AI hype in the classroom

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, especially generative tools based on large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, raise critical concerns for academic integrity, for ensuring genuine assessment of student learning, and for equity. Public understanding of these tools is clouded by hype about their capabilities, as they are often treated as knowledgeable and even sentient, and thus suitable for any human task. Of particular concern for instructors is how, and how much, students rely on these tools to complete their coursework. We address some of these issues in our classrooms by reporting on a recent pedagogical initiative within the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto during Summer 2023. As part of the initiative, we highlight the crucial role that linguistics can play in these discussions, by shifting the focus to LLMs as objects of study that are directly relevant to the linguistics classroom and to educate students on what linguistic tasks they are and are not good at. We offer strategies and sample assignment questions to help instructors deflate AI hype and facilitate greater AI literacy by demystifying the technology.