AAUP AI report takeaways

The American Association of University Professors is a union representing teachers at universities across the US. They have released a report, Artificial Intelligence and Academic Professions, which analyses campus attitudes on uptake of AI technologies, and provides some recommendations for faculty. 

You can read the entire report here, but it’s long. It leads with a concise summary that, if you’re reading it on a desktop/laptop fills one screen, and is only a 4-swipe scroll on a phone. 

Here are a few of the takeaways that stood out to me:

• Faculty and staff widely use ed-tech tools, many of which incorporate AI, often unknowingly.

• Untested AI technologies are being adopted without sufficient scrutiny, raising concerns about reliability and educational value.

• AI initiatives are largely driven by administrations with minimal input from faculty, staff, or students.

• AI is contributing to work intensification, especially in undervalued academic tasks like plagiarism detection and course material creation.

• AI implementation often worsens outcomes in areas like job enthusiasm, academic freedom, and student success.

• Intellectual property and privacy protections are insufficiently addressed.

• The report calls for labor standards that prevent deskilling, wage reduction, and erosion of faculty governance.

• Faculty should have the right to challenge harmful technologies and participate in decisions about their use.

In short, there’s a lot of food for thought here, and it’s good to read an inquisitive and critical perspective from a national vantage point, considering academic uptake of AI technologies.