ITellYou Podcast – EP1: Is University still worth it in the age of AI?
Welcome to ITellYou, a new podcast where we bring together questions from different perspectives and ask our guests to tell us what they think.
Every episode is built around three boxes:
I: Issue
Questions from the general public.
T: Think
Questions from researchers and industry partners.
U: Unlock
Questions from students.
For our very first episode, we sit down with Prof. Christopher Frauenberger, Founding Professor of Human Computer Interaction.
From whether university is still worth it in the age of AI to the relationship between humans and intelligent machines, the future of education and why one discipline may no longer be enough, our guest takes on questions from all three boxes.
Watch the full video:
Key takeaways
University should be about learning, not just information
When information is available almost everywhere and AI can generate answers within seconds, what is university actually for? For Christopher Frauenberger, the distinction is between information and knowledge.
A degree should not simply be about absorbing information and reproducing it later. The real value of education lies in learning how to think, understand knowledge, work with it and apply it to new problems.
He describes university as an “apprenticeship to thinking.”
In a world where access to information is becoming easier, that ability may become even more important.
AI is making us rethink what it means to be human
AI is not only changing what technology can do. It is also raising new questions about ourselves.
- What does it mean to be intelligent when machines can perform tasks we associate with intelligence?
- What does creativity mean when AI can generate images, text or code?
- And where does responsibility lie when humans and AI create something together?
For Prof. Frauenberger, humans shape technology, but technology also shapes humans in return. We are still figuring out what kind of relationship we want to have with AI. Is it a tool, a co-worker, a sidekick, a peer, or perhaps something else entirely?
We cannot predict the future, but we can prepare for it
Technology is evolving quickly, jobs are changing and some of the problems students will work on in the future may not even exist yet. That does not mean education has to predict exactly what comes next. Instead, he argues that students need ways of thinking that allow them to approach unfamiliar problems, understand them from different perspectives and reframe them when necessary. The goal is not to tell students what the future will look like. It is to equip them to meet it.
Why one discipline is not enough
The world does not organise its problems according to academic departments. Challenges involving AI, sustainability, society, technology or human behaviour rarely belong to only one discipline. While disciplines allow us to build deep expertise, Christopher argues that looking at a complex problem through only one lens can mean missing part of the picture.
Interdisciplinarity allows different perspectives to meet. Sometimes, it can even change how we understand the problem itself.
For a new university like IT:U, this creates a particular opportunity. Rather than tearing down disciplinary walls that already exist, the challenge is not to build them in the first place.
Learning starts with the problem
Another key part of the conversation is project based learning. Rather than first receiving knowledge and waiting until much later to apply it, students at IT:U work around problems from the beginning.
The problem creates the motivation to ask:
- What do I need to know?
- Which methods could help?
- Which perspectives am I missing?
This makes learning more active and self directed, moving away from simply absorbing information towards actually working with knowledge.
Designing technology means understanding people
Prof. Frauenberger leads the Designing Interactions specialization in the MSc Interdisciplinary Computing.Here, students explore what happens when people and technology come together.
One recent project investigated how people use agentic AI in professional and educational environments. Students explored how users describe these systems as tools, co-workers or sidekicks, and how they understand questions of authorship and responsibility.
Those insights can then become the basis for new designs. For example, what would an AI companion or personal assistant look like?
The question is not only whether it is technically possible.
- Would people want it?
- How intimate should it be?
- Where should the boundaries lie?
Understanding technology therefore also means understanding the people, relationships and contexts around it.
Technology is never just about technology
Our guest originally trained in computer science, but became increasingly interested in what happens once people start using the technologies we create. People do not always use technology in the way designers expect.
His example is SMS. Text messaging was not originally intended to become a major form of social interaction. People adopted the technology and turned it into something different. For him, this is why technology needs to be understood as part of a wider sociotechnical system.
Technology shapes society, and society shapes technology back.
Should technology really be human centered?
One of the final questions produces one of the episode’s most provocative answers. Should technology be truly human-centered? Prof Frauenberger’s answer is no, and in his view, it should not be.
Putting humans at the centre can be valuable, particularly when the alternative is technology designed only around technical or commercial priorities. But humans are not the only part of the world that matters. Our environments, ecosystems, animals and other species are also affected by the technologies we create.
Understanding people remains important, but it should not stop there.
One question for our next guest
Before wrapping up the first episode, Prof. Frauenberger leaves one question for the next ITellYou Podcast’s guest:
“What kind of relationship should we have with artificial intelligence in the future?”
The answer continues in the next episode.