AI is here to stay at the University, but it requires proper instruction and discourse, according to Pitt faculty.<\/p>\n
Student Government Board and the University Library System<\/a> hosted a panel<\/a> about AI and academia in the Hillman Library\u2019s Latin American Room on Wednesday evening. Moderated by SGB executive board member Patrick Ryan, three Pitt faculty members said instructors have an important role in teaching students best AI practices and clarifying classroom expectations, such as when and why not to use AI for schoolwork.<\/p>\n Elise Silva, director of policy research at Pitt Cyber<\/a>, said instructors have a responsibility to better articulate the value of schoolwork they expect students to complete without AI.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that really matters right now, because a lot of times, without those explanations, we find that students are like, \u2018I\u2019m just going to automate the things that don\u2019t seem to matter to me,’\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Pitt News, Jeff Aziz, teaching professor of English and assistant dean of the Dietrich School<\/a>, said he notifies his students of an \u201cexpected work method\u201d and \u201cappropriate practices\u201d on assignments. He told students he wanted their presentations to be original and not formulaic because he believes literature classes should act as a place for reflection rather than \u201cinstantly assimilating\u201d knowledge, and he found that they listened.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not be clear about why we do these things?\u201d Aziz said. \u201cHere\u2019s a thing that I noticed as a dean \u2014 people say, \u2018Why don\u2019t my students do that?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t know, have you asked them to do it?’\u201d<\/p>\n