How does CfAE fit into Imperial’s response to GenAI in teaching, learning and assessment? 

As a centre that possesses unique cross-faculty expertise in academic STEMM communication, CfAE is actively involved in informing Imperial’s policy, principles and guidance around the use of generative AI tools such as Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini. CfAE contributes through its membership of the Imperial working party on ‘AI Tools for Teaching and Assessment’ and its collaborations with Imperial’s AI futurists (e.g. on drafting the university’s principles for the use of GenAI in teaching, learning and assessment). CfAE is committed to staying on top of developments in this rapidly changing area of technology and to delivering appropriate messaging and guidance to both students and staff on using GenAI tools critically and ethically.  

What insights and guidance does CfAE offer on the use of GenAI tools in academic communication? 

  • Promoting the critical use of generative AI in academic communication 

CfAE welcomes the potential of generative AI tools to help students and staff speed up their communication process. However, CfAE also recognises that students and staff need to be equipped to critically evaluate any texts and editing advice they receive from AI software. For example, asking  GenAI to ‘improve’ a text often results in algorithmic suggestions that are not necessarily better alternatives, just more statistically probable ones. When GenAI outputs are critically evaluated by authors who have the awareness and confidence to do so, then GenAI tools can become a powerful aid to refine a text and speed up the process. However, if GenAI outputs are blindly accepted as appropriate for the text's purpose and audience by an author lacking such awareness and confidence, there is a significant risk that the author's work and its impact will be misrepresented. In high stakes communication (e.g. an assessment or a paper for publication), this could lead to potential loss of reputation for the author. Critically evaluating GenAI outputs in academic writing is therefore an essential lifelong competency that needs to be fostered actively. CfAE directly addresses this need by training Imperial students and staff to be aware of what makes for targeted and effective academic communication. 

  • Adopting an ethical approach to the use of generative AI in academic communication 

Communicating and thinking have a close relationship and human thought remains integral to the communication process in any ethical collaboration with AI. We think in words, our thoughts translate to words, and the process of communication is a powerful adjunct to organising our thoughts and presenting our work effectively to different audiences. Given that students and staff need to be able to stand behind the words they use and the critical insights and evaluations they present, it is paramount that they consider which aspects of the communication process they could outsource to GenAI tools and which they need to do themselves to retain authorship. A useful gauge for the ethical use of GenAI tools is whether they would consider it ethical to ask somebody else to undertake the aspect of the process they are assigning to GenAI while still claiming authorship themselves. If the answer to this question is no, then it is necessary to invest the time and effort required in the careful thought required for this aspect of the task. CfAE can play a key role in helping Imperial students and staff understand how to carefully plan and organise their thinking, which ultimately speeds up the process while ensuring they retain the necessary level of authorship.  

  • Overall goals 

CfAE’s short-term goal is to guide Imperial students and staff in creating a positive culture around academic communication that incorporates the use of GenAI tools. Its long-term goal is to ensure that Imperial’s student and staff community continues to be renowned for its world-leading ability to demonstrate insights that amount to thought leadership and that drive positive innovation in the STEMMB world, in line with Imperial’s ‘Science for Humanity’ mission.  

 

Last updated: 14/03/2025