Educators lack clarity on how to deal with AI in classrooms

They might be erring by barring AI tools that could help students

- CATHERINE THORBECKE

An artificial intelligence furore that's consuming Singapore's academic community reveals how we've lost the plot over the role the hyped-up technology should play in higher education. A student at Nanyang Technological University said in a Reddit post that she used a digital tool to alphabetize her citations for a term paper. When it was flagged for typos, she was then accused of breaking the rules over the use of Generative AI for the assignment. It snowballed when two more students came forward with similar complaints, one alleging that she was penalized for using ChatGPT to help with initial research, even though she says she did not use the bot to draft the essay.

The school, which publicly states it embraces AI for learning, initially defended its zero-tolerance stance in this case in statements to local media. But internet users rallied around the original Reddit poster and rejoiced at an update that she won an appeal to rid her transcript of the 'academic fraud' label.

It may sound like a run-of-the-mill university dispute. But there's a reason the saga went so viral, garnering thousands of upvotes and heated opinions from online commentators. It has laid bare the strange new world we've found ourselves in, as students and faculty are rushing to keep pace with how AI should or shouldn't be used in universities.