Much ado about AI at CCNY summit

The ethical implications of the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence (AI), and its impact on higher education, were confronted by panelists and an audience of students, faculty and administrators recently at The City College of New York’s first AI Summit.

“We felt that the ethical implications of AI was a necessary conversation and, as a body whose mission is to engage the campus in exploring ideas and collaborating, we were well positioned to facilitate this conversation,” said Gareth Williams, the special projects coordinator in the office of CCNY Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Assessment Doris Cintron. The conference was organized by Williams, Educational Theatre Lecturer Sobha Kavanakudiyil, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English Pamela Stemberg, and English Adjunct Lecturer Debra Williams in response to a request by the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs to fund AI projects that support teaching, learning, research, and student success.

The tone of the Summit was set by CCNY undergraduate Megan Mullenix, an English major who also helps high school students prepare their college admissions essays. She kicked off the first panel by saying that, by using AI “without first having a fundamental background in the skills you're trying to use AI for, you're cheating yourself out of that learning experience and cheating yourself out of the knowledge of how to implement these [skills] on your own.” She advises her students not to use AI for their essays because they would not be representing their authentic selves to admissions officers.

That sentiment was echoed by Business and Economics Lecturer Hugh Fox of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, who researches the intersection of social mobility and social justice. He noticed an alarming trend of “students [who] are not recognizing that when they use AI, they're using AI largely to actually surrender their way of curriculum thinking,” rather than as a tool to help them to think critically. He advocated continuing and expanding conversations about using AI as a way to support, rather than to usurp, students’ voices.

A forceful warning about the perils of AI was delivered by Distinguished Lecturer Barbara Nevins-Taylor, director of CCNY’s Journalism program, in a subsequent panel on students’ and instructors’ experiences with the technology.

While acknowledging that she uses AI for making charts or spreadsheets, “I reject the idea of using AI for any form of writing or organizing any form of writing,” said Nevins-Taylor. “It is not original. You check your brain at the door when you do that.” She asserted that, if one wants to become a strong writer and reporter, AI is “not your friend,” as it collects information that is often wrong. “It's okay to take as a first reference an AI recommendation, but in journalism, we always say, it really must be verified.”

In her keynote address, "Not All Speed Is Movement: From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination," Princeton University Professor Ruha Benjamin framed the daylong event by raising many issues about the evolution of AI. She laid out some of the problems, and offered ways of understanding and correcting prejudices.

A summary of the issues discussed by the panelists and the participants in the breakout sessions will be made available to the public at https://ccnycenproject.commons.gc.cuny.edu.