My nephew, an expert in education policy, emailed me about this topic. It’s a big deal, I guess. My philosophy is that students can use AI in preparing their deliverables, but they must declare their use of it and reveal their prompts. Obviously, they are responsible for fact-checking anything written in their name. This requirement can be pretty embarrassing for students. So, the choice comes down to prevarication or disclosing that they needed ChatGTP to finish the assignment. Students have always had the option to lie about their work–sometimes, they get caught. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But doesn’t this detract from learning how to write? Yes, indeed, it does. That’s on them, though. My job doesn’t entail teaching the skill of writing; my course learning outcomes are outside that particular domain.
My view of generative AI in writing is the logical follow-on to my view of word processors back in the 1980s: nice to have, but not required for becoming a successful scientist. The latter involves a kind of creativity that is still far off from the current large language models.
Discoverers and Discoveries 