In recent years AI has become more advanced, and as a result, more integrated in society. With this rise in AI, the question emerges: should students be allowed to use AI? Although AI can be used as a learning tool, over-reliance on it could cause more harm than good. Students who don’t have to do the work themselves may not develop critical thinking, creativity, strong writing skills, and it can impact academic integrity.
With the click of a button AI can produce entire essays in seconds. For students with unrestricted access to AI, why would they spend hours writing a paper when they could have it done instantly? Even using AI to answer a question on a students homework may result in them not fully understanding the material. Although schoolwork can sometimes be tedidus or challenging, struggling through a difficult question is an important part of the learning process, because it allows you to know what you need help with, and gives you a more complete understanding. For example, in a math class, knowing the correct answer doesn’t mean you understand the work it takes to get there.
Another factor is that allowing AI usage can increase the risk of academic dishonesty. This means it will be hard for teachers to know where students are at, and who is actually learning the material. It isn’t fair if some students take the easy road out while some take the time to complete their assignments honestly. AI detection is becoming increasingly more difficult to add to this.
Learning fundamental skills like problem-solving, writing, and research, are not able to be developed when AI is used. This is an issue, because AI may not always be available, and students need to be prepared to adapt to situations when they can’t use it. Additionally, students posses qualities that AI does not, such as intuition and ethical reasoning, things that have a place in academic settings and cannot be replaced by AI, but should be practiced.
Although AI has its place, unrestricted use in education can hinder the development of skills like critical thinking. It is important that students develop these skills first, and then if they need to learn how to work with AI can do this later.