ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) software have recently developed and been gaining popularity at a rapid pace. Corporations have emerged that use AI for recruitment processes, scheduling, customer services, and so much more. AI has become a wide-spread tool that is becoming commonly accepted as a norm of the workplace. However, universities have been struggling with how to adapt to students’ use of AI technology. It is possible to use AI to complete a variety of assessments, ranging from maths exams to critical essays? The application of this within universities has the potential to undermine academia, with students possibly taking credit for AI-generated assignments. On the other hand, AI can also be used in positive ways to enhance learning. University is supposed to prepare students to become the future workforce, and with many companies now using AI, it is likely that being able to use AI effectively will become an important and employable skill.
How are Universities adapting to AI?
University policies for student use of AI range depending on the institution and even vary across different academic disciplines. Some rules allow limited use of AI, such using AI to summarise texts, simplify concepts and suggest essay prompts. Other university modules may even be based around learning to use AI and encourage students to use it completely. However, some disciplines and universities are banning AI completely and consider its use academic misconduct.
Universities and academic disciplines ultimately differ on their rules as to whether students can use AI. Some subject areas may arguably find AI more useful, particularly as an employable skill, such as coding and computer science modules. Other disciplines may find that AI does is not adequate for the types of assessments they use. For instance, humanities subjects that assess students based on their critical thinking skills may find that AI does not write response that are critical or engaging enough.
How can students use AI responsibly?
Because different universities and academic disciplines respond differently to students’ use of AI, it is crucial for students to check their university and discipline-specific guidance on the use of AI.
There are other issues which arise from the use of AI. Because a lot of AI software is relatively new and still being tweaked, it is possible for AI to get something wrong. Most AI sites function by searching the web and using all the information they can find. This means that a lot of information gained from AI is not necessarily fact-checked or reliable. Students should always fact-check information they have learned from AI with reliable sources and academic work. This also means that AI should not be the sole or main source of students’ research. If used, AI should be used to support other research, such as simplifying or summarising academic writing. Students should still use the original work rather than only AI-generated summaries to ensure that they are critically engaging with academic sources; this will generally uplift students’ grades, depending on the discipline.
Furthermore, the use of AI has significant impacts on the climate. AI software requires an enormous amount of energy, such as for complex searches using multiple servers and substantial amounts of water used for cooling AI hardware. Students should attempt to mitigate the impacts of using AI on the climate by reducing the amount they use AI and using it more efficiently. This can mean making sure searches and questions are precise, rather than generating lots of less useful ideas. A typical Google search uses far less energy than an AI search, so using Google or combining this with AI to reduce AI usage can mitigate the impacts of AI.
Crucially, students should never take credit for AI-generated work. AI software should always be cited if used, otherwise this is considered plagiarism.