AI, the conflicted university, and the classroom

Abstract Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made it possible for students to complete writing assignments without undergoing the rigorous research, thinking, essay construction, and revision traditionally associated with college-level writing. What is more, this technology has made violations of academic honour policies nearly impossible to reliably demonstrate, leaving the policies largely unenforceable. This article explores the impact of generative AI within higher education by contextualizing its introduction within the neoliberal university. To clarify what is at stake, the article appeals to Alasdair MacIntyre's distinction between goods that are intrinsic to a social practice, internal goods, and those that are received as a reward for engaging in the practice, or external goods. When applied to the contemporary educational context, MacIntyre's distinction works to highlight the ways neoliberal higher education sacrifices the goods internal to academic practices in pursuing external goods such as money and recognition. MacIntyre's distinction helps us see that the threats AI poses to academic integrity are tightly linked to an overemphasis on the external goods over against the achievement of the internal goods embedded in the educational process itself. The article ends by working to recentre the goods internal to academic practices in the classroom.