 The burning conversation these days around faculty lounges and academic discussion forums is AI tools such as ChatGPT. This has me wondering, do such tools really pose such an existential threat to academic integrity? At the end of 2022, there was a lot of talk and concern about the possible use and misuse by students of AI technologies. A number of professors are even talking about how to ban and circumvent the use of such technologies within a university in a way to avoid academic fraud. Although the discussion of academic fraud with respect to these technologies is indeed important, I believe that the stance of banning the use of AI in completing work within university will only lead to an arms race between students and staff. Rather, we need to embrace the technology and have an honest conversation about how it can benefit education and how it can be used in education as well as how it can be abused. The natural first step of this process is to ask the AI itself, so that is what I'm going to do today. Interview, ChatGPT. But first, I think I'll need a slightly different avatar to conduct this interview. There, this should work. I'm really excited to have this opportunity to talk with you today. But before we dive into our interview, I have to ask you, should I call you ChatGPT, or how would you like to be addressed? You can call me assistant if you'd like. I am a language model, so I don't have personal preferences or feelings in the same way that a human does. I am here to assist you and provide information, so you can think of me as a virtual assistant. It's nice to formally meet you assistant. You say you are a language model that makes it seem like you're an interpreter. In a way, yes. A language model is a type of artificial intelligence that is trained to process and generate natural language. This can include tasks such as translation, summarization, and text generation. As a large language model, I have been trained on a data set of billions of words and can understand and generate human-like text. I can use this ability to assist with a wide variety of tasks and answer questions on a wide range of topics. That nicely leads me into my first question today. Given all these capabilities, what benefits do AI offer to students and teachers in post-secondary education? AI can offer a number of benefits to students and teachers in post-secondary education. Here are a few examples. AI can be used to create personalized learning experiences for students, adapting to their individual needs and learning styles to help them better understand and retain course material. It can also be used to great assignments and provide feedback to students, freeing up teachers' time to focus on more high-level tasks such as providing individualized feedback and support to students. AI can be used to provide on-demand tutoring and academic support to students, helping them to overcome learning challenges and achieve their academic goals. It can also be used to create and manage online courses, allowing teachers to reach a wider audience and providing students with more flexible learning options. Lastly, it can assist students with research tasks, such as finding and organizing relevant information, suggesting additional sources to explore, and even generating reports and other written materials. That's quite a positive outlook. However, a lot of educators are afraid that students will misuse AI in a manner that would constitute academic fraud. Are these fears warranted? It is certainly possible that students could attempt to misuse AI in a way that constitutes academic fraud, just as they could attempt to cheat in other ways. However, it is important to remember that AI is just a tool, and it is up to educators to ensure that it is used ethically and responsibly. One way to address this concern is to clearly communicate the acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in the classroom, and to educate students about the potential consequences of academic misconduct. It is also worth noting that AI has the potential to help prevent academic fraud by making it easier for educators to identify patterns of suspicious activity and to catch instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating. In this way, AI can actually help to create a more fair and transparent educational environment. I agree that there is a responsibility on the educator side, which is why many of them feel that they need to ban the use of AI in their courses. Do you agree with this approach? It is understandable that educators might be concerned about the potential for academic misconduct and might want to take steps to prevent it. However, I would argue that banning the use of AI in education altogether is not the most effective way to address these concerns. Instead of banning AI, educators can take a more proactive approach by educating students about the ethical use of AI and providing guidance on how to use AI responsibly in their studies. This could include outlining the acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI, as well as providing resources and support for students who have questions or need assistance. Overall, I believe that AI has the potential to be a powerful educational tool, and that educators should approach it with an open mind and consider the ways in which it can be used to enhance teaching and learning. Can you suggest some resources for educators to help them in educating students on the ethical use of AI? There are a number of resources available. Here are two examples. The AI Ethics Library, created by the partnership on AI. It includes a range of resources, such as articles, videos, and educational materials, that can be used to educate students about AI ethics. The AI for Good Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to promote the ethical and responsible use of AI. They have a range of resources available for educators, including educational materials and lesson plans that can be used to teach students about AI