Generative AI in Writing Workshops: A Path to AI Literacy

The widespread use of generative AI tools which can support or even take over several part of the writing process has sparked many discussions about integrity, AI literacy and changes to academic writing processes. This paper explores the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools on the academic writing pro-cess, drawing on data from a writing workshop and interviews with university students of a university teacher college in Austria. Despite the widespread assumption that generative AI, such as ChatGPT, is widely used by students to support their academic tasks, initial findings suggest a notable gap in participants' experience and understanding of these technologies. This discrepancy highlights the critical need for AI literacy and underscores the importance of familiarity with the potential, challenges and risks associated with generative AI to ensure its ethical and effective use. Through reflective discussions and feedback from work-shop participants, this study shows a differentiated perspective on the role of generative AI in academic writing, illustrating its value in generating ideas and overcoming writer's block, as well as its limitations due to the indispensable nature of human involvement in critical writing tasks.