My thoughts on the new AI Policy and its reactions
I have been following along this drama and would like to share my thoughts.
The ‘misinterpreted intent’ argument is weak:
If your intent does not read clearly in the policy, then what is the uproar on changing it to read clearly? If there is ambiguity on ‘University approved software’, then make it disambiguous. The pushback on making these minor changes (and the reported hostility from staff to student objections during senate meetings) makes the whole thing seem awfully shady. This is the fuel of the so-called ‘hysteria’.
AI use prevention should not fall entirely on students:
They do not leave prison cells open. Imagine you are taking an online test worth 30% for a class you have paid $730 for. You have read the material and feel fairly confident in your answers however, running all of your answers through AI before submitting is STILL extremely tempting. If the school has such an issue with cheating in online assessments, then make assessments in person. I do not buy that ‘it costs too much’ or ‘we don’t have enough time’: how were you managing before Covid?
Finally, a take on the “students don’t care about academia anymore” comments:
Ultimately a degree is getting more expensive while its worth is diminishing. A degree is no longer a standout achievement like it was in the 80s and 90s, it is a requirement. Therefore, it becomes an expensive means to an end, rather than an experience. This is not meant to be taken as a justification of AI usage, but an explanation.
TL:DR
Ultimately, my general stance is academia needs to change drastically to hold its worth in this new age. I think an AI Policy is needed, but it did not have to be written and pushed in such a shady way. Academia needs to revert to pre tech evaluations, while also creating new software tools that allow for limited ‘ethical uses’ of AI (proctored writing environment with Grammarly built in for example). The university needs to improve its relationship with students and the work force by making solid attempts to increase its programs’ inherit value.