Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, students everywhere have been using AI in and out of the classroom for help studying, assistance with homework assignments, as a proofreading tool, and so on. While AI has proven to be an invaluable asset to students everywhere – able to simplify tasks and generate ideas and responses in just seconds – it can quickly become dangerous.
As a college student myself, I know firsthand just how important it is to manage the use of AI in undergrad, and all of the many intricacies and complexities that follow along with it. In case you’re unfamiliar with the rise of artificial intelligence on college campuses, my name is Shannon C., and I’m here to break it down for you.
What is AI?
At its most basic level, AI is technology capable of completing complex tasks such as problem solving, decision-making, reasoning, and comprehension that initially only humans could do. This process works by AI systems ingesting copious amounts of training data and studying this information to find patterns and similarities to make predictions about the future.
There are various platforms individuals, especially students, use to access AI, such as ChatGPT, OpenAI, Otter.AI, Grammarly, Quillbot, and more. Each platform features this kind of technology that simulates human intelligence in hopes of simplifying students’ lives.
Some Statistics of Students & AI
The Harvard Undergraduate Case Study Teen and Young Adult Perspectives On Generative AI shares numerous important insights on how the younger population is interacting with AI and why it’s essential to look into these practices. Some of the key findings from this study include:
- 51% of individuals from the ages of 14-22 have used generative AI before
- The most common uses are getting information (53%) and brainstorming (51%)
- Others utilize AI for help with schoolwork (46%) and generating images (31%)
- Although these numbers are high, only 4% of these individuals report being daily AI users, and instead use it only on occasion
- 41% of young individuals believe that generative AI will have both positive and negative impacts on their lives in the next 10 years
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How do Students Use AI?
As a sophomore in college, I fit perfectly into this age range. I’ve noticed that many students, myself included, tend to use AI frequently to help aid their studies in a variety of ways. The possibilities of how AI can assist all individuals are nearly limitless, as AI makes it easy to achieve numerous goals with just the quick click of a button. So, what exactly are some of these uses, and how does AI help accomplish these goals?
1. Idea Generation
One of the main ways my peers and I use AI in school is to help generate ideas, or ideation. If a difficult assignment or project comes along, and I simply have no idea where to begin, I turn to ChatGPT for some potential starting points.
For example, in my marketing curriculum, I frequently have projects where I need to create and market a product of my choice, with zero regulations from my professors. Although the creative freedom in designing a product is liberating, it can be stressful having no rules or stipulations to pull from. Asking ChatGPT, “What are some products I could create that revolve around my interests (dance, film, and traveling)?” is the perfect way to generate ideas and help get the ball rolling on this assignment while incorporating topics that are meaningful to me.
2. Proofreading
Proofreading is one of the biggest ways I utilize AI in college. I’ve been using Grammarly to check and edit my essays since middle school, and didn’t realize I was using AI for years. Almost every college student I know uses the Free AI writing assistant Grammarly to read, check, and edit their essays. After copying and pasting your writing into Grammarly, the software immediately reviews your spelling, grammar, diction, repetition, tone, style, and even plagiarism, while utilizing generative AI to provide feedback on how to enhance your essay to appeal to certain audiences.
Grammarly doesn’t only attract students, however. My professors, teachers, and bosses have all endorsed Grammarly and recommended us students to take advantage of its features before turning in our work. It provides such instant, accurate, and strong feedback guaranteed to improve your writing, that it’s almost irresponsible not to use it. In fact, I even used Grammarly to proofread this article!
3. Crafting Outlines
Another way I utilize AI in my classes is by crafting outlines for tough projects and assignments.
In the public relations course I recently finished, us students were often tasked with creating press releases, blog proposals, media advisories, crisis communications plans, event proposals, and the list goes on. These assignments can seem daunting before they’re completed, and it can be challenging to cover complex information in such a rigid layout. Asking ChatGPT to help create an outline for a blog or event proposal covering a certain topic helps build a good, easy to follow format. These AI-generated outlines helped us organize our assignments to be more accurate, engaging, and effective.
4. Expanding Ideas
My peers and I have also utilized ChatGPT to help further ideas and discussions we’ve touched upon in class.
