This guide is meant to offer faculty a basic primer on generative AI and resources on how to approach it within their courses. More information, including updates on university policies, are available through the PC AI Committee's Artificial Intelligence at PC page.
Generative AI tools and their uses both in and out of the classroom are rapidly evolving. While this guide offers a snapshot of the technology's current capabilities and the academy's response to it, the full scope of its impact on higher education likely won't be understood for some time.
In short, generative AI is computer code that procedurally generates an output after receiving a prompt. Recent advances have allowed several companies to produce generative AI tools that can transform inputs from text or other media into remarkably humanlike products. The technology is most well-known for its use in text-based chatbots such as ChatGPT, but generative AI is also being used to produce images, audio, video, and computer code.
While generative AI continues to grow more ubiquitous, significant issues with the technology have yet to be addressed. AI-produced content is not required to be labeled as such, and can be difficult to distinguish from human-created works, fueling plagiarism concerns. Yet despite its superficial level of quality, the technology's nature leaves the accuracy of any content it produces in question. And the processes by which generative AI is developed raise serious ethical concerns pertaining to privacy, bias, and respect for intellectual property.
Educators are reckoning with how to handle the arrival of generative AI within their courses. Many teachers are exploring ways to integrate generative AI tools into their assignments and classroom lessons that reinforce their courses' learning objectives. And whether or not they do, all instructors are being encouraged to address the technology directly in class, in their syllabi, and in their assignment prompts.
The latest guidance for faculty from PC's AI Committee addresses these approaches directly. For more assistance, consider consulting the library's Instruction Guide or contacting a librarian for help with assignment design that addresses generative AI.