Fram Signature Lecture with Kerrie Holley

Abstract:
Two years ago we asked whether AI was nothing more than machine learning. Today the debate has divided into camps: those who dismiss large language models as "stochastic parrots" mindlessly remixing text, and those who warn that AI is an existential threat waiting to happen. Both mislead the same way: they turn a sprawling landscape of models and systems into a single story about "AI," handing you a verdict instead of a way to think. The questions that actually matter — which system, doing what, with what capabilities, under what context and control — is one you can keep asking, because it changes every time the technology does. We'll trace how AI evolved into today's models and open the hood on how they really work: tokens, attention, next-token prediction. This is not a technical detour, but what lets you navigate alongside AI instead of just reacting to it. Then we'll weigh it: real breakthroughs in healthcare, STEM, and accessibility, against real harm: deepfakes, AI-enabled fraud, and eroding trust in what we see and hear. You'll leave with a playbook: a handful of questions that sort any AI claim into demonstrated, plausible, or speculation, ready for the next model, and the one after that. The parrot and the apocalypse are both stories about a technology. What they can't do is think for you. You can. That's YOUR power in the age of AI.

Bio:
Kerrie Holley is a technologist and engineer whose career spans more than five decades of computing. Since beginning his career in 1969, he has engineered systems across a variety of technology eras, from banking mainframes and the web to e-commerce, cloud financial platforms, and AI-powered healthcare. Holley has helped create technology at some of today’s most influential companies, including Google, Cisco, IBM, and Optum, the world’s largest healthcare company. His contributions to technology have been recognized through his induction into the National Academy of Engineering (2023) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2025).

The Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking was funded in 2011 by Mr. Henry Navas, RIT alumnus and former university trustee, to honor his professor, Eugene H. Fram.

Dr. Fram was the impetus for RIT’s efforts in the application of critical thinking across the domains, driving impactful thinking across academic, research, and professional environments, inspiring ‘effective thinking in any context, through knowing, doing, and creating’. Gene Fram is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing who retired from RIT in 2008 after 51 years of teaching in the Saunders College of Business. He is also known for his expertise in the study of brick and mortar and the beginnings of internet retailing, nonprofit and corporate governance, and advertising. Dr. Fram served as the J. Warren McClure Professor of Marketing and Marketing department chair at RIT. Dr. Fram also authored or coauthored over 125 academic, professional, or trade articles during his tenure at RIT. Gene received the 1997 Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching and the 2008 RIT Presidential Medallion for outstanding contributions.

Interpreters will be at the lecture. If you require an interpreter at the reception, you may request one at the following link: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/das/request

Questions? Contact us at: ritframchair@rit.edu

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