Adults and teens are consuming AI like it’s oxygen.
I can understand people using AI to find a synonym for a word or seeking help on a math problem once or twice a week. If you are an adult, who graduated from high school many years ago, it’s understandable if you ask ChatGPT for help with math you don’t recognize, or a word you don’t know.
Some jobs in the technology industry require employees to use AI regularly for practical reasons. Many jobs in the tech industry mandate AI use as benefit to corporate, efficiency, and innovation, reinforcing the employees intense work they have to complete.
But if you’re a student copying and pasting a question from your homework into ChatGPT, that’s a problem.
I understand that life can become difficult and students may occasionally feel tempted to paste homework questions into ChatGPT. I’m guilty of it, too.
However, I believe that relying on AI for schoolwork will harm students’ future.
According to American University in Washington DC, students need to prioritize learning how to balance AI, their focus, and human traits to ensure a stable long-term career is secured in their future.
A 2023 Pew Research Center student of high school teens found 19 percent have used ChatGPT for schoolwork.
There is potential in AI if you know how to use it as a tool and not a way to cheat. Unfortunately, there is such pressure on students to get good grades, I worry that too many will use AI to understand the material instead of learning it.
As each school year goes by, the potential for more students to use ChatGPT and other AI platforms increases.
Relying on technology can only go so far when it comes to using AI for homework, taxes, or anything that involves a long attention span. Psychologists have given this habit the name ¨digital amnesia,¨ where over time the brain falls out of it’s usual routine of problem solving, basic tasks, and creative thinking without the internet.
When students use AI for their schoolwork over and over again, they are training their mind to immediately go to ChatGPT. Students depending on AI for when they have to provide an answer for an assignment are at risk of losing the ability to learn.
ChatGPT and other AI platforms are banned on school issued Chromebooks, but that doesn’t mean students won’t find another way to use AI.
The East Lansing Public Schools Board of Education should use the summer to develop a more comprehensive AI policy that provides clearer guardrails for students and teachers about its appropriate use.
AI should be your last resort for problem solving. Your brain should be your first.
