For students in Lynn Rogoff’s business communications class, their final assessment is not just a matter of developing entrepreneurial pitches. In addition, the undergraduate class must defend them in a live, on-camera grilling by their professors and peers.

This is a “perfect exercise for the real world”, says the New York Institute of Technology professor. But it is also a test of whether the students have fully ingested the information — or relied too heavily on artificial intelligence. “I discovered that the more novel and unique the proposition is, the harder it is for [them] to use AI,” she adds.

Rogoff’s approach is just one of the ways professors are responding to the emergence and rapid uptake of generative AI and the disruption it can cause. Some educators have embraced the technology, while others have sought to ban it entirely. But as professors and administrators struggle to find the right balance, they must factor in its near-ubiquitous use by their students.