Editor's Note

Dear reader, This week I wasn’t quite sure what to open this note with, so I turned to ChatGPT to save me. It suggested that I tell you, “While the weather outside may be unpredictable, the articles in this week’s issue of FM are sure to provide a delightful forecast of diverse topics, ranging from science and technology breakthroughs to culture and arts, and everything in between.” I’m not quite sure what it means to “provide a delightful forecast of diverse topics,” but, hey, at least now I have a conceit. In reality, the real saviors this week are HD and SEW who take on ChatGPT and cheating in this issue’s scrut. They talked to professors and students, hoping to understand how they are responding to the emergence of AI that can write and code fluently. Along the way, they examine some limitations of ChatGPT, consider the future of AI, and end up learning a little bit about learning. Whether you’re a ChatGPT enthusiast (my friend is asking it for advice on whether to switch concentrations) or a ChatGPT skeptic (another friend is quite dismayed by its inability to play chess) or have some other take on ChatGPT, read this scrut! ChatGPT — and its impact on the classroom — may not be exactly what you think. Speaking of things that aren’t quite what they seem, this week EJS and EJJ interview Anna Delvey — or should that be Anna Sorokin — examining her public persona, the implications of her visit to a Harvard Business School class, and white collar crime. NDC and AEP talk to Kate Smith, a painting conservator at Harvard Art Museums, about getting up close to paintings, making mistakes, and diversity in the conservator world. In this week’s 15Q, MG interviews Manja Klemenčič, a sociology professor, about student agency, pre-professionalism, and small acts of kindness. In a photo essay, BYC graces us with beautiful photos of birds in Harvard’s Ornithology Collection, exploring the beautiful plumages of several different species. MTB and CJK visit the giant papier-mâché octopus that was recently restored and hangs in the lobby of the Northwest Building now. STB writes about the role that Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard government professor, played in constructing apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s. In this week’s endpaper AZW writes about his love for (or addiction to) photography and how he came to resist the urge to document everything, leaving room to be fully present. Thank you to JJG, JH, MQ, SET, SS, MHS, and SCS for maestro mastery; to SCS, MQ, BYC, JZL, and PC for contributing their photography and design talents to this issue; to BWF for scroofing; and to MX and BLK for proofing. AHL, we’re doing it! Thank you for listening to all my complaints, emotional support, and being there for every up and every down. Looking forward to the social (finally), and to something shiny on the horizon… FM Love, IYG & AHL