![\"AI](\"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/444\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-31-at-1.10.39\u202fPM-1024x620.png\")
I don't even know where to start with this. I suspected something like this was coming but I don't recall any real collegial conversation with management about its plans for implementing this. I'd be surprised if this has been discussed with YUFA or within Senate -- someone correct me if I'm wrong here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One problem, among many, is the question of who owns the models that will be created from the intellectual property that is posted on eClass. How is this compatible with the collective agreement? How is it compatible with the intellectual property rights of authors from outside the University -- here, I mean things like slide decks and other material from the big publishing houses like Pearson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in 2025 I began my transition away from eClass because it was clear that this kind of thing was coming down the pipe.<\/a> It still boggles my mind that they're going through with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing more to say right now given that it's December 31 and I've got other things on the burner right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Andrew Smith is a Professional Engineer and Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science\u00a0Department<\/a>\u00a0of York University\u2019s\u00a0Lassonde School<\/a>, with degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering\u00a0from the University of Alberta and McGill University.\u00a0\u00a0Previously a program director in biomedical engineering, his research background spans robotics, locomotion, human birth, music and\u00a0engineering\u00a0education. While on sabbatical in 2018-19 with his wife and kids he lived in Strasbourg, France and\u00a0he\u00a0taught at the\u00a0INSA Strasbourg<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Hochschule Karlsruhe<\/a>\u00a0and wrote about his\u00a0personal<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0professional\u00a0<\/a>perspectives<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0James is a proponent of using social media to advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion as well as evidence-based applications of research\u00a0in the public sphere.\u00a0 I opened up eClass today and saw this big disclaimer for the new AI system that management has added to the platform. I don't even know where to start with this. I suspected something like this was coming but I don't recall any real collegial conversation with management about its plans for implementing this. I'd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":762,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,562,47,53,561,623],"tags":[587,568,928,926,927,925,924],"class_list":["post-4368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-chatbot","category-eclass","category-moodle","category-plagiarism","category-teaching","tag-chatbot","tag-llm","tag-rag","tag-retrieval-augmented-generation","tag-uit-rag","tag-york-universitys-retrieval-augmented-generation-rag-system","tag-yu-aura"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":40,"label":"academia"},{"value":562,"label":"chatbot"},{"value":47,"label":"eClass"},{"value":53,"label":"Moodle"},{"value":561,"label":"plagiarism"},{"value":623,"label":"teaching"}],"post_tag":[{"value":587,"label":"chatbot"},{"value":568,"label":"llm"},{"value":928,"label":"RAG"},{"value":926,"label":"Retrieval-Augmented Generation"},{"value":927,"label":"UIT RAG"},{"value":925,"label":"York University's Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system"},{"value":924,"label":"YU AURA"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"drsmith","author_link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/author\/drsmith\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":40,"name":"academia","slug":"academia","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":40,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":40,"category_count":24,"category_description":"","cat_name":"academia","category_nicename":"academia","category_parent":0},{"term_id":562,"name":"chatbot","slug":"chatbot","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":562,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":562,"category_count":5,"category_description":"","cat_name":"chatbot","category_nicename":"chatbot","category_parent":0},{"term_id":47,"name":"eClass","slug":"eclass","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":47,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":32,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":47,"category_count":32,"category_description":"","cat_name":"eClass","category_nicename":"eclass","category_parent":0},{"term_id":53,"name":"Moodle","slug":"moodle","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":53,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":27,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":53,"category_count":27,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Moodle","category_nicename":"moodle","category_parent":0},{"term_id":561,"name":"plagiarism","slug":"plagiarism","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":561,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":561,"category_count":4,"category_description":"","cat_name":"plagiarism","category_nicename":"plagiarism","category_parent":0},{"term_id":623,"name":"teaching","slug":"teaching","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":623,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":623,"category_count":7,"category_description":"","cat_name":"teaching","category_nicename":"teaching","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":587,"name":"chatbot","slug":"chatbot","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":587,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":568,"name":"llm","slug":"llm","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":568,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":928,"name":"RAG","slug":"rag","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":928,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":926,"name":"Retrieval-Augmented Generation","slug":"retrieval-augmented-generation","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":926,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":927,"name":"UIT RAG","slug":"uit-rag","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":927,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":925,"name":"York University's Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system","slug":"york-universitys-retrieval-augmented-generation-rag-system","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":925,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":924,"name":"YU AURA","slug":"yu-aura","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":924,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4370,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4368\/revisions\/4370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/444\/2021\/12\/noun-signature-1720818-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nYou can find him on\u00a0Twitter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/s>You can find him on\u00a0BlueSky<\/a>. Originally from Qu\u00e9bec City, he now lives in Toronto, Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"