When we put out the call for this issue, we anticipated the topic of artificial intelligence in the fraternity/sorority industry would generate a lot of interest. The range of perspectives we received for this issue was vast: from professionals turning their decades-long norms for the work on their head to integrate AI more to people offering long-reasoned caution to diving too deeply into AI in the day-to-day work. That range is exactly why we wanted to do this issue.
AI is not a future problem for fraternity/sorority life; it is already sitting in our inboxes, our students’ laptops, and increasingly, our own workflows. The articles in this issue reflect the realities we are faced with now in the profession. You will find pieces on using AI to prepare more thoughtfully for one-on-one meetings with students, articles that explore what AI knows about the fratenity/sorority experience, and musings on why we should be cautious about how quickly we hand certain kinds of learning over to a machine. You will read about headquarters staff and campus professionals experimenting with AI for chapter operations, and about the ethical questions that inherently exist in this new-to-us reality.Â
AI in our field is not a single question with a single answer; it is a cluster of smaller questions, some practical and some philosophical, and most of us are answering different pieces of it depending on our role, our institution/organization, and our comfort level with the technology itself. Practitioners have questions about moral implications of AI use, how to not lose authenticity and creativity when using generative AI, and how to balance innovation and tradition. When looking at this issue as a whole, one big question stands out: what happens to student development, and to the relationships that make our work meaningful, if we let convenience through AI make decisions that should involve thoughtful, human-led deliberation?Â
There is a real appetite in this field for practical guidance. Plenty of professionals are already using these tools daily, but far fewer feel like they have solid footing on where the lines should be. Boundaries must be determined, but balancing those with embracing new technology will allow our industry to continue to evolve. We hope this issue of Perspectives gives you a clearer picture of where colleagues across the industry currently stand, sparks some ideas and curiosity, and encourages you to consider a different way of thinking about something.
