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This winter, Beatrice Institute invites four panelists to analyze the assumptions and functionality surrounding AI in the arenas of curriculum building, agentic AI, Anthropic's model of the economy, and human labor.
Technological advances have a long history of replacing aspects of human work. Some tools elevate the user, allowing him to achieve new heights in his work. Others seem to diminish his role, or even threaten to render him unnecessary.
Determining whether a particular technology ennobles or disfigures us requires a close examination of its usage and effects alongside a correct anthropology of what the human person is for.
AI forces us to confront these questions on new terrain with higher stakes.
Panelists
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Larry Heimann is a Teaching Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. He teaches classes in mobile application development, software development, and web application security. Dr. Heimann does pedagogical research in two areas: the impact of software team mentoring and the use of generative AI tools in STEM classrooms. His current research in cybersecurity uses game theory and computer simulations to study cybercriminal team behavior.
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Kristin graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with Bachelor's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Classics (Latin Language track). She has worked in industry at FedEx for the past eight years, first as an Industrial Engineer and later transitioning to her current role of Data Architect in IT. Her job duties include designing data systems for corporate initiatives that utilize modern software solutions to plan transportation and logistics for package shipments within the FedEx network.
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Jonathan P. Caulkins is the H. Guyford Stever University Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
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Meredith McDonough Thornburgh earned her Ph.D. in History from Princeton University, where she studied the economic history of the modern world. She received her B.A. in Economics and History from The University of Chicago. Her dissertation, which she defended in May 2026, studied the social and technological transformation of the household economy in the 20th century from a place of economic production to one associated with economic consumption. Her research is downstream of three fundamental interests: the nature of human freedom, how societies organize scarce resources toward competing ends, and, as it was known in the 19th century, “the woman question.”