Navigating the World of Writing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools are everywhere now, and this opens up a new world for you to navigate as a multilingual writer. Not only do you have to decide if and how you want to use these tools and learn how to use them most effectively, but you also have to consider ethics. Ethics are the systems that people use to determine what is right and what is wrong. Different people may have different perspectives on what is ethical and what is not, and this is where there can be debate.

Many education professionals, especially those who teach writing, are currently debating whether AI has a place in the classroom, and, if so, what that place should be, from an ethical perspective. In addition to ethics, there are also societal norms and institutional policies that must be considered. To complicate matters more, we must keep in mind that just because something is considered normal by society or permissible by an institution, that does not necessarily mean it is ethical. This means that even if a teacher allows you to use AI in your writing and many of your classmates are doing it, you may still choose not to for ethical reasons. On the flip side, just because something is considered abnormal or is against institutional rules, that does not mean it is necessarily unethical. However, people often follow norms and rules, even if they do not completely agree with them, because they wish to avoid being excluded or punished. So, even if you personally believe it is ethical to use AI to generate your writing for you, if your teacher tells you it is against the course policy, you will likely still want to follow that policy to avoid punishment.

Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding Whether to Use AI

Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding how or whether to use AI in your academic writing:

1.) Have I verified that course and institutional policies allow me to use AI on this assignment?

2.) What are the learning goals for this assignment? Will using AI in this manner help or hurt my ability to reach those learning goals?

3.) What are my personal goals for developing as an English writer? To what extent is it important to me to develop my own voice in writing? Will using AI in this way help or hurt my ability to develop as an English writer and develop my own voice in writing?

4.) How will I ensure that AI has generated true information, and how will I know that the writing is clear and effective for my audience and purpose?

5.) At what parts of the writing process for this assignment would it be helpful and ethical to use AI? At what parts in the writing process would it be unhelpful or unethical to use AI?

5.) Is it permissible and ethical to present AI-generated text as my own in this type of writing? If it’s not ethical or permissible, how should I give credit to the AI tool in my writing, if I still choose to use it?

AI Tools for College Writing with Instructional Designer Laura Yost

Dr. Laura Yost is an instructional designer and the multilingual daughter of a Spanish-immigrant father. In this video Dr. Yost introduces several AI tools, discusses how they may be useful for multilingual students in their writing, and talks through some areas students should think about when they use AI to help them with their writing.

AI Writing in the Workplace with Hiromi Narita, Study Abroad Advisor

Hiromi Narita first came to the U.S. from Japan as an international student. Now she helps college students have international learning experiences as a study abroad advisor. Here Narita discusses how she uses AI to help with completing workplace writing tasks.

AI Writing Tips with Wilson Rojas, Assistant Director of Emerging and Innovative Technologies

Wilson Rojas originally came to the U.S. as an international student from Chile. Now he helps education professionals navigate new technologies, and one of his current roles is to help educators explore how AI can be applied in education. In this video, he discusses how he has used AI in the workplace and in his studies as a doctoral student.