With the wide accessibility of generative AI bots to the public, many schools have decided to limit/restrict the use of AI in classroom assignments. AI has changed the way that I view not only the education system, but even my fellow peers. While I choose not to use them in school, I regularly see my peers relying on AI tools to get even the smallest assignments done in class.
For students who are new to a topic or concept, AI is not the solution to deepen their understanding of certain subjects in school, instead, they use it to avoid learning those subjects altogether. When we rely on AI like this, we don’t think critically, an essential exercise to support a healthy brain. When we rely on AI like this, our brains weaken, and we start to lose cognitive function.
This reliance on generative AI has helped carry out the idea that students no longer go to school to learn, rather, students go to school because they are forced to. Generative AI has revealed what has been broken within the education system, that so much of our schoolwork never required critical thinking in the first place. This feeling as though that grades matter more than understanding, and you can take any shortcuts to get an assignment done.
In many of my classes, I feel as though I am at a disadvantage. I will spend hours on an assignment that one of my classmates will spend just a few minutes on, because I refuse to use generative AI, and we end up with the same grade. It’s discouraging for me, and I have frequently wondered if the amount of effort I put into my assignments is even worth it or not. I see students and teachers alike praise work that has clearly been generated by AI, where another student’s work that uses no AI is treated as less than. When I try to talk to other students about this, many of them display an attitude I can only express as similar to the term “skill-issue”.
The usage of AI within our education system isn’t just a black and white issue, it isn’t just a yes or no answer of if it is or isn’t acceptable, it is a deeply nuanced and complex issue. I cannot say that AI has no purpose in school, as so many students view it as their only option to get through their classes. I also cannot say that AI has a purpose in school, as many find it as something to abuse when they don’t feel like doing work. This situation speaks more about the state of the education system and how it is failing it’s students, than the students who rely on generative AI throughout their school careers themselves.
