While generative AI has a place in academics’ toolboxes, humans should remain a university’s greatest asset, write Dr Loleen Berdahl (University of Saskatchewan) and Dr Christie Schultz (University of Regina). In their article for University Affairs, they posit that academic work involves relational components like collaboration and teaching, as well as ideational components like identification of problems and knowledge sharing, both of which should be reserved for human work. They suggest that universities should promote relational and ideational work while allowing AI use for non-relational and non-ideational tasks so long as it is supervised by humans who ensure the work meets the overall values of the institution. They conclude by calling on universities to ask hard questions to “step more fully into” their human-centered purpose.
