
University of Michigan AI, Detroit egg rolls, Downtown Boxing Gym, Weekend events | Full Episode
Season 8 Episode 44 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Neil DeGrasse Tyson in Detroit and more upcoming this weekend.
Cinco de Mayo is coming up this weekend and there are a few ways to celebrate in Southwest Detroit. Also, American astrophysicist and writer Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson visits Detroit. Plus, celebrate Sturgeon Day, see a performance of “Annie” and more happening in and around Detroit this weekend. Contributor Peter Whorf shares what else is coming up on “One Detroit Weekend.”
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Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
One Detroit is a local public television program presented by Detroit PBS

University of Michigan AI, Detroit egg rolls, Downtown Boxing Gym, Weekend events | Full Episode
Season 8 Episode 44 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Cinco de Mayo is coming up this weekend and there are a few ways to celebrate in Southwest Detroit. Also, American astrophysicist and writer Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson visits Detroit. Plus, celebrate Sturgeon Day, see a performance of “Annie” and more happening in and around Detroit this weekend. Contributor Peter Whorf shares what else is coming up on “One Detroit Weekend.”
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] Coming up on "One Detroit", a Future of Work report on the University of Michigan's groundbreaking approach to using artificial intelligence on campus.
Plus we'll have a truly Detroit story on how the area's unique take on egg rolls is grabbing national attention.
Also ahead, a new program at the Downtown Boxing Gym is helping young people learn their way around the kitchen.
And Cinco de Mayo arrives this weekend.
We'll tell you all about some of the local celebrations along with what else is happening around town.
It's all coming up next on "One Detroit" - [Announcer] From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.
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Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.
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(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Just ahead on "One Detroit", we'll look at the evolution of the egg roll into multicultural versions served Detroit-style.
Plus a Detroit chef takes her talents to the Downtown Boxing Gym to inspire kids to cook and eat healthy.
And Peter Whorf of 90.9 WRCJ has some great ideas on how you can spend your weekend and beyond in Metro Detroit.
But first up, our Future of Work Report examines the use of artificial intelligence on college campuses.
The University of Michigan created its own AI tools for use by the campus community.
I visited U of M to learn more about the rollout of the AI platform and the impact it will have in the classroom and on the future workforce.
(bright music) At the end of November 2022, San Francisco-based company OpenAI released the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT that can write entire essays, create reports, do administrative tasks, and a laundry list of other things.
In August 2023, the University of Michigan became the first major educational institute to release its own artificial intelligence tools made specifically for students, faculty, and staff.
VP of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for U of M, Dr. Ravi Pendse, played a role in getting the AI tools created.
- UM essentially developed, partnered with vendor partners and introduced three tools.
One is called the UM GPT.
- [Narrator] UM GPT functions like OpenAI's ChatGPT with the major difference being the data received and produced by UM GPT is kept private by the university.
- Second tool that we rolled out then was we made a code-less platform available to the entire campus community called Maizey.
What Maizey does is essentially anybody, no programming coding experience required, can actually take the Maizey platform, point it to their appropriate data source.
So if you have some data say in your Google Drive or Dropbox or on the web or your bunch of videos, you can point Maizey to it and what Maizey will do is it will ingest and index all of that information and then it's available to you as your own personal AI assistant for you to query and ask questions.
- [Narrator] The third release from U of M is an AI toolkit that provides the resources and computing power for campus AI research and experts.
- UM GPT toolkit provides access to those researchers who are the AI experts who can then start building their own models.
- [Narrator] Because of the capabilities of the AI tools, educators across the country have concerns over potential plagiarism, cheating, and abuse by students.
Currently there is no software that can reliably tell if AI has been used in writing, image generation, audio ,or video content, which means there's no way to definitively know if a student has used artificial intelligence in their work.
So institutions like U of M had a choice to make.
- We had two ways of looking at it at Michigan.
One way was we could just say we'll just step back and let's just wait out and see what the world will do and then maybe we can react.
The other way was let's thoughtfully approach this technology and let's lead.
- [Narrator] Faculty at the school had been thinking about how to integrate AI into their courses.
David Jurgens is an Associate Professor in the School of Information's Department of Computer Science and taught a first of its kind course called "How to Use AI Effectively."
