Generative AI

🚧 Under Construction 🚧

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) refers to a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content — such as text, images, music, or even code — by learning patterns from existing data. Unlike traditional AI, which is designed for tasks like classification or prediction, GenAI uses advanced models like GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) or DALL-E (Dalí + WALL-E) to produce original outputs based on prompts. These models are trained on vast datasets, allowing them to generate human-like responses, realistic artwork, or even synthetic data.

Some Ethical Considerations of GenAI

The ethics of using GenAI involve significant concerns around misinformation, bias, privacy, and intellectual property. Since these systems can produce highly realistic but false content, they risk spreading deepfakes, fake news, and plagiarism, undermining trust. Bias in training data can also lead to harmful stereotypes or discriminatory outputs (bigotry in ⟶ bigotry out), while the unauthorized use of copyrighted material for training raises legal and fairness issues. Additionally, GenAI could displace jobs, disrupt creative industries, and be weaponized for fraud or manipulation (never! 🙃). Addressing these challenges requires transparency in AI development, robust regulations, and ethical guidelines to ensure accountability, fairness, and responsible use while harnessing the technology's benefits.

Specifically for students (and faculty), using GenAI to complete homework raises significant ethical concerns, as it undermines academic integrity and personal learning. While GenAI tools can assist with research or brainstorming, relying on them to generate full assignments without proper effort constitutes cheating, as it misrepresents the student’s own work and understanding. This practice not only devalues education but also deprives learners of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Additionally, it creates unfair advantages over peers who complete work honestly. 

• So, what constitutes "correct use" of GenAI by students?
• Can the use of GenAI be ethical in all (or in any) disciplines?
• What can we faculty do to encourage students to use it correctly (if at all)?

These are very important questions that get at the heart of the teacher-learner relationship. 

Resources for Teaching with AI

The following is a growing list of resources to help with understanding GenAI and its uses in the Academy.

• https://www.mla.org/Resources/Career/MLA-Professional-Development-Webinars/Resources-for-Teaching-with-AI