The announcement of the partnership between ASU and OpenAI sparked a wave of anticipation and anxiety among faculty and students alike, revealing a wide range of opinions about the future of artificial intelligence in education.
The partnership was announced on January 18, and did not include initial implementation details, other than an AI innovation challenge directed at ASU faculty starting February 1. However, not all faculty members feel adequately informed.
Read more: Arizona State University announces first partnership between OpenAI and a university
“It's a little difficult to comment,” said Emma Frew, an assistant professor in the School of Future Innovation in Society and ASU's College of Biological and Health Systems Engineering. “There seems to be very little information provided.”
“I don't know a lot about that,” said Ben Hurlbut, an associate professor in ASU's College of Life Sciences and the College of the Future of Innovation in Society. “I've read some articles that basically describe this type of partnership to explore how to integrate[AI]into education, and (specifically) into the use of research in university settings. But that's all I know.”
Others outside STEM fields echo this feeling of uncertainty, feeling that the promising announcement leaves many questions unanswered.
“(To) be honest with you, I haven't done a lot of research on this topic,” said Mitchell Jackson, a Pulitzer Prize winner and professor of English and creative writing at Arizona State University.
Even those who are proficient in the field of science find it difficult to envision the practical side of the deal.
“I was excited,” Frew said. “Then I read the flyers and it felt like a business deal.”
“One has to ask the question of purpose,” Hurlbut said. “Just because the tool exists, does that mean there is a need to utilize the tool?”
Beyond the ASU announcements, there are general concerns about the growing role of artificial intelligence in education.
“What's concerning is that one of the things we do here at the university is create conditions in which we are all challenged to tap into, deepen and broaden intelligence, individually and collectively,” Hurlbut said. “This AI is an algorithm designed to deceive us. The test of its effectiveness is whether it can produce something that seems plausible to the reader.”
This leads to deeper reflection on the purpose of integrating AI into education and highlights the risk of losing human intellectual engagement.
“I worry that it will become a substitute for critical thinking,” Frew said. “If we allow it to replace critical thinking, it will not help us build a better world.”
Despite these concerns, the partnership between ASU and OpenAI could be an opportunity for progress, given that it is being handled with caution.
“This will have a profound impact on education,” Frew said. “I need to acknowledge it and then take time to think about how to deal with it instead of working against it in the classroom.”
Andrew Maynard, a professor at Arizona State University's College of the Future of Innovation in Society, previously taught a class on real-time engineering with ChatGPT and already has experience bringing AI into education.
“The challenge is finding ways to use AI in useful ways rather than in unhelpful ways,” Maynard said. “It helps align the learning environment, which helps students achieve what they are trying to achieve.”
While some are concerned about issues of academic integrity, Maynard believes that understanding where cheating comes from can lead to a collaborative relationship with AI in the classroom.
“When you are creative and innovative in how you use ChatGPT, you can find ways to use it where students learn faster,” Maynard said.
With regard to arts education, the situation is complicated by subjectivity and authenticity.
“Art is humanity, and artificial intelligence will never be human,” Jackson said. “It cannot be human by definition. Do I think there will be good AI literature in the world? It's inevitable. Do I think OpenAI could create 'Beloved' or Toni Morrison's 'Song of Solomon'? No, I don't.”
Many, like Jackson, believe in the irreplaceable value of human creativity, even as the possibility of literature written by artificial intelligence opens up.
“It's going to have to be someone who is an early adopter of this idea more than me to pave the way and show me… how AI can be useful in doing what I do, which is teaching and teaching the craft of writing,” Jackson said. “How people think and be more human in the world.” “.
Meanwhile, the world of literature offers many ominous views on the future of artificial intelligence.
“Humans have written about artificial intelligence in science fiction, and it has never worked,” Jackson said.
According to Maynard, although there are concerns about artificial intelligence, the dystopian views of science fiction are inspired by human instincts and fears, not reality.
“It is unlikely that we will have some of these dystopian futures,” Maynard said. “We're projecting human emotions and behaviors onto a machine that's not human. I don't think that means machines will behave like humans.”
This serves as a reminder of the cultural backdrop against which AI discourse unfolds and highlights the enduring human fascination regarding the limits of technological progress.
These concerns are now weighing heavily on Arizona State University, which is responsible for guiding artificial intelligence into the future of higher education. Naturally, this focuses heavily on the details of the partnership. However, implementation strategies are still being implemented.
“The agreement with OpenAI for ChatGPT Enterprise is that we go through this challenge process around researchers submitting applications… to potentially use OpenAI Enterprise for research purposes,” said Elizabeth Riley, executive director of AI and Enterprise Technology Acceleration at Arizona State University.
Given the potential impact of these uses, ASU will carefully examine each proposal against its innovation values.
“Proposals will be evaluated based on several different components, including alignment with ASU’s charter, supporting student success and making a positive community impact,” Riley said. “We are also evaluating proposals regarding alignment with initial innovation… It is very important for us to take into account the ethics of AI.”
Although the selection process is not public, proposals that receive AI support will be announced.
“We will publicly share many of the different use cases that are being pursued, that we have agreed to through this process and that have been accepted through this RFP process,” Reilly said. “This first round of proposals is for faculty and staff…and then potentially in a future round students will be able to participate.”
It is not known when exactly students will be able to participate in this process.
“OpenAI is part of the world, and they will benefit from that, along with others,” Reilly said. “We are all about creating knowledge to help us all as a society and as humanity move forward in thoughtful ways.”
The partnership between ASU and OpenAI represents a pioneering step toward integrating AI into education, paving the way for the potential for transformation and ethical exploration. As this bold initiative unfolds, its impact on the academic landscape and ethical boundaries remains an open question, waiting for the test of time to reveal the true extent of its impact on learning and creativity.
Edited by River Graziano, Walker Smith, and Kira Learmonth.
Contact the reporter at dmanatou@asu.edu.
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