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First Year Seminar: Common Text

Each year, 麻豆视频 Michael鈥檚 College chooses a common text to be read and discussed by the incoming class of new students. All first-year students are asked to read the book over the summer prior to arriving on campus. A panel discussion of the book is held during Orientation in late August, and each First-Year Seminar discusses the book at the start of the fall and spring semesters.

The 麻豆视频 Michael鈥檚 College Common Text for the Class of 2029 is the forthcoming second edition (paperback) of AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can鈥檛, and How to Tell the Difference, by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor.

About the Book

How can we help to ensure that new technologies best serve the common good?

Stay smarter than your tools.

In 2019, Dr. Narayanan gave a talk called 鈥淗ow to Recognize AI Snake Oil.鈥� It went viral and kicked off the writing of this book.

AI Snake Oil offers excellent critical context for understanding both benefits and failures associated with a variety of AI tools. Co-authors Narayanan and Kapoor are computer scientists who examine AI tools, especially (but not exclusively) generative and predictive AI. The co-authors bring a technical, practical point of view to their research regarding how well AI tools actually work 鈥� which is information that you can鈥檛 get in a reliable way from corporations seeking profit from individual AI tools.

They find mixed results. Narayanan and Kapoor identify scenarios in which AI tools are and will continue to be useful. Yet they also identify plenty of hype: products that fail to deliver on their sellers鈥� claims and/or have actively caused harm to a variety of different groups of people.

Narayanan and Kapoor acknowledge contemporary excitement, doubt, and fears about AI, as well as injustices to be rectified. They also show where and why humans can play essential roles in the future. AI Snake Oil contributes to a healthy overall process of gaining AI literacy.

How to Get the Book

Princeton University Press will share information in June for 麻豆视频 Michael’s students to buy the new second edition (2025) of this book at a 30 percent discount. Individual pre-orders for their updated edition start in June; those books will ship in August.

The first edition (2024) remains the heart of the book. If you鈥檇 like to buy the first edition now in order to have more reading time, or just learn more about the Common Text, you can visit this press page. There鈥檚 also an audiobook option

According to the press release, the second edition will include 鈥渁 new preface and epilogue penned by the authors. The preface offers reflection and concludes that the book鈥檚 argument remains current, while the epilogue looks to the future.鈥�

Expect to Write and Talk About the Common Text Right Away

All first-year students should read the Common Text over the summer, regardless of whether they will take their required First-Year Seminar in the fall or spring semester.

Orientation includes a large panel discussion organized around the Common Text, and you鈥檒l benefit much more from this event if you鈥檝e read the book.

Once formal classes start, you will again use what you picked up from reading the book and attending the faculty panel. Each FYS section is organized by its own instructor, so assignments and discussions will differ. Regardless, you should expect to submit an essay about the Common Text within the first two weeks of the semester.

We are very pleased to host a guest lecture in September by Dr. Arvind Narayanan, named one of . You can hear the latest from him and participate in a Q&A session. We encourage our students to speak up and help activate the conversation with one of the greats.

Reading Tips

Get ready for a book with plenty of everyday examples, to get our community thinking in new ways about the AI tools appearing around us.

Some sections of AI Snake Oil will be challenging to read on your own. Don鈥檛 worry! We select a challenging Common Text in order to learn how think our way through it, together. It is fine if some sections make more sense to you than others at the start. FYS includes various activities to shed light on our book and topic as we go.

Here are a few examples of tech that Narayanan and Kapoor will use to help illustrate their points. When you鈥檙e not sure about the vocabulary or idea they鈥檙e setting up, try looking at this kind of example:

• 39: Netflix recommendations, illustrating how rules are both developed and applied automatically
• 48-49:聽 Incorrect accusations of welfare fraud, illustrating 鈥渙ver-automation鈥�
• 88: Videos that go viral for being awful, illustrating the unpredictability of success
• 124-125: 聽Two versions of the Mona Lisa, illustrating ramifications for people whose works are taken and reproduced without permission
• 140:聽 Chatbots outputting false information (otherwise known as 鈥�?)

The Faculty Panel and Essays

The 2025 Common Text panel will take place on Friday, Augutst 22, from 12:30-2:00pm, in the Recital Hall of McCarthy Arts Center.

Our faculty panelists bring very distinct professional profiles and experience with AI to our FYS discussion: Brad Demarest (Computer Science), Becca Gurney (Art & Design), and Crystal L鈥橦ote (Philosophy).

This dialogue illustrates how liberal arts colleges help us to think and talk across professional boundaries, to better understand a phenomenon by looking into it from many sides.

September Visit to SMC by Dr. Arvind Narayanan

As noted above, 麻豆视频 Michael’s is honored to announce that Dr. Narayanan will visit the College and deliver our First Year Seminar Common Text lecture on Thursday, September 11, at 7 p.m.

For more information, contact:

Kristin Dykstra
Director, First-Year Seminar Program
Distinguished Scholar in Residence
麻豆视频 Edmund鈥檚 Hall 345
802.654.2801
kdykstra@smcvt.edu

Past First-Year Seminar Common Text Selections