Opportunities and Challenges of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education

Opportunities and Challenges of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education

Shuai Liu,

Research Assistant, Academic Affairs Office, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China;

Huan Chen

Academy of Marxism, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China

Abstract: Generative artificial intelligence, as a technology capable of autonomously creating new content, is quietly embedding itself in various fields of higher education, bringing unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the innovative development of higher education. On one hand, generative AI technologies inject new vitality into higher education. The generation of personalized learning content based on generative models can help universities better meet the individual needs of students and improve teaching effectiveness; conversational systems powered by generative AI can create intelligent virtual tutors, providing students with immediate, personalized learning assistance; generative AI offers new possibilities for the automatic creation of creative teaching materials, papers, and more. On the other hand, the widespread application of generative AI also poses numerous challenges to higher education. Ensuring the fairness and transparency of generative AI systems, preventing students from using generative AI for cheating and plagiarism, and preventing generative AI from replacing the core functions of teachers urgently require systematic research and practice in higher education to ensure the effective application of generative AI technology and the innovative development of higher education.

Keywords: Generative Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Challenges; Innovative Development

1. INTRODUCTION

   In recent years, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) technology has made significant advancements, demonstrating a wide range of prospective applications across various fields. The integration of generative AI with key technologies such as machine learning and deep learning enables it to simulate human creative thinking and autonomously generate content like text, images, and audio. This unique capability has brought new opportunities to various industries, and higher education is no exception. As a critical bastion for knowledge innovation and talent cultivation, higher education institutions have always been at the forefront of societal progress. How to effectively use generative AI technology to drive the innovative development of higher education has become a focal point of attention for many educational experts and decision-makers. According to the Artificial Intelligence White Paper (2022) released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the future will see ultra-large-scale pre-trained models continuously improve technology effects and continue to develop towards large-scale, multimodal directions. Generative AI technology will also mature continuously.[1] Amidst this wave, generative AI has begun to enter the field of higher education, reshaping the development pattern of higher education and injecting new vitality into the cause of higher education, while also bringing a series of challenges related to ethics and privacy. There is an urgent need to delve into the opportunities and challenges of embedding generative AI in higher education to further promote the innovative

   development of higher education.

2. APPLICATION SCENARIOS OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

   Generative Artificial Intelligence, as an important branch of AI technology, mainly refers to the technology that uses machine learning algorithms, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), etc., to learn data distributions from massive training data and generate new data with authenticity and creativity. Unlike traditional discriminative AI models, generative models can actively create new content, rather than just passively classify or predict. This capability has brought brand new opportunities to the field of higher education.

   1. Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness

      The most notable feature of generative AI is its ability to automatically generate personalized content and interactions based on user characteristics. Due to various factors such as individual differences, students will display variance in their learning processes. However, current higher education still emphasizes uniform teaching content, pace, and methods. This teaching approach is unable to effectively foster individual student differences, which necessitates a revolutionary change in teaching methods, and the use of generative AI in higher education can greatly improve this aspect. In teaching scenarios within higher education, generative AI can make full use of data such as students learning history and interests to intelligently generate customized teaching resources, including personalized course content, exercises, and feedback. This not only improves the specificity and effectiveness of teaching but also enhances students learning motivation. For example, an intelligent writing assistant system based on GPT-3 can automatically generate essay outlines and revision suggestions according to students writing levels and preferences, helping them improve writing efficiency. Similarly, a personalized course recommendation system based on generative AI can push course content that better fits students learning needs. These applications not only improve teaching quality but also enhance the student learning experience. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) mentioned in its ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Quick Start Guide published in April 2023 that ChatGPT can improve students learning experiences and

      enhance teaching processes by evaluating relevant information. As is well known, ChatGPT can generate and evaluate information; higher education institutions and educators can use ChatGPT as a tool for educational applications during the teaching process to enhance and supplement teaching.[2]

   2. Promoting Collaborative Innovation

      Generative AI can be applied not only to teaching and management in higher education but also to play a significant role in the research field, fostering collaborative innovation among researchers. On the one hand, generative AI can autonomously generate research hypotheses, literature reviews, etc., helping researchers better grasp the forefront of their disciplines and improve research efficiency. On the other hand, generative AI can also provide interdisciplinary creative inspiration for researchers from different academic backgrounds, inspiring new research ideas and promoting the integration and innovation of knowledge across different fields. For instance, an interdisciplinary research assistant based on generative AI can automatically generate research plans that include multiple disciplinary perspectives based on researchers provided keywords, inspiring their collaborative research. This application not only improves research efficiency but also opens up new possibilities for collaborative innovation between universities and industry-academia research.

