JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. (Heartland News) – As college campuses in Missouri welcome back students, artificial intelligence is something many will grapple with this semester.
Colleges and universities in Columbia are adapting to developments in artificial intelligence as students return to campus. Conversations with students showed a range of AI use, depending on personal preference and comfort with the technology.
Mizzou is rolling out expanded AI guidelines and has made Show Me AI, a campus-wide large language model, available to faculty and students. It remains up to the individual how much they use AI.
University of Missouri graduate students Rose Turner and Katie Kuziara said their school and professors have clear expectations on AI use.
“They’re very clear about how they feel about it, but also like they are still quite flexible,” Turner said.
Kuziara said she has stopped using AI in her coursework after encountering inaccurate information.
“But I found it wasn’t very helpful because it would come up with inaccurate information,” Kuziara said. “I remember a date in one of my essays was wrong, and then after that, I was like, ‘I can’t use it anymore,’ so I’m quite against using it.”
Every higher education institution is adapting to the new technology landscape, according to Jennifer Jewel, PhD, assistant provost of academic and learning innovation at Columbia College. Jewel helped write the school’s AI policy.
“Technology is developing so fast that we can’t even keep up,” Jewel said.
Jewel said the focus of higher education is shifting toward training students on developing technology.
“Three years ago, we were like, ‘How do we stop this? How do we prevent students from using it?’” Jewel said. “Now we’re saying how we’re gonna get it integrated into the general education system.”
Turner said AI is difficult to avoid in academic work, even for students who are not using it intentionally.
“I think it’s hard to avoid you in your studies,” Turner said.
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