Artificial intelligence in higher education
For those without digital and cultural capital, AI is a dangerous helper whose use is liable to land them in hot water, says Rituparna Patgiri
Given AI’s ubiquity in the workplace, some believe that students should now be assessed on their aptitude in working with it. But others insist employers are still more interested in innate ability – and rampant undeclared AI use demands the revival of traditional ways of testing it. Juliette Rowsell reports
Rapid development of technology outpacing any attempts to reform assessment system, researchers warn
Anxious students offer rich pickings for those offering to check their AI-likelihood scores, say Benjamin Luke Moorhouse and James Mian Jia
Publishers must stop treating AI governance as an ethical burden to be outsourced to those already overburdened and under-rewarded, says Mai Zaki
Rampant technology considered both essential knowledge and an employability threat, survey finds
We have produced a generation who believe their own thinking is not good enough unless it sounds like a machine, says Agnieszka Piotrowska
In the four years since its commercial launch, generative artificial intelligence has had a profound impact on personal and professional life. But are academics enthusiasts or sceptics? Five scholars explain how the technology has affected their own practice – for good and bad
Universities piloting the use of AI tools in assessment identify ‘tension’ in determining correct role for academics to play
Audit of all UK institutions reveals lack of coordination in how student AI use is being managed, with 40 per cent lacking any public policy
Rise in top marks was most prevalent when students completed written tasks at home, says University of California, Berkeley scholar
Research integrity experts commend arXiv’s crackdown on bogus AI-written citations but warn it may be impossible to police at scale
Universities still sending mixed messages, with survey finding even split between those who feel encouraged and discouraged to use new technologies
Loss for the publishing giant in its legal action over AI crawling will make it much harder for scholars to assert control on how their outputs are used, say experts
Automation may be used as an excuse to cut further posts, experts warn, even if it isn’t capable of replacing academics
Withdrawal of education papers by British Education Research Association is long overdue, says integrity campaigner who argues more retractions are needed
Concerns that UK universities not preparing students adequately as annual survey shows big rise in performance-related issues among recent hires
AI glasses and other smart apparel may be impossible to keep out of exams, adding to universities’ woes about the future of assessments
Students expected to use AI for information before evaluating technology’s output as institution seeks to prepare learners for changing labour market
Informal applications of AI, such as academics using tools to grade student work, could potentially fall foul of wide-ranging legislation, policy expert warns
Patchy uptake of new technologies across region, survey finds, with limited connectivity a potential barrier
London School of Innovation set to launch in June after being given stamp of approval by regulator
Political ambition is not enough. Stable funding, coherent regulation and realistic institutional differentiation are also vital, says Kyuseok Kim
Expert says ‘coordination problem’ leaves degree courses out of sync with business needs
Calls to ditch AI because it is destroying students’ analytical skills ignore institutions’ questionable record at developing complex reasoning, says Ian Richardson
Some of the most important questions around accuracy, bias, authorship and appropriate use might not be immediately visible, says Santa Ono
Teacher-turned-sleuth Stephen Vainker warns rise of chatbot language in journals will further erode school confidence in education faculties
The brief launch of an app promising to attend students’ lectures as well as write their assignments caused some academics to despair at a dystopian near-future in which learning becomes a pointless sham. But others believe the abyss can be bypassed. Juliette Rowsell reports
The issues concerning AI and copyright are far more complicated than the ‘Big Music v Big Tech’ paradigm presented in the media, says Benjamin White
Academics raise concerns over ChatGPT owner’s links to US military and claim tools are ‘looking to replace knowledge workers’
If AI amplifies what you bring to it, the liberal arts mission of developing critical thinkers becomes not nostalgia but practical necessity, says Nicholas Creel
Full automation may be possible in narrow cases, but it is neither realistic nor desirable as a general model, say Bashir M. Al-Hashimi and Nick Jennings
‘Expert review’ function that promises feedback ‘inspired by’ work of well-known scholars faces growing backlash over claims it ‘misrepresents views’
Latest survey of UK undergraduates’ attitudes to new technologies shows little agreement on whether huge increase in usage has been a good thing
Humans’ epistemic arrogance belies the fact that subject knowledge is always incomplete and cognitive bandwidth is strictly finite, says Prince Sarpong
If we treat AI as a purely rational evolution of human intelligence, we risk repeating colonial erasure on a digital scale, says Agnieszka Piotrowska
We cannot bureaucratise our way into producing better thinkers, any more than we can automate wisdom, says Akhil Bhardwaj
New tool promising to watch lectures and complete assignments for students abruptly taken down amid concerns about cheating and data protection
Universities encouraged to develop new sites in flagship Northern Metropolis development, backed by increased government funding
Worries over admitting ChatGPT use for editing and drafting may explain extremely low disclosure rates, study suggests
Partnership with ETS will replace 20-year-old traditional entry exam with modular, skills-based assessment as part of bid to modernise national system
Framing this technology as a helpful ‘tool’ disguises how much it guides every element of critical thinking that academics seek to cultivate, says James Garvey
Increased use of new technologies accompanied by rising fear of being accused of cheating, with many universities’ policies on what is acceptable still unclear
Investing in sector by focusing on new technologies can combat brain drain and help institutions escape from their reliance on the West, say experts
Rapid growth in number of students studying AI courses reflects its cultural prominence but experts warn content could lack rigour and quickly become outdated
Grande école embarks on biggest redevelopment for more than 50 years amid changing enrolment patterns and disruptions to traditional teaching models
After filling the map with overseas campuses, central Asian country targets research links and technological innovation
New flagship institution intended to rival region’s best faces lengthy delays as highly ambitious plans to create sustainable city in the desert unravel
Ever more processes rely on artificial intelligence, yet our governance is still stuck at the level of ‘is it OK for students to use ChatGPT in essays?’, says Tom Smith
The claim that AI can’t make meaning contradicts what researchers are finding when they put these tools to careful, critical use, says James Goh
Quarter of institutions admit they don’t know if PhD candidates are working with AI, while only a small proportion say they are coming up with guidelines on its use
It is vital to examine what chatbots’ behaviour reveals about their underlying structures – and human responses to them, says Agnieszka Piotrowska
Maybe I need to drop the illusion that I can spot AI-written text and, instead, devise assignments that AI can’t help with, says David Mingay
We need a holistic approach that teaches students not just to use AI but to survive its psychological terrain, say Sean McMinn and Nick McIntosh
The various reactions to my recent article on universities’ tardy AI adoptance underlines their allergy to internal transformation, says Ian Richardson
If a student feels remembered by a machine but overlooked by humans, something in the educational contract has broken, says Agnieszka Piotrowska
Without exemptions for commercial as well as academic data mining, the government’s AI for Science Strategy will fall flat, says Benjamin White
Employers in many industries may soon conclude they can train, assess and credential employees more effectively than universities can, warns Ali Hindi
While new technologies seen as ‘game changer’ for national-level research assessment, study finds vehement opposition, particularly among humanities scholars
Institutions urged to take a step back and think about what they are trying to achieve before ‘jumping on AI bandwagon’
