Artificial Intelligence is one of the most prevalent technologies in the present day, with millions of people using it every day. The dangers of this invention have already been widely considered—along with its benefits—especially in school.
Students used to find answers in the most convenient way possible through a Google search. But now, AI is so readily available and increasingly easy to use. One can send an image of a worksheet, for example, to an AI chatbot and receive all of the answers in seconds. Students eventually outsource their learning process in favor of having AI give the answers in seconds.
A teacher who interviewed with the New York Times for an article about how AI is reshaping the classroom reflected on how “essays are gelling into a generic Jell-O mold of expression” at the cost of the grammar and capitalization being perfect. This reveals the dark side of the rise in AI usage: loss of critical thinking. Students are no longer able to create their own original ideas for creative projects and are unable to do homework without a ChatGPT tab open.
While AI can be somewhat useful to help explain a math problem, reading words is not the same as having a human teacher. According to an article by Forbes, students who rely on AI for assistance with math can face up to a 25% learning loss. A student may receive the answer to a problem and read the explanation, but utilizing AI in this way can be harmful for long term understanding and memory of the process needed to correctly solve the problem.
Along with the harm to the individual who uses AI chatbots, there are wider issues with generative AI that should be considered before deciding on its usefulness in education. Many of the data centers used to power the AI bots are built near low income, primarily Black and Brown neighborhoods. Most people have already heard about AI’s environmental impact, and seeing how we are already in a water bankruptcy, it raises questions about the necessity of data centers. The issue of AI use in schools will continue to get more complex as the power of this technology grows.
