In recent years, generative AI has rapidly expanded in power and popularity. It went from a mere idea of science-fiction novels to a worldwide sensation capable of writing articles and coding. However, schools have struggled to cope with the introduction of OpenAI’s new tool. Many students have misused sites such as ChatGPT, requesting it to do their schoolwork— Essays, math problems, history terms, and more are all pulled from AI. Who is truly the one graduating? Is it the student? Or is it the misused website that did all their work for them?
Now, this is not to say AI is entirely a bad thing. Many teachers have reported how their personal use of artificial intelligence has bolstered their teaching skills and helped formulate lesson plans for students. “I use AI mostly to brainstorm,” said Jennifer Pappas Yennie, CdMHS Comp. Literature and AP Language teacher, “But never for writing lessons.”
It’s clear that AI is not a problem just by existing; Rather, the problem arises when it’s misused.
Wrongful use of Artificial Intelligence is considered plagiarism and therefore academic dishonesty. There are two main reasons for this: First, blatant copying. This issue is fairly obvious. A student copy-pasting an article generated by AI is not their own work, even though they’re presenting it as their own. The second issue is where the AI finds its information. This is not a problem that applies to every Artificial Intelligence— AIs, such as Google’s search summary includes links to their sources of information. But some are not all; Major sites such as ChatGPT do not reliably source any content they generate. Therefore, students end up ripping research, opinions, and other information from sources on the internet without crediting anything.
On top of plagiarism, AI misuse also counteracts one of the main goals of schools: Engaging students’ minds. A student is not empowering their critical thinking by asking ChatGPT to do an assignment for them.
CdM has been taking an active role to be as transparent as possible in the “AI Conversation” with its students, via recent implementations such as the AI assignment scale. “We’re very intentional about what it (AI) looks like, how we might be able to use it for good, and when we might want to stay away.” Said current CdM Principal Jake Haley. “We only want original thought [in our students’ work].”
It’s difficult to tell where AI is heading, whether it may become even more involved in school or removed entirely. It’s both helped teachers and attacked the integrity of classroom environments. Only one thing remains certain: Schools must continue to evolve to deal with this new tool, or risk becoming entirely obsolete.
