41. On the Australian Outback, AI, and Becoming ANU’s Vice Chancellor

On today’s episode of Higher Ed Spotlight, we travel down under in a fascinating conversation with Australian National University's newly appointed Vice Chancellor, Genevieve Bell. We delve into her childhood experiences in Australia's Aboriginal communities, which shaped her journey to a PhD in cultural anthropology at Stanford and then her groundbreaking work at Intel in user experience. Genevieve explains how cybernetics evolved into AI. She highlights its quest to replicate human intelligence and the ethical questions that it raises for higher ed and our broader society. Genevieve ties these themes seamlessly to her leadership vision for ANU’s core research mission and the pivotal role that mission plays in social progress.

Higher Ed Spotlight is sponsored by Chegg’s Center for Digital Learning and aims to explore the future of higher education. It is produced by Antica Productions.