All Souls exam questions and the limits of machine reasoning
10 days ago
- #AI limitations
- #academic assessment
- #Oxford traditions
- Oxford University's unique traditions, like the ivy-laced beer ritual, highlight its deep connection to history.
- All Souls College is known for its eccentric rituals, such as the Mallard Song, and the notoriously difficult All Souls Examinations.
- The All Souls Examinations test originality and individual perspective, contrasting with standard academic assessments that prioritize median answers.
- AI models excel in factual and historical analysis but struggle with originality and personal perspective in writing, as shown by their performance on All Souls' essay prompts.
- The 'jagged frontier' of AI reasoning reveals limitations in creative and original thought, especially in response to abstract or single-word prompts.
- Humanistic education's future may lie in fostering creativity, originality, and personal grounding in knowledge, areas where AI currently falls short.
- The article suggests that universities should reconsider assessment methods to emphasize human elements over standardization in the age of AI.