With the massive spike in artificial intelligence (AI) usage in the last couple of years, the world has seen many significant changes in the way people navigate through issues, solve problems, and live life overall.
One of the biggest impacts that AI has had recently is its usage in school and other academic environments.
Many high school students report that they have and continue to use AI to complete their assignments for multiple different classes. There are even some adolescents who use it on a daily basis.
“I’ve used AI plenty of times for school work before…mostly in math and chemistry class,” senior Ja’ Niyah Robinson said.
Most students who put AI to use for school work claim for it to be extremely helpful and useful, since it usually results in short-term good grades and performance in school.
“I’ve found it helpful most of the time to get things done when I am stressed and don’t have much time on my hands,” Robinson said.
Some students who use AI recognize that using it is very simple and easy, causing them to not fully learn and understand the material at hand.
I do have to admit that I’ve not learned that much by using it. It doesn’t make me very focused on the answers I’m getting,” Robison said.
Teachers around the school have similar opinions about the use of AI among their students.
Although the popular thought is that AI is a negative tool for student minds, some teachers believe that it can be useful in moderation.
“For students who utilize AI to help generate ideas, brainstorming things, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing,” Spanish teacher Erin Lizer said. “It’s when they really use it as a crutch and rely on it solely to do their work for them and they’re not using it to teach themselves.”
Other than the fact that AI usage causes students to forget specific subjects, teachers have other important reasons for why it negatively affects their work ethics.
“It creates an apathetic attitude towards education in general. I do think that AI has created an attitude that makes students think that doing their work and learning the material has no point if they can just have a computer do it for them,” Lizer said.
Even though students have used strategies to cheat around school in the past, AI has enhanced this type of attitude.
“That type of mindset has always existed to a certain extent. Everyone just takes that idea and runs with it. Most students aren’t realizing that they’re doing themselves harm educationally by not doing their own tasks,” Lizer said.
