Macquarie said the tool was designed in partnership with educators to support, not replace, them.<\/p>\n
Professors who used Virtual Peer uploaded the information it uses and checked it, the university said, making it more tailored than general-purpose AI tools. Experts say that could make the tool potentially less prone to \u201challucination\u201d, or inventing content without evidence. Macquarie can also monitor student conversations on the service, according to the university.<\/p>\n
The subjects still have paid tutors who run optional, unstructured Zoom feedback sessions each week. One introductory-level subject has six sessions a week for its 400 students, while the other final-year subject has 10 sessions a week for its 700 students \u2013 or roughly one class for every 70 students.<\/p>\n
Students who want to speak to a human for feedback are encouraged to attend. Macquarie said attendance at these was variable and rose around assessment due dates.<\/p>\n
Each individual psychology subject costs $2,174 for Australian students with commonwealth supported places in 2026. A three-year undergraduate degree now costs over $50,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n Virtual Peer was also used for learning activities in other subjects but was not available in all classes, Macquarie said.<\/p>\n Its use has accelerated, answering close to 80,000 student questions in all of 2025 but nearly as many in just the first half of 2026, most of which were administrative questions. The university said staff and students overwhelmingly found the tool valuable or recommended its use when surveyed.<\/p>\n Backlash to AI teaching grows<\/p>\n Macquarie has been one of a handful of Australian universities to systematically incorporate AI into teaching, alongside the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney, as the technology attracts growing student use<\/a> \u2013 and backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meena Jha (left) and an AI avatar in her likeness named Neena Chatbot (right). Composite: Supplied<\/p>\n Meena Jha, an associate professor at Central Queensland University, said she had not previously heard of any universities simultaneously cutting in-person teaching and introducing AI chatbots in her research into AI in higher education.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents require that human touch \u2026 [and] engagement will be a very big issue if we replace everything with virtual tutors,\u201d said Jha, who is also the head of CQU\u2019s pedagogy and technology cluster.<\/p>\n
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