The AI Writing Experiments and Reflection Essay

Like the other major writing assignments in this class, this project has two parts. First, you will complete four AI writing “experiments,” which are all specific tasks you will attempt to complete with at least two different AI tools. Check the course schedule for this, but you will need to share your examples with your classmates as you complete them. More details on these tasks is forthcoming, but for now, the four AI experiments are:

Second, write an essay at least 2000 words and no more than 3000 words where you share your experiences and where you explain what you learned about AI. You want to write in the style of some of the mainstream media articles we have read and discussed. Be sure to make connections to some of the relevant assigned readings and your research.

Here are some more details:

Just to be clear: this isn’t a hypothetical/thought experiment! You need to actually complete each of these experiments with at least two different AIs, and you will need to save and keep track of your AI sessions. I recommend exporting the sessions into different documents so you can keep track of your results more easily, but how you go about saving your AI chats is up to you. You will need to complete each of these experiments based on the course schedule, and you will need to tell us about your work in progress as part of the class discussions. In other words, these experiments will be the basis of your essay and they will count as part of class participation.
For each of these AI writing experiments, you should use the same (or very similar) prompts with at least two different AIs so you can compare the results.
Don’t worry if your AI experiments are not entirely successful. In fact, I for one think we learn a lot more from AI “failures” than we do with successes.
As is the case with the other assignments, most of the grade for this project will be based on the reflection essay rather than the AI experiments themselves. In your essay, you will write about your experiences/experiments with AI, but it’s also where you’ll make connections to the assigned readings and some of our discussions. Also as is the case with the other assignments, you need to complete all parts of your essay in one Google document. Do not copy and paste stuff from an MS Word file, and also do not just copy and paste a version of your essay that you run through Grammarly or another AI writing tool.
As well as you can, you should write an essay in a style/voice that imitates the style/voice of some of the MSM essays/articles we have read and discussed this term. We will talk more about what this as the semester continues, but here is some of what I mean:
- This assignment is a “writing prompt” for creating an essay that can stand on its own, and not an “essay exam” question you have to answer for a test. In other words, you want to create an essay that someone with no familiarity with our class, the readings, or the assignment could easily read and understand.
- I wouldn’t recommend writing an essay that simply reports the results of each of your experiments. Instead, you should see your experiences with these AI writing experiments (along with the readings, as I’ll get to in the next bullet) as the starting point for you to develop your own essay which you tell us what you think.
- You also want to make connections between your experiences with these experiments and the readings we discussed in class, and perhaps some of the readings you have come across in your own research. After all, the kinds of MSM essays I’m suggesting you try to imitate also cite evidence and research. Besides the readings from class, you might also find connections between your experiments and the reading/research you’re doing for The AI News & Updates Collaborative Annotated Bibliography Website and Report and The AI Research Question Essay assignments.
We will have a peer review of drafts of the reflection essays before you turn them into me for a grade.