From left to right: a panel discussion at the AI Basecamp event.
By Daisy Ratzlaff
If you ask CSUCI students Steven Lang, Andrew Fox, Rene Salazar, and Luis Gonzalez, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped them to overcome language barriers, foster creativity and assist with coursework and research. At a recent CSUCI AI Basecamp event, these students were among the diverse panelists from CSUCI and surrounding communities who discussed various aspects of AI and its impact on education, privacy, and ethics.
Lang, a Computer Science student and information security worker who runs the Networks and Security Club on campus, initially had reservations about using AI tools but found them beneficial after trying them out.
Student Steven Lang speaks
“When ChatGPT was introduced about two years ago, I thought it was a little bit of a cheat. I also didn’t want to rely on another tool to learn,” said Lang. “However, one day I decided to try it out and the first question I asked was ‘How do I water my cactus?’ and I went on from there.”
Fox, the 2024-25 Student Government President, is pursuing double majors in Political Science and History. He was introduced to AI after overhearing other students discuss it in class.
“I had no idea what it was, (but) I asked it to write a poem about Luke Skywalker and Han Solo — I am a huge Star Wars fan — and it did. It had this creative energy to it,” said Fox. “It really blew my mind. It felt like I was seeing colors for the first time.”
The event was co-hosted by the Division of Academic Affairs’ Teaching & Learning Innovation team and Extended University. It featured welcoming remarks by President Richard Yao, two panel discussions and workshops on various AI-related topics such as Information & Visual Literacy in AI, student data analysis using GPT-4, integrating AI in education, AI demos, and effective large language model (LLM) query frameworks.
Business Professor Ray Bowman speaks
During his remarks, President Yao highlighted CSUCI's advancements in AI, recognizing faculty members such as Business Professor Ray Bowman, and Computer Science and Mechatronics Engineering Professors Michael Soltys and Jason Isaacs for their contributions. Bowman's creation of bots to aid entrepreneurial students and the integration of AI at the Writing & Multiliteracy Center have supported student learning and streamlined processes.
President Yao pointed out the potential of integrating AI into our work, noting that Student Government was the first organized body on campus to pass a resolution in support of equitable access and responsible use of generative AI for academic purposes. He also emphasized the University's commitment to leveraging AI's capabilities while maintaining core values like equity, diversity, accessibility, privacy, respect, and integrity.
“By embracing AI responsibly and ethically, we can create a dynamic and inclusive academic environment that empowers both students and faculty to thrive and excel in our fast-evolving world,” said President Yao.
During the event, panelists discussed their experiences with AI in writing, research, coding, and extracurricular activities. Speakers—who included Mic Farris, senior director of Business Intelligence at The Trade Desk and former data science team leader supporting the U.S. Defense and Intelligence communities; Laura Canfield, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Cottage Health; and Tom McCoy, superintendent of the Oxnard Unified School District—shared how AI has transformed their respective fields. Examples included customized advertising campaigns, AI-powered administrative assistance to enhance nursing care, and the integration of AI tools in high schools to support students' learning requirements.
“I think in the K-12 space, the worst thing we can do is nothing. In high schools in particular, we really have to be proactive in leaning into AI. Students coming into high school are far more interested and capable in technology than the great majority of our workforce – teachers, instructional assistants, principals, superintendents,” said McCoy, who spent 12 years as a high school principal. “What we are finding is that no matter how good the technology, the relationship still matters. Students still to this day say, ‘Teach me, teach me, don’t just give me the technology.’”
Cottage Health, which has hired more than 100 CSUCI nursing graduates, has seen AI and other technologies revolutionize patient care delivery. With advancements such as radiologists receiving digital interpretations of x-rays and electronic medical records alerting best practices, the healthcare system is taking steps toward implementing more efficient protocols, according to Canfield. This Fall, Cottage Health is launching a virtual nursing platform to assist bedside nurses with administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on providing meaningful care to patients.
“At Cottage Health, we are just starting our journey to really harness AI,” she said. “Things like predictive analytics that can help us at the bedside and ambient notetaking, where ‘What brings you in today?’ could be auto populated into a patient’s medical file. It is a very exciting time, but it is also a time of caution and ensuring there is governance.”
Other panelists echoed the benefits of AI but also warned of drawbacks like decreased communication skills from reliance on technology. They stressed the need to verify information, recognize AI’s limitations and hallucinations, address privacy concerns and monitor issues like plagiarism and cheating.
“AI is a great opportunity for us to talk about how technology is enabling the decision-making process, but I don’t ever think it changes the role of higher education, or the responsibility we all have — to constantly be curious, to constantly ask questions, to constantly ask what is really happening,” said Farris. “AI gets smarter when we work with it and we get smarter when we learn from AI, and we end up doing better together just as when we humans work together.”
The student panelists expressed hope for a shift in the curriculum toward prioritizing in-person discussions, critical thinking, and open communication between professors and students. They stressed the need of building trust, creating a framework as guidance and reinstating in-class essay writing “because there is no way you can cheat your way through that.”
“It is so interesting the new field that we are in,” said Fox. “We need to start somewhere, and this conversation is a good starting point.”
Lang added, “AI is definitely a useful tool when used properly. If we were to leverage AI for a lot of the coursework, it would definitely allow some students who are not able to grasp certain topics a better chance of understanding and being able to learn in their own unique ways.”