Using AI to Teach AI
More Than a Tool: Using AI to Teach AI – Ildikó Plájás & Tina Harris
How do you teach a course about the societal impact of technology? You don’t just talk about it—you bring the technology right into the classroom. For Ildikó Plájás and Tina Harris in their Anthropology master course Designing In(ter)ventions into Human-Machine Entanglements, this meant making the UvA AI Chat an active participant.
Their experimental course encourages students to creatively investigate new technologies, and what better way to do that than by using, questioning, and even collaborating with an AI? Their pilot is a masterclass in turning an AI tool from a simple assistant into a powerful object of study.
When AI’s Flaws Become the Lesson
The instructors modeled a critical, yet practical approach from the start. Needing to quickly divide students into groups, Ildikó used the UvA AI Chat to generate ideas for a game. When creating slides for this game, another opportunity emerged. The AI, asked to create an image for a “speed dating” icebreaker, produced a picture rife with stereotypes.
Instead of just discarding the image, the instructors turned it into a teachable moment. They included their follow-up conversation with the AI in the presentation, showing how they questioned its biased output (“why do all women wear stilettos?”) and highlighting the tool’s limitations. This simple exchange transformed a flawed image into “a window into the training database and the glitches inherent to generative AI,” priming students to think critically from the get-go.
Students in a ‘Dance’ with AI
Given the green light to experiment, the students dove in. They used UvA AI Chat not just to generate ideas and images, but to probe the nature of AI itself. One group explored how AI tools might induce loneliness, while another relied on the chat to imagine what kind of human it would be if it had a physical form.
The explorations became deeply personal and creative. For the final paper, one student used the Chat to help choose the colors and subject for an oil painting about their relationship with technology. Through this process, the student began to question whether AI merely “mirrors humanity or whether humanity is being shaped by the technology it creates.” They concluded that their interaction wasn’t a one-way command, but a dynamic exchange—a “dance,” as they beautifully put it.
While feedback was not universally positive—one student, for example, found the focus on UvA AI Chat “gimmick-y” and the outputs “ugly”—most loved the opportunity to engage with the tool in a hands-on way.
The Main Takeaway: A Safe Space to Be Critical
For Ildikó and Tina, the UvA AI Chat’s biggest advantage wasn’t the quality of its images it produced, which they and the students found “a bit disappointing.” Instead, its true value was providing a “safe GDPR-protected environment” for critical exploration.
Their pilot shows that we don’t have to choose between using AI and critiquing it. By inviting the tool into the classroom as both an assistant and a subject of study, they gave students a chance to not only learn with AI but to learn about it. The ultimate goal isn’t just to use these new tools, but to understand them, question their biases, and thoughtfully navigate our relationship with them.