What would it mean to teach students who are learning academic writing to use AI in “ethical” ways — for example, large language model (LLM) chatbots like ChatGPT, a specific form of GenAI?

In rhetoric and writing studies, guiding documents on the teaching of writing and literature caution against all-out bans and call for guidance on ethically incorporating LLMs into writing.

My institution, the University of Victoria, is “committed to support the use of AI in transparent, responsible, ethical and equitable ways.”

In the context of teaching writing, “ethics” and AI tends to be shorthand for academic integrity, informed by questions about composing and authorship, transparency and the writing process.

However, even when ethical guidance around AI use includes reflecting on when AI is appropriate at all, this often assumes, as a foregone conclusion, that ethical AI use is a possibility.

AI has environmental costs, and raises profound social and human concerns. We are doing students learning academic writing a disservice if we don’t think more broadly about what “ethical” use means.

Classrooms are political spaces

Writing is inherently bound up with power, and many writing studies scholars and teachers see classrooms as inherently political spaces. They focus on practices that equip students to add their voices to academic conversations, without compromising their ways of knowing.

For these scholars, classrooms are places to develop anti-racist, equitable and inclusive practices.

Many encourage students to question power and privilege, especially in first-year writing classrooms. Students learn to build arguments, organize........

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