How artificial intelligence is reshaping college for students and professors — Transcript

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1. 0:02amna: This year's senior class
2. 0:03at universities across the
3. 0:05country is the first to have
4. 0:08spent nearly its entire college
5. 0:10career in the age of generative
6. 0:11ai, a type of artificial
7. 0:13intelligence that can create new
8. 0:14content, like text and images.
9. 0:20As the technology improves, it's
10. 0:21harder to distinguish from human
11. 0:22work.
12. 0:23And it's shaking academia to its
13. 0:24core with some very big
14. 0:24questions.
15. 0:27Special correspondent Fred de
16. 0:27Sam Lazaro has the story for our
17. 0:28series, rethinking college.
18. 0:32>> And the principle of humanity
19. 0:33says, treat all people as ends
20. 0:36in themselves, never merely as
21. 0:39means.
22. 0:40Fred: About two years ago, Megan
23. 0:41Fritts, a philosophy professor
24. 0:42at the university of Arkansas at
25. 0:42Little Rock, began spotting
26. 0:43something unusual about her
27. 0:44students' writing.
28. 0:46>> You suddenly get an essay or
29. 0:48a test answer, some kind of
30. 0:57assignment from a student who's
31. 0:57normal writing you're familiar
32. 0:58with, and you get something back
33. 1:01that sort of sounds like an
34. 1:02official business document or a
35. 1:02piece of technical writing.
36. 1:04Writing that sounds very highly
37. 1:04polished, but very impersonal.
38. 1:08Fred: Impersonal because it
39. 1:09likely wasn't written by a
40. 1:10person.
41. 1:19This was the beginning of a
42. 1:19turning point for higher Ed, as
43. 1:20generative ai had swept through,
44. 1:21not only her campus, but college
45. 1:22campuses across the country.
46. 1:22A survey last year found that
47. 1:2386% of college students are now
48. 1:26using ai tools, like chatgpt,
49. 1:28Claude ai, and Google gemini,
50. 1:29for school work.
51. 1:33The reason generative ai has
52. 1:34spread so quickly on college
53. 1:35campuses is not hard to
54. 1:36understand.
55. 1:38It's transformed tasks that used
56. 1:40to take hours, even days, of
57. 1:42writing and revision into
58. 1:46something that can be done in
59. 1:47mere minutes.
60. 1:50For example, I can ask chatgpt,
61. 1:52write me a 1000-word essay on
62. 1:57the topic of, "Is it ok to lie?"
63. 1:59And using a massive amount of
64. 2:01data, it predicts and generates
65. 2:02sentences on this topic
66. 2:03instantly.
67. 2:05Fritts says the impact has been
68. 2:06deeply disruptive.
69. 2:08>> If I'm reading the writings
70. 2:14of chatgpt instead of my
71. 2:15students, I have lost the very
72. 2:17best tool that I have to see if
73. 2:20I am being effective in my
74. 2:21capacity as an instructor or
75. 2:22not.
76. 2:24>> We really need a framework in
77. 2:28which people can use these
78. 2:29things and innovate
79. 2:30while minimizing the risk.
80. 2:31Fred: University policymakers
81. 2:33have scrambled to stay ahead.
82. 2:36>> I think the realization over
83. 2:38the past year and a half is the
84. 2:40technology is outpacing our
85. 2:43ability to detect it.
86. 2:44Fred: Vice provost of research
87. 2:45Brian berry leads one of U.A.
88. 2:47Little Rock's committees tasked
89. 2:49with creating clear campus-wide
90. 2:50policies on ai.
91. 2:51>> I think it really comes down
92. 2:55to us helping students
93. 2:56understand what's at risk.
94. 2:59Helping them understand that if
95. 2:59they use ai in the right way,
96. 3:02it's literally the most powerful
97. 3:03tool that they've ever been able
98. 3:04to use and it will make huge
99. 3:05differences.
100. 3:07But if they use it in the wrong
101. 3:08way, it could short circuit
102. 3:09their learning process.
