Student Opinions on Artificial Intelligence

Bethany Cochran staff writer

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been becoming more mainstream in schools with the growing popularity of AI websites, including ChatGPT. Many students have been using these sites to write essays or complete work for them. Though it seems like AI is troublesome for schools, there could be some benefits of using it. For example, AI could help teachers with grading or assigning work.

Junior Faith Merwin said, “AI could benefit science or math teachers with things such as research projects, but it negatively impacts English and literature teachers.” Many students are having AI write their essays, which creates an obstacle for many English teachers to determine if AI or students wrote the assignments. Merwin said that she thinks “individuals should be able to express their knowledge without the use of AI.”

On the other hand, the use of AI is beginning to threaten the integrity of students’ work and although most use of

AI can be detected, teachers still have some trouble with deciding if a student's work is their own.

Junior Avery Walkoviak said, “There needs to be limits and restrictions on how AI is used, or even going back to more pen and paper assignments instead.” Over the past few years, many schools have become more online-based, and going back to pen and paper would be a very difficult shift, though it would also limit the use of AI.

Although Walkoviak believes there are some advantages, including, “writing essays and teaching certain subjects,” she believes that overall, “AI takes away many fundamental learning skills from students, such as writing and grammar skills.”

Junior Alexa Burger said, “I think it is a waste of students' time using AI to cheat because you aren’t gaining any real knowledge.” AI can be useful at times to finish an assignment, but once a test comes around, students won’t be as prepared as they should. Burger did mention the possible benefits of AI: “It helps students check their work, and if you are outside the classroom it can help you learn when your teacher isn’t [available].”

As the use of AI is becoming more popular, schools have to figure out ways to actively teach students without them cheating or utilizing AI, especially since technology is a very crucial part of education in today’s world.