Usefulness happens while we do other things

This paper explores the impact of generative AI (GAI) on higher education, framing it as an ‘endangerment’ of established practices and values. It challenges the dominant utilitarian perspective, which prioritizes the usefulness of tools and technologies, arguing that this approach overlooks the transformative potency of GAI, and its impact on historical learning practices, such as reading and writing. Drawing on Arendt’s distinction between values and instruments, and Dewey and Rorty’s pragmatism, the paper advocates for a more experimental and less prescriptive approach to using GAI. This involves embracing the unexpected outcomes and ‘glitches’ that can arise from using the technology, promoting a more situational and less pre-determined understanding of its role in education. The paper concludes by suggesting that an experimentalist approach, informed by pragmatism and Ahmed’s feminist critique, is necessary to navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by GAI and thereby it is possible to renew the values of higher education. The paper is conceptually exploratory and essayistic-philosophical in nature.