- As a university we're trying to figure out how to get students to engage with this in a productive collaborative way without sort of losing their critical thinking skills.
So the course was designed to walk students through a bunch of different exercises on how to do that, and it was an experimental course, we were learning how to do it as well as the students were at the same time.
- [Narrator] U of M student Shantasia King is majoring in user experience at U of M's School of Information.
She took Jurgens' course.
- Because it was his class that kind of hit that light switch for me.
I started off I could be a student, just asking it to give me the answers, complete this homework for me, but you're not learning anything.
Cutting corners will get you nowhere, but when you actually sit down and you can have it create test studies for you or create like study plans or study guides or if you're really stuck on something, this can become your own personal tutor right here.
I just kind of had to change my outlook towards ChatGPT, understanding that it's not the end all be all.
It won't provide you exactly everything that you're looking for.
So you don't want your work to get lost in it.
So you have to work with it, provide the context that you wanna see and you will be really surprised at what you can work with it and get back.
- [Narrator] The way Shantasia is thinking about AI is what Jurgens was hoping his course would achieve.
- We teach them different ways to use that tool to be better versions of themselves but not to replace themselves with AI.
So I tell students, maybe you could get ideas for what to write about.
You could ask ChatGPT questions on how to improve your draft, but to think about it like a teaching assistant, you can use it as a kind of always collaborative person who's awake any hour of the day who could work with you to like help you, provide feedback and guidance on where it could be improved.
- [Narrator] Shantasia is seeing results outside of the classroom.
- It really has opened the doors to a lot of things for me as a student as far as not even only academically, but when someone asks me to create your vision statement or show me what your future looks like or what does the business that you wanna run look like, I happily go and talk to ChatGPT.
I don't just ask it to tell me, I tell it what I wanna see and then ask it to input its input.
- [Narrator] Artificial intelligence tools are also being developed to remove barriers to gaining access to higher education.
- Yearly, every year about $4 billion in Pell grants go unused, we are building a public Maizey and what I mean by public Maizey would be something that would be publicly available to the entire country to use.
And what this Maizey will do is it is actually ingesting and indexing all of the scholarships that are out there.
Not just Pell grants.
- [Narrator] This public version of Maizey would make it easier to find out what scholarships and grants a student is eligible for.
- You as an user, you will be able to type in your situation where you may say, I'm 17-year-old high school student.
I have this kind of GPA.
I've done these things and I'm interested in these areas.
Can you identify for me some scholarships that are available?
And then this system, in probably 15 seconds, will find you all of the relevant scholarships that you may have opportunity for.
What I said to my team when I challenged them is I said, "Even if 20 people are able to go to college because of this, it'll be worth it."
- [Narrator] As U of M's campus community and the public use these AI tools, the technology will continue to improve.
But Dr Pendse's optimism for the future rests more in people than artificial intelligence.
- The young people are so wonderful, and I'm so wanting each one of them to contribute something positive to the world.
So I'm very confident that no matter what field they choose to pursue, as long as they're passionate about it, the AI tools will be available and they can change the world for better.
- [Narrator] Turning now to a story that's truly Detroit.
The city is famous for its Detroit-style pizza and Coney Island hot dogs.
Now the egg roll is poised to take its place in the region's storied culinary history.
"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota looks at how the traditional Chinese American egg roll has evolved into a deep fried treat with a variety of multicultural fillings in the Detroit area.
(upbeat music) - Now am I eating it right?
I feel like I got it two handed, It's so big, but if I just... - [Bill] Tom Perkins, Detroit food writer, checking out Sister Rolls Street Eats, the home of an array of oversized egg rolls in Allen Park.
- Them big old egg rolls on a stick, everybody know the tag Sista Roles because they know where it come from.
So it was a big marketing thing.
That's for Uber Eats, this one for DoorDash.
- [Bill] The evolution of the Detroit-style egg roll.
It begins with the spring roll, which really is eaten in Asia, but it's here in the US where the egg roll was created.
Some credit a Chinese restaurant in New York almost a century ago, but who really knows, and why are they called egg rolls?
Not shaped like an egg, not a trace of egg inside.
Just maybe an egg wash to keep the wrapper together.
Who really knows?
