How can we cultivate systems of human flourishing and expand compassion, joy and faith while also integrating artificial intelligence? In the Season 2 premiere of the Quantum Potential podcast, join Provost C. Cybele Raver and Jaco Hamman, director of the program in theology and practice and professor of religion, psychology and culture at Vanderbilt Divinity School. They dive into a riveting conversation on the questions of how to build hope and imagination in the human spirit, using artificial intelligence as a valuable tool.

This episode was edited and mixed by the team at Sound On // Sound Off. You can learn more about their work at SoundOnSoundOff.com.

Special thanks to Jad Abumrad, Vanderbilt University Distinguished Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and the executive producer of the Quantum Potential podcast and video series.

Copyright 2026, Vanderbilt University.

For more information about Quantum Potential, go to vanderbilt.edu/quantumpotential/podcast.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or Vanderbilt University.

Follow Vanderbilt on Social Media: http://social.vanderbilt.edu/

What does the future of AI and robotics look like in our daily lives and as a career field? In a special episode of the Quantum Potential podcast recorded in front of a live audience during Reunion 2025, Provost C. Cybele Raver talks with Matthew Johnson-Roberson, the inaugural dean of the College of Connected Computing. Johnson-Roberson is an internationally recognized roboticist and computer scientist whose work spans underwater robotics, computer vision and large-scale engineering collaborations such as self-driving robotic delivery vehicles. In this episode, he shares his expertise about the impact of rapidly evolving AI and robotics for the average person and for those interested in AI-focused career fields.

This episode was produced by Vanderbilt University and created through the collaboration of Randolph Infinger, Sydney Jones-Wright, Amber Palmer-Halma, Patrick Sams, Jennifer Stevens, Whit Stiles, Maisie Wilson, and Amy Wolf.

Special thanks to Jad Abumrad, Vanderbilt University Distinguished Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and the executive producer of the Quantum Potential podcast and video series.

Copyright 2025, Vanderbilt University.

For more information about Quantum Potential, go to vanderbilt.edu/quantumpotential/podcast.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or Vanderbilt University.

Follow Vanderbilt on Social Media: http://social.vanderbilt.edu/

Political propaganda and artificial intelligence–driven misinformation are infiltrating social media accounts, and Americans need to do something about it. That’s the warning revealed in research from two Vanderbilt professors and discussed on this special episode of the Quantum Potential podcast. The researchers explain their breakthrough red flag discovery and how they uncovered evidence of a state-sponsored company in China that is deploying sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns and profiling U.S. political figures.

Brett J. Goldstein is a research professor who leads the Wicked Problems Lab at the Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security and is a former Pentagon official. Brett V. Benson is an associate professor of political science and a faculty affiliate at the Institute of National Security who uses models to study some of the world’s complex security challenges.

Goldstein and Benson talk with Vanderbilt provost C. Cybele Raver about the growing threat of AI-driven propaganda and the warnings they wrote about in a guest essay in The New York Times, “The Era of A.I. Propaganda Has Arrived, and America Must Act.”

This episode was produced by Vanderbilt University and created through the collaboration of Randolph Infinger, Sydney Jones-Wright, Amber Palmer-Halma, Patrick Sams, Jennifer Stevens, Whit Stiles, Maisie Wilson, and Amy Wolf.

Special thanks to Jad Abumrad, Vanderbilt University Distinguished Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and the executive producer of the Quantum Potential podcast and video series.

Copyright 2025, Vanderbilt University.

For more information about Quantum Potential, go to vanderbilt.edu/quantumpotential/podcast.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or Vanderbilt University.

Follow Vanderbilt on Social Media: http://social.vanderbilt.edu/