Artificial Intelligence FAQ's

Generative Artificial Intelligence is a category of artificial intelligence systems, such as Copilot and ChatGPT, that are "trained" to identify patterns in existing datasets  and draw on that training to create content.

1. Generative AI has already begun to change our work and life behaviors and will likely continue to increase. It offers ways to access the vast store of knowledge on the internet in ways we have only started to imagine.

2. By using generative AI in classes, we can help students develop skills they will need in whatever profession they choose. We can also help them learn to use AI ethically and productively, which is crucial. It is already being used to generate misinformation and to create fake documents, video, and images that seem real. We need to develop a deeper understanding of generative AI to learn to counter its dishonest, disreputable, and illegal uses.

3. Generative AI is free and available online and easily accessible on laptops and phones. With an additional license, it is integrated in Word, Google Docs, and many other common digital tools. Many students are already using it so it's important to talk with students, explain the skills that intended to be learned from assignments, and why those skills can't be learned if they simply rely on AI.

No, not necessarily. If a student accesses AI and asks it to write an essay and them submits the unaltered material as their own, that is certainly cheating. Beyond that, the lines between the right and wrong uses of AI are blurry. Some experts feel that using AI for research and ideas lead to better work. There will definitely be questions to work through. How much AI is too much? When does work become students' original creations even if they started with a draft from an AI tool? How can using generative AI help students develop their critical thinking skills? These are just a few of the issues.

Absolutely not. Generative AI is a tool, and it doesn't fit everywhere. Instructors should learn about AI, determine if its use in their classes is appropriate, and if so, talk with students about its ethical use. Instructors should look at the future of their discipline and the future of higher education to know if generative AI might help.

The concern about the accuracy of what is returned from an AI request is valid. The role of an AI tool is to create, and it will create--and sound authoritative--whether is has accurate information or not. The data available to an AI tool is constantly changing and some tools will not always be caught up.

Teachers can use AI to create new, interesting, and engaging ways to present material. It can also help remove some of the manual legwork that teachers face. For example, AI can help to automate and simplify editing, drafting, feedback, and assist in quiz creation.

The following are some of the limitations of AI:

• Inconsistent responses

Inconsistency is built in. You'll get a different every time even when you use the same prompt. 

• Trained for credibility, not accuracy

Generative AI is trained to produce plausible instances. In other words, it may make things up.

• Bias

- Generative AI tools are trained from a wide range of sources, so output may follow bias absorbed from those sources. Bias can also take the form of a lack of coverage of particular disciplines, languages, regions, etc.

- Generative AI tools have typically been trained on data that tends towards stereotypical answers—“Doctors are men whereas nurses are women” kinds of biases that extend to many circumstances. All users of these tools should be aware that these biases exist, and should use their judgment in using or editing the output.

• Digital access

Access is not equitable. There are gaps between who has access and who doesn’t, largely as a result of differences in tools between free and paid tiers of access, and between students who can afford more expensive computers and phones that have AI capabilities built in, vs. those using cheaper models.

• Intellectual property and Copyright issues.

These models are often trained on copyrighted materials, though it is not yet clear whether such training violates copyright law.