Navigating the ethics and opportunities of AI in academic writing

Writing has long been an indispensable way to express oneself and transmit knowledge for centuries. With just a drawing instrument such as the ubiquitous pencil and pen, an individual will be more than capable of passing on a myriad of information to others. As the world welcomes the advancement of technology, the means of communication and knowledge preservation naturally evolve and reshape the way we write in the modern era.

With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, many activities, including writing, have been simplified in relation to the prevalence of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). As AI continues to spread across the globe, its adoption in writing becomes an inevitable trend, raising countless questions regarding its ethical usage.

Addressing the issue of AI’s ethical uses in writing within the UTAR community, the Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) Department of Languages and Linguistics at UTAR invited Assoc Prof Dr Andrew Nowlan from Kwansei Gakuin University of Japan to conduct an insightful talk session, titled Writing Tools and Ethical Uses of AI in Academic Writing. Besides discussing the ethics behind AI-assisted writing, the talk session also aimed to provide guidance on effective writing with AI.

As an academic fascinated by international study and teaching experiences, Dr Nowlan has published book chapters and journal articles on topics such as study abroad, intercultural communication, and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). With extensive experience teaching language and culture in regions such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, he remains committed to continue expanding his research interests, particularly in COIL and study abroad opportunities in Southeast Asia.

“For a start, we have to ask ourselves – What can we do and what can we not do with AI during writing,” Dr Nowlan posed the question. By displaying multiple ethical contexts while writing, he stated that an individual has to clearly draw a line between an ethical and unethical situation. Through discussing the ethics behind different writing contexts with participants, Dr Nowlan discussed and explained the pros and cons of using AI in writing.

Showing examples of effective and ethical AI writing, Dr Nowlan shared his findings on detecting AI algorithms in writing through the use of AI detection software, including Scribbr and ZeroGpt. Through the demonstration, he pointed out the unpredictability of AI detection rates in both software, with and without the refinement by ChatGpt. “One of the ethical ways to improve our writing is changing just the spelling and grammar through AI. This way, we can refer to the amendments made by AI and try to improve our writing without changing our structure, thus maintaining our own voice,” Dr Nowlan said.

Dr Nowlan also clarified the ambiguity surrounding AI in various writing contexts. He said, “There are still grey areas while using AI in writing, as it is in the early stages of development.” With that, he encouraged participants to use AI as a tool for enhancing their own writing rather than relying on it entirely.

Although AI has its fair share of shortcomings alongside its undeniable strengths in text composition, it ultimately relies on our own intention to guide its output. As sophisticated as it may become, a tool it shall forever remain. As Dr Nowlan offered his insights on ethical and effective AI usage in writing, it remains clear that we are the primary pilots of AI technology, who should be making conscious and responsible choices while harnessing its boundless potential.

Also present at the talk session were FAS Head of Programme for BA (Honours) English Language En Mohamad Iqbaal bin Mohd Wazir, FAS academics En Alfian bin Asmi, Pn Ayu Rita binti Mohamad, Ms Darshnee Muniandy, Ms Geetha Veerappan, Ms Malvin Kaur Kunden Singh, Dr Joanna Tan Tjin Ai, Dr Noor Azmira binti Mohamed, Pn Nur Aizuri binti Md Azmin, Pn Nurullashkeen binti Mohd Anis, Ms Shobana Sandrasegaran, Dr Tiew Chia Chun, UTAR staff and students.