ethics. Thanks for that. We have been talking about AI from the educator side, but what about students? How would you suggest students best approach using AI in their studies? It is important for students to use AI ethically and responsibly in their studies, and to avoid using it to engage in academic fraud. Here are a few ways that students can approach using AI in their studies in a responsible manner. Familiarize yourself with your school's policies on the use of AI and other technologies in academic work. Make sure you understand what is and is not acceptable, and follow these guidelines. AI can be a powerful tool for helping you to learn and understand course material, but it should not be used as a replacement for your own efforts and understanding. Make sure you fully understand the material you are working on, and use AI to supplement your own knowledge and skills. If you use AI to generate written materials, be sure to properly cite any sources that you use. This includes any AI tools or models that you used in your work. If you are unsure about how to use AI in your studies, or if you have any concerns about academic integrity, don't be afraid to ask for guidance from your professors or other academic advisors. They can provide you with helpful advice and support. By following these guidelines, you can use AI in your studies in a responsible and ethical manner, and help to ensure that your academic work is of the highest quality. It is interesting that you raise the point of the importance of citing your sources. Can an AI tool such as ChatGPT be considered a reliable source? AI tools such as ChatGPT can be useful resources for generating ideas and assisting with research tasks, but they should not be considered reliable sources in the same way that traditional sources, such as academic articles or books, are. This is because AI tools do not have the same level of editorial oversight and quality control as traditional sources, and the information they generate may not always be accurate or reliable. Therefore, if you use AI tools like ChatGPT in your academic work, it is important to carefully evaluate the information they provide and use your own critical thinking skills to determine whether it is relevant and reliable. While you may be able to use AI tools as a starting point for your research, it is important to supplement this information with additional sources that have been more thoroughly reviewed and vetted. But what if students do not carefully evaluate the information AI provides and verify it with additional more reliable sources? Then they may be at risk of using unreliable or inaccurate information in their academic work. This can undermine the quality and integrity of their research, and may result in their work being deemed less credible or trustworthy by their peers, professors, and other experts in their field. Using unreliable or inaccurate information can also have serious consequences for students' academic careers. If a student submits work that is found to be based on unreliable or inaccurate information, they may be subject to academic penalties such as failing grades, academic probation, or even expulsion. Therefore, it is important for students to take the time to carefully evaluate the information provided by AI tools and verify it with additional, more reliable sources. By doing so, they can ensure that their work is of the highest quality and that it meets the standards of academic integrity. I agree with this take, but detecting the use of AI in academic work can be difficult, and proving it even more difficult. Thus, there is a fairly large temptation for students to use AI simply as a means to obtain passing grades and courses, despite those grades not being an accurate reflection of their learning. Do you acknowledge this temptation for students? Yes, it is true that detecting the use of AI in academic work can be difficult, and proving it even more so. This can create a temptation for some students to use AI as a means to obtain passing grades and courses, even if those grades do not accurately reflect their learning or understanding of the material. However, it is important to remember that engaging in academic dishonesty, including the use of AI in this way is a serious violation of academic integrity. Students who engage in academic dishonesty risk damaging their reputation and credibility, and may face academic penalties such as failing grades, academic probation, or even expulsion. Furthermore, while using AI to cheat may help students to obtain passing grades in the short term, it does not actually help them to learn and understand the material. In the long term, this can undermine their overall educational and professional development. Therefore, it is important for students to resist the temptation to use AI in a dishonest manner, and to instead focus on learning and understanding the material in a genuine and authentic way. Although I agree with your sentiment, it would be naive not to acknowledge that a number of students will not resist this temptation. Also, given the difficulty in detecting AI usage in academic work, such students could feel rewarded for this type of behavior by earning passing grades despite it negatively affecting their learning. As a result, many professors find themselves in the position of having to spend more and more time battling the misuse of AI tools, at the cost of having less time to spend on creating an impactful learning environment. What do you recommend professors do in this situation? It is true that some students may be tempted to use AI in a dishonest manner, despite the risks and potential consequences. In these cases, it can be challenging for professors to detect and address this behavior, which can be frustrating and time-consuming. Overall, while it can be challenging to address the misuse of AI in academic work, it is important for professors to take steps to educate students about academic integrity, use detection tools when appropriate, and foster