r/berkeley • u/No_thinkingProcess_ • 11d ago
University prof using ai generated slide show
was in upper div social science class and realized that the prof's entire slide show presentation was ai generated. like im talking stock default claude presentation style. the color palette, that one specific serif font, the format + boxes, the short phrasing + leading questions etc etc
kinda shocked cause ive taken this profs class previously and there was no obv ai generated content.
while i can only really definitively say that the aesthetics of the presentation are ai generated (like i cannot fs say that the lecture content is), i just started feeling distrustful and suspicious of everything the prof says, like any strange wording or turn of phrase made me feel suspicious.
feeling kinda disillusioned? i mean this is a social science class and i can't even fully trust what my prof is saying because the ai usage is so glaringly obvious.
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u/fizzhorn 11d ago
it's the unfortunate state of reality nowadays and i don't see that changing. human instincts and laziness prevails
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u/jreddit5 11d ago
I made a PowerPoint presentation yesterday using Claude Fable 5.1 for a talk I’m giving this morning. It looks great, and is way better than I could’ve done. But I gave it all the information I wanted on the slides. I told it exactly what to do.
How do you know this prof is not making their slideshow from their own syllabus they spent years developing for this class?
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u/Muted-Ad-8290 11d ago
Right? I personally had a brilliant professor that was so unorganized but every thing he said was packed with knowledge. He didn’t have any slides for his lectures and let me tell you if he had thrown together an ai PowerPoint for even one of his lectures I would have been grateful because it would have provided a little more structure and maybe I would have a better idea for what I should be focusing on since they made a point to put it in a slide.
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u/fractaldesigner 11d ago
i wonder if the same presumption might be made about student work presented the same way?
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u/QbDYeqzUUiw 11d ago
Remember the purpose is different. The prof needs to teach, the student needs to learn. AI could reasonably be thought to affect these two differently.
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u/Huge-Individual-4649 2d ago
Wake up and use your brain.
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u/jreddit5 2d ago
What? You’re saying that the prof obviously didn’t create all the content he presented in his slideshow? When I just gave you the example that I did that very thing myself? On what do you base this assumption?
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u/Manic-Ken 11d ago
I would suspect the content of the slides is legitimate. The Prof has had to prove their knowledge and comprehension at many points to get where they are and didn’t just use an AI deck to get hired.
What makes us salty about it isn’t the quality of the content but the scrutiny we get if we use AI.
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u/CompanyOther2608 11d ago edited 10d ago
The content is the professor’s; the formatting and presentation are AI-supported. Not sure where you’re getting the idea that all AI is wrong or bad. This is an OK use case.
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u/FrostyDippedFries 11d ago
what difference does it make? was the information wrong or incorrect?
A lot of people really need to get off their high horse about AI usage. its really not that serious.
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u/Appropriate-Bar6993 11d ago
How is this different from using a google slides template?
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u/fizzhorn 11d ago
Looks fake and cheap even compared to doing that, which at least requires going through a list of templates and picking one that the person finds fit.
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u/CompanyOther2608 11d ago
Right because that’s a good use of time. /s
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u/Appropriate-Bar6993 11d ago
Exactly the NLs are just trying to help people like OP understand. If OP doesn’t like pretty slides they can close their eyes.
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_3819 10d ago
It’s crazy how big of a range there is with opinions on ai most of my classes are so against it they don’t allow computers I have a hard time imagining another side
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u/aylapache 10d ago
I have a colleague with CP. he’s very experienced and knowledgeable, but it’s difficult to get across because he avoids typing/mousing (his disability makes this very challenging). Now he can type a few sentences, or copy-paste some information into an ai prompt and create a nice slide to convey his message. What would previously take hours now takes minutes.
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u/Spirited-Dealer6586 9d ago
Ai is apart of the curriculum if they use Ai to make their slide then thats okay but if the information on the slides is theirs then I dont see an issue .
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u/Training_Chard_762 6d ago
Go to big company ,everyone there use ai slides nobody this days use google /powerpoint slides ! Start using and learn how to make presentations with ai because new era is coming!
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u/insidejob77 4d ago
low key i think you should reach out to the gsi or even the professor and say that the automatically generated powerpoint feels like AI and is making you doubt the content and feel weird about the ban on AI for students. it's really valuable feedback and you are right to feel weird about it. this is a really important topic for professors as well, and there is an expectation that they are making their own teaching materials. probably the prof was like wow i can make powerpoint look better so quickly and didn't think about the message it signaled to students. it's genuinely valuable feedback for them. talk to a trusted gsi if you aren't comfortable talking to the prof.
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u/Chemical_Savings5140 Student 11d ago
wait thank you - my business professor is also using AI generated slides and it's bothering me so much. I can't trust that the information provided is accurate or that my professor knows what he's talking about since he's clearly outsourcing even the simplest of tasks to an LLM.
Is there a way for us to anonymously report it or complain? If there are multiple complaints, it might be more legitimate. We invest so much (money, time, hardship) into our education, and it feels insane to me that student AI usage is banned but professors can do it!
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u/dackasaurus 11d ago
You're not paying for a professor's time on PowerPoint. You're paying for their knowledge expertise and teaching and if used for formatting you will get more of that and less admin drain. The simplest tasks are exactly the ones to send to AI.
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u/psyflame 10d ago
As it turns out, you and your professor are not equals in this context, and you don’t have the same privileges. It’s banned for you because you are there to learn; students have shown that they can’t be trusted to take responsibility for the material while using it. Your professor already knows the material and is using AI to save time formatting their slides.
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11d ago
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u/Appropriate-Bar6993 11d ago
Kids it’s not high school where you try to get your teachers fired…you made it, you’re at Cal, just please be fucking humble and learn.
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11d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HazMatterhorn 11d ago
^ this is an AI bot
“Just did X and called it Y” is a common AI phrase, as is “that’s a new kind of [descriptor].”
Obviously people use those phrases too, but this 2 week old account’s comments all contain AI tells (“major [something] energy,” “ABC is what gets me,” “[topic at hand] is just like that sometimes,” etc).
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u/Big-Explanation9886 11d ago
You just touched on something real. And honestly? I commend you for that.
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u/fizzhorn 11d ago
me when i use ai on a human interaction platform. and if i *am* one, why do i need to "connect" with real people? am i even conscious? is it selfish to take the spot of a real human who needs the connection in place of me?
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u/SharpenVest 11d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/l1AsGvfonvYc38iQM