Writing Faculty Push for the Right to Refuse AI
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As universities rush to adopt generative AI–powered tools that claim to enhance teaching, learning and workforce preparation, a growing contingent of academics is questioning where that urgency is coming from and whom it stands to benefit. The world’s largest professional organization of writing educators disagrees with the notion that the rise of generative artificial intelligence in the classroom is unavoidable.
You have /3 articles left.Sign up for a free account or log in. Sign Up, It’s FREE Login Numerous universities have signed multimillion-dollar deals with tech companies to offer students and faculty access to proprietary generative AI tools. Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | AndyL, Kirillm, and leolintang/iStock/Getty Images The world’s largest professional organization of writing educators disagrees with the notion that the rise of generative artificial intelligence in the classroom is unavoidable. Earlier this month, the Conference on College Composition and Communication passed a resolution affirming the rights of students and faculty to refuse the use of generative AI in the writing classroom. “Unsubstantiated claims about how generative AI increases productivity” and a string of other concerns underpinned the resolution including the technology’s corrosive implications for data privacy, labor rights, academic freedom, the environment and the critical thinking skills humans develop through the process of writing. “The work of college writing instruction should be attentive to industry trends—among many other external factors—but not driven by the goal of workforce preparation through a narrow focus on specific technological skills,” reads the resolution. “As a profession, rhetoric, composition, and writing studies is committed to preparing students to write in a world that is bigger than just work. We understand that students learn to write to na...
