AI and specifically ChatGPT have changed the academic landscape drastically since they became widespread. Disingenuous students no longer need to rummage through multiple sources to complete their work as now they have a definitive tool for (mostly) all knowledge. Other AI tools, especially paraphrasing tools, have also made it easier to not get caught cheating and plagiarizing.
AI severely hampers the ability of students to remain truthful and complete work honestly. It instead encourages students to avoid doing their own work as it is just easier to go on ChatGPT, especially for assignments which require multi-worded answers. Streamlined in a single app which can be accessed on any device, AI is being used by even the least tech savvy students to complete assignments. I think that AI presents a real threat to academic integrity due to its widespread use and accessibility.
Teachers have tried cracking down on AI use by using apps that can catch AI provided answers. The FCPS tech department has also made an effort to curb AI use as they have blocked websites on school provided computers associated with AI such as paraphrasing tools and core AI sites such as ChatGPT. I believe that these methods do not really address the problem or make any difference as most people use their phones for cheating anyway.
The hitch with copying off of AI is that the answers it provides can be vague, unspecified and sometimes just plain wrong. As the answer length increases, more discrepancies and errors can be spotted. Also AI will often deviate from the original question posed and may provide answers which have nothing to do with the assignment’s parameters. In my opinion these are fairly small complications that AI can provide and more often than not these problems don’t occur.
Even though the problems AI presents are serious, the effect of AI can not be overstated, it is here to stay and students will continue using it no matter what measures are taken. Teachers should learn to utilize AI in their classrooms instead of trying to stamp out its use entirely by providing opportunities where AI is used for learning instead of cheating.
