Join us on Oct 7 for our next LIVE seminar with assistant professor Dr. David Thorstad. Read more about his work below.

Against the Singularity Hypothesis: Why AI May Not Become Super-Intelligent

Wednesday October 7 | 12p-1p | 1400 18th Ave S A2009

Recent developments in artificial intelligence have spawned competing narratives about the future trajectory of artificial intelligence. 

 

Our next seminar on October 7, will feature Dr. David Thorstad Assistant Professor of Philosophy who will share more about one such view, the singularity hypothesis, which suggests that artificial intelligence will soon gain the ability to meaningfully contribute to its own growth. 

The singularity hypothesis, posits that artificial intelligence will soon achieve the capacity for meaningful recursive self-improvement. The hypothesis suggests that once an AI system reaches a critical threshold of capability, enabling it to autonomously improve its own algorithms, architecture, and learning mechanisms, a feedback loop will initiate. This recursive cycle of enhancement would drive exponential gains in computational capacity, model sophistication, and problem-solving ability until artificial systems dramatically exceed human-level intelligence across domains. This talk makes the case for skepticism about the singularity hypothesis, examining the technical and philosophical foundations upon which it rests. His talk is pulled from his article Against the Singularity Hypothesis.

 

The full article is linked below. Join us October 7 to learn more. Pizza and drinks provided.

Engage AI NSF Institute Renewed for 5 More Years

LIVE Faculty Gautam Biswas will serve as a principal investigator on the renewed NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning (EngageAI), which has received a $20 million, five-year award from the National Science Foundation. The renewal extends a decade-long national research effort examining how artificial intelligence can support more engaging, adaptive and effective teaching and learning. EngageAI is led by North Carolina State University and includes researchers from Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Indiana University and Digital Promise.

Resources from the Knowledge Graphs for AI-Enhanced Course Development Talk

Earlier this month, Dr. Timothy Darrah, Assistant Professor of the Practice in the College of Connected Computing, shared his work exploring how knowledge graphs can support AI-assisted course development. Using examples from real course development projects in the CCC, he highlighted where the approach succeeded, where it fell short, and what those cases reveal about the possibilities and challenges of AI-assisted course design. 

For a closer look at the work, or if you missed the session, you can review his presentation slides at the link below, which include transcript excerpts and generated course assets.

Oct 7

Against the Singularity Hypothesis: Why AI May Not Become Superintelligent

David Thorstad, College of Arts & Science

Oct 14

Beyond Emotion Recognition: Expressions as Social Action

Jonathan Gratch, College of Connected Computing

Oct 21

No Seminar

Enjoy Fall Break!

Explore the Fall 2026 LIVE Learning Innovation Seminar Series at the link below

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