The national higher education publication Inside Higher Ed published an essay by President Steven Tepper titled My Conversation with AI's Ayn Rand, with the subtitle, AI may help higher ed with its viewpoint diversity challenges. The Dec. 9 piece chronicled Tepper’s exploration of his and Rand’s views on capitalism via the AI app, Claude.
Tepper began with this question, “What if we could address these two [viewpoint diversity and artificial intelligence] simultaneously, employing AI to create productive intellectual friction across different political and philosophical positions?” And so, the conversation ensued between Claude’s version of Ayn Rand and Tepper.
Posing questions including, “In your version of capitalism, how do humans/societies decide to produce something bigger than anyone could do alone?” Rand offered one acerbic reply after another. Her comments were accompanied by Claude-generated stage cues, for example, “Adjusting her glasses with a stern expression” or “Takes drag from cigarette.”
Tepper pronounced the experience, “one of the most intellectually engaging 90 minutes I have spent in a long time.” He sent the transcript to Professor of Philosophy Russell Marcus who noted, “An AI Bot will never be able to genuinely distinguish between debating with the intent of ‘winning’ an argument and debating with the intent of arriving at a deeper understanding of the subject matter at hand.”
“But can we also use AI to help us practice how we engage with difference, better formulate our arguments and ask deeper and more complex questions? Tepper asked in conclusion.
Posted December 12, 2025
