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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the future of education. From generating images to learning more about a subject that tickles your fancy, this powerful software can be used for many different purposes. Among those is its most crucial element: the ability to assist and allow students to learn more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Although the extreme potential of AI in education is unmatched, some do not share the same enthusiasm and possess a variety of concerns. Many worry students will abuse the tool, using it to write their essays and answer quiz questions, as stated by Dr. Timothy Markley, a senior director of student defense, while others believe its presence and easily accessible information will harm critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking is a crucial tool for the real world. It allows students to analyze information, form judgments, and relate their findings to their environments. It is essential for student growth and success, but the only way to harness these skills is through practice, and with AI, that practice will look different.
Research conducted by Microsoft suggests that incorporating AI into classrooms can diminish critical thinking skills and lead to overreliance. While this is true, AI will only cause a reduction of critical thinking skills if used incorrectly and without thought, as shown by AVID Open Access.
Like many things in life, exercising, applying to college, and finding a job, you must do things right to get the best results. “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot,” said Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw from “Top Gun: Maverick.” AI is no different. To see a positive result and a growth in critical thinking skills, students must ask the right questions, analyze the answers, and not take what is given to them for face value.
While some students will use the tool to learn, others will use it to cheat, which has increased the fallacy that the mere presence of AI platforms has incentivized mass participation in academic dishonesty. While this is considered common knowledge, it is not true, as data from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education proves otherwise.
In surveys from before ChatGPT was released to the public, 60% to 70% of students participated in cheating behaviors, according to Stanford education scholars Victor Lee and Denise Pope. When a similar survey, which included new questions about AI usage, was conducted again in 2023, Lee and Pope found the percentages to be similar, if not less.
AI has only made it easier for students already incentivized to cheat. However, it has not incentivized more students to cheat, as proven by Lee and Pope. In most cases, cheating has little relation to technology access and more with other factors such as high pressure or a lack of understanding.
Not all students who cheat use AI, and not all students who use AI cheat. Although some students may use this software without integrity, the reality is that AI does not cause more cheating but rather helps quench students’ desire for knowledge.
Like everything else, there will be different outlooks and opinions. Some will refuse to incorporate AI in their teaching and worry about its negative impacts, while others will do the opposite, embracing its potential.
With its ever-changing nature, there is no telling what the future of AI is, but unlike AI, the future of education is known. The future of education is AI.
