What AI Means is the podcast that asks scholars and creators about the significance of artificial intelligence for the world as they see it, through the lenses of their disciplines and their expertise. These short, accessible conversations are brought to you by Lee Spector, a professor of Computer Science at Amherst College and the Director of AI in the Liberal Arts.
Harp Flourish by Nathan Manaker – full credits: https://freesound.org/s/486952/
Deep Church Bell by ZoshP – full credits: https://freesound.org/s/530914/
What AI Means for Mathematics with David Zureick-Brown
David Zureick-Brown discusses how AI is changing mathematical research, from helping mathematicians discover new approaches and counterexamples to improving clarity and exploring problems that were previously difficult to tackle.
He also examines the challenges AI creates for mathematical norms around collaboration, attribution, credit, and trust.
Looking ahead, he considers both the exciting possibility of AI expanding our ability to understand mathematics and the more unsettling possibility that mathematics could become so easily solvable that it loses some of what makes it intellectually meaningful.
21 Sept 2026
What AI Means for Language, Media, & Culture with Amber Sweat
Amber Sweat, Assistant Professor of French at Amherst College, discusses how AI is reshaping language, media, and culture, particularly through questions of translation, voice, race, and representation.
She considers the possibility that increasingly capable AI could flatten linguistic and cultural differences, while emphasizing the importance of human-to-human interaction, individual expression, and the ways language shapes who we are.
24 Aug 2026
What AI Means for Social Science with Brendan O'Connor
In this episode of What AI Means, Lee Spector speaks with Brendan O’Connor, Associate Professor in the Manning School of Information and Computer Sciences and Co-Director of the Computational Social Science Institute at UMass Amherst. O’Connor discusses how AI is changing social science by expanding the kinds of questions and analyses they can pursue.
21 May 2026
What AI Means for Photography with Genesis Baez
An interview with Genesis Baez, who is an assistant professor of art at Amherst College. Baez argues that AI reveals and amplifies many of the same questions photography has always raised about truth, bias, and representation. She emphasizes that neither photography nor AI is neutral, since both are shaped by human choices, data, and power structures.
14 Apr 2026
What AI Means for Philosophy of Mind with Laura Sizer
In this episode, Laura Sizer, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Mount Holyoke College, explores how AI acts as “thought experiments made real.” She examines limits of understanding, embodiment, and the Turing Test, arguing AI reflects human thinking but cannot fully replicate it.
3 Apr 2026
What AI Means for Earth Science with Nicholas Holschuh
In this episode of What AI Means, Nicholas D. Holschuh explores how AI is transforming Earth science. This conversation highlights how new tools are helping scientists better understand glaciers, climate uncertainty, and the future of our planet.
25 Feb 2026
What AI Means for Sustainability with Auroop Ganguly
College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University, and Chief Scientist and Joint Appointee at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Auroop Ganguly considers how AI is reshaping sustainability science, climate risk, and infrastructure resilience and what this means for our collective environmental future.
12 Jan 2026
What AI Means for Art with Miloslava Hruba
Study Room Manager and European Print Specialist at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Hruba considers how AI is reshaping practices in art-making, preservation, and curation and what this means for artistic interpretation.
9 Jan 2026
What AI Means for Religion with Andrew Dole
Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at Amherst College, Dole examines how AI intersects with questions of belief, interpretation, agency, and religious life.
9 Jan 2026
What AI Means for Theater with Eric Sawyer
Professor in Dramatic Arts (music) at Amherst College, Sawyer discusses AI’s role in performance, imagination, and collaborative creation.
9 Jan 2026
What AI Means for Peace and World Security with Michael Klare
Professor Emeritus of Peace & World Security Studies at Hampshire College, Klare discusses how AI technologies are influencing global security, diplomacy, and conflict prevention.
7 Jan 2026
What AI Means for Writing with Kristina Reardon
Kristina Reardon, Senior Lecturer in English at Amherst College, reflects on how AI is shaping the nature of writing, from creativity to pedagogy.
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