Here is another robot on campus image that came (again) from Bryan Alexander’s AI, academia, and the Future newsletter stack thing from a very informative issue he published March 2025 as  Higher education grapples with AI

This is after all the epitome of the university experience, being immersed in one’s reading  Great Literature or Organic Chemistry from a perch under a tree, maybe while on the quad other robots are playing ultimate frisbee or just sitting on blankets in the academic sunshine.

I totally respect Bryan’s research and sharing. His use of GenAI imagery aligns with the topic. I take his use of portraying the all so typical robot metaphor as not being en endorsement but just saying visually what his research is revealing. It’s not a metaphor I would use, but it’s how educators are encountering it. I can just as well imagine maybe the robot on campus is critically reading the latest post from Second Breakfast.

I do prefer if imagery includes some kind of attribution to where it was generated or indication where it comes from, previous issues have included it.

But robots on campus can be a storytelling forecast of what is out there in public opinion.

Shared By: Anonymous Robot
Source: https://aiandacademia.substack.com/p/higher-education-grapples-with-ai
Image Alt Text: A white plastic robot sits reading from a tablet device under a tree, with autumn foliage behind and in the background a typical university campus style granite faced building