I’m an associate professor in the College of the Humanities at Carleton University in Ottawa, and I’ve been teaching students about ancient texts for 30 years. Most students come into my classroom fairly certain that this survey of the ancient world will be a boring waste of time—most leave with the profound wisdom that comes from having explored the rich tapestry of human experience.
But this summer, before I can get into my usual preparation of new notes, slides, writing assignments and seminar questions for my incoming class, I’m wrestling with the fact that, come fall, it will be second nature for many of my students to upload a PDF of The Epic of Gilgamesh into generative AI for a plot summary so they can pass the quiz, then feed it my prompts so the AI can spit out a perfect essay, and then go enjoy their weekends.
Read story in Maclean’s >
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