Most students these days are tempted to use artificial intelligence to do their work for them, merely cutting and pasting what they see on their screens into essays. It’s so easy and results in good grades. The problem is that students don’t develop their own abilities.
So argues Elizabeth Chen, a current college student, in today’s Martin Center article. “Many high school graduates struggle with writing,” she notes, “to the point where many of their new professors argue that they cannot write at all. If these students . . . prompt AI to generate essay outlines, they will never learn how to organize their thoughts logically. If they copy-paste written content from AI, the quality of their writing will not improve through higher education.”
Students who use the AI crutch will graduate without the skills they’ll need in the workplace. Chen makes an interesting point: “While over-reliance on AI in education is dangerous, it must be said that it can also be dangerous to take the other extreme — treating AI as if it were demonic. If faculty forbid the usage of AI for coursework altogether, students may struggle with using AI tools effectively in their future jobs.”
As Chen notes, “AI can be a very useful tool in education when students use it with discernment.” She urges faculty “to train students to read, write, and think critically” without overreliance on AI but instead using AI as “a colleague.”