AI Goes to College: Large Language Models and the Teaching of Writing

This episode of Rhetoricity features members of the MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on AI and Writing: Antonio Byrd, Holly Hassel, Sarah Z. Johnson, Anna Mills, and Elizabeth Losh. The task force also includes Leonardo Flores, David Green, Matthew Kirschenbaum, and A. Lockett. In July 2023, that task force published a working paper laying out issues, principles, and recommendations related to the effects of generative artificial-intelligence tools on the college writing courses.

In this episode's roundtable discussion, these task force members clarify some of the terminology around AI technologies, reflect on the process of writing the working paper, and discuss the pedagogical, historical, and labor implications of large language models for students and teachers working in higher education.

This episode is part of The Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival 2023, which runs from August 28–31. The theme of this year's carnival is "Artificial Intelligence: Applications and Trajectories," and it features a keynote by Dr. Isabel Pedersen. Other participating podcasts include 10-Minute Tech Comm; Defend, Publish and Lead; Kairoticast; Live Theory; Neurodissent; Pedagogue; TC Talk; and Writing Remix.

Here's a list of some of the materials referenced in this episode:

• The task force's Quick Start Guide
• TextGenEd: Teaching with Text Generation Technologies, including Antonio Byrd's chapter "Using LLMs as Peer Reviewers for Revising Essays"
• Anna Mills's How Arguments Work
• Black in AI
• Kate Crawford's Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence
• The White House's Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
• Kathryn Conrad's "A Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education"
• Hugging Face
• The Wall Street Journal's "Cleaning Up ChatGPT Takes Heavy Toll on Human Workers"
• The Washington Post's "Behind the AI Boom, an Army of Overseas Workers in 'Digital Sweatshops'"
• Memes of the brawl in Montgomery, Alabama

This episode features a clip from "Artificial Problems" by Smoked Meat Fax Machine.

Episode Transcript