   3. Optimizing University Management

   The application of generative AI in university management can also provide strong support for the decision-making of higher education institutions. Generative AI can analyze various aspects of a schools operations, such as admisions, teaching, finances, etc., based on massive amounts of campus data and generate optimization suggestions for administrators. Higher education institutions can achieve human-computer collaboration in the management field by using ChatGPT for automation processes, enhancing the efficiency of university management. For example, in the financial area of universities, ChatGPT can play a strategic financial role, providing knowledge support for important matters such as accounting policy selection and budget planning.[3] In the accounting process of university finances, ChatGPT can bring practical changes to the work of accountants; after training, ChatGPT is

   more aligned with the actual operations of university finance, reducing the likelihood of errors in accounting.[4] Moreover, an intelligent campus management assistant based on GPT-3 can provide decision support for areas such as faculty team building and student training program formulation. In addition, generative AI can also intelligently generate teaching resource allocation plans and student warning information, helping university administrators make more scientific and reasonable decisions and improve management efficiency. This application not only enhances the level of university management but also helps to promote the optimal allocation of school resources.

3. CHALLENGES OF INTEGRATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

   The integration of generative artificial intelligence into higher education brings numerous challenges, touching on critical areas such as fairness and transparency, academic integrity, and the repositioning of the teachers role. Higher education institutions need to systematically address these challenges, adopting effective management measures and technical means to ensure the healthy development of generative AI and to inject new momentum into the innovation of higher education.

   1. Fairness and Transparency

      How to ensure the fairness and transparency of generative AI systems and avoid discriminatory outcomes is a pressing issue for higher education institutions. For instance, generative models based on big data may reinforce existing biases and inequalities, thus affecting students learning experiences and opportunities for development. Studies have shown that GPT-3 exhibits certain gender and racial biases when generating learning materials. This is due to the risk of machine algorithm biases in GPT-3. The training data for GPT-3 may contain imbalanced samples or biased information, leading to discriminatory and biased judgments in recommendations and decisions, and failing to provide precise solutions, such as when training data restrictions and data biases impact the output model. Especially concerning is that the solutions provided may seem reasonable but entail significant issues, subtly deepening the biases and discrimination of educational participants and thus affecting the effectiveness of education. According to a recent report on artificial intelligence by

      Stanford University in the United States, commercial face recognition systems have racial and gender discrimination issues, and some AI clinical health tools may carry socioeconomic and racial biases, increasing social discrimination and bias. For example, when prompted with computer scientist, the generator might produce descriptions more likely to be male, while nurse prompts might yield female descriptions more often. Generative AI may be influenced by societal biases, creating stereotypes associated with social class, sexual orientation, religion, or other identity attributes.[5] Therefore, higher education institutions need to fully consider fairness and interpretability in system design and algorithm training to ensure that generative AI systems do not produce discriminatory outcomes.

   2. Academic Integrity

      The academic spirit reflects the scholarly character and academic demeanor that researchers exhibit in their academic activities.[6] How to prevent students from using generative AI to cheat and plagiarize is another significant challenge faced by higher education. Generative AI can rapidly produce various types of content, such as writing and programming, significantly reducing the creative cost for students. This may lead to the misuse of generative AI in academic misconduct, severely impacting educational quality. In higher education, dissertations reflect students' thinking abilities and learning outcomes. However, using ChatGPT to write papers, a practice akin to ghostwriting encourages academic dishonesty and abets cheating. For instance, some students use ChatGPT to write assignments, seriously violating academic integrity. The original intention of coursework papers is for university students to become familiar with academic writing norms through independent academic writing and to deepen their understanding of course knowledge. The use of large language models like ChatGPT by university students to help with literature reviews or even first drafts seriously contravenes the original intent of using coursework papers as a means of academic training, necessitating strict management by schools.[7] As such, higher education institutions need to establish corresponding management policies and technical means, such as algorithms to automatically detect generative content, to maintain academic integrity in higher education.

