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Dear colleagues,
Jokes and anecdotes on the topic of artificial intelligence are increasing literally like mushrooms after a rain, and it is already an almost unwritten rule that every political speech that has the ambition to reach the broadest possible masses, especially the young ones, has somehow played on this string as well. However, it would be inappropriate, not to say unworthy, for an academic, especially an academic from the Faculty of Arts MU, to join this trend in the discourse of political representation, even if it were in the realm of hyperbole or parody. Know, then, that I have produced this editorial on my own, without the aid of any text-generating tool on any topic, in all possible stylistic levels, and including the errors and clumsiness typical of beginners in foreign and native languages. Perhaps this is why my introduction is imperfect, brimming with archaisms and sarcastically emotive sobs, so typical of the humanly imperfect world of philologists and thus not easily digestible.
Evidently, this theme is resonating and will continue to resonate more and more, especially in the light of research and the meaningful use of the potential offered by artificial intelligence tools. On Wednesday, 31 May, the first informal faculty discussion was held, especially for academics, on the issues and challenges associated with using generative AI tools in producing various types of student theses. As the ensuing debate revealed, it is crucial at this point to start reflecting on the meaning of the educational process in our faculty, which has undoubtedly been and will be increasingly affected by this revolutionary change in the approach to authorship of the texts we all deal with and which we all so willingly generate ourselves and require from our charges.
But lest I use only a reactionary and backwards-looking lexical arsenal, let me urge a positive approach to the issue. The next meeting, complemented by formative workshops organized by experts with extensive experience in AI, will take place at the beginning of the autumn semester. In the meantime, let's think positively about how we will incorporate AI tools into our efforts to cultivate meaningfully not only Czech society in the future. I hope my colleagues at the Institute of the Czech Language will forgive me for this neologism.
And since I have taken the liberty of turning my attention to my colleagues dealing with our native linguistic wealth, let me take one last look back from a completely different perspective, but one related to the meaningfulness of our efforts. My colleague Pavel Caha ran a beautiful third place during the 5th edition of the Etika on run, celebrating World Down Syndrome Day. The race was organized by the Department of Medical Ethics of the Faculty of Medicine of MU. It was under the auspices of our dean, who, with her team, also defended our faculty colours very responsibly. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate them and thank them for their efforts to draw attention to those who are here with us but will never fully fit into our ranks.
Happy running, and have a great summer.
Petr Dytrt
Vice-dean for internationalization and information technologies, Faculty of Arts
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