You can’t throw a pebble without hitting someone promoting something AI-related these days.
It’s EVERYWHERE!
And someone recently asked me why I never talk about it, especially considering I’m all about making course creation as easy and stress-free as possible. And I had to think about that before responding.
Please give me a second while I hop up onto my soapbox…
Right, here we go. I don’t talk about AI because I’m not 100% happy with the use of AI in course creation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Luddite, AI definitely has a place in our world – but using AI-generated content to create a course just doesn’t feel right to me.
Consider the experience of standing in front of a Monet painting vs looking at a Midjourney AI-generated image on a screen. They may both be breathtakingly beautiful pieces of artwork – but the feelings they evoke will be very different.
With the Monet painting, it’s a more visceral, sensory experience vs a cold, clinical, concise appreciation of beauty with the Midjourney image.
In this article, I spoke about the importance of building a connection and evoking emotion in a course.
And AI generated course content will never build a connection or evoke an emotion.
Actually, let me correct that, it does evoke an emotion in me – mild annoyance.
I recently read an article that described ChatGPT as the AI representation of ‘mansplaining’. It instantly generates vaguely plausible-sounding content, with complete confidence – even though it’s very often wrong. And that’s exactly where my annoyance comes from.
That feeling of being mansplained to.
And how awful would you feel if the experience your course attendees have with your course is mild annoyance?
Another concern I have with AI-generated course content is plagiarism.
AI cannot come up with fresh ideas or original content, which means that everything it regurgitates is plagiarised from someone, somewhere in the world.
This leads me to my next point…
Think AI is objective? Think again.
Because the model AI generates content from is created by humans – there are very human biases contained within those AI models. And because AI can’t interpret the subtle nuances and tones in human writing – you could be sharing content that potentially highlights or reinforces harmful biases or stereotypes.
And I’m sure that’s the very last thing you’d want to do with your course, right?
Ok, I’ll hop off my soapbox now.
Now, all that being said, AI can be a great timesaver in creating a course. It can help you name your course, create your course outline, or even generate quizzes or assessments from your course content.
So, if it’ll help you get your course created, go ahead and use it – just be sure to treat it like an inexperienced intern. Review and revise EVERYTHING it gives you.