Will AI Make Peer Notetakers Obsolete? | Magazine

On March 20, Aria-Vue L. Daugherty ’29 was seriously injured in a bike accident in D.C. The incident exacerbated her pre-existing medical conditions, leading to a concussion and a subsequent reliance on Harvard’s Peer Notetaker service.
Daugherty, a participant in the Disability Access Office’s Peer Notetaker program, finds the human element of the service invaluable and more trustworthy than AI notetaking platforms due to concerns about “hallucinations.”
The Peer Notetaker service assists around 50 students with disabilities annually, providing a $600 stipend to hired notetakers who share detailed, handwritten notes of lectures with those who need them.
While some students and notetakers express skepticism about the uniqueness of human notetaking, they highlight the human ability to capture nuances, frames concepts, and better interpret non-textual information like images and graphs.
Peer notetakers argue that AI might not fully understand or process all aspects of lectures, especially in smaller classes where non-visual information is significant.
Despite some optimism about AI’s potential advantages, like lower costs and improved personalization, others argue that human notetakers offer irreplaceable insights and connections that AI currently cannot replicate.
Harvard currently offers both a peer notetaking system and an AI-driven transcription tool, with each having its unique benefits and serving different needs.

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