Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing assistance has been around for quite some time, but until recently, it was relegated mostly to grammar correction and predictive text options like those offered by Grammarly. That all changed in November 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, a generative AI technology that allows anyone on the web to create seemingly authentic, somewhat authoritative content in a variety of genres, including academic essays. Now, AI use by students is quickly becoming the norm, and faculty must consider their learning outcomes and assignment design to account for AI use. 

In this session, we'll explore the impact of AI writing on university writing assignments and the ways in which we assign and evaluate student writing. We'll discuss how various strategies such as authentic assessment and process-based writing evaluation can help ensure that AI use doesn't replace important critical thinking processes, and we'll consider some of the ways in which faculty may, if they choose, invite students to use these technologies to develop editing and fact-checking skills, critical response skills, and an awareness of how they impact our ability to think and communicate.