MUNCIE, Ind. — Despite artificial intelligence being prominent for quite some time, artificial intelligence has reached a new high in popularity and in capabilities.
As the strength of AI rises, so does the concern. However, Ball State University urges its students and staff to embrace it, rather than avoid it.
“We are really trying to help guide students, faculty, staff in using tools in a smart and responsible way,” said the Executive Director of the Ball State University Digital Corps, Brandon Smith. “You know, making sure people don’t upload information that is proprietary or has some sort of data that really shouldn’t be on the cloud.”
There is a common stigma regarding artificial intelligence. Many believe it is purely a service that makes it easier for students to cheat. Meanwhile, some believe that it is a service that assists in education and can help teach the user more about the given topic.
Ball State University partnered with Google’s Gemini, a prompt-based artificial intelligence program. Among other AI programs, Smith advises students to take advantage of the programs responsibly and ethically.
“There’s things that AI can do to make learning more efficient, to make teaching more efficient, to make running the university more efficient,” said Smith. “We don’t know what all of those are yet, and that’s fine.”
One of Ball State University’s new AI programs is Cardinal DocuQuiery. This tool dissects files, links and even helps code based on the prompt given to the website.
Ball State wishes to help students learn the full capabilities of AI and urge others to take advantage of it.
“It’s still early days, but that’s what I’m excited (for); the tools that we can create that will let you be more efficient in how you are a student,” Smith said.
Ball State University holds training sessions that allow others to learn about the rapidly approaching future of artificial intelligence.
You can find more information on the Ball State University website under “AI Initiatives.” AI is here and can give us the extra push needed.
Contact Payton Mucker with comments at payton.mucker@bsu.edu.
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