During my time at Dickinson, I have witnessed the explosive and exponential growth of generative language models, such as ChatGPT.  Unfortunately, these models are widely used across not only Dickinson but every college.  It’s time Dickinson implements an official, robust policy regarding AI that professors can reference in their syllabi.  

Currently, seemingly every professor’s policy on AI varies.  Some allow the usage of AI to help brainstorm, while others ban it completely.  Dickinson does not have an official policy regarding the usage of models like ChatGPT.  While there is a brief page that guides professors regarding the usage of AI, it is not an official policy.  

I am open to being convinced as to what this policy should be.  I am not someone who completely condemns the usage of AI at college.  I have used it for brainstorming when I am in a spout of writer’s block.  I have also used it in place of the program Grammarly as another set of eyes to look over grammatical mistakes I have made within my writing.  It can also be a useful tool when looking for resources when completing research.  

However, despite my usage of the program, I believe the college should adopt an AI policy that is on the stricter side.  AI cannot teach someone how to write.  I would argue that in many ways, learning how to write is one of the most valuable skills we learn here at Dickinson.  It’s useful not only in the workplace within our future careers, but it’s also an invaluable skill to learn how to express yourself concisely and powerfully through writing.  ChatGPT or any other generative model cannot teach someone this skill and we should not provide deference to these models for this skill. 

The real challenge with AI policy is how to enforce it.  Sure, a professor could say not to use ChatGPT when writing an essay, but who is to say students won’t just ignore that demand and submit AI-generated writing anyway?  To be honest, I don’t know.  While from my understanding, there is technology that allows writing to be “scanned” for AI usage, I am quite skeptical of technology like that.  I can only imagine receiving a horrifying email from your professor accusing you of using AI when you didn’t use it at all.  However, I am sure technology like this will only get more accurate.  

I believe these grey areas are why the college should adopt a crystallized policy that articulates when and how students can utilize AI, and when they are unable to.  While I am unsure as to how you could develop a proper enforcement mechanism regarding the usage of AI, it is not an excuse to not have an outlined policy.

  Whether we like it or not, ChatGPT and similar programs are a part of life now.  They will not go away and will only become increasingly used by college students.  It’s time to standardize this policy across every class at Dickinson.