Some colleagues in IT departments and I had a chat about ChatGPT and similar tools yesterday. It was interesting to get the perspective of those who work primarily in IT rather than in education. As our chat ended, we were considering how to respond to calls to block access on our institutional networks. Here is how I concluded my controbutions:
While I have not heard any explicit requests that ChatGPT be blocked on our network (maybe there are some that I am unaware of), I know there are a few faculty members who feel quite threatened by it. I have told the folks in my IT department, if you hear complaints “Ackerman doesn’t support blocking it” you can be sure those complaints are accurate.