Should universities embrace AI?

IN SHORT

• According to David Martens, we need to fully embrace AI as a university. Nevertheless, AI will make up to a quarter of our current jobs disappear.
• Some of the creative process and intellectual effort will be lost if students write their papers and dissertations with AI, Anthony Longo fears.
• The risks of AI: no transparency in the creation process and no clear ownership, the risk of biases, and power concentration on some big US tech players.
• Storing data must be done fairly and securely, and we need to know how AI models are trained and who exactly has access to them.
• Ethical reflection is essential. This can be done, for example, through a ‘Responsible AI’ course, and through good training courses for teaching staff.
• The new research centre ‘Antwerp Center for Responsible AI’ (ACRAI) aims to pool university-wide expertise so that ethical decisions on AI are not only left to companies.