With the rapid development of science and technology, artificial intelligence gradually steps into the lives of almost everyone. As more and more AI software comes out, people gradually go from hearing about it to using it frequently. Students are one main group that often use it.
Students deal with all kinds of problems everyday, but sometimes they can’t solve them quickly, or they aren’t able to work out answers to their questions. The resolution is that they choose to ask AI for help and answers. As long as they send their questions to AI, it will answer correctly and accurately within seconds.
Compared to search engines, AI can respond to students’ questions more precisely and more swiftly. Besides, AI can offer more details that students can’t easily find through searching between websites.
This convenient way has undoubtedly affected the way students learn. As an intelligent learning tool, AI gives full play to its potential in students’ learning careers. Students can better absorb and enrich their knowledge through the use of AI as well.
“I think the advantages could be that they can check their work and see maybe how they can do things better so that that may help them become better writers, better readers, and better students.” says Tanya Natsoulas, an English as a language teacher from BBHHS.
According to Generative AI in Higher Education: Evidence from an Elite College by Zara Contractor, Germán Reyes, “Using novel survey data from a selective U.S. college, we document over 80 percent of students using AI academically within two years of ChatGPT’s release.”
However, with the widespread use of AI, its deficiencies are being revealed. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how often AI can actually get things wrong. You have to be very careful about what information you use. If the AI hasn’t been trained on the subject, it’s actually programmed to just tell you something that sounds right, even if it’s not. AI can also be biased from platform to platform based off who is training it and what information they give it. This can actually lead to a lot of different answers to the same question depending on what platform you use. Recently I’ve seen a lot of AI responses for information that I’ve been able to recognize as being wrong. You should always be checking the information it gives against other credible sources to make it accurate.” says Sarah Ignatz-Hoover, an English teacher from BBHHS.
This dilemma is not irreversible. As long as students do not have complete dependence on AI and they use it rationally, this problem can be solved.
As one of the main users of AI, students need to use it reasonably and carefully distinguish the authenticity of information, while learning to make their own judgments. This learning tool has great potential if used correctly and efficiently.
