Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? is an online course developed by two professors at the University of Washington, Carl T. Bergstrom, a biologist, and Jevin D. West, and information scientist. The self-paced course is available for free and open to anyone.

There is an Instructor Guide that states, "We view this as a course in the humanities, because it is a course about what it means to be human in a world where LLMs are becoming ubiquitous, and it is a course about how to live and thrive in such a world. This is not a how-to course for using generative AI. It's a when-to course, and perhaps more importantly a why-not-to course."

The course is comprised of the following lessons:

Introduction: How to Thrive in a ChatGPT World

Lesson 1: Autocomplete in Overdrive

Lesson 2: The Nature of Bullshit

Lesson 3: Turing Tests and Bullshit Benchmarks

Lesson 4: Computers You Can Talk To

Lesson 5: Hard to Understand, Harder to Fix

Lesson 6: No, They Aren't Doing That!

Lesson 7: From Voice Cloning to Shrimp Jesus

Lesson 8: Poisonous Mushrooms and Doggie Passports

Lesson 9: Blue Links Matter

Lesson 10: The Human Art of Writing

Lesson 11: Transforming Education

Lesson 12: The AI Scientist

Lesson 13: Bullshit Machines for Bullshit Work

Lesson 14: Authenticity

Lesson 15: Artificial Intelligence and Human Stupidity

Lesson 16: The First Step Fallacy

Lesson 17: Your Own Private Truman Show

Lesson 18: Democracy

LinkedIn Learning is an online educational platform. There are numerous training tutorials related to generative AI. Refer to the OSU Office of Human Resources Learning and Organizational Development page for more information.

Ethics and values in AI development from Navigating AI Through an Intersectional DEI Lens by Nika White