Things to consider when using AI

Note: Information in this document is current as of October 2023 but is subject to change. Please check with Missouri Online for updates. This document contains suggestions, not policy guidelines, nor is Missouri Online endorsing any of the products mentioned. 

ChatGPT and Bing AI Chat/Bing Chat Enterprise are perhaps the best known and widely used generative AIs. There are many alternatives, both free and paid, ranging from Google Bard to Anthropic's Claude. There are also many text-to-image tools such as Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E, as well as others emerging for audio, video, and special purposes. 

This page will walk you through topics to consider as an instructor in evaluating, adopting, and using them. We also include some more specific recommendations.  

Considerations when using AI

Purpose

The AI should be appropriate to the type of assignments you wish to do. There are many online resources for thinking about types of assignments, such as the list on pages of 8 and 9 covering suggested uses of ChatGPT in UNESCO's Chat GPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Quick Start Guide. We recognize there may be many other kinds of assignments depending on the course and situation. Missouri Online has additional resources on thinking about AI in your courses. 

Cost/Equity

You may want to consider if the tool free, freemium, or requires a paid license.  

Because of Simplified Tuition policies, please confer with your campus to determine if you can require students to purchase a license and under what conditions. It is possible the trial period or trial version of a specific app provides sufficient time and capabilities to undertake an assignment. 

Note: Be aware that if there are optional costs associated with a tool, students who are able to afford access to the paid version may have an unfair advantage. In some cases, you may be able to get around this by not requiring a specific tool, perhaps giving students a choice between, for instance, ChatGPT and Bing AI Chat. 

The free version of ChatGPT sometimes has long wait times and only offers access to the older 3.5 version. The paid version eliminates the wait times, has access to the latest version (currently 4.0) and will give earlier access to new features, including DALL-E. At the same time, Bing AI Chat/Bing Chat Enterprise gives access to GPT-4, is fully web enabled, and can also be used to create images through DALL-E. 

Privacy & Security

We do not have licenses for these applications. Requiring students to use apps that have not been vetted could open them up to privacy and security problems, and may open you up to FERPA violations. Use should only be on a voluntary basis for the time being. OpenAI had a privacy breach in the Spring of 2023, apparently due to an error on their part, that mailed names, email addresses, and other information to the wrong users. 

Bing AI Chat is now available in Protected Mode using your university Microsoft account. The protected version is known as Bing Chat Enterprise. This allows students, faculty, and staff to access GPT and DALL-E for free in a relatively secure environment. 

Accessibility

We are working to determine the accessibility of these AI products. If there is an issue for your students with accommodations, you may need to develop alternative assignments. For student accommodations, contact your Disability Center. 

Support

UM System does not provide technical support. Each tool may have documentation and support available. YouTube tutorials may also be available and some are quite good. 

General Suggestions

• Discuss the issues with privacy, security, and accessibility with your students. Consider giving them permission to request and complete alternative assignments. 
• If no specific features of a particular application are required, consider letting students decide on which to use. One thing to consider is that models such as GPT-3/3.5/4, Stable Diffusion, and DALLE-2 are often available through more than one interface. 
• Consider Bing AI Chat/Bing Chat Enterprise over ChatGPT. Bing AI Chat/Bing Chat Enterprise has the ability to access GPT-4 without a paid subscription and the ability to use it to create images (through DALL-E). 
• A tool like Poe AI, which gives free or limited access to a number of generative AI models, and allows users to create and train their own bots, may be a good way for students to learn the differing capabilities of several models. 

Please note that these considerations are not endorsements from Missouri Online or the University of Missouri System. They are subject to change as software develops, new considerations come into prominence, and as the individual campuses and the System develop policies.