By Doug Ward

Adapting colleges and universities to generative artificial intelligence was never going to be easy. Surveys released over the past two weeks provide evidence of just how difficult that adaptation will be, though.

Here’s a summary of what I'm seeing in the results:

Faculty: We lack the time, understanding, and resources to revamp classes to an AI age. A few of us have been experimenting, but many of us don’t see a need to change.

Nearly a decade ago, the Associated Press began distributing articles written by an artificial intelligence platform.

Not surprisingly, that news sent ripples of concern among journalists. If a bot could turn structured data into comprehensible – even fluid – prose, where did humans fit into the process? Did this portend yet more ominous changes in the profession?

Not surprisingly, tools for detecting material written by artificial intelligence have created as much confusion as clarity.

Students at several universities say they have been falsely accused of cheating, with accusations delaying graduation for some. Faculty members, chairs, and administrators have said they aren’t sure how to interpret or use the results of AI detectors.

Instructors have raised widespread concern about the impact of generative artificial intelligence on undergraduate education.