AI In Education And Its EffectsOn Students And Faculty

By Lilly Whitsell

ful tool in schools; its impact is already being felt by students and educators alike.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, usage has skyrocketed over the last few years as it has developed into a tool that is able to do just about anything that is asked of it. While it provides many benefits to its users,, the detriments that it is able to make are beginning to be noticed – specifically in educational environments. An over-reliance is beginning to be noticed in both students and teachers, which is having negative effects across the board.

According to a poll by Inside Higher Ed and the Generation Lab, 42% of college undergrads were using AI as an advanced search engine, 31% were using it to create outlines for papers, and 19% used it to write full essays. Only 15% of students said they had never used it. AI is being used at an extremely high rate in college environments. But it doesn’t stop there.
Last week, I spoke with Oliver M, a 16 year old high school junior from Buffalo, NY. “Every kid in my school uses AI. You’re better off asking who doesn’t use it.” he said. “I use AI to help me do the pointless busy work that my teachers give me.” For him, this means any multiple choice, fill in the blank, or daily homework assignments.

I also spoke with Ms. F, a first year teacher at a Buffalo Charter School. She said that there is a major push from the school’s administration to implement AI into classrooms on the teacher side. So far this school year, there have been 2 scheduled days for personal development – days where students stay home while staff reports, to focus on utilizing AI and help with classroom management. It is being advertised to them as a time saver.

Despite the big push, scepticism and criticism has arisen on both sides. Oliver M said that he relied on it heavily last school year, specifically for writing papers. “I stopped after I had to write a paper for an architecture exam. I’d used AI so much for writing that I had no idea how to do it anymore.” He also told me that, after he stopped using it, he began being accused of plagiarism. “I started writing papers in Google Docs because it tracks my history. I’m not using it, but my work keeps being flagged by the AI checkers. I almost got in a lot of trouble, but I had the receipts to prove I actually wrote it.”

Ms. F shared the sentiment. “These kids don’t know how to write independently. Everything must be broken down to the simplest ideas.” She also told me that she uses AI detectors and revision history when grading assignments. Her school has a zero tolerance policy with AI, and anything submitted that fails the checker is an automatic 0.

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that is currently wreaking havoc on the education system, and it is not going away anytime soon.