Clay Shirky: Learning Is Changes to Long-Term Memory, There's No Shortcut | Rendered by Robots, Ep 2
The true purpose of education is changes to long-term memory and identity formation. AI short-circuits that.
Clay Shirky, Vice Provost for AI & Tech in Edu at NYU, and one of the sharpest voices on tech and society, joins Spencer Striker, Professor of Digital Media Design at NU-Q, and co-host, Alessandra El Chanti, to discuss what AI actually breaks in higher education.
In this conversation:
Why education is in the business of identity formation, not credential production
The product of higher education is changes in long-term memory (there's no shortcut)
For 500 years, universities didn't assess through writing; what can we learn from the lost art of rhetoric?
How LLMs short-circuit curiosity (when used lazily)
The homework apocalypse: how ChatGPT is OP against traditional assessment
What should a college grad be able to do: specialization is for insects
📚 Referenced in this episode:
Clay Shirky's NYT piece, Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/opinion/culture/ai-chatgpt-college-cheating-medieval.html
🔗 LINKS
Clay Shirky: @cshirky
Host: spencerstriker.com
About the Series
Rendered by Robots: AI & the Future of Design Edu explores how AI is transforming the way we teach, create, and imagine media production education. It’s a podcast for educators, creators, and students navigating the AI revolution with clear eyes and curious minds.
CREDITS: Creator & Host — Spencer Striker, PhD | Co-Host & Director — Alessandra El Chanti, MFA | Featured Guest — Clay Shirky, Vice Provost for AI and Technology in Education at NYU | Editor, Sound Design & Motion Graphics — Kyle Trueblood | Producer — Adam Sullivan | Camera & Sound — Yunting "Unity" Zhan, Qinbei "Bissy" Li | Project Manager — Aimelyn Geronimo | Special Thanks — Miriam Sherin (Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education); Alumnae Award for Curriculum Innovation (Northwestern University Office of the Provost); Marwan M. Kraidy, PhD (NU-Q Office of the Dean); S. Venus Jin, PhD (Artificial Intelligence and Media Lab | AIM-LAB); Nisar Keshvani (NU-Q Communications and Public Affairs); Rami Al-Badry, Floyd Yarmuth, Ihsan Yahya (NU-Q Production & Digital Media Services) 🔖 #ClayShirky #AIEducation #HigherEd #FutureOfLearning #IdentityFormation #EdTech #GenerativeAI #NYU
