UCalgary instructor, students note changing quality of AI tools, importance of understanding them

At the University of Calgary, Instructor Kris Hans is teaching students how to use AI in the classroom, but the tools are reportedly not working as well as they used to. “I see it every week in the classroom: students wrestle with so‑called upgraded assistants that demand more hand‑holding than their simpler predecessors,” explained Hans. He attributed this phenomenon to the push from investors for companies to integrate AI as quickly as possible, which results in customers acting as beta testers. Several students emphasized the importance of understanding AI tools in their comments to Postmedia, including knowing how the tools can best be used and how they may be abused. “To [uninformed consumers,] it’s very much intelligent, it’s able to think; but for us, we know that it’s just algorithms,” explained UCalgary Student Huzaifa Shafiq.