AI ethics clash in higher education prompts calls for tuition clarity and transparent teaching practices
A heated debate over AI’s role in universities intensified this week after a senior student at a U.S. university requested a tuition refund upon discovering a professor used ChatGPT to generate course materials. The business class showed signs of AI-made notes and imagery, raising questions about pedagogy, integrity, and the cost of higher education as generative AI becomes more common.
The issue began when the student spotted lecture notes on the university’s learning platform that sounded generic and included prompts like “expand on all areas. Be more detailed and specific.” The material also featured AI-generated images with odd features. This discovery clashed with course rules that restrict student use of AI, while the professor appeared to rely on the technology himself. The student filed a formal complaint with the business school and sought a tuition refund of about eight thousand dollars for that course.