Since November 2022, the launch of ChatGPT, a conversational agent using artificial intelligence and developed by the company Open AI, has caused quite a stir around the world. Numerous
articles1 have reported on the impressive capacity of this open-access tool to generate, among other things, texts on any subject covered by its vast database; at the same time, many of these
articles point out the challenges that the arrival of these tools represents in academic circles.
There is also considerable concern within higher education establishments. In addition to the possibility of new forms of plagiarism and fraud, the accessibility of this type of conversational agent, emulating human language, raises questions about fundamental dimensions of education,
such as the assessment of learning and the very nature of teaching.
Apart from the regulation that states may exercise on the development and availability of generative AI tools, what are the implications of their arrival in teaching activities at the college
and university levels? How does their introduction put education at risk? How can they improve our pedagogical practices and academic success? What principles should be established to guide the use of these tools in higher education?
These questions formed the basis of a day of reflection and deliberation organized by PIA and the University of Montréal aimed at the college and university education community, focusing on an
issue that is both shared and structuring: the oversight of the use of AI systems in higher education.