OLLI 25Q4A: AI & The Truth
► Answer questions about using chatbots
► General AI news
► Share results from the previous week’s homework topic:
⊳ ”Did AI get us to ‘the truth’ on this topic?”
► Segment on the notion of “truth”
► Segment on AI as a tool for uncovering truth
► Prepare for the homework topic:
⊳ What form of truth will work best for this topic?
⊳ What questions will get AI to reveal the truth here?
< break for the week: submit those questions to AI at home >
Resources
Wk 1: Comparing Chatbots
Wk 2: Examples of Chatbot Prompts
Wk 3: Ancient Greeks on “The Truth”
Wk 4: AI Analyzes Charlie Kirk
Wk 5:
Klobuchar, A. (2025, August 20). What I didn't say about Sydney Sweeney. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/opinion/amy-klobuchar-deepfakes.html
Wk 6:
Harris, T. (2025, June 17). Is AI apocalypse inevitable? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/86k8N4YsA7c
Wk 7:
Anderson, K. S. (2025, August 29). Politicians are polarized. American voters, not so much. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/opinion/american-politics-center.html
Wk 8:
Syllabus
Wk 1: Why Truth Matters
Introductions
Scope of the Course
The companion website
Planned Cycle of Weekly Homework and Discussion
Truth Segment:
► Motivational Questions
► Many Paths to the Truth
AI Segment:
► Overview of GPT Technology
► Perplexity
► Choosing Your Chatbot
► Free v. Paid Subscriptions
► Producing a Book Section
Homework Case:
Create a chatbot account, pick a topic that you find intractable, ask AI to help you decide which side is “telling the truth.”
Wk 2: Formal Truth Models
Truth Segment:
► Formal Truth Models: Platonic to Post-Modern
AI Segment:
► Setting session context with document uploads
► Halucinations and Sychophancy
Homework Case:
Upload this weeks resource documents. Use AI to analyze the truth of this assertion “America will bungle the next pandemic?”
Wk 3: The AI Labs and the Economy They’re Serving
Truth Segment:
► Business scandals before & during the internet age
► The financial forces upon the AI labs
AI Segment:
► Delusional Spirals
Homework Case:
Upload this week’s resources and analyze this assertion:
”The truth about American history must incorporate the ideas from The 1619 Project & Critical Race Theory”
Wk 4: Owning History - Can We Protect Truth from Power?
Truth Segment:
► Orwellian models of control & the truth
AI Segment:
► Uncovering the “deep truth” with jailbreaking
Homework Case:
Upload this week’s resources and analyze this assertion:
”I don’t care what the legacy media says, Donald Trump won the 2020 election.”
Wk 5: Owning Politics - Can We Drive Deceit Out of Governance?
Truth Segment:
► What if we could build the perfect lie detector using AI?
AI Segment:
► With Nano Banana, We’re All Victims
(Klobuchar, 2025, August 20)
Homework Case:
Upload this week’s resources and analyze this assertion:
”A homogenized, corporate-dominated culture is the only sustainable path forward for civilization.”
Wk 6: Owning Integrity: The Coming Age of AI Slop
Truth Segment:
► Heeding Hoffer: How to tell a business from a racket
(Hoffer, 1967)
AI Segment:
► Culture without human creators?
Homework Case:
Upload this week’s resources and analyze this assertion:
”With AI & the internet, we need to impose reasonable limits on free speech” (Harris, 2025)
Wk 7: What's Driving Our Society Towards Self-Destruction?
Truth Segment:
► Red v. Blue paths to truth
AI Segment:
► Bridging Red & Blue with Word2Vec on site comments
Homework Case:
Upload this week’s resources and research this question:
”Given that culture is upstream of politics, ordinary people can leverage AI to ‘make America truthful again’.”
Wk 8: Fighting Back with a "People's AI"?
Truth Segment:
► Is “truth” a social construct? (Anderson, 2025)
AI Segment:
► Using AI to reveal:
⊳ what we want
⊳ whether we’re getting it
⊳ how to change until we do