Student Discussion

One lively session focused on the ethics of AI image generation. Charlie Hoggarth, a computer science student, began by explaining how modern image-generation systems work. His presentation was impressively detailed (I had to Google ‘recursion’), and gave everyone a clearer
sense of what these systems actually do. From there, the conversation quickly turned to the social and ethical questions raised by the technology. If AI can generate convincing images of events that never happened, how do we know what to trust? After a thoughtful discussion, the group arrived at a shared conclusion: that trustworthy media institutions and responsible journalism are more important than ever in helping the public distinguish between reliable reporting and attempts to mislead people using AI-generated content. Eve Wingate argued for paying
the TV licence.

Not every discussion is quite so serious. In one session at the end of the term, we turned our attention to cinema and the craft of visual storytelling. Students learned some basic film vocabulary, such as “master shot,” “establishing shot,” and “close-up”, and then put these ideas into practice by analysing the opening scenes of several films. Following student suggestions, we compared the openings of A Fistful of Dollars and The Fast and the Furious. The group concluded that the former does a particularly effective job of helping the viewer understand where characters are and how they relate to one another within the scene. Watching the clips on YouTube also meant there were unexpected breaks during which we assessed the camera shot selection in the adverts. (We learnt that toothpaste adverts rely heavily on extreme close-ups.)

I have been impressed this year by the students who regularly attend these sessions. As well as being wellinformed, they have conducted these debates in a civil and mature way. There have been strong views, but students have listened to each other and engaged seriously with opposing views. We have worked to eliminate interruptions, and some students have made commendable progress in this. I hope these discussions have helped our students to discover that thoughtful disagreement, curiosity, and shared inquiry can be both intellectually demanding and enjoyable.

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