Artificial intelligence (AI) at UCCS

AI & Learning

student working on their computer in front of mountain backdrop

College classes help you become an effective problem solver and communicator.  When you use AI at UCCS, we hope you use it to support and enhance your education—not as a shortcut that will interfere with your learning.

While AI can be a valuable partner in education, reliance on AI tools to produce essays, presentations, lab reports, artwork, and podcasts means you aren’t building new skills, practicing new ways of thinking, or developing a strong work ethic. When Gen AI is used as a shortcut to the outcome, you won’t learn as much and will be less prepared for your future career. 

  • Want to know more? Listen to or view the transcript of “Does using AI Dumb you Down” from On Point.
Does AI Dumb You Down

How AI Works

  • Generative AI involves algorithms that enable machine learning from enormous data sets; these systems are called “large language models” (LLMs).
  • Predictive LLMs recognize patterns and use what they learn about patterns to make predictions about what should come next to generate output that looks and sounds similar to human-produced content.
  • Knowledge base: Different LLMs use different data sets, and every data set comes with limits and bias that influence its output.
  • Prompting 101:  What you put into an AI tool will determine the output. Asking good, specific questions and iterating with the tool as you work will maximize its effectiveness.

 

Want to know more? Check out this Linkedin Learning Course on prompt engineering.

LinkedIn Learning Course
Two Students working on computer repair

Transparency and Documentation

Always be transparent about how you’ve used AI and document your use appropriately. An “AI Use” statement at the end of your project that details what AI tools you used and how you used them is a good practice; you should also ask your teacher if you have questions about how to document AI use in a specific class.

Because faculty set their own course-level AI policies, it's important to follow the policy outlined in the course syllabus. Some faculty may encourage AI use for parts of your work, while others may consider any use to be academic dishonesty. If the course allows AI use and you choose to use it, be sure to document your use; if you’re unsure how to document, ask your instructor for guidance.

 

Student working on computer and taking notes

Types of Tools

Different AI tools can be leveraged for different types of tasks. It’s important to understand what you need to do and choose a tool that’s designed for that kind of work.

Keep in mind that many AI tools require paid subscriptions for unlimited use or to access all of their features. Research tools before deciding to use them for a class or assignment. You have free access to some AI tools as a UCCS student. For others, you can access a student discount.

UCCS’s Kramer Family Library has more guidance for students around AI and Research. They offer an overview of tools that may be useful for specific research tasks like literature reviews and text, image, video, and audio creation and editing.

One person working on laptop while another is helping them

Ethical Use Considerations

Bias: The output AI provides is only as good as its training data. For example, When the training data or algorithms AI uses is biased, it’s likely the output will also be biased. When AI is asked to generate a picture of a doctor, it’s highly likely that the image it generates will be a white man. When AI is asked to generate an image of a teacher, that teacher is likely a woman - even though the fields of medicine and education have tremendous diversity.  Because AI tools often pull from biased data, it’s important to evaluate AI output with special attention to bias.

Hallucinations: AI’s use of predictive text means that it can produce false statements. It can even cite non-existent articles or books if you ask it to produce sources. It is your responsibility to confirm the information produced by a generative AI by locating additional sources of information and to verify the existence of any book or article it claims to cite.

Energy use: The power required for LLMs to scrub data sets, analyze patterns, and make predictions is huge. Every time you use AI, there is an environmental cost. Be cognizant of that cost as you weigh when and how you’ll use AI now and in the future.

An empty classroom full of computers

Copyright Implications

Some generative AIs were trained on the work of authors, journalists, artists, or musicians who did not give the companies permission to use their work for this purpose. Artists, writers, comedians and companies like The New York Times and Disney have filed lawsuits against various generative AI companies alleging that they have violated their rights as creators. When using generative AI tools, consider the ethical implications of uploading another author or artist’s work or prompting the AI to produce outputs based on copyrighted characters.

 

Snow covered UCCS building with mountain backdrop