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Tyler Abrams:
ASU partners with ChatGPT, creating a new relationship with higher education and OpenAI.
Abby Bessinger:
And State Press Reporter Tyler Abrams explores the ASU club about the late 90s toy– BeyBlades.
I’m Abby Bessinger:
Tyler Abrams:
I’m Tyler Abrams, and this is State Press Play.
Abby Bessinger:
Also, this week, we cover scholarship opportunities for students after ASUs tuition increase.
Tyler Abrams:
But first...
Abby Bessinger:
ASU announced its partnership with ChatG PT enterprise to test the grounds of mixing artificial intelligence with higher education.
I’m here with State Press senior reporter Jack Barron, who has more on the story. Hi Jack!
Jack Barron:
Hi!
Abby Bessinger:
So, can you explain what this partnership means for ASU?
Jack Barron:
ChatGPT Enterprise is the most powerful version of ChatGPT out there. The service was launched last August and includes unlimited access to GPT-4 which is nearly twice as fast as other renditions of ChatGPT. ASU said that ChatGPT Enterprise will be used for everything from improving classes, to research and what the University calls “organizational tasks.”
Abby Bessinger:
That is super cool. So, students have traditionally been advised against using AI in the case of violating academic integrity and plagiarism. Do you see more concerns with this in the new partnership?
Jack Barron:
Yeah the University will probably have a hard time walking the tightrope between academic integrity and AI. However, ASU does seem to think that AI will be a net positive for education with plans to create AI avatars to help students study for classes. It's an untested ground for universities and tech AI everything. So it's really hard to say right now if it's going to be positive or negative for ASU.
Abby Bessinger:
What do you think the prospects are for ASU using this technology?
Jack Barron:
The University said that the tech could do things like singing to help students learn tough concepts. But initially, ASU is limiting access to faculty and staff and hasn’t announced when students will get to use Enterprise. But this technology seems like something that can make life easier for students and faculty.
To hear more from Barron, please tune in to State Press Play.
READ MORE: ASU ANNOUNCES FIRST PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN OPENAI AND A UNIVERSITY
Original Audio Reporting:
Abby Bessinger:
Is it time to…let it rip? Beyblades, I mean. As a kid, if you were a fan of the popular spinning toy from Hasbro, you may remember watching the show, seeing metal spinning tops destroy each other in epic battles. State Press podcast reporter Tyler Abrams explores a young club from the West campus making an impact on students for its friendly atmosphere and its love of Beyblades.
Tyler Abrams:
Seated in a small classroom on the ASU West Campus, are a small group of students ripping Beyblades, special plastic spinning tops that are spun using a special spin launcher that fits on top of each Beyblade. Players gather around the arena, or decagon, and launch their Beyblades at each other until the last one is left standing. The club is called the West Bladers Association. Junior ASU student and president of the West Bladers Association, James Kinney explains more.
James Kinney:
It's a pretty relaxed club that just plays with Beyblades. We hold tournaments and we generally, just sometimes we watch the show, sometimes we watch tournaments that other people have and we just play with Beyblades. That's kind of branched out recently. Last semester we introduced other areas toys, like we have some Legos now. And some people play card games while they're there, and everyone has a chance to relax and just study if they want to. It was created by myself and three my roommates our freshman year to act as more of a social thing that we could connect on and that grew into our friends wanting to get in on it. So, we created the club and going from their home grown into its own thing.
Tyler Abrams:
Beyblades originated from a Japanese company called Takara in 1999. However, Beyblades began to garner international appeal after the release of the 2001 anime titled Beyblade. And the rest they say is history. Once international toy conglomerate Hasbro started manufacturing their own beyblades, every Toys R Us, Walmart and Target had their shelves stocked with Beys.
James Kinney:
Yeah, a lot of the times in the show, especially, Beyblades are pretty like intense. Like they create a whirlwind and tornadoes and like they split seas and stuff. And even in real life people are lighting Beyblades on fire and like having them go against each other. And even the like competitive scene is pretty intense. But most people in the club know each other already, so it's more of a friendly competition thing.
Tyler Abrams:
The club consists of tournaments that are broken up into March Madness style brackets. Once you win your match, you advance to the next one until the winner takes all.
James Kinney:
Oh, yeah. We do a we do a bracket system, but not really with any seeding or anything. Most people are at the same skill level because of the same kind of level of interest that they have. It's a March Madness style bracket with single elimination. So like every round has three like battles in it and then whoever wins most there, they kind of move on. We don't really do a loser's bracket though, if we do is just to see who got third or fourth because otherwise it's just a little bit of a mess to go around.
Tyler Abrams:
I decided to try my own hand at the toys, and visit their club Thursday to see how it works. So there we were, nestled in the middle of the classroom…
Audio: James Kinney, Noah Martin and Tyler Abrams playing with Beyblades.
The general atmosphere was very calm and personable. Even though we were all competing, everyone was having a good time. Above all, students like junior applied computing major, Noah Martin, who grew up on watching the Beyblade show, appreciate the engaging atmosphere at West Bladers.
Noah Martin:
I guess what makes the club just a really nice for me is just the engagement with everyone. It's fun playing a little bit Beyblades fun, messiness and Legos. And it's fun, just chilling out here with everybody. It's just a nice chill area to hang out, talk to some people, make some friends and just have fun.
Tyler Abrams:
If you're interested in joining the West Bladers Association or you simply want to know more, you can check them out on ASU.campuslabs.com and type in the West Bladers Association. Or you could just look him up on Instagram @westbladers.
This was original reporting by the podcast desk and can only be found on State Press Play.
Abby Bessinger:
Arizona State University has set an increased tuition rate for the 2024–2025 academic year. State Press reporter, Sita Sudhakar is here to give students some insights on the numerous scholar opportunities ASU has to offer.
Hi Sita!
Sita Sudhakar:
Hi!
Abby Bessinger:
So, every year students are expected to see a range of tuition increases depending on whether they are undergraduate, graduate international, or online students. Can you break that down for us?
Sita Sudhakar:
The Arizona Board of Regents basically allocates the funding. And they set this standard for ASU to not increase tuition over 3%. ASU Undergraduate and graduate students who pay resident tuition will see a 1.5% price increase. For undergraduate students paying non-resident or international tuition, there will be a 3% increase. There will also be a 3% increase in non-resident graduate tuition.
Abby Bessinger:
Mmm okay. What are some scholarship opportunities available that can lessen the load of student debt?
Sita Sudhakar:
Yeah, totally! ASU offers so many different kinds of scholarships. If you look on the ASU scholarship portal, there are over 500 scholarships available for students. There are also filters within the scholarship portal that can make the scholarship search easier. You can filter by GPA, major, grade level, and more. Using these filters can make searching for scholarships much faster.
To hear more from Sudhakar, please tune in to State Press Play.
READ MORE: ASU INCREASES TUITION FOR 2024-2025 ACADEMIC YEAR ACROSS THE BOARD
Tyler Abrams:
And that’s all for this week’s State Press Play. I’m Tyler Abrams.
Abby Bessinger:
And I’m Abby Bessinger. State Press Play is produced by our podcast desk editor, Gabriella Fernbaugh. Our original music is by Ellie Willard and Jake LeRoux.
Tyler Abrams:
Special thanks to our managing team, Alexis Heichman and Morgan Kubasko.
Abby Bessinger:
You can check out all these stories and more on statepress.com. See you next week, Devils!
