Impact of Social Sciences

Book Review: OK by Michelle McSweeney

In OK, Michelle McSweeney charts the history of the word ‘OK,’ from its origins in the steam-powered printing press through inventions like the telegraph and telephone and into the digital age. McSweeney illustrates how the linguistic creativity accompanying technological change enabled this versatile word to transition through new modes of communication, writes Chris Featherman. This blogpost originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. If … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

How to use generative AI creatively in Higher Education

Generative AI presents clear implications for teaching and learning in higher education. Drawing on their experience as early adopters of ChatGPT and DALL.E2 for teaching and learning, Bert Verhoeven and Vishal Rana present four ways they can be used to promote creativity and engagement from students. The emergence of generative AI and the release of … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

Generative AI and the unceasing acceleration of academic writing

Despite the prospect and existence of AI generated texts having been around for some time, the launch of ChatGPT has galvanized a debate around how it could or should be used in research and teaching. Putting aside the ethical issues of using AI in academic writing, Mark Carrigan argues that the dynamic of ChatGPT and … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

We’re more and more aware of digital harms, but what is the digital good?

Research and media stories often highlight how digital technologies have had a negative impact on our lives. But what might it mean to set out a vision of the ‘digital good’? Director of a new ESRC-funded network focused on the digital good, Helen Kennedy, outlines key debates in the field and how working across disciplines, … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

Moving slowly and fixing things – We should not rush headlong into using generative AI in classrooms

Reflecting on a recent interview with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, Mohammad Hosseini, Lex Bouter and Kristi Holmes, argue against a rapid and optimistic embrace of new technology in favour of a measured and evidence-based approach. The rapid rise of ChatGPT deserves special credit for having mainstreamed large language models … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

Seeing families as data will change the state’s relationship to society

Rosalind Edwards and Pamela Ugwudike discuss how the increased use of linked social data and predictive machine learning is changing the state’s relationship to families, from the here and now to an anticipated future and from one grounded in a sociological context to one of larger group pattern matching. Suggesting how this could facilitate a … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

ChatGPT will not replace Google Search

As speculation mounts that ChatGPT might replace Google Search, Tristan Greene cuts through the hype, arguing ChatGPT at present cannot replicate Google’s search function – “Saying ChatGPT will replace search is like saying podcasts will replace universities. They do two different things.” This article was originally published on Undark, you can read the original article here. Since OpenAI unveiled … Continued