We do know this, in Detroit, Chinese restaurant egg rolls have been known for containing a lot of bean sprouts that helps with that satisfying crunch.
Other places use more cabbage, a more economical option let's say.
But our Detroit egg roll story really starts with corned beef.
- Corned beef culture as somebody once put it to me in Detroit dates back to, I mean, gosh, a hundred years ago.
There's a big Jewish population in Detroit and they opened all these corned beef shops and then the Jewish folks left town, African-American folks who moved into the neighborhoods enjoyed corned beef.
So some of the restaurants that were there that had like been around for 60 years stayed in business.
- [Bill] Then in the late 1970s, a woman from Vietnam, Kim White, she put corned beef and cheese in an egg roll wrapper, called it Asian corned beef, fusion cuisine before most even heard of that term.
- Asian corned beef I think was Kim White, the woman who opened that, I think she's generally credited with inventing the dish.
But it really started to pop like about 10 years ago, more and more corn beefed egg roll purveyors popped up around town.
It's not to the level of Detroit-style pizza or a Coney dog yet, but it's getting there.
It's getting to that territory of almost a regional food dish.
- Egg roll is a Detroit thing.
I can say it's part of our culture.
- And then Asian corned beef, I love their egg rolls.
They don't have a lot of variety.
My goal was like pretty much to piggyback off of them and just make it bigger and wider.
- So my wife was like came up with a great idea because I used to always make Alfredo egg rolls for whenever we made Alfredo at home, I made the egg rolls.
- [bill] Alfredo egg rolls with chicken and broccoli on the menu.
- It was a hit.
So I was like everything could go in the egg roll, the list goes on.
- Corned beef or mozzarella cheese, chicken shawarma.
We got 313 dog, that's corned beef, ground beef, bacon.
- [Bill] 19 different kinds of egg rolls.
- I can't even remember them all.
- Now this is the first time that I've had an egg roll on a stick.
- [Bill] Sista Roles Street Eats got started five years ago.
Porstia and Courvoisier Jackson are entrepreneurs.
They started with a food trailer.
Word got out through social media, their egg rolls were an instant hit.
- But TikTok now I am like getting real big on there because everybody is tagging me continuously.
We are a must try restaurant right now.
- [Speaker] Blew all the way to Detroit for this.
- Social media have blew us up so big and I can't even like imagine if we didn't have TikTok, how would it be?
I can't even imagine it.
- Trying a place called Sista Roles Street Eats.
- There's a time slot because everybody was tagging him to come here.
That he was like, I had to come here.
The people would not let me not come here.
- I've done my research and I do see that some people like it, some people don't.
And I'm here to put the nail on the coffin to let you guys what it's really hitting on.
I ordered all the popular menu items.
- I was scared, like I don't know what he is about to say so, oh my God.
It's like I was in here like losing it.
Like I'm not ready for that.
- Mm, salmon.
So we got salmon, looks like, what's that?
Spinach dip and Swiss cheese.
I do like the fact it is stuffed, and I mean stuffed with meat.
Y'all will love this.
If you like egg rolls, you need to start whatever you're doing and get these egg rolls now.
- Is it a Chinese dish?
No.
Is it an Asian dish?
The person who invented it was a Vietnamese immigrant, so you got that connection.
But I'm not sure it goes much deeper than that.
- No, that's a long way from Chinese here.
This is delicious and it's big.
- [Bill] At Sista Roles, another favorite, a pizza-style filling.
Innovative?
Well it's not a new idea.
♪ Pizza pizza pizza roll ♪ The original pizza roll goes back to 1965, brought to you by a guy in Minnesota named Jeno.
- [Announcer] This is America's favorite hot snack, the pizza roll.
- [Bill] Jeno Paolucci, a proud Italian who owned the Chun King Foods Company, which made little frozen egg rolls.
Jeno thought, why not put something else in there?
- [Announcer] All those good things rolled into America's favorite hot snack.
- [Bill] Jeno sold out to Totino's, which still makes them today.
Still little bite-sized things.
- [Portia] Order number 92, your order is due.
- [Bill] Chinese, Vietnamese, Jewish, Italian.
And then there's the Irish.
- So we'll get ourselves a Irish egg roll here.
Gotta take it.
You really do have to, in my opinion anyway, you really do have to have a little bit of the blarney mustard sauce.