For example, I’ve been writing a romance/suspense screenplay for my class “Writing For the Screen” and have been suffering from a major writer’s block. I simply couldn’t figure out how to further my characters’ plot lines and motivations. My professor suggested pasting my entire screenplay into ChatGPT and asking how I could move the story along and better develop my characters. In just seconds, ChatGPT provided a ton of suggestions on how to improve each character, further develop the setting, increase the stakes, create suspense, etc.
You name it, AI thought of it. I found it extremely helpful to get a fresh set of eyes on my writing that has no bias and has a specialty in every subject. AI can easily serve as a mathematician, scientist, historian, and even a professional screenwriter, to aid each user needing assistance.
The Benefits and Limitations
Although AI can be a positive tool that helps college students achieve all kinds of success, it can just as easily ruin a student’s career in seconds.
The positives surrounding AI are nearly endless. Just to start:
- Instant Response Time
- Free and Easily Accessible Information
- Endless Ideation
- Accurate Proofreading
- Advanced Outlines
- Quick Data Analyzation
- Enhanced Productivity
- Reduced Labor
- Increased Innovation and Efficiency
- Minimizing the Margin for Error
While there are many wonderful benefits, I’ve seen firsthand how college students have gone from using AI as a tool to help enhance their assignments, to crossing lines that could lead them to expulsion. While relying on AI to assist with coursework, it’s important to consider some of AI’s limitations. For example:
- Accessibility to Cheating
- Privacy Concerns
- Lack of Student Creativity
- Dependence on AI
- Potential Misinformation Risks
- Less Engagement in the Classroom
- Lack of Interpersonal/Communication Skills
- Reduced Critical Thinking
Overuse of AI, and relying on it to complete coursework is a common issue. If students rely solely on AI to complete their work, they’re not actually learning anything, thus defeating the point of attending a college or university. These unhealthy habits could promote plagiarism, laziness, dishonesty, lack of creativity, critical thinking, learning, and more. AI also subjects students to potential privacy/data breaches and misinformation risks.
Rules & Regulations
AI is not going away. And because of that, most schools have specific rules and guidelines around the use of AI. There is no one size fits all policy on AI use at colleges and universities yet, which allows each school and professor to take a unique approach to dealing with AI.
For Example:
- Some schools/professors require students to disclose and cite any use of AI
- Some prohibit AI use entirely
- Some allow AI use on specific assignments with professor approval
- Some use AI detection tools and punish students if caught using AI
At my school specifically, every professor has their own policy on the use of AI in their courses, some allowing it in certain aspects, and others banning it entirely.
Every professor on my campus has access to a software called Turnitin which detects AI use in students’ work. When used, Turnitin highlights and flags each line of a student’s paper that’s been written with AI and provides a total percentage of how much of the essay contains AI. Many professors at my school warn students that they’ll be using Turnitin when grading certain papers and will deduct points off of an assignment if their percentage is too high.
One of my professors only assigns essays and projects throughout the entire semester and does not have a final exam. However, they warn that if they catch just one student using AI to write these papers, they’ll start replacing our essays with tests and exams instead. These strict regulations regarding AI use have truly scared students, including me and my peers, away from using AI frequently.
“I don’t really use AI at all because I just get so scared that I’m going to plagiarize by accident,” said a fellow student and friend of mine, Hannah Y. “It’s just really scary because I don’t want to use it wrong.” Hannah’s fears, like many other students, stem from professors using strict AI protocols that reprimand students for overusing AI.
While every college and university differ in their rules regarding AI, it’s clear these rules and regulations have helped to prevent students from relying on AI to complete their work.
A Powerful Tool
As a college student, AI has been appearing all around me on my campus, on social media, and in my peers’ lives constantly. From my personal experience and hearing anecdotes from other students, it’s clear that AI has the power and abilities to benefit all kinds of students in a wide variety of ways. AI, used in moderation and with clear cut regulations, can be a helpful learning tool and truly enhance a student’s education.
Interested in studying AI as a major? Check out our Top 25 Best Colleges for Artificial Intelligence (AI) | College Raptor.