Anthropology's Sad AI Archive

 

There are 3 approaches to generative AI in the classroom: 1) an outright ban on it; 2) a limited use policy that covers certain assignments or parts of assignments, and 3) an open approach that allows students to do what they would. None of these are fool-proof, whatever the intentions of the professor. Ultimately, generative AI are third-party, black-boxed products–more tempting to students, perhaps, than Wikipedia, but also more treacherous. I feel for my colleagues in the humanities attempting to wrest essays from students on Shakespeare or Aristotle: generative AI is all too good at producing a mediocre essay on these subjects. I also understand my colleagues in the computer and information sciences, who utilize these chatbots to help with their instruction.

 

But with anthropology, there are several caveats. 99.99% of writings on other peoples of the world are drenched in ethnocentrism, colonialism and racism. The internet is awash in complete nonsense about “tribes'' and their “traditional culture,” and, in generative AI, all of this is ground up and, like sausage, pumped into prompt-driven content. Yet typically, students don’t know enough to be able to distinguish a “good” and “bad” response from ChatGPT or Gemini. 

 

This is a somewhat longer way of saying that students often tried to utilize generative AI in my introductory assignments and take-home exams, and their grades suffered for it. Not because I was penalizing them for cheating; proving that they’ve used AI is almost impossible, and generative AI detectors are unreliable at best. Instead, the questions that I asked were all about the anthropology I’ve taught in classes, and generative AI is, unfortunately, only too willing to spit out all manner of palaver. Only someone who knows what to ask can minimize the racism and colonialism inherent in generative AI engines. The default is ideology. And hallucinations. 

 

One thing I want to include next year is some process of education. I really think that students don’t really know any better. The least I can do is show them that it’s not so easy and explain why that is–that generative AI is not giving them the “truth.” Or, rather, it is: the truth of colonialism and racism that underlies Western thinking about non-Western peoples. Anthropology’s sad archive. But to someone who’s never taken anthropology before, this stuff looks correct to them, and the temptation is too strong, especially in the panicked moments before a deadline.