This past semester, a frequent classroom discussion topic was artificial intelligence (AI). I teach college writing, and my class policy was to ban the use of generative AI due to its negative ethical, plagiaristic, environmental, and often inaccurate information. My students agreed to this policy and didn’t have much of an issue with it. In fact, students would share that in the classes where they were allowed to use ChatGPT to solve math equations, the answers were often incorrect. They didn’t feel like they could rely on it and, while they believed AI offers technological advanced in certain areas, they were wary. Generative AI is trying to replace human creativity, originality, and critical thinking and my students want no part of it.
Most of my students at the community college belong to Generation Z, also known as the “digital native” generation. Many of them had access to tablets and video games by elementary school and a lot of their socialization and cultural connections have occurred online. Yet, they’re wary of AI, especially its impact on art, culture, entertainment, and employment opportunities. We talked a lot about the connection between the detrimental impacts of social media on their generation and how to AI seems to be an even more accelerated and dubious technology. You can’t open your email or a word processing document without an AI cajoling you to let it compose your email or write your term paper. It’s a massive temptation and universities across the country are scrambling to deal with how students interact with AI. AI’s implications on education are far reaching and have the potential to reshape education itself.
It’s impossible to ignore the ubiquitousness of AI and what this means for students and education. These digital natives do have a sense of tech savviness that will likely help guide them to think critically about a ChatGPT answer or resist the temptation to use it to write their papers. They’re conscious to know that AI has wide ranging environmental impacts by consuming an excessive amount of electricity and water. Once out of college, they worry they won’t have a job thanks to AI.
I have students who are studying music composition and fear they won’t be able to compete against generative AI machines making musical scores. AI could replace composers and musicians, rendering her lifelong dream and study obsolete. Those students entering the nursing field worry that AI will govern their ability to provide care and worry about the implications of having a machine dictate a hospital. Other students are interested in photography and movies, areas that have long felt the human imprint of creativity and inspiration. Now, AI threatens to recreate human voices and faces, distorting images in an attempt at human-likeness. We talked about AI applications and machines going rogue, especially used in the military. We talked a lot about science fiction tends to be closer to reality – and long a predictor of technologies that we use every day – and how artificial intelligence tends to usurp humans. Many students already feel a bit controlled by machines, namely cellphones and endless connectivity thanks to the internet. They’re not quite ready to adopt AI into their lives, giving up even more control to some sort of algorithmic data processing machine that flattens the greatness that it is to be a human.
I credit my group of students who didn’t allow the temptation of AI to take over their assignments. For a handful, I know it wasn’t easy to ignore the option for ChatGPT to help them write their research papers. But they did, and while many non-students I know gleefully use generative AI throughout their days much to my horror, they were open to discussing its implications. They’re wary, as am I, but they know AI will remake the landscape of their generation. The question is, will it be for better or for worse?