Understanding Generative AI

"Generative artificial intelligence [gen AI] is a subset of AI that utilizes machine learning models to create new, original content, such as images, text or music, based on patterns and structures learned from existing data" (Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation, 2023). Gen AI can also create code and video. Most gen AI tools create these objects in response to prompts from a user.

Gen AI became a topic of growing conversation in Nov. 2022 with OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT. Though ChatGPT has become synonymous with gen AI in many circles, many other generative AI products exist. Examples include (but are not limited to) Gemini, Claude, DALL-E, Firefly, Midjourney, OpenAI Codex and Sora.

Generative AI has had and will continue to have a sizeable effect on higher education, with numerous implications for teaching and learning. This requires flexibility on the part of faculty, staff, and students and necessitates conversations about values, privacy, bias, and ethics.

As educators, we face a daunting balancing act. Students benefit from experience using generative AI to prepare them for the job market, where these tools are already in use; however, we must also protect and respect student privacy and introduce students to the limitations and ethical considerations of using these tools.