When fall term began in September at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, British Columbia, a new, fully interactive talking AI collaborator joined a professor on stage during class. The expressive AI bot aims to engage in real-time discussions, debate complex topics, and explore questions.

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The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

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Simon Fraser University in Vancouver has integrated an AI bot named Kia into its classrooms to support discussions on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Developed by Professor Steve DePaola, Kia is designed to engage students in real-time debates and help them navigate complex questions about AI, rather than lead classes or replace instructors.

The university's approach involves collaboration between ethicists and computer scientists, highlighting the importance of responsible and interdisciplinary development of AI technologies. While students expressed curiosity and some hesitation about the new tool, the initiative aims to prepare them for a future where AI is increasingly prevalent, emphasizing critical thinking and ethical considerations.

Canadian university AI bot teaches ethics about new tech frontier

Hi Kia, we're just about to start class. How are you doing? A new AI collaborator has entered the classroom at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Hi there, I am Kia from SFU. How can I help you with questions about AI? Alongside her creator, Professor Steve DePaola, Kia's aim is not to lead classes, but to engage in real-time discussions, debate complex topics, and explore questions. So the notion of bringing that into this intro class is both a performative notion, that it's just fun to talk to it, but it's also a way for the class to see a very high-end system and deal with all the ethical issues that it brings up. DePaola has helped to design other AI bots for use in other SFU departments. He sees the potential for its greater good within the higher education sphere. It can be a crutch to use, and we haven't figured out a way to grade people, so to speak, or tell them what they can and cannot do. So you have some teachers saying, no, no, you can only do it on paper and you can't use an AI at all, which is not training people for the future, versus this other way of teaching it, teaching students how to use it correctly at the right level. He cautions against accepting what information AI provides to humans as completely accurate, with AI hallucinations a problem. He also understands the ethics of AI usage can be complicated. Students were surprised to see its use in his class. I feel like it's a bit of a new frontier, and there's a lot of questions on how it can be integrated and how to do it responsibly. I think we're still using it in a very experimental way, but I think I would be hesitant a little bit to see it, just because I feel like, you know, as a culture you want to hear from experts, you want to hear from people, and it's the person-to-person aspect I enjoy. The university has embraced an interdisciplinary approach to developing AI. Ethicists sit alongside computer scientists in conversations in its development. DePaola hopes the approach prompts other technologists to make AI open-sourced and more accessible to everyone.

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Canadian university AI bot teaches ethics about new tech frontier

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