   3. Teacher Role Positioning

      How to maintain the professional status of teachers and prevent generative AI from replacing teachers core functions is also a major challenge that needs to be addressed in higher education. The advantages of generative AI in content generation and learning guidance may lead to questions about the role of teachers. ChatGPT, ERNIE Bot, and other generative AI tools have been developed using reinforcement learning from human feedback, understanding and processing human natural language, and possessing strong content generation capabilities. These products have sparked research and discussion among educators once they were released. There is recognition that the application of generative AI in education could lead to educational transformation. For example, an intelligent teaching content generation system based on GPT-3 can automatically generate customized course materials, leading some to believe that teachers jobs could be replaced by machines. Higher education institutions need to rethink the core values of teachers, such as knowledge impartation, personalized guidance, and innovation leadership, and to appropriately position the role of teachers in future education to prevent marginalization. In addition, there is a need to enhance teachers capacity to apply AI, improving their ability to use generative AI to increase teaching effectiveness.

   4. Privacy and Security Protection

   Generative AI systems require vast amounts of training data, which may lead to the leakage and misuse of student privacy information in higher education. For example, the intelligent principle and learning process of the GPT series systems dictate that they are open-source systems that must constantly consume new data to optimize. This means that personal privacy inadvertently leaked by users on the internet can be absorbed during the GPT series systems' pre-training phase, becoming part of the generative AI corpus. Additionally, the interaction information of users with AI chatbots like ChatGPT may pose risks of personal privacy data leakage. For instance, when developing the DALL-E2 model, OpenAI used a large amount of image data from the internet, which might involve the unauthorized use of personal information. Higher education institutions need to establish strict data privacy protection policies to ensure the security of students personal information and to conduct a comprehensive compliance review of the data

   sources and usage of generative AI systems.

4. THE SYNERGISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF GENERATIVE AI AND HIGHER EDUCATION

   Higher education institutions need to take proactive measures from multiple perspectives to promote the synergistic development of generative artificial intelligence and higher education. This includes building fair and transparent generative AI systems, establishing academic integrity mechanisms for generative AI, reshaping the core role of teachers in higher education, strengthening privacy and security protection for generative AI, and constructing ethical and regulatory frameworks for generative AI. Thus, stimulating the synergistic development of generative AI and higher education, and injecting new vitality into the innovative development of higher education.

   1. Building Fair and Transparent Generative AI Systems Higher education institutions should emphasize the fairness and interpretability of generative AI systems. In the system design and algorithm training stages, the principle of fairness should be fully considered to ensure that discriminatory outcomes are not produced. For instance, generative AI systems that adopt advanced algorithms and technical means can effectively reduce racial and gender biases. At the same time, institutions should also improve the interpretability of systems, allowing teachers and students to understand the internal logic of generative AI and enhance their trust. Encouraging the disclosure of the decision-making processes and technical intents of generative AI systems on a secure basis and establishing external supervision and feedback channels is advised. Simultaneously, research on the interpretability of generative AI should be promoted. For example, explaining the decision-making processes of generative AI models to users through visualization technologies.

   2. Establishing Academic Integrity Mechanisms for Generative AI

      The application of large language models like ChatGPT in higher education has raised challenges and concerns regarding academic integrity, plagiarism, and the authenticity and originality of student assignments. Higher education institutions should formulate corresponding management policies and technical means to maintain academic integrity in

      higher education. Currently, there are AI systems for student learning outcome assessment and monitoring that ensure academic integrity by detecting plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. In review papers about academic plagiarism detection in texts (Such as papers, reports, research papers, etc.), plagiarism forms are classified in ascending order of vagueness, from verbatim and near-verbatim copying to translation, paraphrasing, plagiarism that retains creativity, and ghostwriting. For example, an AI Plagiarism Detector based on deep learning can automatically detect whether student assignments contain plagiarism and copying using generative AI. In addition, higher education institutions should also strengthen academic standards education for students, cultivating their correct recognition and use of generative AI. For instance, the introduction of a general education course on AI Ethics can help students establish a consciousness of the legal and compliant use of generative AI.

