Generative AI as a ‘Precipitant’ of Challenges in Doctoral Supervision: A Dialogue Among Supervisors

Abstract

The role of supervisors has become more problematic since the rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in higher education and the disruption it has caused to teaching and research practices. This contribution employs a collaborative autoethnographic approach to articulate the various ways in which AI can act as a "precipitant" of challenges intrinsic to the position of PhD supervision in contemporary global academia, from the perspectives of four experienced supervisors based in the UK and South Africa. Drawing on their own experiences as PhD students, researchers, and supervisors of doctoral candidates, the authors shared possible answers and tensions using agreed-upon prompts to generate discussions that included the principles of academic integrity and ethical research practices that supervisors aim to cultivate in PhD students in the age of GenAI. Potential factors mitigating the misuse of the technology were discussed as part of this autoethnographic exploration, which coincidentally highlights the relational and chronological dimensions of the PhD, rather than the current hegemonic focus on "rushing to the end" and the final output.