Teachings at C3

6. "The Undeniable Cost of Convenience" by Brad Ruggles (Empire of Screens II) / Partial

In our final Empire of Screens talk, Brad puts on his futurist hat and looks ahead to offer some informed predictions about what might come next. While some possibilities are unsettling, others point to a surprisingly hopeful countercurrent: as synthetic content floods our feeds, work with a visible human touch will only become more valuable. We’ll discuss why AI literacy is an essential skill right now, even for those of us who choose not to use it.

*This is a partial recording missing the early beginning.

5. "Human in the Loop" by Brad Ruggles (Empire of Screens II)

Electric instruments and synthesizers didn’t arrive to unanimous applause. They challenged familiar ideas about musical skill, authentic sound, and what counted as a “real” instrument. Over time, musicians embraced and made those tools their own, opening up entire genres and new possibilities for expression.

Generative AI brings a different shift. Beyond changing the sounds musicians make, AI can now generate entire songs and imitate familiar voices, muddying our understanding of who is creating and whose work makes that creation possible.

This week, guitarist, composer, and producer Eli Kahn joins Brad for a conversation about music, creativity, and the humans behind the sound. Drawing on Eli’s experience with looping, layering, and improvisation, we’ll explore the boundaries between creative tool, collaborator, and replacement. The technology is moving fast. Join us as we consider what role a human in the loop plays in our changing creative world.

4. "When Machines Become Knowledge Workers" by Dr Ezekiel 'Zeke' Leo (Empire of Screens II)

Guest Teacher Dr. Ezekiel “Zeke” Leo joins us for  the first time to share his expertise in computer science in a continuation of the series, Empire of Screens Part II.

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Empire of Screens II, Part 4 "When Machines Become Knowledge Workers: Managing Imperfect Intelligence and Building Trustworthy Systems" by Dr Ezekiel Leo.

BIO: Ezekiel “Zeke” Leo is originally from Taiwan and holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Economics from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before entering academia, he worked at Cisco in Silicon Valley on expert systems—an earlier AI approach, which gives him the dubious distinction of having worked on AI before it actually worked. He is now an Assistant Professor of Management at Grand Valley State University, where his teaching and research focus on the strategic management of technology and innovation, with increasing attention to the implications of AI.

3. “AI and the Question(s) of Consciousness” by Michael DeWilde (Empire of Screens II)

We look at some of the arguments – and evidence – for and against the notion that certain AI systems could be, or become, “conscious.”  How might that even be possible?  What would it look like? What would the implications of a “conscious” AI be?

2. Synthetic Certainty presented by Brad Ruggles (Empire of Screens II)

This week in Empire of Screens, we’ll look at the uneasy space between hype and outright distrust. From AI-generated research slipping through peer review to systems that can ace difficult tests and still stumble over basic context, we’ll examine AI terms like "jagged intelligence," hallucinations, and the widening verification gap.

1. Artificial Intelligence presented by Brad Ruggles (Empire of Screens II)

This opening talk offers a plain-language explanation of what AI is, what it isn’t, and why it matters even to people who never plan to chat with a bot. We’ll trace the shift from hidden algorithms that sort our lives to generative tools that make things alongside us.