Meet the students who are just saying no to AI
When OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, it set off a firestorm among educators. Here was a tool that, with a few lines of direction, could gather reams of information, compose human-like sentences, and spit out an answer to seemingly any question. Students, they thought, would certainly use it to cheat.
As artificial intelligence chatbots鈥� popularity has ballooned, so, too, has alarm over its potential misuses. In March, The Wall Street Journal told parents, 鈥�.鈥� New York Magazine declared that 鈥�.鈥�
For many students, those headlines ring true. But not for all.
Why We Wrote This
As artificial intelligence intertwines itself with daily life, some students are pushing back. Their reasons range from profound to practical, and speak to preserving a sense of community 鈥� and humanity.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the point of going to college if you鈥檙e just going to rely on this thing to give you the right answers?鈥� says Marie Norkett, a junior at St. John鈥檚 College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not improving your mental capabilities.鈥�
Ms. Norkett is among a cadre of students who choose not to use AI in their studies. They give reasons both profound and practical. Ms. Norkett, for example, worries not only about how cutting corners might dull her critical thinking skills, but also about the accuracy of what AI bots, which pull vast sums of information from the internet to mimic human cognition, produce.
Such students are in the minority on campuses. In a September survey of college students by Copyleaks, the maker of an AI-powered plagiarism detector, said they use AI for school work. Of course, not all of those students were using it to cheat: The most common uses reported were brainstorming (57%) and drafting outlines (50%).
Still, like many educators, some AI abstainers worry the bots make cheating easier. In an internal report on ChatGPT use , roughly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds, the most active of the bot鈥檚 more than 700 million weekly users, said they used it for 鈥渆xam answers.鈥� A from Discovery Education found that 40% of K-12 students have used AI without their teacher鈥檚 permission, and nearly two-thirds of K-12 teachers say they鈥檝e caught students using chatbots to cheat.
The true extent of the cheating problem remains a matter of some debate. Victor Lee, an associate professor of education at Stanford University, says decades of research has put the rate of cheating between 60% and 80%. That has 鈥渟tayed fairly stable鈥� since ChatGPT thundered onto the scene.
Regardless, it鈥檚 clear that students use the technology 鈥� often. That reflects a variety of tensions. Students feel immense pressure to succeed academically as they juggle school with extracurriculars, jobs, and social commitments.
鈥淭here鈥檚 also some situations where [students] just aren鈥檛 clear what the line is for acceptable or not acceptable,鈥� Professor Lee adds.
Still, some students have resisted the pressures leading their peers to use AI 鈥� whether legitimately or illicitly. They have charted a path to a more old-fashioned education that, for them, is fulfilling, meaningful, and decidedly human.
鈥淭he full expression of a human being is not a robot. It鈥檚 a creative, interactive force,鈥� says Caleb Langenbrunner, another junior at St. John鈥檚. Just taking the answers AI provides, he says, 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 seem like fully what it means to be human.鈥�
Maintaining a sense of community
Unlike many college campuses, students at St. John鈥檚 say they rarely see their classmates use AI. That might come down to the school鈥檚 unique teaching methods. It offers only one degree, in liberal arts, and its entire curriculum comprises a four-year reading list of what the college calls 鈥渢he greatest books鈥� in history. Titles include tomes like Plato鈥檚 鈥淩epublic鈥� and Aristotle鈥檚 鈥淧olitics.鈥�
Yet it鈥檚 not just St. John鈥檚 students who see an overreliance on AI among their peers as a problem. Ashanty Rosario, a high school senior from New York, says she , and she wishes that her classmates wouldn鈥檛, either.
鈥淚 do think that we lose a sense of community in the classroom if we aren鈥檛 actively engaging with whatever work we are given,鈥� she says. When students use AI instead of turning to their peers, it鈥檚 鈥渘ot only harming the person using it, but it鈥檚 harming others who could very well be gaining a different perspective that enhances their learning.鈥�
The meteoric rise of AI-generated writing and art has also about the future of the humanities. The technology has entered the scene at a troubling time for creative disciplines. The number of students graduating college with humanities degrees 24% between 2012 and 2022, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
鈥淎 big part of the humanities and the arts is original thinking [and] creativity,鈥� Ms. Rosario says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something that can鈥檛 be replicated, especially by a machine. So, I think that in order to keep that cycle going 鈥� of art, and getting culture out there 鈥� it has to come from within.鈥�
Credibility question
Abera Hettinga, a junior studying philosophy and psychology at the University of New Mexico, says he doesn鈥檛 use AI because it would be 鈥渄oing a disservice鈥� to his future self. He also took a logic and critical thinking class that shaped his view. Students in the class, he says, investigated the accuracy of ChatGPT鈥檚 answers to different questions, and the chatbot did not impress him.
Sometimes, when ChatGPT gave him a dubious answer, he pushed it to explain its logic. Mr. Hettinga found the bot was often 鈥渏ust predicting what you鈥檇 want it to say.鈥�
OpenAI that older models tended to tell users what they wanted to hear, even if that meant providing incorrect information. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 shaped my faith in it as far as its credibility,鈥� Mr. Hettinga says. OpenAI says it has updated ChatGPT鈥檚 software to address 鈥渟ycophancy.鈥�
A writing tutor for the University of New Mexico鈥檚 Center for Teaching and Learning, Mr. Hettinga has firsthand experience with how an overreliance on chatbots can deprive students of learning how to craft a cogent argument.
鈥淸AI] takes away from being able to structure an argument,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou lose that crucial ability 鈥� to brainstorm, to organize a paper, to know where to put your arguments, how to formulate a thesis, [and] other crucial writing skills as well.鈥�
Professor Lee of Stanford says charting a path to more-sustainable AI use might start with how schools approach the tools 鈥� though he acknowledges that it might feel difficult for educators juggling the learning needs of dozens of students. Some teachers have already turned to old-fashioned testing methods, such as having students put pen to paper and hand-write essays in class.
Another strategy 鈥渋s to develop students鈥� AI literacy to help them learn how to use it responsibly, and what its capabilities and limits are,鈥� he says.
Students interviewed say that AI bots do have potential beneficial uses. For example, they can be a useful place to start research, because they compile and summarize vast amounts of information quickly.
At the end of the day, Mr. Langenbrunner, from St. John鈥檚, says he enjoys learning and working answers out for himself 鈥� and he doesn鈥檛 want to miss out on a good time.
鈥淵ou know, I think [AI is] rather boring,鈥� he laughs. 鈥淚f I were to use AI to write all my papers 鈥� that takes all the fun out of it.鈥�
