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Generative AI & Its Use in Universities

Ethical Considerations

 The acceleration in generative AI capabilities also induces some ethical questions and concerns.  In this section, we explore the most prevalent issues around generative AI ethics. 

Generative AI Uses

  • Further, in the fashion industry generative AI tools are used for:
    • creative designing
    • turning sketches into color images
    • generating representative fashion models
  • In healthcare, it has some actual and potential use cases, such as:
    • improving medical imaging
    • streamlining drug discovery

Concerns Surrounding Generative AI Ethics

  1. Deepfakes
  2. Truthfulness & Accuracy 
  3. Copyright Ambiguities
  4. Increase in Biases
  5. Misuse in Education & Work
  6. Risk of Unemployment

Source: https://research.aimultiple.com/generative-ai-ethics/

Additional Reading

Boston University Questrom School of Business Ethical Implications of ChatGPT in the Educational Setting. Dave Epstein DEC 15, 2022

Shall we first learn how to research a question, read sources, and produce reports on our findings in school just to never use those skills again and leave it up to an AI program to do that?  In the math model, we learn how to manually add and subtract only to be able to put that aside and just use calculators – which allows for more complex tasks without the burden of remedial necessities.  Can we first have students create original works, then move on to let our chatbots create them later?  At this moment, we can see limitations in the technology, as it can go wrong, pick up unreliable or even patently wrong material and produce it as fact.  

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Ethics of College Students Using ChatGPTSierra President APR 17, 2023

If AI is the future of education, universities need to enact policies to clarify when students can use AI. There are many gray areas associated with ChatGPT, which make it hard to determine when AI transformed from being a tool to an obstruction.

The BestColleges survey further asked students about their personal usages with AI. Fifty percent said they have used it to complete some parts of their work but did the majority themselves. Does this mean it could be okay for students to use AI for help if it is not their main source?

OpenAI has cautioned against punishing students if they are not aware of the expectations around the use of AI for assignments. OpenAI said they are working on a way to give students the option to export their ChatGPT use so students can share it with professors. OpenAI also argued that professors should tell students when they used ChatGPT to create lessons.