Columbia Tries Using AI To Cool Off Student Tensions (theverge.com)
- Reference: 0179021248
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/05/1418221/columbia-tries-using-ai-to-cool-off-student-tensions
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/770510/columbia-university-sway-ai-to-cool-off-student-tensions-israel-palestine-protests
> Can AI help "smooth over" discussion on abortion, racism, immigration, or Israel-Palestine? Columbia University sure hopes so. The Verge has learned that the university [1]recently began testing Sway , an AI debate program currently in beta. Developed by two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Sway matches up students with opposing views to chat one-on-one about hot-button issues and "facilitates better discussions between them," according to the tool's website. Nicholas DiBella, a postdoctoral scholar at CMU who helped develop Sway, told The Verge that about 3,000 students from more than 30 colleges and universities have used the tool.
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> One of those may soon be Columbia. News of the potential partnership comes after more than two years of escalating tensions at Columbia between students, administrators, and the federal government. The university has spent years at the center of controversy after controversy: expulsions of pro-Palestinian student protesters, a string of police raids, and demands from the federal government.
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> People at Columbia's Teachers College are testing Sway in order to potentially integrate it into the conflict resolution curriculum and "bridge-building initiatives at Columbia," DiBella said. He said there's also been interest from other teams at Columbia in using Sway for the fall 2026 semester and onward. Simon Cullen, an assistant professor at CMU and the other developer behind Sway, told The Verge that the company is also in touch with Columbia University Life.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/770510/columbia-university-sway-ai-to-cool-off-student-tensions-israel-palestine-protests
Treating settled issues (Score:3, Insightful)
Like there is any debate is horrific.
Criminalizing abortion does not reduce the number of abortions it just kills women.
Immigration is good for the GDP but not for individual workers in a hypercompetitive economy.
And yes Israel and more importantly Benjamin netanyahu and the right wing hardliners of Israel are committing a genocide.
We don't need AI to smooth things over we need to stop getting gas lit by our ruling class.
Re: (Score:3)
I might agree with some of what you say, but I'd hardly call any of those issues "settled"!
Re: Treating settled issues (Score:4, Insightful)
It depends on whether you ask experts or dumb shits.
Make America listen to experts again.
Sway a Slashdot front-end? (Score:2)
Are we sure that Sway isn't just a front-end of Slashdot?
Re: (Score:2)
I thought it was a Wayland compositor.
[1]https://swaywm.org/ [swaywm.org]
[1] https://swaywm.org/
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know how about others here, but I definitely feel much better after I started using Sway (WM).
Re: (Score:2)
Try typing some Unicode characters into it and see what happens.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, those are clearly not settled issues, just issues where you have settled on an opinion.
Or are you kidding? You did pick the three most contentious issues. Did you just successfully pull my leg? I applaud you if you did.
Re: (Score:1)
The impact on Palestinian population is extreme and should be stopped. But what often isn’t mentioned is that Hamas has the declared doctrine of eliminating its neighbour. 1988 Hamas Charter (Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement): unambiguously describes all of historic Palestine (including Israel proper) as Islamic land that cannot be surrendered and frames the conflict as a religious duty. Article 15, for example, calls for jihad to “obliterate Israel,” and Article 11 states that
Re: (Score:1)
Free Palestine — from Hamas. Palestinians deserve better.
Re: (Score:3)
Israel is freeing the shit out of those people.
Thought problem (Score:2)
> Like there is any debate is horrific.
Let's do a thought problem.
For any issue where you're sure you're right, note the number of people who have a different opinion.
Suppose the number of people with a different opinion is excessively large, say more than 5% of the population. They have access to the same information that you do, but have come to a different position.
Given that situation, what does that say about your position, and whether debate itself is horrific?
Quisling.edu (Score:4, Insightful)
Columbia destroyed its reputation by its collaboration with this regime. Nobody wanting an actual liberal arts education will go near it for at least a generation.
Maybe they can transition to being the version of Oral Roberts University where you have to be able to read to graduate.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
It's funny you say that, as many people feel it destroyed its reputation before Trump won a second term. I certainly do.
Though I do agree it will take some time for them to get it back.
Lets try talking nicely to the people we hurt. (Score:3)
That works, right? No? OK, lets try having an AI talk nicely to the people we have wronged.
The students are angry because of your actions. You want them to calm down, try changing your actions.
No, it probably can't. (Score:3)
And I certainly doubt that it will be at all fair in the attempt. I can't help but think that, either intentionally or not, there will be a thumb on the scale.
Also... Really? You really think that AI can fix your antisemitism problem? Can it fix your political bias problem without you having to actually hire professors that don't all vote the same way?
Re:Inability to accept other opinions (Score:5, Insightful)
I reject the idea that all viewpoints should be tolerated and treated as valid and worthy of debate. It is a cowardly position that inevitably enables atrocities.
Re: (Score:2)
There are degrees of tolerance. The word itself doesn't mean you have to like it, but it means that you will put up with it to a certain extent. There are plenty of ideas, viewpoints, etc. that I disagree with, but I'm not going to get into physical altercations, etc. over it. Not tolerating opposing views seems like a great idea until you find out that it's yours that won't be tolerated. History has shown that atrocities tend to follow soon after.
The best way to destroy bad ideas is to open them to disc
AI is and threat to humanity. (Score:2)
This will not end well, but it will nevertheless end.
bug-zapper on a submarine (Score:2)
"The Titanic is sinking! Quick, help me rearrange these deck chairs!"
"Nah, I'm pretty sure I can think of something even more pointless and unhelpful to do."
"Smooth Down" Genocide? (Score:2, Informative)
Yeah F that.
Genociders should have NO safe harbor.
F those guys and all those who are not 100% against them.
As someone who had to be around Columbia in (Score:1)
the spring of '24, Sway would have to persuade students against their position of getting upvotes and/or laid, as that was the only concrete position I could ascertain
CMU has their work cut out for them
Re: Columbia (Score:2)
This sounds like a collasally bad idea