Today’s episode in our series about the challenges facing universities looks at what might be the most direct threat of all: can they still fulfil their function if AI can write better essays than the students? David talks to political philosopher and university teacher Paul Sagar about his experiences of what has changed over the last year as the LLMs have come on in leaps and bounds. How is AI corroding trust between teachers and students? Are universities remotely equipped to know how to handle this challenge? Can they, in fact, survive it?

Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to historian Edward Acton about ‘Climategate’, the astonishing 2009 controversy that engulfed the university – UEA – that he was leading at the time. How did this firestorm serve as a harbinger of things to come? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time: American Elections – The 2026 Midterms w/Gary Gerstle

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