Deacs.AI

Have you ever been told your writing sounds "too much like a robot"? Masters student and Writing Center tutor, Caroline Collins, explains why students are intentionally stripping away her favorite punctuation—the beloved em dash—just to keep the "AI Police" at bay. And get this—student are actually dumbing down their writing so it doesn't produce a red flag. What is going on in this bizarre world of higher education right now? Furthermore, Caroline shatters the salacious headlines and tells us that, in fact, not all students are cheating their way through college with AI.

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Remember the moral panic when calculators entered the classroom? Ged King does - and refuses to repeat the same mistake. As the Academic Director in Digital Marketing at the School of Professional Studies, he is a firm believer in using generative AI to empower students. As an industry insider, he's witnessing a tectonic shift in the marketing landscape. While the first Golden Age of Advertising was defined by a room full of whiskey-soaked legends, this new era is being co-authored by a partner who never drinks, never eats, and never sleeps and can generate hundreds of ideas before you've refilled your espresso.

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Wake Forest alumnus and Managing Director and founder of Microsoft Federal’s Security, Compliance, and Identity (SCI) Customer Success organization, Jay Bhalodia, is on the frontlines ... of the cyber war. This digital battlefield doesn't have borders or bullets; it has IP addresses and bytes. Jay provides a masterclass on the asymmetric war currently playing out in our digital infrastructure. We discuss the strategic necessity of adopting AI tools to counter state-sponsored threats and why the balance of power in global security now depends on who can scale their good bots the fastest. When the malware is defeated, he uses this super intelligence to plan family trips and create My Little Pony stories with his daughter.

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Talon Keeler is a college student. Talon Keeler does not like to use Artificial Intelligence. Join us as we learn how both of these statements can be true in today's world of higher education. Talon will discuss the slow decay of the human connection, the fear of cognitive decline, and a wishful return to the gilded libraries of classic academia.

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What would an AI ask a podcast about AI? Wonder no more! Join Michael as he answers some of AI's burning questions about the Deacs.AI podcast!

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Think your degree is the finish line? For Nam Tran, it was just the starting block. Moving from his Masters at Wake Forest to the fast-paced world of Sales Factory, Nam reveals how he used digital co-pilots to supercharge his abilities. He argues that as technical skills become "abundant," human judgment becomes the ultimate premium. From vetting automated code to ensuring a brands "voice" stays authentic, hear why the "human-in-the-loop" is the most important job title of the next decade.

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After a year of discussing AI with faculty and staff, the podcast is completing the circle. We are happy to announce that students will now be joining the podcast, offering their insights into how students are actually using—and choosing not to use—generative AI. We discuss the transition from AI as a "cheating tool" to AI as "glorified Google" and the critical importance of AI literacy in higher education.

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Buckle up for this wild ride with AI-forward Finance professor, Kyre Lahtinen. We cover everything from foundational shifts, tech booms, defensible business models, teaching hacks, and tulip bulb bubbles. Forget manual uploads and clunky interfaces. Use Python and API keys to rebuild Canvas courses with a single click. Move beyond the chat box and into the world of agentic systems that actually do things like calculating GPAs, organize modules, and "Wake Forest-ize" slide decks in seconds. This is a masterclass in how educators can reclaim their time.

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For the class of 2026, AI fluency isn't a bonus, it’s the entry fee. Senior Computer Science major, Logan Jacobs, breaks down how to navigate college courses with the help of artificial intelligence. He discusses the reality of a job market where AI is "table stakes" and explains why he uses Deep Research and NotebookLM to digest complex academic material without short-circuiting his own thinking. It’s a candid look at the ethics of student motivation where asking the right questions is more vital than finding the answers.

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Your AI isn’t a genius; it’s more like a parrot in a tuxedo. Linguist Jerid Francom joins the show to deconstruct the linguistic tricks of Large Language Models and reveal why the "ghost" in the grammar is often just a statistical illusion. He'll lay out a roadmap for the radical act of digital independence. We explore how to break free from Big Tech’s grip by using Hugging Face and edge AI to run models locally on your own hardware. Discover how to reclaim your human agency and build a personalized AI setup that serves your workflow without sacrificing your privacy or your intellect.

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