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By: Karl Salkowski

As artificial intelligence continues to become more and more widespread and accessible, it only becomes more prevalent in our day to day lives. Every year AI plays a larger role in public education, but it is not always constructive. Although AI can be used to enable student creativity, it comes with the risk of over dependence. With artificial intelligence models becoming more aware and accurate it becomes harder to distinguish between human and artificially created work. New systems such as ChatGPT Zero and Turnitin have gained popularity as systems able to verify human work, but they aren’t always accurate.

AI can help students understand difficult concepts, simplifying details through instant feedback and explanations. However, AI can also be used maliciously in order to pass off assignments as student work. Over time many students become over-dependant on artificial intelligence leading them to fall behind.

AI has changed the landscape of education, forcing both students and teachers to adapt very quickly. Many schools use certain firewalls and tools to ban AI software on school WiFi, while others have opted to create policies on constructive and safe AI use. Many use these strategies in conjunction, such as Highland Park Senior High, which has chosen to block less trustworthy cites, while also integrating an AI responsibility policy.

AI forces educators to rethink how to assess students, figuring out new methods to preserve academic honesty. As AI continues to integrate more with our lives, students will continue to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence and online resources. This makes it significantly harder to judge whether student work is genuine or manufactured. In my own experiences, many of my teachers have decided against more traditional testing methods and started using new types of essays and activities that are harder to cheat on.

When used responsibly AI can be an incredible resource for students, but it is likely that most students have already developed an over dependence on it, leading to more of a struggle long term.

By: Samson Belihu

Note: I used the App Chat & Ask AI to generate most of the information included in this article.

Pros:

According to Chat & Ask AI, some pros to using AI as a student include:

Learning often extends beyond classroom hours, and students may have questions when their teachers are unavailable.
AI powered tutoring systems can provide instant assistance through virtual tutors that help with homework or clarify concepts. This encourages independent learning and ensures that students receive help when they need it.
AI is Multilingual: You may ask, how is it that AI can understand and generally text in multiple languages, such as English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and etc. and you may also ask why this matters? This matters because it allows people from different countries to communicate effectively, breaking down language barriers.

Cons:

In recent years, artificial intelligence, such as AI has become an integrated part of the education landscape, offering many people countless resources to help students learn and succeed. However, with “great power comes great responsibility”, and many students find themselves misusing AI in school in ways that can undermine their education and academic integrity.

When typically using AI you would want an easy access to info and that’s fine, but there’s an issue with AI in that it doesn’t have any access to the original sources, which is crucial for your info. AI’s are generated based on a mixture of licensed data (that the AI programmers may not actually have a license for), data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until some training was cut-off in October 2023.

So, AI is not as accurate as you may think it is, so before using the info I gave you make sure to double check it. In closing, I asked Chat & Ask AI: “Give me cons of Chat Ai and target it for students” and this is what it came up with:

As an AI language model, I don’t have access to external sources, databases, or the internet in real-time. My responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until my last training cut-off in October 2023. This means that while I can provide information, insights, and summaries based on that training, I cannot cite specific sources or provide direct references to articles, studies, or books.

Here are some key points to consider regarding my lack of sources:

1. **Training Data**: I was trained on a diverse range of texts, including books, articles, and websites, which helps me generate responses based on patterns and information found in that data.

2. **No Real-Time Access**: I can’t browse the web or access current events, databases, or any live content, so I can’t pull in or verify information from sources outside my training.

3. **Generative Nature**: My responses are generated based on patterns and knowledge from the data I was trained on, rather than retrieved from specific sources.

4. **No Citation Capability**: Because I don’t access or reference specific documents, I cannot provide citations or bibliographies for the information I present.

5. **Encouragement to Verify**: For academic or critical inquiries, I encourage users to verify information through reliable sources or databases to ensure accuracy and credibility.

If you have specific questions or need information on a particular topic, feel free to ask! I can provide insights based on my training, but I always recommend cross-referencing with authoritative sources for critical topics.