AI use in classrooms: positive or negative?
Photo courtesy of Faith Zatlukal
Educational institutions globally are grappling with the introduction of artificial intelligence, attempting to create policies that address its use in classrooms. In this period before a coherent consensus, students struggle to navigate the confusing and conflicting policies and messages they are confronted with.
Almost every professor during the first week of classes will get to the point in their syllabus in which the dreaded topic appears: artificial intelligence (AI) and the professor’s policy on its use. What experiences do students have with professor policy regarding AI? Should we be encouraging learning how to use AI, or should we maintain the prior stance prohibiting its use altogether?
While professors initially seemed to take a firm stance on the matter, widely denouncing the use of AI in classwork and prohibiting it in their classrooms, more recently students have noticed a shift in that policy. Many professors continue to pursue a zero-tolerance policy in which AI use in any capacity is not permitted. Others encourage students to use AI as a “resource,” providing help with steps in a process without delegating entire tasks to the system or involving plagiarism. This can create a confusing minefield for students to navigate, with the situation becoming murky and unclear about what is and is not acceptable to use. One student noted that the great variation from professor to professor in policy “will only cause problems and misunderstandings,” and that schools should set “more cohesive guidelines” surrounding the use of AI.
What, then, should the college’s policy for AI be? Do we embrace a seemingly inescapable part of the future, or do we push back against the use of this technology? Paralleling the different messages sent by faculty and staff regarding the issue, students also share a variety of perspectives on the matter of AI use in classrooms and learning in general.
Students who take a more negative view of AI have noted that “anything you turn to AI for can be accomplished without it,” and thus using it as a resource is a shortcut that will not be beneficial to students in the long run. This is a concern often raised particularly in regards to fields with high stakes—for example, we might ask: would you want to be seen by a doctor who cut corners and used AI to pass their classes? Certain skills need to be acquired for rigorous fields, and using AI will not help you do so.
Additionally, many students have remarked on the unreliability of AI; one student observed that AI in its current form is “incredibly unrefined” and “actively spurts out blatantly false outputs disguised as truths.” Using AI is risky business, and you have to treat any information it gives you with a heavy dose of skepticism. You may turn to it for an answer, but it may be entirely incapable of giving it to you.
Furthermore, several wary students discuss the often overlooked sustainability element of the AI issue; training and running AI models requires a truly ridiculous amount of energy. Current systems are negatively impacting carbon emissions, freshwater sources, and electronic waste. A recent paper from Harvard and University of Pisa researchers noted that data centers—“warehouses containing thousands or millions of computing cores that serve as the backbone of modern information technology infrastructure”—are the main perpetrators, and are currently one of the most significant energy consumers globally. The researchers’ findings reveal that “U.S. data centers produced 105 million tons CO2 equivalent gases in the past year with a carbon intensity 48 percent higher than the national average.” This is a real concern that, until more sustainable means of running AI models are created, should not be ignored.
Still, many students note that AI could be a “valuable tool” to use as a resource for “help formatting or organizing thoughts.” When used responsibly, students can avoid running into issues with plagiarism or with the unreliability of AI—for example, asking for a sample essay structure, as opposed to an essay outline for a book you did not actually read. While some students commented on the use of AI as cutting corners, others noted that several fields use innovative AI technology and will require students to be able to use them; returning to the previous question—would you want to be seen by a doctor who cut corners and used AI to pass their classes?—some might answer yes, as AI systems are increasingly incorporated into medical practice.
Some have stated that it will be essential in our futures to be able to use AI effectively—employers are already looking for AI experience in their hiring practices. According to Forbes, a Microsoft study from 2024 indicated that of the leaders surveyed, “71 percent say they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them.” Not only does it appear to affect employability, but it may also affect your salary if you are hired, with the same study noting that “companies are willing to pay a premium for professionals with AI skills within IT, sales and marketing, finance, operations, legal and compliance, and HR (human resources).” If Geneseo wants to fully equip students to enter the workforce, they might want to pursue some level of AI learning within their classrooms.
Ultimately, there are many conflicting messages regarding AI usage among faculty and staff, students, and the media. It seems that regardless of the potential negatives of these systems—including lack of critical thinking/hard work involved, unreliability, potential plagiarism, and the damage to the environment—AI is a reality that we cannot ignore. As its presence increases across fields, students may come to realize that having comfortability with the programs will serve their future, if not the future of our planet.