The Interaction Hour

In most online learning, instructors face challenges in achieving similar levels of effectiveness and retention to their on-campus offerings. With so many students to account for an the inability to meet in person, it’s important to find ways to supplement the interaction between teacher and student. As an instructor for a course in Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science program, School of Interactive Computing Professor Ashok Goel introduced the world to Jill Watson, a virtual teaching assistant who was so good in her first semester on the job that even students thought she was human. Can AIs like Jill really improve course effectiveness and satisfaction? Will they be used to augment the production of the human assistant, not replace it? And can this method, which has proven successful in an academic setting, be used as a foundation upon which other sectors of the workforce can build?

When it comes to artificial intelligence and automation, there are two common opposing schools of thought: One says that AI is on its way to solve all our problems, work for humans and allow us to perform at peak capacity in our jobs. Another says that it’s on its way to take those jobs from us entirely and leave a substantial part of the population behind. The truth probably lies somewhere between those extremes. Georgia Tech Associate Professor Mark Riedl joins the podcast to help separate fact from fear. Read more at www.ic.gatech.edu/podcasts and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ICatGT.

Years ago, mothers used to place their hands on their children's foreheads to determine if they had a fever. Thermometers now can provide more precise measurements and, thus, more appropriate health care. Like the thermometer, can we use social media to do the same for mental illness? But what do we risk by opening our social channels to algorithmic observance? Dr. Munmun De Choudhury has spent years investigating what our social media can say about our mental health.

What does a prohibition-era speakeasy have in common with modern-day cybersecurity? How can ancient biblical tales inform our development of such systems? To finally convince mainstream society to adopt good security behaviors in the future, is it imperative that we look, instead to our past? School of Interactive Computing Assistant Professor Sauvik Das thinks so.

The emergence of artificial intelligence in society has elicited visceral reactions from people the world over, many of whom, thanks to portrayals in popular culture, can’t quite decide whether they believe we are building the future – or destroying it. Are we actually dealing with “killer robots?” Why has the public perception become so polarizing? Can we trust algorithms to make appropriate and trustworthy decisions, or do we risk too much by turning power over to the robots? Professor Ron Arkin, an expert in robotics and roboethics joins the podcast to discuss.

On March 18, 2018, a self-driving vehicle in Tempe, Arizona, was involved in a fatal crash that resulted in the death of a pedestrian crossing the street at night. As a result, tests on self-driving cars by the company were suspended in four major cities and the inevitable questions arose: Should human “drivers” be responsible for their autonomous hosts? How do we train self-driving cars to perform risk analysis in real time? Ultimately, are travelers safer with autonomous vehicles on the road?

In the School of Interactive Computing, we are all about – you guessed it – interaction. From investigating the ways in which computing impacts humans on a daily basis -- health care, ethics, national security, and more -- to the way we as a school interact with industry and academic community through our research, we believe we are better for our ability to collaborate and find solutions for life’s big issues. Hear from School Chair Ayanna Howard as she details our goals for this podcast and how you, the listener, can get involved.