There is no hiding from it: Artificial Intelligence, more commonly known as AI, is everywhere. Though AI has been around for a while, originally being invented in the 1950s, it has taken off since 2020. AI has made its appearance in the form of chatbots, images, and even songs. At this point, AI is being used in every application, from Snapchat to YouTube to Google. Not surprisingly, there are applications, such as ChatGPT, where you can directly access AI. AI is developing rapidly and is being quickly adopted by various applications. In a world where AI is everywhere, it is hard to ignore its possibilities.
As students, it is impossible not to take notice of AI. With the rise of AI, the question must be asked: to what extent can students use AI? Obviously, the use of AI when completing assignments is strictly prohibited. Students caught using ChatGPT on essays or other assignments face consequences, usually in the form of a grade reduction. Turning in work completed by AI is plagiarism. However, not all students just copy and paste what the AI wrote. Some students are using AI to brainstorm ideas for their essays or to find answers to multiple-choice questions. Even when conducting a Google search, an answer constructed by AI will be the first thing that appears. AI has been integrated into students’ lives, even if they are not using it to cheat directly.
Not only are students using AI, whether to cheat or for ideas, but teachers are too. Whether for grading or creating assignments, ChatGPT has found its way to teachers.
To explore more about the effects of AI in the classroom, I decided to ask Dorothy Schroader, an English teacher here at Santaluces, how AI has impacted her students’ learning and the way she teaches.
Mrs. Schroader feels that “more than 50%” of her students use AI to complete her assignments. This is an unfortunate fact, as Mrs. Schroader says that “AI is robbing students of their brain cells.” She compares students’ dependency on AI to a brain that depends on drugs. Your brain is like an “egg frying in a pan” when you are constantly using AI instead of thinking for yourself, Mrs. Schroader notes.
However, AI isn’t going anywhere. With the upsurge of AI, Mrs. Schroader tells me that when used properly, AI can be used as a reference. In fact, sometimes Mrs. Schroader uses AI herself. When she is going through a “brain fog” and needs help finding what to pull out of a certain poem or the novel she is reading, she will go to ChatGPT. Also, Mrs. Schroader shares that using AI helps her “save time” and “be creative.” Even though Mrs. Schroader uses AI from time to time, she remembers that it should be treated like any other source. She recognizes its inaccuracy and claims that when using AI, you should always “double-check” your source.
At the end of the day, it looks like AI is here to stay. Students should not be dependent on AI, but they should adjust to keep up with the evolving technology.
