Jack Quick, Special to The Denisonian
Artificial intelligence is one of the most widely discussed topics today. While conversations about AI continue to grow, many people are still working to understand its implications, making digital literacy increasingly important. Dr. Sangeet Kumar, an associate professor in the communication department, addressed these questions this past semester through his newly introduced course, Geopolitics and AI. The class has drawn strong interest from students this semester.
“I’ve always been interested in technology,” Dr. Kumar said, “Media technology, more specifically, is something I’ve always been fascinated by.”
In addition to his geopolitics class, Dr. Kumar also teaches a class on Google and algorithmic culture. For him, a class on AI was the next logical step, and it ended up pairing well with his other two classes. The fascination with technology that Dr. Kumar holds now wasn’t always strong, however. Before becoming a professor at Denison, he worked as a journalist for the Indian Express, a newspaper based in Noida, India.
“Technology at that time was always on my mind, just not the central part of my work. It was mostly reporting, writing, and covering issues,” Dr. Kumar said. “I wanted to write and get noticed, just like all journalists do.”
Once he moved to the states to pursue his master’s and PhD at the University of Iowa, advanced technology and media technology were almost inescapable in his daily life as a scholar.
Dr. Kumar described his introduction to AI almost as if it were a rumor about aliens.
“It was one of those things, where you always heard about it, but in the back of your mind know it’s never really going to happen the way people talk about it.”
Dr. Kumar describes himself as being in a similar boat to everyone else, during the initial release of ChatGPT in 2022, one of confusion, disbelief, and soaring interest for the field of generative AI.
The class on geopolitics and AI that Dr. Kumar teaches has generated a lot of interest, as people who didn’t get the chance to take it this spring are considering taking it in the fall.
“Oh, my god.” Dr. Kumar exclaimed when asked how the class was going as we neared the end of the semester. “I tell other professors all the time, this class is easily the most exciting class I’ve taught, and the class in which I have learned the most, and a class I go into every day with absolute, charged energy to get to some higher point of learning with the class.”
He described it almost like a mystery, something opaque and mysterious. Generative AI is slowly becoming clearer and more defined to him as he navigates the world, via teaching this class.
Dr. Kumar plans to teach this course again in the fall of 2026 and is excited to do so, simply because it won’t be the exact same course as last time.
“I think this course will be different in the fall, simply because we don’t know what else will develop with AI in the future.”
As AI has continued to evolve, many college students, including Denison students, have become concerned about their lives after college. A number of jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence, and Dr. Kumar recognizes this, as well as the many upsides of AI, and has even expressed his predictions that his job will be changed by AI.
“All academics are seriously thinking about how AI is going to change their jobs.”
“We are in the business of knowledge, as scholars, and generative AI is also in the business of knowledge; we would like to think that the way we arrive at knowledge heightening will continue to remain the same, but I doubt that it will, but there will be some kind of balance in the world between efficiency and humanness.”
When asked about the implications of generative AI for the upcoming graduating class and their ability to find jobs, Dr. Kumar said the following:
“The students graduating this year probably have had the least time to recalibrate their skill set,” he said.
“Students who are starting at Denison now have four years ahead of them, and hopefully they’ll take classes like this, so they can understand how AI is going to affect them. But, for the students who are graduating, most of their coursework is in the box, so they’re going to be forced to figure things out on the goal.”
As all of our lives begin to change, due to the life of artificial intelligence, it’s clear even now that nothing will be the same. The real question is, how will our lives be different?