According to recent research done by OpenAI, over 1 in 3 college students use ChatGPT on a regular basis, and “over a quarter of their messages relate to education”. AI tools like ChatGPT are completely altering the way students approach education, offering both challenges and opportunities.

People can be quick to discuss the negatives of AI in relation to the classroom setting, but what about the positives? First, AI can provide students with personal and more intimate learning. For example, it can create outlines for papers, giving students some structure for future essays without actually writing it for them. 

AI is also quicker to give students feedback. Rather than writing an essay or solving math problems and then submitting it to a teacher for review, with AI students are able to send their work to it for an instant assessment. AI can also simply help students understand traditionally complicated concepts. It simplifies concepts and give students easy ways to memorize information (acronyms, for example). 

On the opposite end of the aisle, there are many concerns with the use of AI in the academic setting. The obvious worry is academic misconduct. According to an article by EducationWeek, Turnitin (an AI detection tool) reviewed over 200 million writing assignments commenting, “Some use of AI was detected in 1 out of 10 assignments.”

However, only 3 out of 100 assignments reviewed by Turnitin, “Were generated mostly by AI.” Cheating might not be a prevalent issue, but it does happen. Another issue to consider is inaccurate information and even bias that AI can produce. Nothing is perfect, including man-made artificial intelligence. 

According to an article by Pew Research Center, 70% of experts “are highly concerned about people getting inaccurate information from AI”. Bias is also a concern with artificial intelligence. 

The National Education Association explains (using information from a study conducted by Stanford University) that this bias can affect many people, such as individuals who don’t speak English as their first language- their work is “Falsely flagged as AI generated and could lead to accusations of cheating.”

The bottom line is that AI is here to stay in the sphere of education. Like most things, it has both positive and negative aspects. However, artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere. The role it will play in schools will depend on how teachers, students, and institutions choose to use it.