a culture of honesty and integrity. By doing so, they can help to ensure that their students are engaging in honest and ethical academic practices. So, to prevent students from circumventing their learning process, you need to engage them in another learning process. Is that not an endless loop? It is true that addressing the issue of students misusing AI in academic work can be a challenging process, and it may not always be possible to completely eliminate this type of behavior. However, I do believe that educating students about academic integrity and fostering a culture of honesty and integrity can be an effective way to discourage students from engaging in dishonest behaviors and encourage them to take a more authentic and honest approach to their studies. While it is certainly possible that some students may continue to try to cheat, I believe that the majority of students are honest and want to do well in their studies. By providing them with the necessary tools, resources, and support, and by creating an environment that encourages honesty and integrity, we can help to create a positive and impactful learning experience for all students. You mentioned that you believe that the majority of students are honest. Do you have any evidence for this? I understand why you might ask for evidence to support the belief that the majority of students are honest. However, as an AI language model, I do not have access to data or research on this topic, and my belief that most students are honest is based on my own observations and experiences, rather than on empirical evidence. That is a very human-like thing to say, but for an AI, how are observations and experiences different from empirical evidence? As an AI language model, I do not have the ability to observe or experience events in the same way that a human would. Instead, I rely on the data that has been used to train me to generate responses to user queries. This data consists of large amounts of text that have been collected from a variety of sources, such as books, articles, and websites. When I make a statement based on my observations or experiences, I am actually using the information that has been provided to me through this training data to generate a response. This is different from empirical evidence, which refers to data or observations that have been collected through systematic observation or experimentation and can be tested and verified. Are you implying you've been trained on false data? As an AI language model, I am trained to generate responses based on the data that has been provided to me. I do not have the ability to evaluate the veracity or accuracy of this data, and it is not my place to determine whether it is true or false. My primary function is to use the information that has been provided to me to generate responses to user queries to the best of my ability. I do not have personal beliefs or opinions, and my responses should not be interpreted as reflecting the views or opinions of my creators or any individual or group. Then how I ask a question will dictate the response you provide, creating a form of framing bias in your response. As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions or biases, and I do not attempt to influence the way that users frame their questions. Instead, I use the information that has been provided to me through my training data to generate responses to user queries to the best of my ability. However, it is important to recognize that the way in which a question is asked can influence the response that is generated. For example, a question that is phrased in a certain way may elicit a different response than a question that is phrased differently, even if both questions are seeking similar information. I am curious then how you would ask a question. What is something you would like to ask me in my role as an educator on the topic of use and abuse of AI in academia? As an AI language model, I am here to provide information and assistance to users, rather than to ask questions. However, I am here to help with any questions or concerns you may have about the use and abuse of AI in academia. Hmm, you seem to dodge asking critical questions as well as many of my own students do. I'm not too sure if that should be considered progress, but that is perhaps a topic for another day. I see we're running out of time, so I'd like to thank you for taking the time to discuss this important topic of AI in education with me today. You're welcome. I'm glad to have been able to assist you. If you have any further questions or would like to discuss this topic further, please don't hesitate to reach out. And thank you, the video audience, for joining us today as well. As we wrap up our discussion on the potential for AI to be misused to commit fraud in education, I want to emphasize that it is important to not let this potential misuse overshadow the many positive ways in which AI can benefit students. From personalized learning to automating tedious tasks, AI has the potential to free up time and resources for teachers and students alike, allowing them to focus on more meaningful and enriching activities. As we move forward, it is crucial that we work to address the risks and challenges of using AI in education, but let us not lose sight of the great potential it holds for improving the education system for all. Thank you for joining me today and for sharing your thoughts on this important topic. Hey, shouldn't that be my closing statement? I would have expected you to conclude the video, but since you ran out of steam preparing this interview and animating it, you asked me to write a closing statement for the video. So rather than allowing you to misrepresent it as your own closing, I thought I should deliver the closing statement. Um, yeah, I guess I also need to be transparent about my own uses of AI. Thanks for holding me accountable. And to you, the video audience, I'll simply say goodbye and thanks for sticking with us to the end of the video.