As Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools take over university classrooms and offices, Queen’s has appointed its first Special Advisor on Generative AI.
The University appointed their new advisor, Eleftherios Soleas, on May 21 in the Queen’s Gazette, amid its rapid development and the growing use of tools like ChatGPT in classrooms
and administration. Soleas’s appointment is currently a two-year term. According to the University, Soleas holds a PhD from the Queen’s Faculty of Education and has worked as Director of Continuing Professional Development in Health Sciences since 2018. He has also served as a term adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s since 2015.
In an interview with The Journal, he explained that he will play a lead role in launching a proposed AI Centre of Excellence, a new team that’s supposed to unite diverse expertise across pedagogical, operational, legal, technical, and ethical domains in the realm of AI.
The role also includes contributing to institutional policy and decision-making, advising on risk management, and developing tools to support the responsible use of generative AI on campus.
Soleas’s adamant that AI can be a powerful tool for both students and staff—if used responsibly. “The human is in the driver seat,” he said, emphasizing that AI should enhance, not replace, human judgment and creativity.
“We need students to be able to look at an AI-generated response and say, ‘This isn’t accurate—and here’s why.’”
He explained that any use of generative AI must align with the University’s institutional values, including fairness, trust, academic integrity, and respect for the learning process. Responsible use also means transparency and accountability when AI tools are used—whether for research, grading, or coursework support.
Currently, Queen’s is in the early stages of building a university-wide approach to AI. The creation of the Special Advisor on Generative AI position reflects the administration’s efforts to guide the campus through emerging questions around ethics, integration, and innovation. According to Queen’s Strategic Artificial Intelligence Framework, the institution is focused on supporting the ethical and effective use of AI while managing potential risks.
Rather than a single policy, Queen’s is taking a decentralized, consultative approach. Individual faculties and departments have some flexibility in determining how AI is addressed in their teaching or evaluation policies. For instance, the Department of Political Studies prohibits the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT unless explicitly permitted in the course syllabus. Unauthorized use is treated as a potential academic integrity violation.
Part of Soleas’s new role will involve coordinating these discussions, working with groups like the Digital Planning Committee, a committee made up of Queen’s Senior Leadership Team that works to prioritize that AI systems are implemented in a way that reflects the values and objectives of Queen’s University, and contributing to the development of an AI Centre of Excellence to ensure alignment across campus.
Soleas’s stressed that if used properly, AI has the potential to support the development of critical thinking, assuming that students are encouraged to question, critique, and refine the content it produces, rather than accepting it at face value.
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AI, artificial intelligence, Special Advisor on Generative AI
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