Professors, Students Tackle Generative AI at UW-Madison

Frederica Freyberg:

In more education news, the world of machine learning exploded into everyday lives over the last year when generative artificial intelligence with advanced language models and chat functions became available to the masses. Here & Now student journalist Jane McCauley reports on how college educators and students are adapting to the new AI landscape.

Yonatan Mintz:

We use terms like artificial intelligence and it sounds kind of scary.

Jane McCauley:

Powerful servers like these process and analyze large amounts of data to produce artificial intelligence. In fact, we used AI to generate some of these images, but the concept of AI is not a new one.

TV announcer:

In the 21st century

Yonatan Mintz:

The image that I conjure up is like HAL9000 or like terminators. You know, crazy stuff like that.

Jane McCauley:

Machine learning dates back before the ’80s, but the release of AI programs that generate photos or text, like ChatGPT, have only been in public use since the end of 2022.

Yonatan Mintz:

We need to use the fact that…

Jane McCauley:

Yonatan Mintz, an engineering professor at UW-Madison focuses on the ethics of AI and ways people can learn to use it safely to solve problems.

Yonatan Mintz:

These are just very capable tools. They’re useful. They’re designed with a purpose. They’re designed by people. And they have limitations. It’s just kind of like the next step in helping us improve.

Jane McCauley:

But what are these programs and how do they work? Programs like ChatGPT are language-based models, meaning they excel at cleaning up grammar and articulating writing.

Yonatan Mintz:

I have students, for example, that speak English as a second language. I myself speak English as a second language. There are some things that don’t come naturally if you’re not a native speaker.

Jane McCauley:

And AI programs can rearrange writing to make it sound natural.

Yonatan Mintz:

GPT becomes super handy if you give it a prompt like, hey, can you edit this to make it sound more natural. Or can you edit this to make it sound more concise?

Jane McCauley:

Teachers differ on whether they encourage students to use AI in the classroom or avoid it completely. Professors like Nate Jung teach students to think critically about how to use AI programs.

Nate Jung:

I’m not trying to veer them towards not using it or veer them towards using it. I just want them to understand what it is and again, how they can make informed choices about its use in school and beyond school as well.

Jane McCauley:

During class, Jung invites his students to have open conversations about AI, including how to use it to brainstorm and narrow down writing ideas.

Nate Jung:

The college writing classroom is more important than ever, precisely because I think it’s one of the only places where students will be taught how to responsibly use that technology.

Jane McCauley:

But many students are hoping to tackle these questions themselves.

Ben Hayum:

A group of us were like, okay, we should get in this. This is a really big deal.

Jane McCauley:

UW-Madison senior Ben Hayum founded the Wisconsin AI Safety Initiative Club to get students thinking about broader questions when it comes to AI safety in society.

Ben Hayum:

What if we create a system of a student group that can help many students year after year into this kind of really important field, educate folks on it and kind of raise awareness for the problems there.

Jane McCauley:

The organization meets throughout the semester to discuss using AI to solve issues from climate change to global health. They also talk about the dangers of AI.

Ben Hayum:

One is obviously the whole risk of misinformation.

Jane McCauley:

Another is potential bias or even personal targeting.

Ben Hayum:

I’m going to target misinformation that particularly you are susceptible to given your preferences, your biases, all that kind of stuff.

Jane McCauley:

As the early stages of generative AI evolve, students like Hayum strive to learn how to safely integrate this new technology into people’s lives.

Ben Hayum:

Buckle up and like, be ready for this. Be aware of what’s happening.

Jane McCauley:

For “Here & Now,” I’m Jane McCauley.

Frederica Freyberg:

For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab.