# March 25, 2026 — Interview with Amanda Licastro Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053/march-25-2026-interview-with-amanda-licastro Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053/march-25-2026-interview-with-amanda-licastro.md Podcast: [The DISRUPTED SCIENCE Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053) Published: 2026-03-25T17:14:25+00:00 Episode link: https://disruptedscience.podbean.com/e/march-25-2026-%e2%80%94-interview-with-amanda-licastro/ Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/pcexnzdy2zdc8dp4/disrupted_032526a8tjo.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053/episodes/march-25-2026-interview-with-amanda-licastro Duration seconds: 3493 ## Resource Today, we’re joined by Amanda Licastro, Head of Digital Scholarship Strategies and Visiting Associate Professor in English at Swarthmore College. Amanda recently participated in one of Rick Anderson’s debates at the Researcher to Reader conference in London. This one was titled, “Resolved: AI Tools Will Provide a Net Benefit to Scholarly Communication.” Amanda took the side of opposing that statement. In these debates, a poll is taken before the participants speak to gauge audience sentiment at the outset. Then, after the speakers exchange opening statements and responses, the poll is repeated. Before the start of the debate, 80% of the audience believed AI would be a net benefit to scholarly communications. After a professional and well-natured presentation of facts, 52% of the audience came to believe that AI would not be a net benefit to scholarly communications. We discuss a variety of great and relevant topics, including use of AI in colleges, the dark downsides, and fears of skill, cognitive, and information degradation, as well as tricks and techniques companies are using to force these on us or convince them of their benign value. It’s a great conversation. “Discoveries of the Week” Amanda’s discovery: https://searchengineland.com/google-search-ai-headline-rewrites-test-472146 Kent’s discovery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busta_Rhymes_Island Joy’s discovery: https://www.phl.org/newsroom/Longestlinecheesesteaks Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/ ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053/episodes/march-25-2026-interview-with-amanda-licastro/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disrupted-science-podcast-7410053/march-25-2026-interview-with-amanda-licastro.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.