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Introduction
Discussion of artificial intelligence has been virtually inescapable since the November 2022 release of ChatGPT. From hilarious responses to promising applications, ethical quandaries to existential threats, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has inspired countless hot takes and sweeping declarations. In the discourse of higher education, alarm, dismissal, questions, cautious enthusiasm, and hype about artificial intelligence are persistent themes. Academic librarians have taken seats at these rhetorical tables with varying perspectives, sharing a mix of observation, practical experience, and technical expertise, often mediating between extreme concerns from many corners of the academy.
At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a public, comprehensive liberal arts institution, the campus has engaged with generative AI in a relatively unstructured, exploratory manner. Librarians have performed the familiar work of synthesizing news and analysis about generative AI to variously confer with or console colleagues learning about generative AI tools. While AI's applications in scholarly research and publication are certainly evident, at UW-Eau Claire, the early discussions about AI focused on "the student problem." These talks have surfaced questions such as, "What if a student writes a research paper with ChatGPT?" or, "How do I explain generative AI to my students?" The rapid introduction of Bard, Bing Chat, and ChatGPT has challenged librarians, instructors, and administrators, in part because we arrived at the starting line at the same time as students. Without extensive forethought, educators found themselves in the position of learning how to both use a tool and monitor and regulate student use of it. Piecemeal institutional responses are largely directed at users of AI tools. In higher education, approaches to AI may vary by instructor, department, or college, posing a challenge for anyone who is still wrapping their head around generative AI. Calls for government policy and regulation focus on what companies like Open AI, Microsoft, and Google can do.
A touchstone of my early conversations about ChatGPT was the New York Times piece, "Did a Fourth Grader Write This? Or the New Chatbot?"1 In this interactive article, readers decided whether a text was authored by ChatGPT or by a child in the fourth grade. Readers also learned how authors like Judy Blume and practicing schoolteachers assessed each text. The Times' game was both funny and sobering. One colleague...