AI chatbots such as ChatGPT have been making headlines recently, leading to speculation about the future of AI. In this special episode, we hear from computer scientists about their hopes for the next ten, twenty, and fifty years of the field. Joseph Newcomer, Tom Mitchell, Manuela Veloso, José Moura, Roger Dannenberg, James Morris, Pamela McCorduck, and Alex Waibel—all well-known for their research in AI—discuss the potential of the field and the ethical, sociopolitical, and environmental impacts we may see in the coming years. 

Artificial intelligence has deep roots at Carnegie Mellon University—it was home to founders Herbert Simon and Allen Newell—and the university continues to be at the center of its development. In some versions of the future, your alarm clock app will be able to adjust itself based on the weather. In others, chatbots will read, answer, and manage overflowing email inboxes, and an AI singer might form an AI band to make AI music. As this technology becomes more ubiquitous, it will continue impacting our world in ways we cannot always predict.

In 1976, punk started making headlines in New York and England, and by 1977, punk was central to a growing community of Pittsburghers in the neighborhood of Oakland. The punk scene spanned communities. The riotous onslaught of earnestly played guitars ringed through houses, bars, and the halls of Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. Flyers sprung up on telephone polls. At Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 8mm cameras brought in a new era of low-budget narrative filmmaking that broke from the Structuralist trends of the 1970s while still avoiding the trappings of Hollywood. This is a story about the first wave of punk in Pittsburgh.

In 1975, Sally Dixon left the Carnegie Museum of Art. But Bill Judson took over the Film Section, expanded the program’s offerings, and introduced video art into the galleries. Judson guided the program until it was shuttered in 2003. In this episode, we zoom in on certain details of this era. Graphic designer Maria Paul Kyros discusses the process of designing the Film Section posters. Lindsay Mattock and Ben Ogrodnik discuss the importance of the Travel Sheet. This is the continuing story of the Film Section.