PROFESSOR USES AI TO WRITE ARTICLE CRITICISING AI IN UNIVERSITIES

A professor at the University of Western Sydney wrote an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald using artificial intelligence without disclosing this to the newspaper. Prof Cath Ellis, pro vice-chancellor for quality and integrity at the university, submitted the piece in response to an article by Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an academic in political science at Macquarie University. Moore-Gilbert's original piece had raised concerns about excessive use of AI chatbots by students writing essays. She argued that universities were qualifying lawyers, nurses, financial advisers, engineers and teachers who lacked the essential skills required for their roles.

Readers identified hallmarks of AI-generated language in Ellis's article and posted critical comments on social media. Ellis described the piece as written "with" AI rather than "by" AI. A University of Western Sydney spokesperson confirmed that Microsoft Copilot produced early drafts and provided editing, structural input and language refinement. The university said Ellis's use of AI was appropriate and reflected her own thinking, and it did not apologise for the approach.

The episode has prompted debate about disclosure standards for AI-assisted writing in public-facing commentary. Alan Finkel, writing in response to the incident, argued that readers deserve to know in advance whether an article is written by its named author or by AI. Finkel described opinion writing as an exercise in persuasion, stating that readers engage with such pieces to assess a writer's insights and prose, not merely their conclusions. He drew a clear distinction between writing produced by a human and writing produced by AI.