103. 3:11Fred: The university is
104. 3:12finalizing a policy that lets
105. 3:14professors determine what ai use
106. 3:18is acceptable in their
107. 3:18classrooms, as long as they
108. 3:19clearly outline it in their
109. 3:20syllabus.
110. 3:21But for Fritts, who has a strict
111. 3:23no ai policy, identifying it has
112. 3:25been complicated and time
113. 3:26consuming.
114. 3:32>> Phrasely is one of the
115. 3:34softwares that I use.
116. 3:35If I suspect ai use, then the
117. 3:36first thing I do is I do use
118. 3:37detection software.
119. 3:40I actually use eight different
120. 3:41detection softwares.
121. 3:44Fred: If her suspicion is
122. 3:45confirmed, she does meet with
123. 3:46the student.
124. 3:47>> If they can talk about the
125. 3:49thing that they wrote about,
126. 3:49then great.
127. 3:50But a lot of times they can't.
128. 3:51Fred: Sounds like it's tedious
129. 3:52and a lot more work for
130. 3:53professors like yourself.
131. 3:56>> It certainly cuts into my
132. 3:58life quite a bit.
133. 4:01It, at least has sometimes, made
134. 4:02teaching feel like policing.
135. 4:05Fred: And these detection
136. 4:06methods are not foolproof.
137. 4:07Students online say that they're
138. 4:08caught in the middle.
139. 4:14>>We might find out if I'm
140. 4:22about to get kicked out of
141. 4:23college.
142. 4:25Fred: Ashley Dunn was a senior
143. 4:27at Louisiana state university
144. 4:27when she was accused of using ai
145. 4:28to write a short essay for a
146. 4:29British literature class, after
147. 4:30a detection tool flagged her
148. 4:30writing last year.
149. 4:31>> I was like, am I gonna fail
150. 4:33this class?
151. 4:34Am I gonna get a zero?
152. 4:36Every college takes plagiarism
153. 4:37and that kind of thing very
154. 4:38seriously.
155. 4:39So I was just freaking out.
156. 4:43Fred: After communicating with
157. 4:46her professor, Dunn says she was
158. 4:47eventually given an a for the
159. 4:48assignment, but the response to
160. 4:48her on tiktok proves that this
161. 4:50is a widespread issue.
162. 4:52>> A lot of people ended up
163. 4:57making responses to my video,
164. 4:57pretty much saying that they had
165. 4:58gone through the same thing, but
166. 4:59that they didn't really get as
167. 5:04lucky and they ended up either
168. 5:05getting zeros or failing the
169. 5:06class.
170. 5:08Some people recently have been
171. 5:09making videos about, oh, my
172. 5:09professor said that my essay was
173. 5:14ai because I used an emdash, and
174. 5:20, but that's just a regular way
175. 5:25of writing, especially for a
176. 5:26college level.
177. 5:29Fred: Not all schools are anti
178. 5:30ai.
179. 5:31Some are actually looking for
180. 5:32ways to embrace it.
181. 5:34Lori Kendall teaches an
182. 5:34entrepreneurship class in the
183. 5:36fisher college of business at
184. 5:37the Ohio state university.
185. 5:39>> When gen ai came out, I and
186. 5:43every other instructor did, oh,
187. 5:44great.
188. 5:45Now what?
189. 5:52Do we allow ai?
190. 5:53Do we not allow ai?
191. 5:54And the reality is, you know
192. 5:54what?
193. 5:55They're going to use it anyway.
194. 5:56Fred: She now encourages her
195. 5:57students to use to ai to
196. 5:57critically examine their
197. 5:58original work and as a learning
198. 5:59aid.
199. 6:02>> A lot of people might use ai
200. 6:03just to get assignments done or
201. 6:06plagiarism, but I like to use ai
202. 6:10for deeper understanding.
203. 6:11Fred: Rachel Gervais is a first
204. 6:13year student, majoring in air
205. 6:14transportation.
206. 6:18>> I oftentimes use ai to create
207. 6:20questions regarding this topic.
