Sydney academic used AI to write SMH opinion piece urging students to avoid using technology to ‘cut corners’

A leading Sydney academic used AI to write an opinion piece urging students to “do the work” and not cut corners by using such technology. The Sydney Morning Herald removed the “unacceptable” article from its website.

Western Sydney University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Quality and Integrity, Prof Cath Ellis, published an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald last month in response to an article by academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

Moore-Gilbert had written that she had advised her stepdaughter to think twice before enrolling in university because students could easily outsource their learning to AI, saying that students were “graded based on who could write the best AI prompts.”

In response, Ellis wrote in her article that the “AI problem is real,” but students should still go to university and study properly.

“Don’t cut corners. Don’t outsource your thinking, as tempting as that may be. If the system is as fragile as some claim, real effort won’t…