The current set of AI text tools utilizes large language generator models, training artificial neural networks (algorithms designed to recognize patterns) on a large dataset of human conversations. One of the current models, GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is trained for the task of conversational language modeling and is fine-tuned to generate more contextually relevant responses. A key element of this is the ability to predict what the next words and phrases are within a conversational context (similar to what Word and Google do on a smaller scale). Chat-GPT is the tool that has most recently hit the headlines, but there are many others evolving—such as Google's Bard and Microsoft's Bing—which will quickly advance this new field of interactive text generation.
These generative AI tools are the latest in a progression of tools we’ve all become familiar with—from the automatic chatbots on customer service webpages to the editing and phrase-completion tools we see in Word and Google Docs. While the text-generation capabilities of these recent tools seem a huge leap over Word’s editorial suggestions, integration of these generative technologies is likely to continue growing.
As with any discussion about academic integrity, we want to address the very real and important question of where you want to put your time and energy. We understand the need to ensure academic integrity in your courses, but we also want to promote approaches that can help you focus less on policing student behavior so you can get back to teaching. How can you strike a balance that doesn’t make you hate teaching or view your students as adversaries?
In this case, rather than focusing solely on a punitive approach of catching uses of AI-generated text—which is a challenging proposition with a tool that learns and evolves—we recommend putting your time and energy into approaches that can mitigate its inappropriate use while improving student learning.
There are many reasons why students may turn to online tools, including text-generation tools. For some it is a way to start the research process and get help with narrowing down their topic areas, similar to how they might use other research tools. For others, it might be the novelty of using this new tool that is getting so much media attention. Some students, however, may use these AI tools as shortcuts to complete their work for them. In this case, it is important to consider why students may choose to outsource their work to an AI bot. They may find themselves needing to complete an assignment quickly because of poor time and workload management skills, they may feel pressure to receive a high grade, or they may not feel confident with their content knowledge or academic writing skills, among other reasons. Simply writing students off as lazy or dishonest misses valuable opportunities to structure assignments in ways that can encourage academic integrity and promote student learning and success.
We'll address some ways that you can revise specific assignments to promote academic integrity—additional structure, increased relevance, alternate assignment formats, etc.—but instructors can also help students avoid misuses of these tools by addressing broader issues. If you want students to help engage in the research process, for example, we highly recommend working with Librarians at the Archbishop Alemany Library to support students in that process. Or, if you are concerned about your students’ time management skills, we recommend you turn to the Student Success Center and the Integrative Coaches. We understand that instructors are not directly responsible for student academic misconduct, but it is always better to address the challenges students face through educational support than to deal with disciplinary issues later.