Are discussion questions becoming irrelevant with AI??

[ReyMysterioso]

I've taken a couple classes where the only mandatory discussion component was a single post or in some cases a video introducing yourself in the first week of class and answering suggested questions about your interests and education/career goals. I actually rather enjoyed these as I got to see where people were from, what they were trying to achieve. In some cases they had inspiring stories. Others were older and had all their educational goals wrapped up but just enjoyed continuing to learn in a class format. Some were scared or timid and i might respond with some "you can do it" encouragement.

Unlike mandatory discussion boards where anonymous, random people you know nothing about do the bare minimum of writing spam on the topic, the ones where people talk about themselves actually give the class a brief sense of community. I'd much rather that happen than have to pick two arbitrary people per week to write some empty hot air reply to just to check the box. Stupid.