Have you ever asked Chat Gpt to do your homework, or write an essay for your English class?  This has become popular among students, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more present in our lives daily. One of the sectors that stands out is AI in education, with students increasingly relying on AI in different aspects of the academic journey. This change leads us to question whether AI is a true companion in our search for knowledge or a distraction. Our journalists’ at North High interviewed students and teachers on their opinions on AI in schools.

TEACHER PERSPECTIVES :

During our interview with Mr. Keh  he expressed his concerns about how AI affected the student learning process.”However, if they use artificial intelligence and actually look at what it produces, and they’re able to produce that information in their own words, then that’s evidence proving that they are learning. So it can be of aid, but I found that so far most students don’t actually process any of the information because they just copy and paste it” he said.

Ms. Vaughn highlighted the dual nature of Artificial Intelligence and while some students used AI to be more creative, others used it to cheat. She tells us how easy it is to distinguish when a student did the work or if the AI did it for them. “AI gives these very elaborate answers and most students don’t have the ability to write in that complex manner. So it’s very easy. I’ve been able to tell when every single kid has used AI, and then I just say, Hmm, sorry, AI wrote this for you. Zero.” she said.

The art world also encounters challenges with AI.  Students would use AI to make art easily and despite the limited experiences she’s had, Ms. Mulcahy tells us a little about her concerns on plagiarism in the classroom. “I haven’t had a ton of incidents so far just because with art, you know, a lot of what I see them doing is in class and I’m curious if other teachers are often experiencing plagiarism in classes where homework assignments and writing is on the computer. For my AP art class, something new we’re doing this year is watching videos on College Board about plagiarism and how we should not be using AI because you can definitely, use technology to type in an image of what you want and it’ll come up” she said.

Ms Schlegel spoke about the pros and cons of technology within the classroom and states how she worries about students’ over-reliance on AI. In her interview she said “Some students think that they don’t need to pay attention in class because an App can do it for them. I think that’s scary to think about because outside of school, there’s not always going to be some app to do the work for you and even though you’ll never use this math outside of school,  it’s the practice of taking notes, understanding something and working through a hard problem that will help you in life not necessarily the math part but the work ethic and all that stuff.”

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES:

We interviewed some of the students and asked about their perspectives on how AI is affecting their learning at school. Maxwell, a student at North High, recognized the convenience of sites like ChatGpt in providing quick and accessible responses and emphasized the practical aspect of AI. “I think it’s very helpful in certain aspects of how education is played out because it definitely gives people an answer that is much more easily accessible than just googling it or something because at end of the day, if they can’t find the answer they’re just going to google the answer anyway.  Artificial intelligence definitely gives us a better understanding as to how to actually look for information rather than to just manually spend more time searching. You’re eventually going to find the answer” he said.

Cameron, another student at North High, said “On the other hand, it shows some concern about the negative impact that AI can have on students and how they rely on AI to get answers without engaging cognitively. They use it just to get the answers and be done without having to use their own mind and I feel like that’s affecting them because instead of using it in ways to help, they’re just getting the answers and it’s interrupting learning.”

Jomar understands that AI can be a benefit to students and is quite useful. He suggests that AI is only directly affecting the teachers. “I don’t think AI is affecting students directly because it is very helpful for some students in doing their  classwork. I know some use it so they can get better help in subjects like math, and it’s very helpful because it explains every step, so I think it’s directly affecting just the teachers.” he said.

Here we have the full interview with Jomar.