Neither a Luddite nor a Lemming: Librarians as the Lorax in our GenAI Obsessed World?

Abstract

The rapid adoption of Generative AI by nearly every industry has been nothing short of remarkable. In just a few years, GenAI has been a driving force in industry, education, news and information. Driving in large by a vague understanding of the potentials in this technology, there is a bonafide arms race to be the leaders and the best. In the realm of business education, this is happening on our campuses, and with our publishers and with our vendors. Librarians and information professionals do not have the opportunity to ignore GenAI as it directly impacts our work and our community in the race to harness this technology.

There is certainly a great deal that we benefit from artificial intelligence. Enhancements like predictive text, translations on the fly, GPS systems and ease of analyzing data are all tools we and our patrons use. These elements of artificial intelligence are set up to augment and assist our endeavors. But GenAI is different. GenAI appears designed to replace our work - and that has been a driving force in its remarkable growth over the past two years. We are expected to either be a lemming or a luddite when approaching this new technology. But in this context - we should strive to be Dr. Suess's character The Lorax and try to get people to understand what the costs truly are and what this reality truly is. This fable teaches us that our greed can lead to the destruction of our environment. This is possibly a role that librarians need to play here. While we cannot change the direction of the academy, our role is to get people to understand the impact of these technologies.

In this short presentation, I will share what we are seeing from students and faculty and publishers as it relates to Generative AI and how we can nudge these community members to more acceptable and licensed use of our content. We will use examples from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) and how we are helping faculty and students understand the true dynamics of using GenAI tools with our licensed data.