection. A series of talks and conferences over the coming months, featuring leaders in the fields of politics, economics, and law, among others, will mark regional and global efforts to provide sustainable solutions to the rapid and urgent changes in the environment, and preserving the past as inspiration for the future. We want to prompt people to not only think, but also to consider steps that can be taken to address our biggest challenges.
By instilling an enlightened and critical approach towards technology and information, and engaging with wider communities, forums such as this can mitigate the impact of disinformation in the AI era. And by promoting the uniquely human faculty for creative and critical debate, universities will enhance our uniquely human capacity for innovation, problem solving, along with the search for wisdom and meaning.
Maurice Pomerantz is senior director at NYUAD Institute, and professor of literature and Arab crossroads studies.
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