Andrew Maynard

Tempe

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Undisciplined academic working on tech, society, the future. Director of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative & Prof. of Advanced Technology Transitions

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Articles

What does responsible innovation mean in an age of accelerating AI?

3 weeks ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

A new speculative scenario on AI futures is currently doing the rounds, and attracting a lot of attention. AI 2027 maps out what its authors consider to be plausible near-term futures for artificial intelligence leading to the emergence of superintelligence by 2027, followed by radical shifts in the world order. If this sounds like science fiction to you, you wouldn’t be the only one to think this.
Can agentic AI build your entire online course?

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

I almost didn’t post this piece. I had a positive experience working with the agentic AI Manus a few days ago to create an online course, and that’s what prompted the article. However, since then I’ve failed to replicate this success. As well as being severely throttled — no doubt due to a massive surge of interest from people wanting to try it — Manus has been very inconsistent in what it’s been able to produce.
When Agentic AI Takes Charge - First impressions of Manus

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

Everything you’re about to read is made up. Sort of. I’ve been playing with Manus this past week — a new agentic AI from the Chinese company Monica, and a product the company’s co-founder and chief scientist Yichai “Peak” Ji describes as the “the first general AI agent.” Ji may be over hyping the “first” a bit. But Manus is, nevertheless quite startling in how it’s able to devise and execute a plan based on an initial prompt.
AI and Technological Change: the Postman Always Delivers

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu | Andrew Maynard

Episode 22, March 11, 2025Also available on Spotify, YouTube, and anywhere good podcasts are available. In this insightful episode, Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard frame ways of thinking and processing the increased speed of technological change, examining the complexities of AI (and other emergent technologies) and its profound implications for society.
Five things we need to know about technological change

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

In March 1998, the Archbishop of Denver hosted an international conference on "The New Technologies and the Human Person: Communicating the Faith in the New Millennium." The meeting, by all accounts, brought together an eclectic group of clergy, theologians, educators, and technology experts concerned with how new media and technological change would affect society and religious faith as the year 2000. And one of those speakers was the author and tech critic Neil Postman.
The "hard" concept of care in technology innovation

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

A little over a year ago I was sitting in a meeting where some of the world’s leading experts were discussing emerging developments in AI. But what caught my attention was not the latest in frontier models or novel advances in machine learning, but a psychologist talking about the concept of care. That psychologist was Alison Gopnick, and she was exploring the intersection between care, caregiving, and artificial intelligence.
AI and the lure of permissionless innovation

1 month ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

A couple of months ago, Reid Hoffman posted the following on X:I have a lot of respect for Reid, and I have a good sense of where he’s coming from here. But I found his endorsement of permissionless innovation somewhat jarring — especially as it’s an idea that I’ve cautioned against in my work and writing over the years.
The Artisanal Intellectual in the Age of AI

2 months ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

I must confess that, since getting my hands on OpenAI’s Deep Research (not to be confused with the just-released Deep Research feature on Perplexity), I’ve been intrigued by how it’s forcing me to rethink what it means to be someone who makes a living by thinking. Last week that led to me exploring Deep Research’s ability to research and write a complete PhD dissertation — unaided, apart from some final formatting.
Can AI write your PhD dissertation for you?

2 months ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

Just a few days ago I asked the question: Does OpenAI's Deep Research signal the end of human-only scholarship? I’d just got my hands on OpenAI’s new AI research tool Deep Research, and l was feeling somewhat overawed with what it was capable of — despite its flaws. Like many early users, I was using it to research and write relatively short reports and papers. But I was intrigued to know how much further I could push it.
Does OpenAI's Deep Research signal the end of human-only scholarship?

2 months ago | futureofbeinghuman.com | Andrew Maynard

This past Sunday, OpenAI launched Deep Research — an extension of its growing platform of AI tools, and one which the company claims is an “agent that can do work for you independently … at the level of a research analyst.”I got access to the new tool first thing yesterday morning, and immediately put it to work on a project I’ve been meaning to explore for some time: writing a comprehensive framing paper on navigating advanced technology transitions.