By Aliyah Bidwell, Senior Reporter
The future of college could look drastically different with the advent of artificial intelligence.
College campuses have been abuzz with discussion of ChatGPT, a leading artificial intelligence program that can write research papers, a key component of a college education. The Northwestern News asked several students and professors what they think about artificial intelligence.
Logan Hicks, a psychology major, said: “It can be good and bad because it does make life easier on students, but it is bad because students may not use it the way it is meant to be used.”
Robert Vest, an assistant professor of Spanish, said he believes it is bad for students to submit work that isn’t really their own. However, he thinks artificial intelligence could be used in classrooms.
Jonas Decker, an agriculture major, said: “When I first saw it, I was kind of mind blown because I was thinking about all the ways students would be able to cheat with it, and it is kind of frustrating as a student who tries to do things the right way without cheating. It’s hard to see everybody else cheating by having AI’s writing their paper.”
Dr. Tracy Beedy, an assistant professor in agriculture said: “I am completely against having student use this technology to write papers.” She plans to stop having her students write a term paper and instead give them an exam.
Gracie Scarbrough, a business administration major said: “I personally don’t approve of it and don’t trust it.” She said she carefully examines the technology she uses. “I work hard on my papers, and with other people cheating, it makes it a little hard to stay motivated when I know that that’s what I am up against,” she said.
Dr. Jennifer Sattler, an associate professor of physics and chair of the natural sciences department, said: “I think that it is going to cause a lot of complications. The technology is there, so it will be used, but students are only hurting themselves if they use it.”
Collin Zink, a health and sports science major, said teachers can check for plagiarism in papers. He said he wouldn’t use artificial intelligence to write his papers.
Chris Eckhart, an adjunct professor of English and mass communication, said: “I think it’s a very cool piece of technology, but at the same time, if everyone goes to rely on it as their only source of information, they actually aren’t doing any work and run the risk of academic dishonesty, and the student isn’t learning anything.”
Josiah Marshall, a music performance major, said: “I think it is risky and incompetent because, if you were to use this program, it could make mistakes. It is good and bad, but I don’t like it.” Despite the fact that plagiarism detectors can tell whether a paper was written with AI, AI programs could eventually outwit the detectors.
Mickey Jordan, an instructor of technical theater, said: “Not once did I cheat, so I have a really hard time with students who think that this is a way out. At the end of the day, you know you didn’t write the paper, and some people may be OK with that, but this is your education, and what you put in it, you will get out of it.”