GenAI Studio: News, Tools, and Teaching & Learning FAQs
These sixty minute, bi-monthly sessions – facilitated by Technologists from the Learning Technology Innovation Centre (LTIC) – are designed for faculty and staff at UBC who are using, or thinking about using, Generative AI tools as part of their teaching, researching, or daily work. Every 2 weeks, we discuss recent generative AI news, highlight a specific tool for use within teaching and learning, and then hold a question and answer session for attendees.
They run on Zoom on Wednesdays from 1pm – 2pm and you can register for upcoming events on the CTLT Events Website.
News of the Week
Each session we discuss several new items that happened in the Generative AI space over the past 14 days. There’s usually a flood of new AI-adjacent news every week – as this industry is moving so fast – so we highlight news articles which are relevant to the UBC community.
Here’s this week’s news:
This week’s GenAI Studio highlights the rapid advancement of AI that is generating both serious risks and societal pushback. Google stopped the first known AI-assisted zero-day exploit targeting two-factor authentication, while graduates booed pro-AI commencement speakers over job and cultural fears. In higher education, UVic’s aggressive anti-AI policies, including post-graduation degree revocation, risk harming students reliant on AI for accessibility. In contrast to that, UBC has a more supportive stance of launching a secure locally-hosted AI platform for faculty. The recent Canvas outage also underscored the dangers of EdTech monocultures, highlighting the need for greater institutional resilience and tool diversity.
Google’s AI Stopped a Zero-Day Hack
Google stopped a zero-day hacker exploit developed with AI assistance that was intended for mass exploitation to bypass two-factor authentication, marking the first time they’ve seen evidence of AI being used to create such a cyber attack.
College Graduates Boo AI-Praising Speakers at Commencements
College graduates have been booing commencement speakers who praise AI, reflecting a broad backlash against the technology due to fears of job loss, cultural dominance, and insufficient government regulation.
UVic’s Strict AI Policy Threatens Academic Freedom and Student Rights
A University of Victoria emeritus professor criticizes the university’s new AI crackdown policy for lowering the evidence standard to a “balance of probabilities,” removing time limits on degree revocation, and threatening academic freedom and disabled students’ rights.
UVic Can Now Revoke Degrees for AI Cheating, Even Years After Graduation
The University of Victoria updated its academic misconduct policy to make it easier for instructors to punish AI use with a low evidence threshold and revoke degrees years after graduation, sparking student concerns over fairness and accessibility tools.
AI Tools Leading the Accessibility Revolution
Forbes highlights companies and individuals in its Accessibility 200 list who are leveraging AI to create highly personalized tools and experiences that dramatically improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
Google I/O 2026: AI Announcements and New Gemini Features
This Verge video condenses Google I/O 2026, focusing on major AI announcements including Gemini 3.5 models, Gemini Omni for content creation, Gemini Spark agent, improved search features, and Project Aura smart glasses.
UBC Alternative Course Hosting
UBC LTIC provides resources and guidance for instructors to host courses on alternative platforms, such as Moodle and WordPress, when the primary LMS (Canvas) was unavailable.
EdTech Monocultures Are Dangerous: Lessons from the Canvas Outage
Following the Canvas hack, educational technologist D’Arcy Norman discusses the risks of platform monocultures, the importance of institutional agency and clear communication, and the need to build resilience through diverse tools and local capacity.
UBC Launches Secure, Locally Hosted AI Platform for Faculty Use
LTIC is beta-testing a locally hosted AI Platform, Open WebUI, for faculty staff to use AI tools privately and securely in their academic work .
Questions and Answers
Each studio ends with a question and answer session whereby attendees can ask questions of the pedagogy experts and technologists who facilitate the sessions. We have published a full FAQ section on this site. If you have other questions about GenAI usage, please get in touch.
-
Assessment Design using Generative AI
Generative AI is reshaping assessment design, requiring faculty to adapt assignments to maintain academic integrity. The GENAI Assessment Scale guides AI use in coursework, from study aids to full collaboration, helping educators create assessments that balance AI integration with skill development, fostering critical thinking and fairness in learning.
-
How can I use GenAI in my course?
In education, the integration of GenAI offers a multitude of applications within your courses. Presented is a detailed table categorizing various use cases, outlining the specific roles they play, their pedagogical benefits, and potential risks associated with their implementation. A Complete Breakdown of each use case and the original image can be found here. At