Technically, AI LLMs are capable of generating course content. There are first-hand accounts of using it for just that, including generating course outlines and learning modules. You can try it out yourself by going to ChatGPT and inputting the following prompt: “Give me ten learning outcomes for my course on X” and following up with “Give me a 30-lecture lesson plan for that course.”
There is also the ethical side of this question – should I use AI to generate my own course content? Content that goes into ChatGPT responses is pulled from all publicly available content on the Internet – there is an ongoing debate about whether it should be able to use content that isn’t specifically licensed for it. Additionally, ChatGPT does not provide citations for the content it pulls from. Thus, there is a risk of unknowingly copying directly from another source and violating the copyright of the original author.
Some educators are choosing to use ChatGPT responses as inspiration for the creation of their course content, without necessarily using it wholesale. If you do that, you may additionally choose to disclose that ChatGPT helped you create parts of your course with citations.
Read more about how the Faculty of Science is working through this issue.