For RMST 495 students
As part of your contract, you sign and certify that you will not be using generative AI, which includes but is not limited to websites and apps such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc., at any stage or for any reason in your work for this course. You should also turn off any Gen AI features of other programs (such as Grammarly, which you should not be using in any case).
If you use AI, then you are breaking your contract.
You should also read all the texts either in English translations, or in the original language. You should not read them in any other language, or use translation software. (You may of course use a dictionary to look up specific words or phrases.) Similarly, you should write your blog posts in English, and not use translation software in their production.
If you have any questions about what is permissible or not, you should err on the side of caution and are welcome to talk to me or send me a message with your concerns. I do know that, increasingly, AI is becoming integrated into all kinds of websites and programs, making it ever harder to avoid. But you should do your best to do so, and we can discuss limit cases or grey zones.
Why am I so strictly opposed to AI in this course?
Both the content and the assessment in this course focuses on process, rather than product. This is a course about the experience of reading: about what happens to us when we repeatedly sit down for a period of time, even perhaps for hours at a time, to read a long book.
To put this another way: this is also a course about AI, in so far as if in the near future many of us are reading AI-produced summaries of texts, rather than the texts themselves, then here we are asking: what would we lose if this were to happen?
What counts here is reading, in all its difficulties and complexities (if also pleasures), rather than whatever conclusions or insights you may or may not draw from that reading. Similarly, what counts is that you have engaged and have a perspective on the texts, rather than whether or not your perspective is the “right” one. What matters is taking part, rather than achieving any particular goal.
AI is pretty good (if still not perfect) at coming up with a plausible product. But its use eliminates, to a greater or lesser extent, the process that is important here.
For RMST 520 students
All the above goes equally for students taking RMST 520. They should read and comment on the texts in this course without any use of AI tools.
However, when it comes to the presentations that RMST 520 students will be giving… these are summaries and discussions of theoretical texts, and at least in theory such summary is something that AI tools are relatively good at accomplishing. Therefore, although students will still be expected to read the texts fully themselves, in principle I am prepared to allow then to consult AI tools in the production of their presentations. But please consult with the instructor before doing so.
Similarly, I am open to the possibility that students may use or consult AI tools in the preparation of their final projects. Again, please consult with the instructor before doing so.
If you use AI without prior consultation, or if you do so in a way that goes beyond my advice and suggestions, you will be penalized.
Further reading
For more thoughts, I find British computer scientist and critic Dan McQuillan, author of the book Resisting AI, is provocative and informative.