While I am still caught in the GenAI trough of disillusionment, I am hoping to contribute positive and safe habits for the use of GenAI tools. This post provides considerations in checklist format for educators and GenAI champions to ponder before they implement or promote GenAI chatbots this fall.
GenAI is Everywhere
Pervasive instances of GenAI quietly present themselves with growing frequency. When I opened Microsoft Word to start this post, a notification asked, “Describe what you’d like to draft with Copilot.” I have recently noticed that at the top of my inbox, an AI offer to provide me with a briefing of new emails. I am uncomfortable with these helpful interventions as I never asked for them and the onus of disabling these features is squarely on end users like me. When did I give an LLM permission to read my emails? At all Zoom meetings I have attended over the past few months, a pop-up advises that an AI Companion is taking notes. What am I to do? If I opt out, I leave the meeting, which makes it impossible to contribute. We have all become accustomed to online search results appearing through a GenAI app.
To make a long story short, GenAI is everywhere, it veils itself as an efficient and knowledgeable assistant. With the integration of Agentic AI into educational systems, settlement and education professionals will have another layer of AI to understand, acquire and resolve.
John Oliver and Chatbots?
I know this is a comedy show, but if you watch this episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, he reveals several concerns about people, especially younger learners, engaging with chatbots without guidance, oversight or built-in guardrails.
Government of Canada’s Chatbot Considerations
On a more serious site, the Government of Canada’s Office of Privacy and artificial intelligence provides some advice in their “Your privacy and AI chatbots” resource where potential risks of how GenAI chatbots uses of personal information are listed:
- the information may be collected and stored. In some cases, the platforms may not clearly explain how personal information is used, stored, or where it may be shared;
- it may be used to further train the AI system;
- it may be used to create profiles about you or to make decisions about you;
- it may not be clear how it could be used in the future;
- an AI chatbot could disclose the information that it has learned about you to other users.
The advice for all users of chatbots is not detailed, but the “Key tips when you are using AI chatbots” list states:
- limit the personal information that you share about yourself;
- do not share sensitive or identifiable personal information;
- alter personal details, for example, use aliases for names, change any identifiable details;
- if the AI chatbot allows, consider deleting your chat history;
- review and adjust your privacy settings and use strong passwords;
- do not share personal information about other people; and
- never share pictures or personal information of minors (or anyone).
Chatbot Considerations Checklist
Before you assign chatbot tasks for your students, consider the following:
Learning Purpose and Appropriateness
- What language-learning outcome(s) does the chatbot support?
- Is the activity necessary, or is it being used because the technology is available?
- Can teachers set the language level and parameters to ensure that the students’ experience will be appropriate, especially for their language and digital-literacy levels?
- Is there a non-AI alternative for learners who cannot or do not want to use the chatbot?
Testing and Quality of Responses
- Has the chatbot been tested in a variety of conversation types?
- Could it generate inaccurate, biased, or inappropriate responses based on the chatbot’s personality?
Privacy, Data, and Terms of Service
Are there terms of service and a privacy policy?
Read these documents to see who controls and owns conversation data. This includes the ability to:
- delete a chat session,
- store or reuse conversations,
- delete an account,
- opt out of model training and
- change privacy settings.
Vendor Reputation and Support
- Is the chatbot provided by a reputable organization?
- Do you recognize the organization, and can you locate its webpage?
- Does a news search reveal any red flags?
- Where is the company based?
- Is information about the organization and its leadership readily available?
- Is there live human support for privacy concerns or support?
Access, Cost, and Usability
- Is there a free or trial version that learners can realistically use?
- Are the essential functions for class activities available on the free version?
- Can your institution provide licenses for the full version?
- Is it accessible on the devices learners have?
- Is the interface useable for learners with different levels of digital literacy?
Learner Preparation and Safety
- Did the teacher clearly explain what learners must not enter in their chatbot conversations?
- Do learners know when and how to identify, stop, and report inappropriate or inaccurate chatbot exchanges to the instructor?
Instructor Responsibilities
- Do you know who is responsible for reviewing and assessing the students’ chatbot sessions?
- Are you assessing the learner’s chatbot sessions yourself, or are you offloading assessment and feedback to the chatbot?
- Will you check the AI feedback for accuracy and outcome alignment?
Final Thoughts
In this short post I have put together a checklist of considerations for teachers before assigning learners to engage in a discussion with a chatbot. As this is not a comprehensive list, it may be a starting point for others to build their own.
Resources
Allan, J. (2026, July). Help, I’m Stuck in the Artificial Intelligence Trough of Disillusionment https://blog.teslontario.org/help-im-stuck-in-the-artificial-intelligence-trough-of-disillusionment
Office of Privacy and artificial intelligence. (2025, May). Your privacy and AI chatbots. https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/ai-technology-and-innovation/artificial-intelligence/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Oliver, J. (2026). AI Chatbots: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykvf3MunGf8
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