Feedback on Dr. Sunghee Yun’s San Jose State University AI Lecture Series and Advanced Learning Requests
Authors - Kyungpook National University, School of Computer Science
Feedback on AI Lecture Series
Overall Impression
The five AI lectures delivered over the past four days covered an exceptionally broad and deep range of topics—from the history of AI, core algorithms, and the nature and limitations of LLMs, to ethical and philosophical discussions, and Silicon Valley’s technological culture. The lectures were received by students not merely as knowledge transfer, but as a transformative experience that expanded their entire framework of thinking.
The following aspects were particularly impressive to students:
- Viewing AI not as an algorithm or tool, but as a “social system”
- Understanding the essence of LLMs (conditional probability models), their limitations, and recognizing hallucination as a structural characteristic rather than a defect
- The interactive, discussion-based lecture format centered on Q&A rather than theory-focused instruction
- Insights into Silicon Valley culture, trust in engineers, and the significance of physical proximity and clustering
- Real-world case studies from bio AI, multimodal systems, and robotics
Many students expressed sentiments such as:
Deep insights that are difficult to find on the web
My entire perspective on AI has completely changed
They reported gaining tremendous inspiration both academically and in terms of career direction.
Key Impressive Topics
Paradigm Shift in Understanding LLMs and Hallucination
- Understanding hallucination not simply as an error or bug, but as the structural engine that enables LLM creativity and performance
- The discussion that “a model with hallucination completely suppressed might lose its appeal”
- Through comparisons with human cognitive biases and confirmation bias, gaining a multidimensional understanding of commonalities and differences between AI and human intelligence
Historical and Structural Understanding of AI Technology Evolution
- The progression from Symbolism → Connectionism → Transformer → LLM
- Clear understanding that performance breakthroughs result not from simple model size increases, but from the combination of architectural changes + data + computing resources
- Explanation of nonlinear performance improvements that occur when crossing critical thresholds
Ethical, Philosophical, and Social Discussions Beyond Technology
- The risks of AI anthropomorphization
- Legal responsibility, fairness, and issues in social decision-making applications
- Awareness of AI not as “well-functioning technology” but as a system with social influence
Requests for Advanced Learning
Common Requests for the Remaining Three Lectures
Student requests can be organized into four main axes:
Real-World, Production-Level AI Use Cases from Silicon Valley
This was the most commonly requested topic among students.
- How Big Tech and startups are actually integrating LLMs into real services
- How RAG, AI Agents, and multimodal AI are implemented not as conceptual ideas, but as operational workflows and technology stacks
- Production environment challenges (bottlenecks, data pipelines, operational issues) beyond simple demos
We’re curious about how it’s actually being used in the field, more than theory.
Business Impact and Market Changes Driven by AI Technology
- How generative AI and LLMs are reshaping:
- Corporate revenue structures
- Existing business models
- Sources of competitive advantage
- How technological possibilities are transformed into “monetizable value” through strategy and decision-making
- How technology–market–organization align in Silicon Valley
Realistic Stories About Career Paths, Careers, and Entrepreneurship
Many students showed significant interest in your personal choices and experiences.
- The decisive moment that led you to decide on entrepreneurship
- The most challenging moments in the startup process and how you overcame them
- Criteria for whom you would recommend entrepreneurship
- Realistic routes and examples for Korean undergraduate students to enter Silicon Valley startups/Big Tech
- Competencies currently required in the Silicon Valley job market
Questions About “Human Capabilities That Remain in the AI Era”
- To what extent can developers delegate to AI, and what must they verify?
- Beyond simple coding ability, what are the enduring core competencies (thinking skills, questioning ability, verification skills)?
- Human roles and tasks that will become more important in the AI era
Conclusion and Words of Gratitude
This lecture series became a turning point that helped students recognize AI technology as “an entity to think with” rather than “a subject to learn.”
Many students reported that they began to seriously reconsider:
- Their major choices
- Whether to pursue graduate studies
- Entrepreneurship and career directions
On behalf of the students in the School of Computer Science at Kyungpook National University, we sincerely thank you for sharing deep insights and candid perspectives despite your busy schedule.
We look forward to the remaining lectures with great anticipation.
Appendix
Detailed Student Feedback and Advanced Learning Requests
| Student | Key Takeaways | Topics for Future Lectures / Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Jin - | Understood the big picture from AI history to industrial application | Real Silicon Valley LLM use cases, product workflows and tech stacks for RAG·AI Agent |
| Lee - | Impressive flow of AI development (Transformer~LLM), Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem, and ethical/philosophical discussions | Case studies on how AI creates business impact and revenue structures |
| Lee - | Deep explanation of LLM essence and structural characteristics of hallucination | How Silicon Valley’s tech culture and trust-based environment is formed |
| Park - | Appreciated ethical/social issues and LLM principles understanding, discussion-based class format | History and current trends in RL and robotics |
| Yang - | Understanding KNN limitations and data importance, concept clarification of hallucination through discussion | Motivation for entrepreneurship, startup process story, career choice process |
| Lee - | Great inspiration from free Q&A and real case-based insights | Startup triggers·challenges·overcoming, qualities suited for entrepreneurship, promising human roles in AI era |
| Nam - | Particularly beneficial explanation connecting introductory knowledge and bio AI cases | Reality of bio AI career path (demand·salary), outlook for Korean bio industry |
| Park - | Technology + humanistic insights, discussions on LLM essence and limitations | AI regulation·copyright debates, engineer qualities, competencies required in Silicon Valley job market |
| Hong - | Essence of language model learning, value of hallucination, impressive Silicon Valley clustering culture | Domains to delegate to AI vs. verify in practice, learning direction in AI era |
| Park - | Systematic understanding from AI history to multimodal·robotics, impressive robot demo | Real product applications of multimodal·agentic AI, tech stack·operational know-how |
| Park - | Insight into viewing hallucination as engine of intelligence and importance of suppression·control | Realistic routes for Korean undergrads to Silicon Valley internships·employment |
| Lee - | Connectionism-centered AI development, social meaning of bio AI, emphasis on human verification capabilities | AI research flow from theory→application, enduring core competencies, Dr. Yun’s driving force |
This document represents a comprehensive summary of student feedback and learning requests following Dr. Sunghee Yun’s AI lecture series at Kyungpook National University.