Artificial Intelligence

Perhaps nowhere are the promises and perils of artificial intelligence more keenly felt than in America’s colleges and universities. The arrival of widespread, easy-to-use AI tools has reopened questions about the very basics of teaching and learning, research and authorship, intellectual property and equitable compensation. And the technology’s tantalizing promise of fully autonomous services poses a generational threat to campus labor.

For all these reasons, AFT Higher Education is committed to helping our affiliates ensure that decisions about AI in instruction remain in the hands of instructors, that our work remains our own, that administrators do not sign away our data privacy rights, and that computer systems do not replace our committed, expert educators. Below you will find a variety of resources delving into all the ways that AI is affecting higher ed, including a statement of guiding principles, toolkits and templates for bargaining, and reports on the state of play. The AFT continues to update these resources in step with the quick pace of development, in order to keep our affiliates ready to engage with AI in the classroom and at the bargaining table.

Resources

• “Key Principles for Using Artificial Intelligence:” This is the AFT’s core statement of principles for the use of AI in higher education. It covers a wide variety of issues, ranging from instruction to intellectual property to labor practices.
• AFT Higher Education AI toolkit: This is a compendium of links to reports and other resources on AI in higher education from the AFT, the American Association of University Professors and others. It also includes numerous examples of recent contract wins on AI from our affiliates, as well as model legislative language from around the country.
• AFT resolution on artificial intelligence
• AAUP resources on artificial intelligence