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In an age of artificial intelligence, educators across the University of Toronto are encouraging students to work with the technology – not to obtain easy answers, but to teach themselves how to ask better questions.

U of T students are expected to complete assignments without outside assistance unless instructed otherwise. However, several professors say certain AI tools can have a role in enhancing learning by acting as round-the-clock personal tutor, a sounding board for half-baked ideas or a patient conversation partner for language learners.

The tools can prompt questions, provide feedback and help students puzzle through problems, sharpening their thinking rather than supplanting it. The harder part is training students to assess what comes back. In other words, the real test is whether students can hone the skill that sets them apart: their judgment.

U of T News spoke to four professors, including Associate Professor Wei-Han Vivian Lee, director of the master of architecture program at Daniels, about how they’re tackling the technology this school year.

Learning how to look

Lee knows that AI can produce more images in minutes than architects can draw by hand in a week. But in her view, more options don’t necessarily mean better ideas.

“I’m trying to warn students about what it means for there to be an abundance of imagery coming at you and a scarcity of judgment to match it,” says Lee.

Students in any of her courses are welcome to use AI as a study partner to clarify a concept, troubleshoot software or talk through ideas. But first-year students aren’t allowed to submit work created by AI since they don’t yet have the skills to see its distortions – and how that shapes what gets built.

“All drawings are loaded,” Lee says. It takes time and training to scrutinize what images emphasize, what they erase and whose interests they serve.

Once students have that grounding, the rules shift. With Lee’s approval, third-years can use AI in their design process, but they must account for why and own the result.

In her upper-year studio, Lee has her students act as editors, sifting through dozens of AI‑generated visualizations to pick out the ideas worth salvaging while discarding the rest.

Lee expects her students will be using AI for the rest of their careers. But she worries the technology is accelerating a trend: glossy renderings that show a sunlit building but not what it’s trying to do. Her goal is to equip students with a critical eye to tell the difference.

“The most precious thing they have is their judgment,” she says. “Even when AI is a tool, the student is the decision maker.”

Story by Adina Bresge republished from U of T News