Join colleagues for a discussion centered around the 2024-25 Geneseo Common Read selection, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place, by Janelle Shane (2019). This funny and accessible read supports the Geneseo Ideas That Matter focus on artificial intelligence this year. 

Our winter break reading group will meet virtually, in order to expand access. There will be 2 sessions: 

• Friday, Jan. 3, 10-11am (Introduction through Chapter 5)
• Friday, Jan. 17, 10-11am (Chapter 6 through Conclusion)

This invitation is open to all. You do not need to have read the relevant portion of the book in order to join us in either meeting. 

Discussions will include perspectives shared from students who took the Common Read course in Fall 2024. We encourage you to share your own experiences and perspectives on AI as part of our conversations. 

A limited number of copies of this book are available for participants through the TLC. Please email Alexis (clifton@geneseo.edu) to request a copy. 

About the book: 
"You look like a thing and I love you" is one of the best pickup lines ever . . . according to an artificial intelligence trained by scientist Janelle Shane, creator of the popular blog AI Weirdness. She creates silly AIs that learn how to name paint colors, create the best recipes, and even flirt (badly) with humans—all to understand the technology that governs so much of our daily lives.

We rely on AI every day for recommendations, for translations, and to put cat ears on our selfie videos. We also trust AI with matters of life and death, on the road and in our hospitals. But how smart is AI really... and how does it solve problems, understand humans, and even drive self-driving cars?

Shane delivers the answers to every AI question you've ever asked, and some you definitely haven't. Like, how can a computer design the perfect sandwich? What does robot-generated Harry Potter fan-fiction look like? And is the world's best Halloween costume really "Vampire Hog Bride"?

In this smart, often hilarious introduction to the most interesting science of our time, Shane shows how these programs learn, fail, and adapt—and how they reflect the best and worst of humanity.

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You is the perfect book for anyone curious about what the robots in our lives are thinking.