Whereas working conditions are a chief concern of the Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF)

Whereas a large part of the work Palomar College faculty do is engaging in human-to-human, authentic interactions with students in multiple modalities

Whereas recently negotiated contract language states “per AB 2370, any faculty member for any Palomar College assignment must be a person”

Whereas full-time and now part-time faculty are paid for office hours and office hours are part of full-time faculty workload (Article 4 of the PFF/PCCD Collective Bargaining Agreement)

Whereas Nectir AI was selected and endorsed by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) without consultation of the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges and other important stakeholders including state Unions

Whereas Nectir AI was endorsed to do a variety of tasks, including, per the CCCCO Memo, “provide 24/7 support and answer course-specific questions. They can be customized based on your college information, department content, program materials, class materials, and syllabus”

Whereas further clarification from Palomar College Professional Development revealedan option for Nectir AI to respond to student queries about classroom content, noting, “…you can setup in the AI assistant with your own material, namely your syllabus, your lectures slides or handouts, transcripts of your videos (if you have them), and any OER materials (like books) that you use. And the AI assistant will (via RAG: retrieval augmented generation) access your information first to try to answer or generate a response for the students”

Whereas responding to student queries about a faculty member’s course content is a primary feature of faculty work, including during office hours

Whereas AI tools (Nectir and others) being promoted by PCCD to perform faculty duties (not simply support faculty duties) can lead to unnegotiated changes in working conditions

Whereas a lack of confidence regarding data privacy (including but not limited to faculty course materials and student information) and a concern that faculty and student data could potentially be used to train these AI systems (in addition to environmental and other concerns swirling around AI) concerns PFF greatly

Therefore be it resolved PFF and the Faculty Senate oppose the use of AI tools to replace or replicate faculty labor including, but not limited to, professor-student discussion and interaction around course content

Therefore be it further resolved AI tools (and their local promotion) should be thoroughly vetted and approved via transparent presentations and meaningful discussion through shared governance, with Faculty Senate, and with PFF before implementation