NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – At Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), professors from across the state spoke Tuesday about artificial intelligence (AI): what to use and what to allow in their classrooms.
Most now believe it is no longer a question of if, but how AI will be used in academia. On Tuesday, the university hosted a daylong conference as part of the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Series 2025-26, bringing together educators, scientists and higher education leaders.
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“What AI is forcing us to confront is not academic integrity, but academic identity,” said keynote speaker Dr. David Hildebrand, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver.
Like most of society, universities are struggling with AI. For students, the rules vary from class to class.
“I honestly think that’s a little bit confusing right now because the rules are changing,” said Jenny Frederick, provost for academic initiatives at Yale University. “So in the middle of this situation, we have to be transparent that we don’t have all the answers, but we do ask a lot of questions.”
Dozens of professors gathered at Southern’s Adanti Student Center to share their ideas about AI. There is no doubt that it is already all around us.
“I don’t even know how I would write without the little red underline or the blue underline in Microsoft Word, and that’s an early version of artificial intelligence,” says Dr. Jess Gregory, chair of educational leadership and policy studies at SCSU.
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When AI first appeared, the first reaction from academics was: no, you can’t use it, it’s a cheat. But AI is everywhere now. It’s inevitable. The question now is how to use AI and how to get students to use it.
“The real question is not whether students cheat with AI,” says Hildebrand. “The real question is whether institutions can articulate what they are actually trying to achieve and defend it.”
“Really talk to your students about where the line is, what is a good practice to support learning, and when does it cross that line and maybe become a barrier to learning, or rob them of the opportunity to learn,” Gregory said.
It is the job of universities to prepare students for the real world. This means that you learn to use AI, but not become completely dependent on it.
“AI can do some things and make things more efficient, but do we still want students to learn to write? Do we need them to help figure out their voice? What happens when we have a society where all the answers are in your phone instead of above,” Frederick said, pointing to her head.
And professors need to use their brains to ensure that only the right AI tools are allowed into the classroom.
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