If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably found AI to be an annoying topic of discussion and debate recently. The problematic nature of asking us to form a concise and definitive position on a mysterious technology we don’t really understand has, in turn, split us into the oversimplified two-team rivalry that everything else does these days. Neither side is acting like a true student of liberal education, even if for drastically different reasons. Kenyon’s close-knit environment should transcend simple dichotomies to confront difficult questions the right way,  including the realm of AI. 

I probably don’t need much help convincing the average Kenyon reader about the dangers of over-reliance on AI. The first years who ChatGPT all their readings and papers are no doubt undercutting work that would be transformative, and the AI geeks terrorizing their LinkedIn followers with startup updates probably haven’t done an assignment on their own in years. The apocalyptic predictions fall a bit flat when AI continues to fail basic tasks, and their use of a machine to avoid basic critical thinking is disrespectful to the Kenyon community. However, that doesn’t mean the prideful humanities majors holding an emotionally charged hatred of AI are in the right. AI is quickly integrating into the modern world whether we like it or not, and it’s OK to admit that tasks we hold dear to our hearts may fade from popularity or usefulness. 

Think about writing a paper back in the day, when you couldn’t “Command-F” for a keyword, but had to read a part of each book only to realize that you had the wrong one. The internet streamlined the research process, and yet book-sniffers don’t seem to unequivocally condemn it like we do with the use of AI. 

I share the instinctive disdain and dread for the disruptions from AI in education, and think that it does tell us something about how the liberal arts should respond. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any other perspectives to consider. AI is an extremely complicated technology that takes engagement and research to understand. Wouldn’t the best (and really most liberal arts) thing to do in the face of such a threat be to engage with and understand it better, rather than just throw a temper tantrum and decide not to play?

While there may be a start, the conversation around AI is not nearly proactive enough. It’s important to ask what elements of our education are worth reevaluating, and important to argue with, but also listen to, people who disagree. So why aren’t we doing that, instead of just screaming around the problem? Kenyon has one of the first AI labs anywhere in the country, uniquely qualified and knowledgeable scholars on the subject and a group of supposedly unbiased, investigative, critically thinking students. If your arguments for vehemently protecting humanistic inquiry, or that AI is the future and we’re all going to die, are strong enough, let’s pit them against one another more often and more publicly, and practice liberal education as it truly ought to be. 

Robbie Lifson ’27 is a political science and psychology major from Sudbury, MA. He can be reached  at lifson3@kenyon.edu.