Al lectures students on ethical practice

Simon Brown photo

Ryan Hardeman presents his Al lecture to students.

The learning center in Eldridge Hall held an artificial intelligence (AI) lecture this past

Wednesday.

Ryan Hardeman, a senior english major from Goodwater, Alabama, presented the lecture

on behalf of Troy’s AI-forward initiative. The initiative was founded to embrace the rapidly

growing technology as a tool for students.

Hardeman’s lecture focused on how AI could be used ethically and effectively in the

writing process.

“When it comes to starting a paper or essay, you want to do all the heavy outlining

without AI,” Hardeman said. “I would recommend using AI to help you look for research.

“Once you have your outline and research, you can use AI to draft together a remedial

paper or essay.”

Hardeman's ethical uses of AI include providing suggestions for improvement and

refinement, generating ideas, producing templates, and summarizing and critiquing work.

Despite the potential good AI could bring to education at the collegiate level, Hardeman also discussed some of the pitfalls.

The downsides to using AI in writing include lack of personal voice, different responses

across queries, limitations in context and Blackbox.

“All the information we give to AI to has to be stored somewhere because it's on a

server,” Hardeman said. “That information is given to a Microsoft server, and neither the

university nor students have access to it.

“Theterm Blackbox refers to all the information that AI has and stores that we can’t get

to.”

One student gained a new perspective on AI use after listening to Hardeman’s lecture.

“The presentation kind of widened my perspective,” said Steven Hicks, a senior mathematics education major from Slocomb, Alabama. “AI is not just something you can use to get a detailed outline.

“You should always double check the outline because there may not be correct

information.”

Rebecca Money-Normans, director of the learning center, hopes students can realize their own academic potential while using AI.

“I think we are gifted in so many ways,” Money-Normans said. “We need to use our

intellectual gifts, but I'm hopeful because I see AI as a support technology for students who may need some help just getting started sometimes.”

To learn how to get involved with Troy’s AI forward initiative, email rsnokes@troy.edu.

More information can be found at www.troy.edu/academics/ai-forward/artificial-intelligence