AI at Radboud University: Ethics, Opportunities and Risks | Academic Affairs with data scientist Tom Heskes and educational expert Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg

Announcement

How should we respond to the rise of AI at our university? AI tools promise to reshape the way we teach, learn, research and organize our work. At the same time, these developments raise important questions: does AI weaken our ability to think critically? How does it fit with core values such as academic freedom and personal development? And what about privacy and sustainability issues? In short: when and how AI is helpful and when does it do more harm than good? Come and listen to data scientist Tom Heskes and educational expert Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg
about how we should or should not adopt AI at Radboud University. 

Working with AI

AI is rapidly becoming part of every aspect of academic life, far beyond chatbots like Copilot and ChatGPT. Researchers use AI to analyse data, teachers to prepare classes, staff to streamline processes, and students to write assignments. Do these AI tools really support us, or do they encourage us to skip the hard work of thinking that define academic work? And what path do we want to take as a university?

Careless adoption could undermine core values such as personal development, academic freedom, and contributing to a fair society. So when does AI genuinely support us, and when does it prevent the development of staff and students? Can we use AI without losing the skills that make studying or working at a university meaningful? And what message do we send to the outside world by choosing (not) to engage with AI in certain ways?

Energy and privacy

Value-driven use of AI also requires us to consider broader ethical questions. Training and running AI models consumes enormous amounts of energy. How do we justify this ecological impact, and can AI be used in a more sustainable way? Another concern is our growing dependence on big tech. What does it mean for academic freedom when the digital infrastructure we rely on is owned and controlled by large technology companies? And how much of their promises about AI’s potential should we believe?

About the speaker

Tom Heskes is a professor of Data Science at Radboud University. He is also a board member of Radboud AI, which connects the research on AI across Radboud University and Radboudumc.

Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg is a teacher of orthopedagogics at Radboud University. He is one of the members of a project on critical AI literacy. His research focusses lifelong learning, reflection, leadership and collaboration, among other things.