Category: AI AR VR XR

Using AI to Enhance Accessibility

Luke McKnight

The Langara Accessibility Handbook for Teaching and Learning has a new chapter on AI Generated Alt Text. Generative AI chatbots have rapidly improved their ability to recognize and describe images. CoPilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini have shown to be useful tools to describe images and provide a starting point for writing alternative text (alt text). This new resource explains:

  • How to upload images to CoPilot, ChatGPT, and Google Gemini.
  • Effective prompts to get image descriptions.
  • How to refine output to write effective alt text.
  • What alt text is, when to use it, and how to write it.

In addition to this new resource, EdTech is offering a workshop on using AI to enhance accessibility. Join EdTech on May 15th for this interactive session perfect for anyone creating content using visual elements. Adding alt text to images is essential to creating accessible content. AI can be a useful tool to help start the process of writing alt text and this session will introduce effective tools and prompts.

The session offers a blend of theory and practice, providing hands-on exercises to master the art of crafting prompts that yield precise and useful outcomes. This workshop will equip Langarans with the skills to harness the potential of generative AI, paving the way for accessibility and inclusion. EdTech AI and accessibility experts will be on hand to help. Participants are encouraged to bring visual material that needs alt text.

Register for Enhance Accessibility Using AI today!

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) Resources

susanbonham
AI generated image of a humanoid robot teacher with a pointer in a classroom, standing in front of a blackboard with equations
Image generated by DALL-E.

Whether you are a superuser or a novice, the number of resources on generative artificial intelligence can be overwhelming. EdTech and TCDC have curated some that we’d like to recommend.

  • How to access Copilot (Microsoft)
    • Interested in trying a generative AI tool or using it in your course? ChatGPT and Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) are currently available in Canada. Langara College students and employees have access to a premium version of Copilot through Microsoft Enterprise and the Edge browser. Microsoft’s FAQs provide information on how to access Copilot through Microsoft Edge. 
  • Practical AI for Instructors and Students (Ethan Mollick/Wharton School, August 2023)
    • If you’re looking for a great primer on AI, this series of five videos is worth the watch. Each video is approximately 10 minutes so the whole series can be viewed in under an hour. Topics include: 1) an introduction to AI; 2) what large language model (LLM) platforms like ChatGPT are and how to start using them; 3) how to prompt AI; 4) how instructors can leverage AI; and 5) how students can use AI.
    • Note: this series references four LLMs: ChatGPT, BingCopilot, Bard, and Claude. Bard and Claude are not yet available in Canada. 
  • AI Primer by Educause
    • This article is a reading (and viewing) list that links to resources that do a deeper dive into generative AI. A good resource for those who know the basics and would like to learn more.  

EdTech and TCDC also regularly offer professional learning opportunities on AI topics. Check the PD Events Calendar for current offerings.

As always, if you’re planning to integrate AI into your course, please be aware that: 

  • There are privacy concerns with AI platforms. We recommend using caution when inputting – or having your students input – private, personal, or sensitive information (e.g. resumes or other identifying data).  
  • For those using assistive technology such as screen readers, some AI platforms are more accessible than others. For more information, please see Accessibility of AI Interfaces by Langara Assistive Technologist, Luke McKnight. 

If you would like more recommendations for AI resources, or any other AI-related support, please contact EdTech or TCDC. 

AI Classifiers — What’s the problem with detection tools?

Briana Fraser

AI classifiers don’t work!

Natural language processor AIs are meant to be convincing. They are creating content that “sounds plausible because it’s all derived from things that humans have said” (Marcus, 2023). The intent is to produce outputs that mimic human writing. The result: The world’s leading AI companies can’t reliably distinguish the products of their own machines from the work of humans.

In January, OpenAI released its own AI text classifier. According to OpenAI “Our classifier is not fully reliable. In our evaluations on a “challenge set” of English texts, our classifier correctly identifies 26% of AI-written text (true positives) as “likely AI-written,” while incorrectly labeling human-written text as AI-written 9% of the time (false positives).”

A bit about how AI classifiers identify AI-generated content

GPTZero, a commonly used detection tool, identifies AI created works based on two factors: perplexity and burstiness.

Perplexity measures the complexity of text. Classifiers identify text that is predictable and lacking complexity as AI-generated and highly complex text as human-generated.

Burstiness compares variation between sentences. It measures how predictable a piece of content is by the homogeneity of the length and structure of sentences throughout the text. Human writing tends to be variable, switching between long and complex sentences and short, simpler ones. AI sentences tend to be more uniform with less creative variability.

The lower the perplexity and burstiness score, the more likely it is that text is AI generated.

Turnitin is a plagiarism-prevention tool that helps check the originality of student writing. On April 4th, Turnitin released an AI-detection feature.

According to Turnitin, its detection tool works a bit differently.

When a paper is submitted to Turnitin, the submission is first broken into segments of text that are roughly a few hundred words (about five to ten sentences). Those segments are then overlapped with each other to capture each sentence in context.

The segments are run against our AI detection model, and we give each sentence a score between 0 and 1 to determine whether it is written by a human or by AI. If our model determines that a sentence was not generated by AI, it will receive a score of 0. If it determines the entirety of the sentence was generated by AI it will receive a score of 1.

Using the average scores of all the segments within the document, the model then generates an overall prediction of how much text (with 98% confidence based on data that was collected and verified in our AI innovation lab) in the submission we believe has been generated by AI. For example, when we say that 40% of the overall text has been AI-generated, we’re 98% confident that is the case.

Currently, Turnitin’s AI writing detection model is trained to detect content from the GPT-3 and GPT-3.5 language models, which includes ChatGPT. Because the writing characteristics of GPT-4 are consistent with earlier model versions, our detector is able to detect content from GPT-4 (ChatGPT Plus) most of the time. We are actively working on expanding our model to enable us to better detect content from other AI language models.

The Issues

AI detectors cannot prove conclusively if text is AI generated. With minimal editing, AI-generated content evades detection.

L2 writers tend to write with less “burstiness.” Concern about bias is one of the reasons for UBC chose not to enable Turnitins’ AI-detection feature.

ChatGPT’s writing style may be less easy to spot than some think.

Privacy violations are a concern with both generators and detectors as both collect data.

Now what?

Langara’s EdTech, TCDC, and SCAI departments are working together to offer workshops on four potential approaches: Embrace it, Neutralize it, Ban it, Ignore it. Interested in a bespoke workshop for your department? Complete the request form.

References
Marcus, G. (2023, January 6). Ezra Klein interviews Gary Marcus [Audio podcast episode]. In The Ezra Klein Show. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-gary-marcus.html

Fowler, G.A. (2023, April 3). We tested a new ChatGPT-detector for teachers. If flagged an innocent student. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/01/chatgpt-cheating-detection-Turnitin/

Getting Started with ChatGPT

Briana Fraser

Tips for writing effective prompts

Prompt-crafting takes practice:

  • Focus on tasks where you are an expert & get GPT to help.
  • Give the AI context.
  • Give it step-by-step directions.
  • Get an initial answer. Ask for changes and edits.

Provide as much context as possible and use specific and detailed language. You can include information about:

  • Your desired focus, format, style, intended audience and text length.
  • A list of points you want addressed.
  • What perspective you want the text written from, if applicable.
  • Specific requirements, such as no jargon.

Try an iterative approach

Ethan Mollick offers the following:

  • The best way to use AI systems is not to craft the perfect prompt, but rather to use it interactively. Try asking for something. Then ask the AI to modify or adjust its output. Work with the AI, rather than trying to issue a single command that does everything you want. The more you experiment, the better off you are. Just use the AI a lot, and it will make a big difference – a lesson my class learned as they worked with the AI to create essays.
  • More elaborate and specific prompts work better.
  • Don’t ask it to write an essay about how human error causes catastrophes. The AI will come up with a boring and straightforward piece that does the minimum possible to satisfy your simple demand. Instead, remember you are the expert, and the AI is a tool to help you write. You should push it in the direction you want. For example, provide clear bullet points to your argument: write an essay with the following points: -Humans are prone to error -Most errors are not that important -In complex systems, some errors are catastrophic -Catastrophes cannot be avoided.
  • But even these results are much less interesting than a more complicated prompt: write an essay with the following points. use an academic tone. use at least one clear example. make it concise. write for a well-informed audience. use a style like the New Yorker. make it at least 7 paragraphs. vary the language in each one. end with an ominous note. -Humans are prone to error -Most errors are not that important -In complex systems, some errors are catastrophic -Catastrophes cannot be avoided
  • Try asking for it to be conciseor wordy or detailed, or ask it to be specific or to give examples. Ask it to write in a tone (ominous, academic, straightforward) or to a particular audience (professional, student) or in the style of a particular author or publication (New York Times, tabloid news, academic journal). You are not going to get perfect results, so experimenting (and using the little “regenerate response” button) will help you get to the right place. Over time, you will start to learn the “language” that ChatGPT is using.

Get ChatGPT to ask you questions

Instead of coming up with your own prompts, try getting the AI to ask you questions to get the information it needs. In a recent Twitter post, Ethan Mollick notes that this approach produced surprisingly good results.

Ideas for using ChatGPT with students

For lots of great ideas and advice, watch Unlocking the Power of AI: How Tools Like ChatGPT Can Make Teaching Easier and More Effective.

  • Use it to create counterarguments to students work. Students can use the AI output to further refine their arguments and help them clarify their positions.
  • Use it to write something for different audiences and have students compare the output and identify how writing changes for a general versus expert audience.
  • Use ChatGPT for a first draft and then have students edit a second draft with critiques, corrections, and additions.
  • Use it to start a discussion. For example, ask ChatGPT why one theory is better than another. Then, ask again why the second theory is better.
  • Use it to generate a list of common misconceptions and then have students address them.
  • Ask students to generate a ChatGPT response to a question of their own choosing, and then write an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the ChatGPT response.

Some ways you can use ChatGPT

  • Use it to create a bank of multiple choice and short-answer questions for formative assessment. It can also pre-generate sample responses and feedback.
  • Use it to create examples.
  • Use it to generate ten prompts for a class discussion.

Further reading and resources

Heaven, W.D. (2023, April 6). ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it. MIT Technology Review.

Liu, D. et al (2023). How AI can be used meaningfully by teachers and students in 2023. Teaching@Sydney.

Mollick, E. R., & Mollick, L. (2022). New modes of learning enabled by AI Chatbots: Three methods and assignments. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4300783

Rudolph, J. et al (2023). ChatGPT: Bullshit spewer or the end of traditional assessments in higher education? Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching. Vol. 6, No. 1.