Minnesota Private College Council AI Panel

Posted By: Michael Ratajczyk On: 2023-06-05
Posted On: 2023-06-05

To explore the role of Generative AI and other chatbots in higher education, the Minnesota Private College Council hosted a spring panel discussion, ChatGPT: Hype, Threat or Something Else?, with four experts within disciplines ranging from law and philosophy to chemistry and data analytics. Paula O’Loughlin, provost and senior vice president at Augsburg University, moderated the discussion.

Panelists included our very own, Michael Ratajczyk, Program Director of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, Associate Professor of Business and Communication and:

  • Jon Choi, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Law School
  • Ashley Comstock, associate professor of philosophy at The College of St. Scholastica
  • Darin J. Ulness, professor of chemistry at Concordia College.

Questions addressed included:

  • What can higher education institutions do to address ChatGPT?
  • How might ChatGPT be effectively used by our institutions or in ways outside the classroom? What can we offer students?
  • Is ChatGPT a threat, hype or something else?

From the panelist discussion, it’s clear that ChatGPT [Generative AI] is rapidly developing, and so is the discussion around the use of Generative AI at Minnesota Private Colleges. As O’Loughlin, moderator of the discussion, summarized, “We need to understand ChatGPT [Generative AI] as an ethics question, a compliance question and an opportunity question. It’s the ultimate liberal arts test.”