Generative AI created controversy from the moment it launched. Responses ranged from school bans to professors assigning AI as a tool in their assignments, to online publications using AI to create content.
This guide aims to help faculty understand what artificial intelligence (AI) text generators like Microsoft's Copilot are, how to use them, and their impact on higher education.
Generative AI is artificial intelligence that can generate text, images, and other data using large language modeling to mimic human conversation and writing. A large drawback to using generative AI is its tendency to provide inaccurate information.
Generative AI can be useful for drafting lesson plans, presentations, speeches, essays, poetry, song lyrics, computer programs, music, and outlines, plus translating and summarizing text.
Because text-generating AI is in its infancy, developers are still attempting to resolve issues. When used, AI sometimes fabricates information and creates fictitious references to support its claims. Another major concern is gender, race, ethnicity, and disability status biases. Lima and DiMolfetta (2023) write, "Lawmakers said they plan to explore how tools like ChatGPT can both inadvertently produce misinformation, including a phenomenon known as hallucination where AI concocts a false fact seemingly out of thin air, as well as how they can power disinformation, such as via deepfakes" (n.p.).
Faculty and students should utilize generative AI tools as idea generators rather than tools to find facts from reputable sources. For example, while AI can create lesson plans, it cannot create custom lessons for specific classes or individual students as well as a human teacher. AI can help faculty with grading, but "the AI may get it right 9 out of 10 times, requiring the teacher to personally review each piece of feedback" (Will, 2023).
