Activity by Lily Dawn
Description (for Instructors)
This assignment works best after covering business reports as a genre and best practices/pitfalls to utilizing AI to summarize lengthy research articles and analyze data (see Green Street Reviews assignment). The point of this assignment is to experiment with AI while at the same time researching a major ethical issue that comes with using AI. Students consider various ethical drawbacks of using AI and hopefully maintain that awareness going forward to make more informed decisions on how they use AI in their everyday lives.
Students work in teams of 4-5 to complete this report. I give them two in-class workdays, and on the third day they present their findings to the class.
Of course, there are various ways you could make this assignment your own! For example, I haven’t yet tried peer review on this. It might be interesting to add that. An expanded version of the assignment might also be assigned as a major assignment in the course.
Materials
Recommended Readings
Davidson, Tom. “Intelligence for Good: Using AI to Accelerate Social Impact.” Fortune, 2023, https://fortune.com/2023/11/30/everfi-ai-for-good/.
Getahun, Hannah. “ChatGPT could be used for good, but like many other AI models, it’s rife with racist and discriminatory bias.” Business Insider, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-is-like-many-other-ai-models-rife-with-bias-2023-1.
Korn, Jennifer. “Vanderbilt University apologizes for using ChatGPT to write mass-shooting email.” CNN, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/tech/vanderbilt-chatgpt-shooting-email/index.html.
Marr, Bernard. “Green Intelligence: Why Data and AI Must Become More Sustainable.” Forbes, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/03/22/green-intelligence-why-data-and-ai-must-become-more-sustainable/?sh=73e825837658.
Sher, Gai and Ariela Benchlouch. “The Privacy Paradox with AI.” Reuters, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/privacy-paradox-with-ai-2023-10-31/.
UNESCO. “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.” https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics.
Explanation (for Students)
Report – 1200 words
Your group will choose one of the following ethical issues or challenges related to AI:
- privacy and surveillance
- bias and discrimination
- human judgment
- accountability and transparency
- social impact
- environmental impact
As a team, research more about your assigned issue or challenge using reliable sources from the web or online databases. Create a 1200-word report on your findings and submit it here before class on (due date). Only one person per team needs to upload. Include the names of all team members on your document.
On (due date), each group should be ready to give a short presentation (less than 5 minutes) that summarizes their findings and discusses some possible solutions or recommendations for addressing their issue or challenge. You may want to prepare slides, an infographic, poster, or any kind of visual aid. Please practice and time your presentation so that your team does not go over time.
You may use AI to summarize articles and analyze data – however, for the most part, your report needs to be written and compiled by humans, AKA you and your team members. Your report must maintain the human element.