“Constitutively Irresponsible”: Why Students Can’t Be GenAI’s Quality Control. A conversation with Gene Flenady and Robert Sparrow.

This week, we have two guests on the podcast. We’re joined by Gene Flenady, Lecturer in Philosophy at Monash University, whose research concerns the structure and social conditions of human rational agency, including the implications of new technologies for meaningful work and tertiary pedagogy. Our second guest is Robert Sparrow, Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. His research interests include political philosophy and the ethics of science and technology with an eye towards real-world applications. 

Flenady and Sparrow argue that GenAI systems are "constitutively irresponsible" because their algorithms are designed to predict what "sounds good" - not necessarily what is true or contextually appropriate. Our guests suggest that it's unfair to expect learners themselves to determine when AI is wrong or misleading. Doing so puts students in an impossible position and gets in the way of building meaningful relationships with their human teachers and the pursuit of lifelong learning. 

Learn more about Drs. Flenady and Sparrow’s work in their article: “Cut the bullshit: why GenAI systems are neither collaborators nor tutors”

Other materials referenced in this episode include:

Frankfurt, H. G. (2005). On bullshit. Princeton University Press.