I think that it just makes it.
- [Bill] At McShane's Irish Pub in Detroit's Corktown, Bob Roberts had leftover corned beef he wanted to repurpose into another dish.
That was 12 years ago.
- Somebody had the idea, let's try and roll them up in a wonton and deep fry them.
The first set was pretty good, but then we wanted to jazz it up a little bit.
So now they're made with corned beef, red skin potato, braised cabbage, Swiss cheese, and scallions.
We had never had one of the Asian corned beef egg rolls before, we had never heard of them.
- [Bill] So then it seems it's the luck of Detroiters to have so many egg roll choices.
- You could get into a debate there.
Well is this an Irish thing or is this a Detroit thing?
And all right, fine if you're putting potatoes in it, but really like at the end of the day, who cares?
It's a corned beef egg roll.
It is a thing in Detroit and it's delicious.
So why are we debating it?
- [Narrator] In addition to playing sports and getting help with homework, students at the Downtown Boxing Gym on Detroit's East Side are getting a lesson in the culinary arts.
The kids are learning how to prepare nutritious meals in the organization's new commercial kitchen.
Bridge Detroit's Micah Walker has more on the nonprofit's latest program for students.
(upbeat music) - [Micah] Every day after school, hundreds of kids had to Downtown Boxing Gym on Detroit's East Side to shoot some hoops, get help with their homework, or hit the boxing ring.
And they're also having fun in the kitchen.
- [Speaker] So you do that for all of them and then you'll come around and do a... - [Micah] That's Molly Mitchell, the new Associate director of Culinary Arts for the Downtown Boxing Gym.
She prepares fresh from scratch meals and snacks for DBG students each night, totaling more than a thousand meals per week.
Mitchell is also teaching kids how to cook nutritious meals and is developing a culinary arts curriculum for the organization.
Downtown Boxing Gym serves students ages eight to 18 across Metro Detroit.
With continued mentorship and support through the age of 25.
Mitchell was the owner of Rose's Fine Food on Jefferson, which closed doors last year.
- When I closed Rose's last year, I was really interested in like going into culinary education in some manner, and so it just like really worked out for me to sort of get in contact with DBG at the same time that I was closing Rose's because they were ready to like really flesh out their program, their cooking program because they just opened this amazing commercial kitchen.
The timing really worked out for me to come here, and I'm able to pursue my passion and also like help them out with their commercial kitchen.
So it was just like a really good match.
- Molly, what's it been like creating this culinary arts program?
- I'm really inspired by the kids at DBG because they're super into cooking and so I've really let them take the lead on what they're interested in and I'm just trying to like shape it in terms of having like a very complete culinary education.
So learning about food safety and like sauces and roasting meats and everything in between, so it's been great.
Oh yeah, that looks great.
Three more decisive chives, yeah, put it in.
- And what kind of healthy meals are you preparing for the kids?
- We have breakfast for dinner sometimes, we have tacos, we make braises.
I'm really trying to get the kids into vinaigrette.
We also make ranch sometimes, which is really the most requested.
I'm just like trying to like find out what they really are into and then also just like throw some wild cards in.
- That's different.
- That's good.
- I know kids can be notorious for being picky eaters.
How do you make making healthy foods fun and simple?
- So that was actually like my biggest fear starting here, that the kids would be so picky that I would really be like hindered in what I could make for them.
And to my surprise, like the kids are pretty open-minded about trying most things that we make.
I would say like about 85% of the kids at dinner time are game to try whatever we make.
And then there's like a smaller percentage that do have like, well we have kids with dietary restrictions and allergies, but also some pickier kids and I just try to like maybe work with them and have like some plainer options available when we do serve dinner.
- [Micah] And Molly has some big plans for the curriculum, including a guest chefs program.
- They'll teach a class and then it's my hope that they'll give us a recipe that we can actually make for dinner just to have even like a broader range of point of view for the kids to try new things that I wouldn't have thought to make as well.
But we're also working on a garden outside, like a kitchen garden near the soccer field that we'll be able to have like a teaching space within the garden where we'll be able to grow food that we can harvest, bring in here so kids can see everything from seed to meal.
- For Downtown Boxing Gym Founder Khali Sweeney, teaching children how to cook and where their food comes from has been a priority since the organization started in 2007.
