Since ChatGPT launched in November of 2022, it has taken the professional and academic world by storm. Professionals have quickly adopted generative artificial intelligence (GenAI or sometimes GAI) into their workflows and schools of all levels scrambled to understand how how such the widespread availability of these writing tools impacts their classroom practices. Who is using GenAI already? Marketers and social media managers have quickly embraced the new tools. Medical professionals are experimenting with using GenAI to help them write reports that are more readable and accessible for patients. GenAI can also translate quickly and easily, with direct voice-to-voice live translation announced by OpenAI in May of 2024.

In higher education, some professors are focused on banning this technology entirely, opting to move backward toward in classroom assessment based on hand-written essay prompts and tests. Heated discussions rage over whether or not tools are able to detect the use of GenAI in student work and whether or not its even ethical to use such tools. Others are revising all of their assignments to accommodate or incorporate GenAI technology. This group has largely made the argument that if professionals are using GenAI in their daily workflows, then schools need to be teaching those skills, framed with clear ethical guidelines.

GenAI hype surrounds us on a daily basis, but so does substantial fear and anxiety. Many worry that such tools will continue to erode critical thinking skills, or remove something that is essentially “human” from the creative process. Others believe that because GenAI tools are trained on the writing and artwork of humans, all use of such tools is a form of intellectual and creative theft. Will the technology continue to improve and eventually achieve sentience?

These are the questions of which we all collectively must strive to make sense. This chapter aims to give an overview of some of these major issues while also demonstrating how to use a variety of GenAI-based tools that might increase the productivity and creativity of professionals. For each topic, I offer an overview, a tool demonstration, suggested readings, and suggested assignments, as ways to help develop deeper understanding of GenAI and how it might be used professionally and ethically.

For transparency reasons, I will also note that I used GenAI extensively in creating this chapter. The header image for each chapter was created with MidJourney. The videos were edited with a variety of GenAI tools that are also demonstrated in these videos. It was also used for some text editing purposes, though all content was originally written by me.