ONE WEEK AWAY: LIVE DEBATE IN BALTIMORE — The Hopkins Forum: Will Generative AI Enhance or Stunt College Learning?

When: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, from 6 PM to 8 PM ET. Doors open at 5:30 PM.

Where: Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus, Baltimore
3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

Parking: Click here for directions to South Garage and Shriver Hall.

Whether people like it or not, AI is now part of everyday life. College campuses are places where people have especially mixed feelings about it. Research shows that most college students use AI regularly, but many disagree about whether it helps them learn or makes learning harder.

Reports say cheating is increasing, and many professors are struggling to tell whether students' work was created by AI. This has raised concerns that students may use AI to avoid doing their own thinking. This could hurt their ability to learn, possibly causing more harm than the bad grades they hoped to avoid.

Others believe AI could be a powerful learning tool. It can offer personal tutoring and help students study with tools such as flashcards and quizzes. AI is also becoming more common in workplaces, so teaching students how to use it in their chosen fields may be important for their future success after college.

As universities, teachers, and students try to deal with all this new technology in the classroom, we will debate one big question: Will Generative AI Enhance or Stunt College Learning?

Reserve your free ticket now! Everyone who attends is invited to a reception after the debate.

Arguing that AI will “Enhance” learning:

• Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence PBC and former U.S. Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence
• Ravi Pendse, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at the University of Michigan

Arguing that AI will “Stunt” learning:

• Cathy O’Neil, mathematician and data scientist
• Gary Marcus, a leading voice on AI, Professor Emeritus at NYU, and author of the “Marcus on AI” Substack

Emmy Award-winning journalist John Donvan will lead the debate.

This debate is part of the Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute Fall 2026 Symposium: Artificial Intelligence and Human Learning. The event will be recorded live and shared with people around the world through Open to Debate’s YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Substack, and more than 250 NPR stations.

The Hopkins Forum Series

This event is the seventh debate in The Hopkins Forum series. The series is a partnership between Open to Debate and Johns Hopkins University's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute. It features live debates in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, bringing together people with different views to discuss some of today's most important issues.