Talks on Tap with Professor Michael Berrell

From Skynet to Siri: What Pop Culture Gets Wrong About AI (and Why That Matters More Than You Think)

We’ve all grown up with AI as a movie villain or comic relief sidekick. But what happens when those stories shape how we actually think about technology? This talk looks at the gap between Hollywood’s imagination and the reality of AI, why that disconnect matters for our future, and how we can start asking smarter questions about the tools we’re building.

About the Speaker

Michael Berrell is a designer, educator, and full-time faculty member in the Visual Communications department at Farmingdale State College, where he teaches courses in graphic design and typography. With over 15 years of teaching experience across high school, college, and corporate training settings, Michael blends a practical, student-centered approach with a deep love of visual culture and design history.

He is the organizer and chair of Applied Imagination: Where Artificial Intelligence Meets Human Creativity—a recent symposium at Farmingdale exploring the intersection of AI, ethics, and creative practice across industry and academia. His work often explores the evolving relationship between design, technology, and education, including how emerging tools like AI are reshaping the creative process (whether we’re ready or not).

When not teaching or designing, he’s usually reading and writing bedtime stories with his son, and wondering how long we have before AI applies for tenure.

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