By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
Provost Nancy Brickhouse created a new committee to address artificial intelligence at the July Board of Regents meeting.
The committee will confront common questions and confusion that faculty, staff and students have regarding the use of AI, according to Brickhouse.
“[The AI committee] will provide some guidance of how to use AI and under what circumstances it’s allowed, what the policies are that come into play in terms of how AI should be used on our campus,” Brickhouse said.
The committee will also train faculty so they can better understand uses of generative AI and how to ethically and appropriately incorporate it into the classroom, Brickhouse said.
Dr. Daniel Pack, dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science, chairs the committee along with 11 other members. Pack said the committee has four different tasks that will lead to incorporating AI tools into education at Baylor: developing policies and guidelines on how to use AI tools, training and educating faculty on how to use them, identifying how the AI tools can help in education and looking at long-term strategies to utilize the technologies.
“The goal of the AI committee is providing the best recommendations to [Provost Brickhouse] so… in classrooms and course offerings, we help our students to be well-prepared for the future,” Pack said. “For our students to be able to do that, we have to have faculty and staff who are well-trained with these tools and the technology.”
According to Pack, the committee has already addressed the first three tasks.
“As for identifying AI platforms and AI tools that we will be using, we will be looking at some long-term strategies,” Pack said. “All four [tasks are] something that we need to revisit over and over again, because the technology changes so quickly. The ecosystem of generative AI is evolving, even as we speak.”
The AI committee will make a significant impact on campus that will affect student learning, such as how classes are conducted, Pack said. However, it will not be overnight changes, but “gradual and continuing changes” that the Baylor community can adjust to together.
AI tools can be helpful at Baylor, Pack said. Part of the committee’s job is to learn and teach others how to wield the tools properly so that they are as useful as possible.
“We have to play an active role on how to embrace these technologies and how to use them properly and ethically to the best of our abilities so that we remain as a driver,” Pack said. “These technologies and generative AI will be our helpers in assisting what we do and do it better. It is all of our responsibilities.”