   3. Reshaping the Core Role of Teachers in Higher Education Higher education institutions should deeply reflect on the core values of teachers in future education, such as knowledge impartation, personalized guidance, innovation leadership, etc., and position the status of teachers appropriately to avoid marginalization. ChatGPT excels at collecting and reading text information on a large scale, as well as efficiently extracting, processing, and organizing the information. It can only replace teachers who rigidly teach book knowledge, not those with innovative thinking and ideas. Teachers should learn to work with AI, leveraging their respective strengths, for example, by establishing a Teacher-AI Collaboration Center to provide training on the application of generative AI in teaching, helping them integrate generative AI into teaching practices and play a central role. Meanwhile, institutions should also strengthen the training of AI application capabilities for teachers, improving their ability to enhance teaching effectiveness with generative AI and achieve organic collaboration between teachers and generative AI. For example, setting up AI teaching assistants with good interactive abilities to provide real-time machine feedback or even human-machine debate environments encourages students to engage in co-creative learning with machine assistants, continuously obtaining personalized learning information and resources, thereby fostering students' higher-order thinking and self-directed learning abilities. In

      terms of teaching methods, teachers should be encouraged to actively innovate classroom teaching methods, integrating relevant technologies into the teaching process of different disciplines, and enriching the content and enjoyment of classroom activities.[8]

   4. Strengthening Privacy and Security Protection for Generative AI

      Privacy issues in the field of higher education are a definite consideration in an intelligent society. Artificial intelligence mainly uses massive amounts of internet data for training, which may contain users' personal and sensitive information. If this data is not properly protected, it could be misused or leaked, posing a potential threat to user privacy. Therefore, higher education institutions need to enact stringent data privacy policies to ensure the security of students' personal information. In recent years, to protect data privacy and security, a new AI training paradigm called federated learning has emerged. Based on secure distributed artificial intelligence, federated learning emphasizes data security throughout the entire data lifecycle, including data preprocessing, training, evaluation, and deployment. To safeguard data privacy and security, federated learning employs privacy protection technologies, including secure multi-party computation, differential privacy, and hardware encryption, to prevent data leaks when building distributed learning systems and training statistical models with multiple data sources. For example, the AIPrivacy system based on federated learning can achieve de-identified training of generative AI models, effectively preventing the leakage of student privacy information. In the application of higher education, teachers and students generally worry that using large language models like ChatGPT may pose threats to their privacy and data security. Therefore, higher education institutions should also conduct comprehensive compliance reviews of the data sources and utilization of generative AI systems, ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

   5. Constructing Ethical and Regulatory Frameworks for Generative AI

   The continuous enactment of relevant laws and regulations has promoted the development and standardization of generative AI, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other social organizations. It emphasizes that

   the provision and use of generative AI services should comply with laws, and industry norms, and respect social ethics and morals. However, current legal provisions need to be improved regarding the use of generative AI in higher education institutions. These institutions need to develop corresponding ethical guidelines and regulatory systems based on practical situations to provide clear guidance and constraints for the application of generative AI in higher education. For example, by issuing Guidelines for the Application of Generative AI in Higher Education, detailed regulations have been made regarding the use of generative AI in aspects such as academic integrity, educational quality, and privacy protection. At the same time, the Ministry of Education sould also timely introduce relevant policies and regulations to provide a strong institutional guarantee for the development of generative AI in higher education.

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5. CONCLUSION

The profound integration of generative artificial intelligence with higher education will undoubtedly become a key driver in the innovative development of higher education. As depicted in the 2023 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition published by the EDUCAUSE, which outlines the future landscape of higher education development: under the impact of artificial intelligence technology, whether higher education institutions can put the student-centered philosophy into practice will determine whether they will collapse or become a community that excels in reform, characterized by fairness, diversity, and inclusiveness. The higher education sector needs to fully understand the intrinsic properties and application prospects of generative artificial intelligence, take initiative, and adopt targeted coping strategies. On the one hand, it should fully leverage the positive roles of generative artificial intelligence to continuously optimize teaching services and enhance innovation capabilities; on the other hand, it must effectively resolve the various challenges brought by generative artificial intelligence to ensure that its application adheres to the principles of fairness, safety, and compliance. Only in this way can generative artificial intelligence truly become a powerful engine driving the transformation of higher education, injecting sustainable momentum into it, and helping higher education move towards an even brighter future.

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