Take a close look at this perfectly usual-looking bulletin board in Stafford Hall; maybe you will find something amiss.
Did you notice the paper sign in the lower right corner advertising an AI writing app, free to download and use?
You are looking at our future. It is one with machines that can produce, as the app’s homepage assures us, writing that is not only “99% plagiarism free”; but with perfect spelling, grammar and vocabulary (if you want that); and even a tone of voice that you can select. Get ready for things to change.
We in Leavenworth Hall have been entertaining a different kind of challenge posted on one of our doorways: two sonnets from this recent NPR story in which a team of judges was asked to determine whether each poem was written by a human or by a machine. The poems have caused no small amount of hallway discussion and debate, and even some hopeful predictions that some of the favorite turns of phrase come from a human mind. You should go have a look and judge for yourself!
You may be interested in this article by Stephen Marche from a recent issue of The Atlantic; it has fueled much of this discussion and wider notice of machine intelligence writing in the last couple weeks. But just be aware that it comes with tidings: the college essay seems all but dead. It’s not hard to find opinions on the matter. See the student tweet that brought this to everyone’s attention this fall, some opinion pieces in Inside Higher Ed, and this thoughtful piece by Nancy Gleason in The Times Higher Education.
Thanks to Brendan Lalor for raising all of this for the consideration of the Teaching and Scholarship Committee in October, when it didn’t seem quite as urgent to raise the alarm, and thanks to Andy Alexander for sparking a new discussion of poetry in LVH.
