CH-AI Brews podcast host Daniel Duggin, a graduate student at UTC, is interviewed at the podcast’s launch party on Aug. 29. Photo by Taryn Brooks.
More than 80 people—students, faculty, staff and visitors––turned out to celebrate the launch of a student-led podcast from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative. Also known as “Chattanooga’s Artificial Intelligence,” the CH-AI team hosted the Thursday, Aug. 29, launch party for “CH-AI Brews: Infusing Conversations About AI” in the Guerry Center on campus.
UTC graduate student Daniel Duggin hosts the podcast and features discussions with a wide range of faculty and students at the University on how AI is making its way into the academic world and workforce.
Among CH-AI’s goals is sharing the story of how faculty and students are incorporating AI into their classrooms and their lives, helping the community and students grow more comfortable and capable with the technology. The CH-AI Brews podcast season 1 features a series of conversations centered on the kinds of concerns and questions Duggin heard faculty, friends and classmates asking. The launch party featured a series of season 1 excerpts. Episode topics range from academic integrity to AI course innovations to what AI could mean to students entering the job market.
Lead coordinator of the initiative and UTC Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Vicki Farnsworth emceed the event and was joined by Duggin in discussing the podcast. Farnsworth kicked off the night with an update on where AI is and where it’s headed, which she described as “changing all the time.” She summed up the UTC initiative’s goals as “not being afraid of AI and finding great places to use it, as well as understanding how to cite it effectively from a student perspective. For faculty, it’s also about considering how AI might be applied in the workforce after students leave UTC.”
The rapid evolution and development of AI technology and tools mean the University has a big job in helping students learn how to appropriately use AI as a resource. An excerpt from Duggin’s conversation with Brett Fuchs, director of Emergency Management, Threat Assessment and Emergency Communications, centered on AI usage issues he helped students navigate before transitioning from assistant dean of students into his current role.
Fuchs covered the review process overseen by the Office of Student Conduct, emphasizing that each case is carefully and thoroughly reviewed. He also stressed that, even in a worst-case scenario, the “very worst” that would happen is suspension, which he noted is a rarity.
Other excerpts highlighted ways students are learning how to appropriately utilize AI in their career fields. Nursing student Tyson Kelley described how the use of AI in researching a patient diagnosis dramatically reduced the time spent preparing a care plan. Levi Sampson, a recent UTC business graduate, discussed how the business world is eagerly embracing AI as a tool for better understanding markets and competition and for pushing that knowledge “further into the future.”
Students are also known to have worries about the effects of AI on the job markets they will enter, and recent computer science graduate Andres Cavalie discussed his concerns with Duggin. In particular, Cavalie wondered about the potential for rapidly progressing AI computer coding programs to reduce the need for human code developers. Even so, Cavalie reasoned, “It’s more likely AI will be a tool that enhances us more so than replacing us.”
UTC Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Vicki Farnsworth discussed the podcast with host Daniel Duggin.
Given that UTC students–and a few recent graduates–may have concerns about AI eliminating or changing jobs, Farnsworth offered some perspective in the form of a January 2024 story from the MIT Technology Review. Noting the fears of job loss against rising automation in the 1930s, the piece pointed out, “We’ve been here before.” Farnsworth added that while technology may alter how jobs are done, it rarely takes them away altogether.
UTC faculty are being encouraged to integrate AI into courses, when possible, to better prepare students for how AI may affect their fields. Laurel Rhyne, an associate lecturer in the School of Nursing faculty, was showcased as an example of this. Duggin introduced an excerpt of his conversation with Rhyne by describing her as knowing more about AI than anyone else he knows. Along with other courses, Rhyne also teaches a leadership class on what the future looks like for nursing and medicine. She said she emphasizes to her students the active role AI will play in their work, yet approximately 80% of her students are fearful of AI in nursing. She said educators have a responsibility to “provide avenues to help prepare students for the future.”
Listen to or follow the “CH-AI Brews” podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Episode excerpts debut Sept. 16 as a regular weekly feature on Mondays on WUTC-FM 88.1. Excerpts will be shared during Morning Edition at 7:45 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. and during All Things Considered at 4:30 p.m.
Production begins soon on season 2, which will feature conversations with members of the business and civic communities.
To offer feedback, suggest a topic or ask a question, email UTC-AI@utc.edu.
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CH-AI Brews podcast launch party photo gallery by Taryn Brooks
