Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT have settled into a comfortable position in recent years, with students and teachers alike growing familiar with its existence. However, many still harbor strong opinions on the uses of AI in academic fields.
Since its release in 2022, ChatGPT has impacted many aspects of life, including in education. Students were among the first to use ChatGPT, but teachers quickly caught them using it for schoolwork. Anti-AI software was developed, and the internet exploded with discourse about the use of AI in schools. Today, that argument has, for the most part, calmed down, but many people still disagree with current ideas surrounding AI. Some students, like junior Kehau McCarthy, are consistent users of AI.
“I use [AI] for schoolwork, but I try to understand the [ideas],” McCarthy said. “I try to ask it questions. I try to have it clarify stuff, not just give me the answers.”
AI use isn’t just limited to students. Many teachers, such as Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science teacher Swati Tomar, use AI tools.
“I use it for [assignments],” Tomar said. “For free response problems, I ask it to make the problems. If I don’t like it, I ask it to make changes.”
McCarthy believes that if teachers use AI to make their assignments, then students like him should be allowed to use AI as well.
“It feels really lazy,” McCarthy said. “I’m offended if I’m doing work that is created with ChatGPT.”
Tomar believes that students should be allowed to use AI. Under certain restrictions, she thinks that it can positively impact their learning.
“I encourage [students] to use [AI],” Tomar said. “Not for getting the [answer] right away, but if they have any clarification questions, then they should definitely get help from it.”
Although she uses AI to help her create and edit assignments, Tomar said she still has limits on what she will use AI for.
“I’ve never graded with ChatGPT,” Tomar said. “I really like that student connection. I can see that the student understands or doesn’t understand. So looking at their responses on my own helps me to build that connection and feel what a student was thinking.”
Latin teacher Andrew Love is one of many teachers strongly against students using AI.
“The problem with ChatGPT is that it’s removing agency,” Love said. “And we don’t really want that. What we really want is humans to be the agents of the world.”
Love said he believes that AI is a shortcut, and there are other and better ways to get help.
“There are other ways that you can find any information instead of using ChatGPT,” Love said. “Use your friends, use your teachers, use a book.”
While Love is against students using AI, he is also against teachers using AI.
“I don’t want my students using it, so I absolutely will not use it,” Love said. “[Teachers] have to be the leaders by example. So, if I don’t want my students to create their work by ChatGPT, I also shouldn’t be.”
Tomar said that AI should not be taken lightly. It remains a tool to enhance learning, not a tool to replace learning.
“Some students use AI to save time, and others use it wisely,” Tomar said. “It’s up to us how we use it.”
