2 in 3 Harvard Professors Say AI Has Negative Impact

Nearly two-thirds of Harvard University faculty members said artificial intelligence has had a “somewhat negative” or “very negative” effect on their courses, according to a recent survey of more than 460 professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences conducted by The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper. Last year, 42 percent of faculty said the same. 

Most Harvard professors now have explicit policies about how and when AI can be used in their classrooms—only 3.5 percent said they didn’t have any such policy, down from 10 percent the year prior. At the same time, only 4 percent of professors “entirely permit” AI use in class, down from 8 percent last year, the Crimson reported. About a quarter of professors prohibit all AI use in class, up from 20 percent last year. 

Harvard leaders have recently leaned into AI. Earlier this month, Harvard College Dean David Deming suggested that professors accept or encourage AI use in writing and project-heavy courses. President Alan Garber praised AI use for research during an address on the first day of classes.

According to the survey, social science faculty most often allow AI use in class—84 percent said they permit at least some AI in their courses, compared with 79 percent of science and engineering faculty and 63 percent of arts and humanities faculty. 

Nearly nine in 10 faculty members reported receiving student work that they knew or believed was produced using AI—though only 64 percent reported feeling “somewhat or very confident” in their ability to distinguish between AI-generated and student-created work, the Crimson reported. Only 12 percent of faculty respondents said they referred cases of unauthorized AI use to the honor council this past year, up slightly from 10 percent the year prior.