The forgotten heroes of an AI-ruled world
Campus October 8, 2025, Comments OffThe AI apocalypse is here.
No, C-3PO did not arrive in the Millennium Falcon to warn of the impending doom. Grammarly, ChatGPT, and other Artificial Intelligent services invaded our lives overnight. Pitched to us as the future of learning, many students have depended on these tools to write and edit papers, study for that midterm exam, and condense full articles to “save time” – because why read 20 pages when your good buddy Gemini will instantly spit out a short summary 2 pages long?
It’s a fundamental threat to education. These tools are doing more harm than help for the modern student.
An op-ed Dr. Frizell wrote in the International College Learning Center Association put it best: “Students need more than correct answers. They need encouragement, mentorship, and the reassurance that comes from working with someone who has been in their shoes.”1 Unfortunately, many individuals turn to a chatbot for this type of engagement – and it falls horribly short of the benefits a real, flesh-and-blood tutor could provide.
There are many recent statistics on the depression rates in students, anxiety, and other hurdles in one’s way to achieving the degree while staying sane. College is harder than ever; AI seems like the easy solution. Shortcutting your assignments so you can pick an extra shift up at work, hang out with friends, or dedicate more time to a colossal assignment for a different class is the modern way.
In reality, this abuse of an AI tool is only causing harm, especially if one never learns the material.
Having ChatGPT summarize an article will result in missing vital information, or plugging your rough draft essay into Grammarly will result in a blatant lack of self-awareness of grammatical errors.
The Writing Center at Drury University is working to help teach students the information and do more than simply pass the class. Not only will utilizing a free tutor help you dodge those pesky no-AI requirements for your paper and prevent TurnItIn from flagging it as AI generated, but it will provide a human connection – the type of encouragement all students secretly crave that a chatbot could never become.
College is hard. Making friends is harder. Having an experienced student in your camp – unless a senior adopts you as their “baby freshie” – is rare.
Noel, Jessalyn, Gracie, and I are happy to assist with your writing needs – brainstorming, drafting, and editing take disciplined effort. And, as these studies have shown, an AI chatbot will never provide that level of curated support.
So, rather than crossing your fingers and praying your professor does not catch you abusing an AI tool to write your paper, stop by the Writing Center! Keep an eye out for future events and engagement activities or drop by anytime the Center is open for any of your writing needs.
The AI apocalypse is here, and maybe it is something we should embrace more openly, but it cannot replace the benefits of having another student in your corner on campus.
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