Why did you wanna add culinary arts to the curriculum here?
- Food brings people together.
It's also the fuel that our body needs to get through the day.
How can you go to school and function at a high level if you may have only had a bowl of cereal or something or is no lunch program at your school.
So I wanted the gym to be that space where you can come get a healthy meal, learn about eating healthy, and just being a healthy overall person.
- And why was it important for the kids to get outside and see how food is grown?
- Learning how to grow food straight from the ground, no preservatives, none of that type of stuff.
That's a wonderful skill to have and just getting back to nature and learning how to farm and stuff like that, that is a a life skill.
I thought it was important that kids were able to do that.
- We're just gonna make a quick coleslaw, but we can eat this for dinner with our pizza.
- [Micah] What's something you learned to cook here with Molly?
- We learned how to make smoothies, pancakes, yogurt.
We frosted cakes.
- You see yourselves having a future doing culinary arts?
- Yes.
I wanna be a chef.
- You wanna open in your own restaurant?
- Yeah, I'm gonna try.
- [Micah] And I even got to join in on the taste test.
- Okay, let's taste it and see if it needs something.
- [Child] All right, let's eat.
- More lime juice?
- Spice.
- What are your goals for the culinary arts program?
- My goal is to really like build out a program that is not only really informative and like if somebody wanted to go get a job in a restaurant, they could after taking this program.
But really I'm trying to just cement an excitement for food that can be like a lifelong passion.
Whether you're working in a restaurant or you're just learning how to cook like really amazing meals for yourself and your loved ones.
- [Narrator] If you're looking to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this weekend, there are several events happening around town.
Plus there are theater productions and spring activities to enjoy in Metro Detroit.
Peter Wharf of 90.9 WRCJ has the rundown in today's "One Detroit Weekend."
- Hi, I'm Peter Whorf with 90.9 WRCJ.
And as we head into May, we have the opportunity to take advantage of some great spring days and some great local events.
First up, now through June 2nd, Detroit Public Theater is featuring "Clyde's," a play about formerly incarcerated kitchen staff who are trying to come up with the perfect sandwich at their truck stop sandwich shop.
And a classic has come to town in the show "Annie."
It takes the Fox theater stage tomorrow through Sunday.
So excited to hear all of the fantastic songs that come with a musical.
And this weekend is the celebration of Cinco de Mayo and Detroit has many different ways to honor the holiday.
Like the 59th annual Cinco de Mayo Parade and Fiesta happening in Southwest Detroit May 5th.
The theme for this year is La Historia De Southwest, showcasing all the different Latin cultures represented in Southwest Detroit.
Another way to participate in Cinco de Mayo Sunday is the Cinco de Mile 5K fun run for mental health awareness at Clark Park.
And on May 8th, Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is in Detroit presenting "Search for Life in the Universe."
He'll discuss ongoing research to find habitable planets and other life forms in the universe.
Plus there's so much more to do in and around Detroit.
So here are a few more events.
Have a wonderful weekend.
(upbeat music) - [Narrator] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."
Thanks for watching.
Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.
Follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
We'll leave you now with the sight and sounds of the record-breaking NFL draft in Detroit.
(upbeat music) (group cheering) (upbeat music continues) (fans chatting) - This program is made possible in part by Timothy Bogart Comprehensive Planning Strategies.
From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.
Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.
Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.
- [Announcer] DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.
Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.
Learn more at dtefoundation.com.
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(upbeat music) (bright music)
Downtown Boxing Gym starts new culinary program for students
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S8 Ep44 | 5m 59s | The Downtown Boxing Gym starts a culinary curriculum to teach children cooking skills. (5m 59s)
The history of Asian corned beef egg rolls in Detroit
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S8 Ep44 | 6m 53s | The history of Detroit’s iconic Asian corned beef egg rolls, a Truly Detroit delicacy. (6m 53s)
One Detroit Weekend: May 2, 2024
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S8 Ep44 | 1m 45s | Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Neil DeGrasse Tyson in Detroit and more upcoming this weekend. (1m 45s)
University of Michigan creates AI tools for campus, students
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S8 Ep44 | 6m 35s | The University of Michigan becomes the first college to create AI tools for its students. (6m 35s)
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