College professor shares why she believes AI can help ‘strengthen thinking’ : NPR

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer asks Middlebury College Professor Allison Stanger why she believes the use of AI can improve her writing.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

When it comes to writing, artificial intelligence is often viewed as a creativity killer. But Middlebury College political science professor Allison Stanger openly admits she uses AI to help her write. This week, she wrote in The Wall Street Journal that, quote, “AI used well can strengthen thinking.” So what does AI used well look like? We’ve called her to ask. Allison Stanger, good morning.

ALLISON STANGER: Good morning. Great to be here.

PFEIFFER: We’re glad to have you. Someone once said to me, Allison – and this is his words. He says, I don’t use AI for anything I want to remain good at. But you wrote that AI makes you a better writer. Briefly, like, describe how you use it and how you think it improves your writing.

STANGER: Yeah. I think what you really need to realize with AI is that it is a wonderful collaborator. It’s like having the scientist John von Neumann, you know, who was part of the Manhattan Project, on speed dial 24/7. So it’s really up to you how you use it well.

PFEIFFER: And so what do you use it for? What’s your process?

STANGER: I just use it to think through things, to check the mechanics of my writing. All the ideas and my openings, my conclusions, choices are my own. But anything I want to kind of explore further I talk to it about. The thing I think people don’t realize about AI is that it’s something that is absolutely miraculous. Anyone who criticizes AI without a simultaneous sense of wonder…

PFEIFFER: (Laughter).

STANGER: …At something – what’s been accomplished is missing something important.

PFEIFFER: Do you always write your own first drafts, or do you ever let AI do that for you?

STANGER: I always write my own first drafts. I always outline my argument. Part of what I’ll do is go back and forth with the AI to make sure the argument is sound – have it play devil’s advocate. You know, the fact of the matter is humans are best at judging what good writing is, and we’re writing for humans. So in the end, AI is not going to get you there. You’re going to have to show it to another human. But sometimes, you know, we’re finishing something in the middle of the night, and we don’t have another human to show it to yet. That’s when AI can be quite useful.

PFEIFFER: That’s your middle-of-the-night editor.

STANGER: Yeah. Yeah. It – you know, you can’t bug your friends about a…

PFEIFFER: (Laughter).

STANGER: …Particular idea all night long (laughter).

PFEIFFER: What about the fear that AI does kill creativity – that it’s mentally enfeebling, as someone else put it? Do you worry about that?

STANGER: Yeah. I do absolutely worry about that. And, you know, I think part of the problem with AI is not with the technology. It is with the concentration of power. And that’s why I’ve written a larger book about precisely that. So, you know, I think AI is extraordinarily useful. I think it’s also potentially very, very dangerous. The main thing is we just still have to think for ourselves and teach our students to do that.

PFEIFFER: It sounds like you’re saying there has to be a power balance, and the human has to keep pushing back.

STANGER: Exactly. Exactly. And we have to find ways to enable that. Otherwise, we’re in big danger.

PFEIFFER: Quickly, your reference to miraculous – you know, writing and editing are clearly just two of many uses of AI. I mean, it sounds like there might be other uses where you feel like they might not require as much hesitation – more things like data crunching and transcription. But for writing, there’s a pause needed.

STANGER: Absolutely. I mean, it’s a pattern-recognizer, right? So anything you want to try to think about involves patterns. So it can definitely help you recognize something that’s important to explore further.

PFEIFFER: That is Allison Stanger. She’s a political science professor at Middlebury College. Thank you.

STANGER: Thank you.

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