Digital illustration of a person wearing a yellow top, brown pants, and black shoes holding a large pencil in front of a list titled "Policies"

AI, University Legitimacy, and the New Social Contract

BY NATE BENNETT When a Northeastern University professor was discovered secretly using generative AI tools to create course materials while prohibiting students from using them, the controversy exposed more than personal hypocrisy. It illustrated a broader legitimacy crisis confronting higher education. Versions of this story surface repeatedly in conversations with colleagues: AI is already woven…

The words "fake or real" appear in typescript on a white pay in a manual typewriter.

Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Fakery

BY DAVID PICKUS AND ROBERT NIEBUHR Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just a tool, they say. For universities, the idea is that this tool enhances learning. Furthermore, the promise continues that AI is a great equalizer that will increase access to knowledge. Our objection to AI in universities does not center on the march of technology,…

a large tsunami wave swells up from the ocean

Don’t Believe the AI Hype

BY JONATHAN REES Do you remember MOOCs? I realize that that question is itself cliche now, but if you do remember massive open online courses you almost certainly remember the quote about how in the future there were only going to be ten universities and that “There’s a tsunami coming.” Needless to say, there are…

Crumpled white notebook paper has blue lines and a big F with a circle around it made by a red marker

Set a Good Example

BY JONATHAN REES I have seen exactly one use of AI of which I actually approve. My friend Alegria fed our faculty handbook into NotebookLM, a Google product that can set bounds on what your artificial intelligence digests. Our handbook is an absolute monstrosity. It gives me a headache just to think about it because…

"AI" appears in blue letters within a blue box with a black background and blue, intersecting lines behind it that suggest networks

Why You Should Be Unrelentingly Hostile to AI

BY JONATHAN REES This post is about the biggest threat to the jobs of college professors in America today. No, not that guy. Not the guy with the chain saw either. I’m writing about that other subject that you’re sick of reading about because it just makes you depressed. I first wrote about AI for…

Colorful collage with "AI" inside a black circle in the middle surrounded by images including a human profile, brains, maps, laptops, and abstract designs.

Peer Review, Academic Integrity, and AI

BY GARY TOTTEN A highlight of my work as a journal editor is the pleasure of helping authors, especially early career researchers and graduate students, interpret conflicting peer review reports and improve their arguments and writing. The important work of academic journals to disseminate cutting-edge research in a timely manner and thus advance their fields…

How the Cutting Edge Does Damage

BY MARTIN KICH An article on the AsiaOne website cites a news item that originally appeared in the Huaxi Metropolis Daily, reporting that “a robot is being designed to compete with 12th graders during the college entrance examination in 2017 and get a score qualifying it to enter first-class universities in China.” Indeed, in the…