(WXYZ) — Following the Spring 2023 semester, former Michigan State University professor Bill Punch said campus was buzzing with talks of artificial intelligence, specifically Chat GPT.
"This is the hot topic, right?" said Punch. "This is what everyone is talking about."
The levels of both concern and excitement were so high that he started an artificial intelligence task force to create a report that teachers can use as guidance going into the fall semester.
Punch said, "Since they are going to use it, we have to find ways to work with that."
The report lists four different options for approaching A.I.:
1. Ignore their use.
2. Detect when LLMs are used and punish those who use them.
3. Change curriculums to minimize the possibility of cheating and using LLMs.
4. Integrate LLMs into the curriculum.
"We can't detect when it's done and we really don't want to," said Punch. "It's just a terrible situation to have the students feel like they're being watched."
MSU professor Sebnem Onsay worked on the task force as well and is one of the professors who is choosing to integrate A.I. into her curriculum.
She told us, "You cannot stop students using A.I."
Onsay said she plans to use Chat GPT in her class with her students.
She will have less homework and more in-class monitored work.
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"That way we can practice something like LockDown Browser for them to actually give their honest effort to tell me if they actually understood what they just did," said Onsay.
Not all universities agree with the idea of using A.I. in class.
University of Michigan has banned the usage of any form of A.I. tools during the law school application process and many colleges are still deciding if it will be allowed or banned.
We asked MSU student Francis Jay Demit what he thinks. He said, "These are very difficult choices and both are very extreme, so I think we have to give it a try, we have to give it a chance."
MSU is also offering an Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp this fall for anyone to sign up and learn more about A.I.
The task force report recommends that professors integrate the technology into their curriculums, but it will be up to each individual instructor what they choose to do.
Punch said, "It’s not that we allow it or don’t allow it, they simply will."
"A.I. is going to be part of our lives, there will never be a project that I'm going to release to my students where they don't use A.I.," said Onsay. "That's over, this is a paradigm shift."
