Generative artificial intelligence in Canadian post-secondary education: AI policies, possibilities, realities, and futures

The Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey conducted by the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association in Spring 2023 received responses from 438 administrators and faculty members, located at 126 unique institutions across Canada. This report examines faculty member and administrator perspectives on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is a technology popularized by ChatGPT that uses machine learning to process data and produce new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos.

Findings indicate that: (1) the development of policies, regulations, and guidelines relating to Artificial Intelligence at Canadian institutions of higher education is at an early stage; (2) faculty members and administrators express varying levels of optimism, concern, and uncertainty about AI; (3) use of AI appears to be ad hoc, uneven, unequal, experimental, and largely guided by individual faculty, while supported by some institution-wide initiatives such as workshops and working groups; (4) faculty members and administrators: (a) anticipate AI becoming a normal and common part of higher education; (b) emphasize that its value depends on numerous factors; (c) anticipate that it may lead to further questions around the cost of education; and (d) are concerned about the biases and limitations of AI, including the potential dystopic futures that it makes possible.

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