By JAXYN CLOUD
Senior Reporter
Kate randomly learned how to use them dashes and used them 24 times in her English paper. Jacob used five sources that aren’t anywhere on the internet. Tyler didn’t sound like himself in his most recent speech. He almost sounded robotic.
For years, artificial intelligence (AI) was thought of as sci-fi movies and robots that take over the world. But in classrooms today, it is not taking over the planet, it’s taking over students’ homework assignments.
There are some obvious signs of AI usage in the work that students try to pass off as their own. Unusual punctuation, unrealistic vocabulary, the overuse of emojis and em dashes are all commonly associated with artificial intelligence generation.
According to Turnitin, a large AI detection platform, 11% of the papers turned in have at least 20% artificial intelligence writing. Approximately 3% have over 80% artificial intelligence writing. Students are turning to AI to cheat their way through all levels of education.
The problem with this much artificial intelligence usage among students is that students are not using this tool in an effective way. They are using it as a quick way to get out of a homework assignment. What they fail to realize is that they are committing plagiarism. Even though AI is not a person, its software gets data from somewhere. Students could be ripping off a talented journalist, painter or other type of artist all for the sake of convenience.
Artificial intelligence is not the worst thing to happen to education. It is part of the learning journey now for Generation Z, they just need to use it correctly. Roxie James, the chair of the English, Foreign Language and Humanities department, compared artificial intelligence to a calculator. It makes the work easier, but it is still important to learn the correct way to use it. “The question isn’t, ‘How do we catch students?’ It’s, ‘How do we teach these students to use it correctly? How do we teach students to still have their own voice even if you’re going to use AI to help you clean it up?’” James said.
The ethical way to use AI tools does not include feeding it the instructions to a homework assignment then copy and pasting it without a second thought.
The MIT Technology Review said that open AI chat sites are a more cost effective alternative to tutors, which can get expensive. Open AI evens the opportunities for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to obtain a higher level of education.
The first tip for ethical AI usage is double checking all information the platform gives. There have been instances where AI gives fake sources and incorrect facts. If AI is the starting place for research, then it is being used effectively. If that is the only research being done, that is ineffective usage.
The second tip is to give a few different AI sites the same prompt and compare results. Take the time to look into each idea the AI generation service gives.
A third tip for ethical AI use is to use it for structure. AI shouldn’t be used as an idea generator. It should be used to help sort out the ideas that the human mind comes up with.