208. 6:20So I not only get a better
209. 6:21understanding of the actual
210. 6:22material, but I also can test
211. 6:23and see what I need to maybe
212. 6:23focus on even more.
213. 6:25>> If you don't use ai or the
214. 6:26next technology that comes along
215. 6:27to be effective, you're not
216. 6:28going to be competitive in the
217. 6:29job market.
218. 6:29The job market's changing right
219. 6:30underneath your feet.
220. 6:32>> As the chief academic
221. 6:35officer, I get to decide on
222. 6:36academic integrity issues, honor
223. 6:37code, and violations.
224. 6:39Fred: Ravi bellamkonda is the
225. 6:42executive vice president and
226. 6:47provost at Ohio state
227. 6:48university.
228. 6:51He says he was struck by one
229. 6:51alleged violation last year, a
230. 6:52student accused of using ai.
231. 6:53It was a case of cheating, he
232. 6:54says, but it made him think.
233. 6:59>> What if there existed
234. 7:00technology that indeed lets our
235. 7:01students produce work of very
236. 7:02high quality?
237. 7:04Shouldn't we investigate this a
238. 7:05little further?
239. 7:06Fred: Bellamkonda spearheaded
240. 7:08Ohio state's new ai fluency
241. 7:10initiative, which requires that
242. 7:11all undergraduate students,
243. 7:12across academic disciplines,
244. 7:14learn and use ai tools.
245. 7:17>> The trick is to figure out,
246. 7:20like any human interaction with
247. 7:23technology, what can we offload
248. 7:24to technology, and what do we
249. 7:27need to add value to?
250. 7:33Ohio state wants to be at the
251. 7:33front of that creation of those
252. 7:35rules.
253. 7:37Fred: That's prompted
254. 7:38experimentation across the
255. 7:39disciplines, like music
256. 7:41professor Tina Tallon's ai and
257. 7:43music class, which explores
258. 7:44innovative uses of the
259. 7:45technology.
260. 7:47>> I always start the class by
261. 7:48asking them to think about a
262. 7:49challenge in their field.
263. 7:51At that point, we're not even
264. 7:52talking about ai.
265. 7:53I just want them to identify
266. 7:55something that either they've
267. 7:56run up against or that their
268. 7:59students or their colleagues
269. 7:59have.
270. 8:01Fred: One member of her class,
271. 8:03tuba instructor and doctoral
272. 8:03student will Roesch, is using ai
273. 8:06to analyze airflow into his
274. 8:07instrument over thousands of
275. 8:08repetitions.
276. 8:11The data will help guide
277. 8:12students on how to play the
278. 8:13perfect note.
279. 8:17Another, Natalia Moreno
280. 8:18Buitrago, is a music education
281. 8:20grad student studying how babies
282. 8:21acquire musical knowledge.
283. 8:24She used to spend hours combing
284. 8:25through home recordings of
285. 8:27research subjects, listening for
286. 8:29moments when parents or
287. 8:30caregivers sing or hum around
288. 8:31the infant.
289. 8:34Now, ai does this for her.
290. 8:35>> If we critically examine the
291. 8:41tools that we're engaging with
292. 8:42and are actively involved in the
293. 8:42development of them, I think we
294. 8:43can do some pretty incredible
295. 8:44things.
296. 8:45Fred: But, inevitably, these
297. 8:48tolls also bring major
298. 8:52disruption, both to academia,
299. 8:52and to the jobs students hope to
300. 8:53someday fill.
301. 8:54>> How do we go through a
302. 8:56transformative moment like this
303. 8:57with the disruptions that it is
304. 8:59going to cause
305. 9:00and yet do this in a way that
306. 9:03ultimately is additive to us as
307. 9:04a society?
308. 9:07That it improves our lot as
309. 9:08human beings?
310. 9:09Fred: A question without a clear
311. 9:11answer, he says, but one that
312. 9:12students should help tackle.
313. 9:15For the pbs "News hour," I'm
314. 9:18Fred de Sam Lazaro, in Columbus,
315. 9:18Ohio.
316. 9:20♪♪