AdvertisementA senior academic from Western Sydney University has admitted to using artificial intelligence to write an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald that defended the use of AI in universities.Professor Cath Ellis, a pro vice-chancellor in quality and integrity, argued in her article that aspiring students should hold faith with the higher education system despite concerns that the system is being downgraded by the reliance on AI.Western Sydney University.Sitthixay DitthavongShe submitted it in response to an earlier piece by Macquarie University’s Kylie Moore-Gilbert that claimed universities were committing “widespread, industrial fraud” by accepting money from students and giving them degrees that they did not earn because they were outsourcing their thinking to AI.But WSU acknowledged in response to enquiries that Ellis’s reply published on Sunday was itself generated by AI, and drew upon her previous research in the field.Advertisement“To write her opinion article, Professor Ellis uploaded 40,000 words of her own original materials into a Copilot Large Language Model (LLM),” a spokesperson for the university said.“The model summarised her extensive base of knowledge, providing prompts. This was the basis of the early drafts, reflecting Professor Ellis’s own thinking, ideas and opinions built up over more than a decade of dedicated work as a global leader in this field.”She shared her piece with the WSU media team, which also used AI tools to suggest improvements, and the piece went through several revisions before it was submitted, the spokesperson said.“No other expert could have pulled together this knowledge base, nor added the understanding, skills and attitudes in this space which is cutting edge,” the university said.Advertisement“The use of a LLM to draw on her own expertise, experience and intellectual rigour demonstrates a sophisticated and appropriate use of GenAI. It reflects WSU’s institutional position of human-centred AI.”Students needed to be equipped for a world that included AI and the opinion piece submitted by Ellis demonstrated that “edge thinking and innovative approach”, the spokesperson said.Nine, the publisher of this masthead, has strict editorial guidelines about the use of AI.“Our employees are encouraged to be curious about AI. Accordingly, journalists and editorial employees are allowed to use AI tools where there is a genuine benefit in doing so,” the guidelines say.“AI will not be used to write stories for publication. AI can be used for graphics but not ‘photo-realistic images’.”AdvertisementHerald editor Jordan Baker said the article had been removed because it did not meet the Herald’s editorial standards.“The Herald was not informed of the use of AI in the compilation of the article by either the author or Western Sydney University,” Baker said.“Clearly this is unacceptable and we are investigating further.”SaveYou have reached your maximum number of saved items.Remove items from your saved list to add more.ShareLicense this articleMore:AIPublishingUniversityWestern Sydney UniversityThe Sydney Morning HeraldThe Age Harriet Alexander is an investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.Sally Rawsthorne is The Sydney Morning Herald’s higher education reporter.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement