Here you will find useful resources and tips that can help you as a teacher talk to students about AI in learning and assessments and the ethics around this topic.

Artificial intelligence, in the form of language models such as ChatGPT, first appeared on the radar for many of us in November 2022, and since then the discussion about the use of such tools has been a major topic of discussion in the higher education sector.

Norsk versjon: Snakke med studentane om kunstig intelligens

Below you will find some suggestions for specific topics with resources that you can use with your students in the discussion about what is problematic and useful when using artificial intelligence in assessment, learning and teaching. Our goal is to create a common understanding of such tools and allow for constructive use of them.

Dialogue on artificial intelligence in education

In this video, you will gain basic knowledge about artificial intelligence. It may be a good idea to watch it with your students or ask them to watch it themselves, as a starting point for dialogue about what artificial intelligence really is, and how such tools can affect our lives as citizens, students and employees.

The video (6:30 minutes) gives you basic knowledge about artificial intelligence). The video is in English.

What can artificial intelligence really do and what is it not very good at?

Artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, is a great conversation partner in every way; it never tires of our questions and it provides answers that we perceive as reasonable and knowledgeable. And it's no wonder, these tools generate text based on "what would the humans say"? In other words, it creates its texts by using the next word that in all probably follows on in the sentence. It doesn't copy sentences or paragraphs from the data set on which it is trained. Therefore, we will also be able to get different answers to the same question, in the same way you get different answers to the same question when asking different people. In spite of its human appearance; such large language models are in no way conscious beings. And we who use such tools should develop an awareness of this.

Below you will find points for reflection about what AI can and cannot do, and how this differs from our unique human contributions and capacities.

What distiguishes us from AI, what is the uniquely human aspect we contribute?

AI as a copywriter is often exaggeratedly neutral and impartial. It provides information and considerations in a general and context-independent manner, and it does not make ethical or professional assessments (normatively), i.e. it does not give real insight. Nor does AI anchor claims with its own experiences and observations. One can say that AI is mainly focused on the language, with logical structure and "correct" presentation, with the words we "like" to use or "trust". Below are fundamental contradictions between AI and unique human qualities in thinking, action and dissemination.

Artificial intelligence

• Text produced by AI has a conspicuously neutral form (it does not choose a position).
• The text is characterized by a logistical structure, it divides up the topic and often presents the material as bulleted lists (regardless of whether it is a meaningful or correct division of the topic).
• The content is often apparently value neutral.
• The content is also context-independent and generated as "general"/"universal".
• The texts stand out as clear in the sense that it "caters to" all thinkable readers.
• AI as a copywriter also produces text that fails on the safe side (nothing is ventured)

Human

• Text written by a human is influenced by the fact that we are personally involved and engaged.
• Our communication is fundamentally interpretive as opposed to strictly logistical.
• Humans are biased as opposed to value-neutral.
• We are able to write, act and think in a a given context (historically/situated).
• We write in the light of "someone" (we have a reader in mind: a role model, a voice, a human, a future, a God).
• As a human being, our interaction and communication is characterised by a fundamental insecurity (we always have values at stake).

Is AI a tool or an obstacle to education and learning?

Academic education deals with critical reflection, being able to both develop knowledge and be critical of it, as well as insight into scientific thinking. For the ethical formation, it is about developing responsible relationships with the student, their fellow human beings, society and nature. It also deals with the student's ability to understand and act in accordance with the guidelines and regulations that apply when studying at university or college.

NTNU's students are here to learn and develop as individuals and citizens, and we have a responsibility to cultivate insight, understanding, new knowledge and good people and citizens, and to equip them to take part in and contribute to a future working life. Talk to students about learning, help them develop a good and insightful relationship with the learning process.

Questions to reflect on

If ChatGPT can produce texts with a logical structure, precise sentences, that reproduce in a neutral and impartial manner that apparently have humane values, what assessment criteria do we need? What we should look for when we seek to uncover real insight, professional judgment, communication skills, and a care for fellow human beings and the world?

• Can AI reveal what we value?
• Does AI reduce space for thinking in writing? (reproduces the most generic, usual and expected).
• Does it flatten written communication? (deciphers structure, grammar and sentence structure, and their privileged position in education as measurable and easily assessable units)
• Lacks style and personal expression. Does personality belong in higher education? Is this more reminiscent of the style in natural science research? If so, does it privilege one type of academic writing over others?

Things to consider when planning assessments

AI tools are constantly gaining functions and becoming better at reproducing texts, images and videos. This requires us to ask some key questions when we design our courses and consider student work and assessment. Should we continue to use forms of assessment that emphasise final assessments, in contrast to ones that have a focus on the student's continuous learning process? It is also important to reflect on how we can design exam assignments that give students the opportunity to show real insight qnd professional judgment and which highlight their communication skills in a way that an AI cannot easily imitate and portray.

You can find more tips in about this topic on the page Exams and artificial intelligence - for faculty

Ethical dilemmas

Partial datasets provide biased output

Language models, such as ChatGPT, are built on biased data sets; they have been trained on huge amounts of text from websites, books and other sources without being able to assess it in any way. Most of the text on the internet is produced by white men from Western countries, and it is likely that AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are trained on datasets where this demographic is overrepresented. In other words, the data set of such text models may contain biased, racist, sexist and other discriminatory texts, which in turn will characterize the text it generates when we use it.

Some resources for further reading: