On Feb. 29, a team of students banded together to create the AI Club. The club focuses on using Artificial Intelligence for good by helping students to think more creatively and expand their visions further. The event gave prospective and current students a chance to try an artificial intelligence chatbot, paint in virtual reality and see examples of how artificial intelligence is progressing as a tool.
THE AI CLUB AND LAB’S PURPOSE
The club’s core values are ethical discernment, human dignity, education, equipping innovation for kingdom impact, human interaction, interdisciplinary approach, honesty and transparency. The club also emphasizes the importance of keeping true to faith while creating. Their theological principles are free will acknowledgment, moral agency alignment, human relationship centrality, God’s creative order, and scriptural integrity preservation.
Through the AI Lab, students can do research on current technology involving AI while working with others. Faculty and staff will help educate students while fostering a place for community engagement as well as collaboration.
“We are grateful for God’s divine blessing on these transformational initiatives that will put Biola on the map for ongoing innovation within a biblical worldview,” said Silvia Mah, director of the office of innovation, on her Instagram. “Our AI student experts, mentors, seminary leaders, business catalysts, change makers and servant leader students are eager to continue making this work a priority and a resource for all students across campus.”
The club is led by Stefan Jungmichel, a business administration master’s student. He is joined by a team of students who discuss AI-based questions with the club. These questions range from “Can we use AI in ministry” to “Could we make an entire movie with just AI.” The club is currently meeting weekly in BUSN 102.
“The AI Lab is more so for staff and faculty, while the AI Club fosters community amongst students,” Clarissa Jocelyn, a sophomore animation student and member of the Chimes shared. Jocelyn has helped to develop the club and AI Lab throughout its existence.
AI’S PRESENCE IN EDUCATION
According to CBS News, during a survey conducted by BestColleges, 56% of students admitted to using AI in their schoolwork. Surveys conducted at Boston University and Northeastern provided similar results. Many find the use of AI, such as ChatGPT, to be more convenient for students. Students in the survey say that AI provides help with research, saving them hours of study time.
To fight against the uproar of AI, many colleges and universities have begun creating policies to prevent its use. According to Biola’s Student Handbook, “Issues of plagiarism, such as failure to cite of acknowledge a source, removal of a true author’s name, or submitting work generated by artificial intelligence and claiming it as one’s own work are also specific examples of academic dishonesty subject to university disciplinary action.”
While many schools are discouraging the use, others are encouraging it. With the future of technology and how AI progresses, there is no getting rid of it anytime soon. Biola’s new AI Lab and Club hope to encourage students to use AI in a way that fosters growth and reflects God’s creation.
