Opinion
In the spirit of 1980s pop duo Milli Vanilli, some universities might blame the rise of AI on the rain. They might also justify its use as a time-saving tool or helpful aid. That’s fine. But in the interests of students, employers, and taxpayers alike, Australia’s universities must be upfront about when and how they use AI.
Like everyone else, universities are contending with a growing reliance on AI. It would be a disservice to graduates to send them out into the workplace armed with foundational knowledge but no AI capability.
Graduates with “experience in the real world” remain highly sort after by employers. Universities have responded with work-integrated-learning, micro-credentials, and similar programs that expose students to practical challenges. Most of those scenarios involve using AI.
The Federal Government has also set targets to “spread the benefits” of AI by lifting its adoption, providing support and training, and promoting responsible practice.
Australian universities have led in the development of technology in fields like photovoltaics, quantum computing, ultrasound, and bionics. AI should be no different.
Technological innovation, however, comes with ethical responsibilities. Universities must promote the fair, transparent, and principled use of technology. This means universities have a higher obligation to use technology with integrity. ATN members do.
Deakin University researchers are working on reducing the environmental impact of generative AI. They are exploring smaller language models, tailored for “specific topics and simple tasks”. Currently these functions are swept up in large, energy-intensive AI language systems dependent on high emissions and water consumption.
RMIT and partner researchers are working on an AI assisted tool for the detection of fungal infections in cancer patients. Their AI interface deep scans research and medical reports, drawing on expert knowledge and evidence to rule in or out signs of infection in vulnerable patients.
The thread here is the focus on social and economic benefit. This is not about cutting corners, being tricky or reductive. Universities must champion this approach. Because if institutions at the vanguard of technological innovation use AI evasively then they endorse a pattern of behaviour that may become acceptable for graduates, business and wider society.
At a time of global instability how we use AI gains heightened importance, particularly in building national resilience.
At Curtin University researchers are using AI to improve the mapping and detection of critical mineral deposits, reducing environmental impacts, increasing accuracy, and building capacity in additional areas of sovereign risk for Australia like defence and space.
At UTS, AI technology that can “decode silent thoughts and turn them into text” is in development. For people experiencing communication challenges due to “illness or injury, including stroke or paralysis” the implications could be transformative.
At the University of Newcastle, research into Agentic AI is in train which seeks to build greater context and behavioural awareness into complex decision making.
The unifying principle is the foregrounding, not obfuscation, by these universities of their use of AI. Many of these “artificially” supported projects will, in time, deliver tangible benefits to people in need. They will help to protect Australia amid rising instability and build capacity in areas critical to the prosperity and wellbeing of future generations.
These endeavours are not without ethical risk and, as remains the practice, they will be scrutinised by the ethical frameworks at the core of academia. In this spirit, AI should be subject to full candour where it is used to enhance learning, discovery, and communication. There are, of course, lessons to be learned when that hasn’t occurred.
Milli Vanilli were pilloried by the music industry that once feted them after revealing they outsourced the vocals on their hit recordings. “I know what it’s like to have a narrative created about you”, said surviving member, Fab Morvan reflecting on the duo’s hardships in the decades since. It made his decision to pull out of the line-up of Donald Trump’s proposed Freedom 250 concert more poignant. The event, he said, had “turned into a circus”, and he needed to protect his integrity.
Universities – the minority – that don’t use AI transparently and progressively face a credibility hit greater than a pop scandal. They risk undermining the integrity and rigour universities have earned over centuries. Once that trust is gone, even AI can’t restore it.
Dr Andy Marks is the Executive Director of the Australian Technology Network of Universities