Return to Home Page

Artificial Intelligence and AI-Slop In My Classes:




"Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris? Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.”
--Catullus (c 84-54 BCE).
(I hate and I love.  Why do I do this, you ask?  I don’t know, but I feel it and it tortures me.)




Personally, I love AI, but I hate how some people misuse this great technology.  The misuse of AI penalizes students who put in the effort to learn.  AI “slop,”  works produced by AI that people attempt to pass off as their own work, has become so pervasive in literature that many publishing houses are not accepting new talent because of having received so many false submissions.  The misuse of AI is NOT a victimless action.

Artificial “Intelligence” is a new technology, and we are pioneers in its use and misuse. Two things that have become established are that (1) having an AI do your work for you robs you of an education and is unfair to other students, and (2) claiming the work of an AI as your own is plagiarism.



MY AI POLICY



IN TREATING THE USE OF UNAUTHORIZED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/AI/LLMS AS TANTAMOUNT TO CHEATING.  

HAVING AN AI WRITE A PAPER/REPORT/REVIEW/ANY OTHER MATERIAL FOR YOU  AND CLAIMING CREDIT FOR IT IS PLAGIARISM.  IT IS NO DIFFERENT THAN HAVING ANOTHER PERSON WRITE YOUR PAPER FOR YOU.   

USING AN AI IMAGE SEARCH TO IDENTIFY PHOTOGRAPHS THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY IS CHEATING.


THERE ARE ETHICAL WAYS TO USE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND FOR ETHICAL PURPOSES. WHEN APPROPRIATE, I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN AND HOW YOU CAN USE AI/LLMS IN A CLASS.

DO NOT USE AI UNLESS YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY TOLD TO DO SO AS PART OF AN ASSIGNMENT.  THE UNAUTHORIZED USE OF AI/LLM WILL BE TREATED AS ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT.


Transferable Skills



Reliance on AI, like other forms of cheating and plagiarism, may seem like a good idea when you’re pressed for time or not interested in a topic.  Still, it leads to skill gaps and spotty understanding of critical material.  Faculty do not draft their assignments as busywork.  They are designed to enhance your knowledge base within a subject or to develop transferable skills.   These are abilities and attributes that can be applied across different jobs and settings. Also known as portable skills, they are not specific to one job; instead, they transfer to situations outside the classroom.   Writing assignments, for example, develop language and grammar skills.  Semester projects include time-management skills.  The more open and creative assignments, where you are given more freedom,  improve problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptability skills.  Group projects expand on collaboration and social skills. 

Transferable skills improve career flexibility as well as personal growth. They improve your employability. Using AI undermines the development of these skills, which are critical for future academic success and professional employment.  The use of AI to complete your assignments can violate academic integrity policies and leave you open to potential disciplinary action.  Just as important, even a suspicion of AI can taint your reputation, making it challenging to obtain letters of recommendation later.





A Wee Bit of History:

Larry Wos and his team at Argonne National Laboratory developed one of the first “AI” systems,  AURA, in the 1970s and 1980s. AURA facilitated interactions between humans and computers to tackle mathematical proofs by combining human intuition and the automated reasoning of computers.   I knew Dr. Wos casually from when I worked at Argonne.  One thing that he refused to do was to call  the system “Artificial Intelligence.”  He always referred to it as “Artificial Reasoning” because it functioned on algorithms, not on insights or anything like human intelligence.

Today’s AI systems, though more sophisticated, still function on rote algorithms, not intelligence or understanding.   They produce errors. They hallucinate.  They make stuff up. They gloss over materials. They are NOT good writers.