December 24, 2024: 2024 in Review: AI

[I wasinitially trying to decide whether to focus my annual Year in Review series on heavyor light topics, but then I realized this was 2024—we had it all, from the seriousto the surreal, the absurd to the awesome. So I’ll start with a couple toughsubjects and move toward some happier ones. I’d love your end-of-yearreflections as well!]

I harboreda brief plan to outsource the writing of today’s post to ChatGPT (and then tocomment on how the program did or, far more likely, did not live up to my loftygoals for my own writing, natch), but here’s the thing: generative AIprograms like that most famous one are not just shitty writers and thinkers(as that excellent hyperlinked post from the folks at the USC Libraries notes),they also are blatantly stealing fromothers’ work and, to follow up yesterday’s post (with a side of AI that Idon’t think nearly enough folks are aware of, or that at least I don’t see inour conversations about AI in higher ed nearly consistently enough), contributingdirectly to the climate crisis while they do so. (I believe that’s equallytrue for other, non-generative forms of AI, but I have far less experience withand knowledge about them.) When I talk with students about why I hope they’llavoid using generative AI for any part of their work and writing in my classes,I emphasize all those levels for sure. But I also come back to one main point,the same one I’ve always made when it comes to questions of plagiarism and thelike: I respect my students deeply, and I hope they will always likewiserespect their own work, their own time, their own money and investment of alltypes in their education, as well as our shared community together. To my mind,such respect demands at least that we talk together about AI any and every timeit might be in play—and at most, and ideally, that we avoid outsourcing anypart of our work and voice to these problematic programs.

Next 2024reflection tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? What stands out from this decades-long year?