Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – More pay for more work isn’t the only issue faculty have with the University of Illinois Springfield administration as they get closer to a potential strike.
Artificial intelligence is also a concern.
“Our faculty last bargained in 2021. At the time, AI was not really on our radar as something to be concerned about,” said Dathan Powell, chair, UIS United Faculty union. “In this round of negotiations, we’ve proposed a number of robust amendments to the contract that incorporate protections around AI.”
Powell says there are concerned like how AI can harvest faculty work and monitor teachers in the classroom, and yes, how students how already using AI in their own work. Professors are doing more, he says, in order to identify student work that may use AI, and they should be paid appropriately.
“Right now, there are no road blocks for anything like that,” said Powell. “Some of the biggest concerns among faculty are they need to have consent for their work to be used in that way, and they should be compensated if it’s going to result in some sort of financial gain to the university.
Negotiations between tenure-track faculty and the administration are continuing Monday. Members voted last week to authorize a strike, which could start ten days from last Thursday.
