Over the past few years, AI has become a huge part of our everyday lives. When used responsibly, it can be an incredible tool. AI has been able to help us brainstorm ideas, check our grammar, or answer the crazy questions Google’s “Gemini” can’t answer. However, problems start to rise when AI is used as a shortcut to cheat or to get ahead. For example, submitting AI-generated work as your own, skipping the creative thinking process that we humans have, or using it to avoid learning skills– the purpose of education and personal growth.
In the moment, using AI for these examples may seem enticing at first, but it costs something more valuable in the end. Some examples of these valuable skills would be having the ability to understand certain skills, such as problem solving, fluid learning, or keeping a strong integrity.
Speech coach Trisha Crambes states, “I think it’s person to person. I have one student on the speech team that has a speech they’ve written, and there was a section that we didn’t like a whole lot. So I said, let’s take this and throw it into Chat GPT, and tell them what it is that we want and see if it can generate some ideas for us to move forward,”
Learning is used to challenge people; challenging your mind and body drastically helps improve your overall health. Our minds and bodies need physical or mental stimulation in order for us to grow as humans.
For example, people lift weights to stay in shape and grow their muscles. And people come to school to learn. Hence, challenging your thinking in order to build a strong understanding of new skills like math, English, and science.
Whether you’re struggling through a problem or writing in your own voice, doing these activities yourself builds critical thinking and boosts your confidence. When using AI to skip ahead or cheat, you lose those valuable life skills.
Moving forward, there is an ethical responsibility within us. For example, passing on work that is AI generated and claiming credit for it is unfair and unjust, considering those who put actual effort into it.
