Huma Siraj
I was looking at a blank Google Doc after midnight. My history essay was due. I was exhausted, my notes were a complete jumble, and the deadline was hanging over me like a thunder cloud. You would have to grit your teeth and get it done in the “Good old days.”
However, a solution has been found. You can get an essay from ChatGPT in a matter of seconds. Why not simply forego the struggle? AI wasn’t just alluring at the posh high school in Chicago where I graduated this spring; it was ingrained.
The subject matter was irrelevant. These resources were used by my peers for everything from Spanish translations to arithmetic difficulties to English essays. During online tests, I even witnessed children using it to obtain fast answers to challenging questions.
Additionally, everyone uses it, not just the youngsters who barely pass. Everyone, the debate team stars, the straight-A student. Our dependence on AI, which has become our new default, may ultimately be detrimental to us.
You would hear the phrase “Just ask ChatGPT” if you were to stroll into our cafeteria. It is our answer to every problem. One of my friends boasted in English class that he hadn’t composed an essay since his sophomore year.
He gives the prompt to AI, refines the result, and declares it finished. He remarked, “It’s like having someone do it for you.” In order to “show their work,” math classmates utilize AI to solve equations and obtain detailed explanations.
Another friend distributed a study guide created by ChatGPT an hour prior to a science final exam, which included practice questions, flash cards, and definitions. Children in Spanish paste their assignments into AI translators rather than learning the translations themselves.
A classmate assured me, “It’s faster and it’s never wrong.”
The most outrageous aspect? We have no guilt at all.
AI used to be a big part of my job. It saved my life. I didn’t have to be up all night and under a lot of stress because I had wonderful work. I wasn’t learning much, though. Even if I could explain those ideas in class discussions, I would still receive a solid grade on an essay.
I was in the same boat as many of my pals. Since AI generated his analysis, one had to freely acknowledge that he was unable to describe a portion of the text we read, claimed that without AI to assist him, he freezes on arithmetic assessments. AI has taught my generation how to perform but not how to learn. That is frightening.
We attend school to learn how to think and to gain a deeper understanding of the world. However, nothing is difficult with AI. When you can ask ChatGPT, why attempt to tackle a challenging problem?
AI completes all of the math for a friend who aspires to be an engineer. He declares, “I’ll do it all in college.” However, what if he arrives and is unable to think without AI? It appears that we graduated in June with gleaming transcripts and a diminished capacity for critical thought.
I don’t want to get a job and find out I can’t produce a report or evaluate a problem without a bot.
There is also an ethical aspect. Even if we change an essay using ChatGPT to make it appear to be ours, we are aware that it is not. Even if we are not caught, we are aware that we cheated.
A part of me questions whether AI should be completely prohibited in schools, no ChatGPT, just our minds. However, not every AI ban has been successful. Only a few months after New York City outlawed ChatGPT in 2023, they changed their minds. AI is here to stay, ban or not, and denying its existence won’t help us learn how to utilize it responsibly.
Schools ought to think about establishing some stringent guidelines instead. AI should not be used for tasks that need us to think critically, such as debates, projects, and essays. Teachers could create AI-unreplicable cues based on personal experiences or threaten to take action if an AI detector suspects someone’s work. AI could serve as a beginning point for certain tasks, such as research or math practice, but not as a solution in its entirety.
More significantly, pupils should be taught about the dangers of AI in classrooms.AI impairs our ability to think critically and puts us at risk of being caught plagiarizing. AI will leave us unprepared for employment and for life, despite the fact that it might make it simpler to get into college.
Restricting AI will likely make school more difficult, and I may have to start working on a college essay at two in the morning. However, education is necessary to develop into individuals who can think, create, and solve issues independently; it is not merely for grades. We cannot rely on any algorithm to do it.
