Story by Logan Tromp, Opinion Columnist
We’ve all heard of Artificial Intelligence by now. Whether it be robots taking over the world to cars driving themselves, technology is advancing rapidly, and it is affecting the lives of everyone across the world. Even here at Aquinas, the availability of tools like ChatGPT allows students to get answers for tests, quick essays written in an intellectual fashion, and a way to study for their classes. As with all new developments in technology, there are ethical and practical questions to be asked. How will professors stop students from cheating by using AI generated work? What positive outcomes can AI bring to the school? How will AI affect learning and education as a whole?
To combat the growing number of students using AI to write their essays or finish their homework, there has been a growth in tools that detect AI “plagiarism” in schoolwork. Anyone can copy and paste writing into one of these tools to detect if they were AI generated, and most of the tools are fairly accurate. This is good news for the professors, but not so good for the students looking for an easy way out of writing a paper. This begs the question, why would someone paying for a college education use an AI to do the work for them? This defeats the whole purpose of education itself.
While blatant plagiarism is an obvious consequence of the growth of AI, there are several advantages to its continued spread. Using a tool like ChatGPT when trying to understand a certain topic is almost like using a smart search engine. It will better understand what you are trying to look for, and you won’t be inconvenienced by the plethora of useless websites, articles, and ads that come along with the regular old Google search. Using these AI tools can help students study efficiently, something that everyone would benefit from and love doing.
Albeit efficient studying is tremendous, there is more to be pondered when it comes to how AI will affect those who use it. By being able to generate something almost instantaneously, one can lose their sense of creativity. AI generated work don’t have an authentic human voice behind them even though it may seem that way. The product that is produced is a collection of other people’s work claiming to be something original. AI artwork often uses other work to form something of its own without crediting original creators.
All in all, AI is a complex issue, and it is certainly here to stay.
Featured Image courtesy of edgica.com
The Saint 