It鈥檚 one of 2023鈥檚 hottest topics: artificial intelligence, or 鈥淎I.鈥� Read any news outlet or spend some time on social media and someone, somewhere, is showing off something that Chat GPT 鈥渨rote鈥� or that an image generator 鈥渄rew.鈥�
Science fiction becoming science reality? Not quite yet. But it鈥檚 fair to say that the power of these machine-learning tools, and the speed at which they have advanced into something approaching the fantastical, has created a mix of hype and hysteria can be hard to parse through.
Read also: Ask the experts: Where will artificial intelligence go next? (Dal News, June 5)
Within higher education, initial conversations around tools like Chat GPT have largely focused on academic integrity. Back in April, , featuring a range of perspectives from across the university. One of the participants in that event was Christian Blouin, professor and associate dean academic in the Faculty of Computer Science, who is working to support faculty though multiple disruptions in recent past and recently appointed as institutional lead (AI strategy) for 国民彩票.
And while Dr. Blouin sees the academic integrity conversation as an important one, he鈥檚 also keen to broaden the AI conversation at 国民彩票 into something much more holistic.
鈥淚f we assume pace of disruption is increasing 鈥� even if it stays constant 鈥� we don鈥檛 want to find ourselves, in a where we鈥檒l constantly be criminalizing everything new,鈥� he says. 鈥淚nstead of defining ourselves by what鈥檚 not allowed, we need to be clear on what we鈥檙e trying to achieve as a university.鈥�
Leslie Phillmore, associate vice-president academic, says the pace by which AI is impacting and will continue to affect academic work makes this a critical conversation to have now.
鈥淗aving Christian help facilitate that conversation at 国民彩票 not only will give this important work a focal point but will allow us to better connect with other universities across Canada to share information and strategies,鈥� she says.
Developing systems and supports
As for what Dal is trying to achieve with AI, that鈥檚 a conversation with Dr. Blouin right at its centre. For the next couple of years, a portion of his time will be spent consulting with staff and faculty, answering their questions and helping the university develop policies and guidelines with respect to the use of AI and machine-learning systems in the classroom, in research and in administrative work.
鈥淎I is not really a technology question 鈥� it鈥檚 more a people question,鈥� explains Dr. Blouin. 鈥淲here is it appropriate or ethical to delegate automation or decision-making to algorithms and software systems 鈥� and where is it not? Especially within a university, a place where w