Are we at a fork in the road?
New Directions for Evaluation Co-Editors-in-Chief Drs. Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead and Sarah Mason are co-hosting a virtual symposium to explore one of the newest possible directions for evaluation: artificial intelligence.
Join us on March 24, 2023 from 12:00pm to 3:00pm (Eastern Time) to consider what emerging AI might mean for our field.
Register here!
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
–Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) in Jurassic Park
Groundbreaking advances in science and technology frequently present us with forks in the road. Forks in the road are critical junctures; points in time when decisions can shape the trajectory of individual and collective futures.
The launch of ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses generative artificial intelligence, in November 2022 has disciplines across the globe grappling with the question of whether we—individually, collectively, globally—are at a fork in the road with respect to emerging AI.
This potential fork emerges because generative AI is distinct from earlier AI models in that it can create entirely new content. Generative AI is intended to create new text, images, audio and video content using its training data as a foundation for creation. ChatGPT’s natural language processing also enables easy human-to- computer communication, which facilitates rapid and complex conversations that are fundamentally different to earlier generations of artificial intelligence. To describe ChatGPT as a groundbreaking advance is apt.
To date, evaluations of and with artificial intelligence have largely been underdeveloped and under-explored within the field of evaluation.
In this symposium we will explore the implications of and opportunities for artificial intelligence in evaluation, pondering the questions:
- What role should artificial intelligence play in evaluation? What are the implications for the field?
What practical, ethical, methodological, and philosophical challenges does emerging AI pose? - Which parts of evaluation are inherently human? Which parts, if any, can and should be passed on to an AI chatbot? How much will evaluators and evaluation users trust the products of AI-generated or AI-assisted work?
- How do we train emerging evaluators to work in a world in which AI is prevalent?
Join our panelists for the following sessions:
Panel 1 (12:00pm – 1:00pm ET): Technology, Methods & Training
Dr. Izzy Thornton, Center for Research Evaluation University of Mississippi
Dr. Tarek Azzam, Center for Evaluation & Assessment (CEA) at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Panel 2 (1:00pm – 2:00pm ET): Theory, Practice & Business
Dr. Nina Sabarre, Dr. Kathleen Doll & Blake Beckman, Intention2Impact
Panel 3 (2:00pm – 3:00pm ET): Ethics & Equity
Linda Raftree, Founder MERL Tech
Dr. Aileen Reid, University of North Carolina Greensboro
More speakers announced soon!
Registration is free! Register here.
