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The following was submitted by the following eighth-grade students from the McCall Middle School for their civics project: Lola Borchardt, Scarlett Copeland, Aspen Apodaca, and Josie Monk.
Artificial Intelligence has been around since the mid-20th century, however for the first time, the harms of AI have begun to outweigh the benefits.
For years AI has been able to do specific simple tasks such as playing chess and solving math equations, tasks that follow basic algorithms. In contrast, today AI can have full conversations, mimic human language and can go undetected.
This is a growing issue as falsely generated information becomes the norm in AI generated content. For the past century artificial intelligence has not been very influential in society, but AI today is an emergent capability that has great effects on the world but also many new challenges, such as in education.
Before the emergence of accessible AI cheating was common but also difficult to get away with. With AI however, it is easier than ever for students to quickly and effectively complete an assignment that looks original and like their own work. This has a huge impact on other students as well as the students cheating. Honest students are becoming discouraged as they watch their peers get better grades than them because they used AI to do their work for them.
Furthermore, students who are using AI to complete assignments aren’t learning critical thinking skills and are unable to think deeply and generate their own ideas. Although AI has a huge impact on students, it may have an even larger impact on teachers’ abilities to teach students.
Teachers “don’t know what a student's real skills are” and are “forced to have students complete writing assignments in class” (Katie Thompson). English teachers are constantly seeing essays that are written by AI and language teachers are seeing a decline in actual learning as more and more students rely on translators to complete work.
Moreover, math teachers are seeing students using math solvers to do their homework which harms students’ abilities to learn the actual concepts. Despite the negative aspects of AI, if used responsibly it can expedite the learning process.
Although many students are using it inappropriately, some use it to help them get a deeper understanding of a topic to deepen their understanding beyond what they learned in class, particularly in confusing math concepts.
Additionally, AI is very helpful to teachers when developing lesson plans and making learning more engaging for students. When used appropriately AI can help rather than harm students' learning. Overall, there are many harms and benefits to AI, however it is necessary to create a balance where students can learn but not cheat with AI.
Neither the McCall nor Winchester High School student handbooks have existing policies regarding usage of AI. As defined in the Winchester High School handbook cheating is “the dishonest violation of rules, or giving or receiving unauthorized information in academic, extracurricular, or other schoolwork, so as to give an unfair advantage” (Winchester High School Student Handbook).
Although AI could be argued to be unauthorized information, this policy does not provide specific enough information about the usage of AI. Recent events such as the lawsuit against Hingham High School, where a student won a lawsuit against his school who gave him a zero for using AI on a history project, have shown us that if specific policies are not created, use of AI could be argued to be ethical.
Overall, the McCall and Winchester High School handbooks need to contain more specific policies regarding AI.
