The Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted its third Artificial Intelligence (AI) Colloquium at the Albert Wessels Auditorium on the Bloemfontein campus. Held on 7 August 2025, the event featured a series of panel discussions with experts from various disciplines, offering diverse perspectives on the role of AI in academia and the workplace.  

Students’ reliance on AI in academic writing 

The first panel discussion, facilitated by Prof Rick de Villiers, Associate Professor in the Department of English, focused on postgraduate students’ research and their experiences with AI in teaching and learning. 

One of the panelists, Zonnike Coetzer, Academic Writing Specialist at the UFS, expressed concern about an ‘overreliance on AI by students’- a trend she has observed at the UFS Writing Centre. 

“Normally, student submissions are far from perfect - which is understandable, as writing is a process,” said Coetzer. “Sometimes the argument needs refining or the grammar needs attention, or the idea needs further development.  However, we have noticed a growing number of submissions that are dramatically flawless.” 

She explained that the Writing Centre suspected many of these perfectly polished texts had been generated by AI writing models such as ChatGPT. “One of the main issues is that, in meetings with consultants, some students are unable to explain or elaborate on what they had written,” she noted.  

Following Coetzer’s remarks, Anke Meyer-Auld, a postgraduate student at the UFS who describes herself as ‘pro-AI’, shared a more positive perspective. While acknowledging the drawbacks, she highlighted AI’s potential benefits for writers.

‘’It’s very hard to stare at a blank page and not know where to start. AI can provide a rough, generic suggestion that gives you something to react to,‘’ Meyer-Auld said.  She also described AI as ‘radical access to the tools of storytelling’, allowing people without formal training the opportunity to experiment and be creative. 

AI for the classroom and workplace 

The second session, facilitated by Dr Ashwill Phillips, Lecturer in the Department of Criminology, explored teaching practices that incorporate AI. Dr Albertus Barkhuizen, Lecturer at the UFS, and Sanet Solomon, Politics Lecturer, discussed how they use AI in their professional work to enhance teaching and research.  

The final session featured a conversation between Dr Pravani Naidoo, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, and Elzette Boucher-Kruger, Content Manager at OFM. Boucher-Kruger shared how AI tools, including ChatGPT, form part of her daily workflow.