Are AI content generators the end of our ability to think and write—or a tool to take these skills further?
The genie’s out of the bottle.
The cat’s out of the bag.
Pandora’s box has been flung wide open.
Whatever your preferred metaphor to describe something that can’t be reversed, apply it now to the emergence of artificial intelligence. AI-generated content, produced with tools like ChatGPT, GrammarlyGO and a host of others, is here. And it’s not going away. (Though for the record, it was not used to write this story.)
Content generated in whole or in part by AI is a hot-button topic, especially in the realm of education. In the workplace there appears to be a cautious welcome for it as a way to increase efficiency, analyze information and make data usable again. But education is tasked not with merely getting things done efficiently, but with teaching skills like critical thinking, research and composition, to name a few. Many worry that AI is usurping (and eventually devaluing) these skills by doing the hard work for the student.
These are legitimate concerns, but there’s also a case for leaning into AI rather than smothering its use with a blanket ban. Because, of course, it won’t be smothered. Practically speaking, we will not be able to prevent young people from using AI to do their math homework and generate all kinds of content—from their latest book report to the resumes and cover letters they use to land their first job.
So how do we navigate this swift wave of technological change?
AI versus human skills
“If technology can do it for me, why do I need to learn to do it?”
When graphing calculators came into play, we asked the same question. While calculators have a role in higher-level math, they do not teach that math. Calculators cannot tell us how or why an answer is correct; they simply provide it. Does that mean we stop using them in higher-level math courses? No.
The same argument could be made for the spreadsheet. If you really consider what it can do, it’s an amazing piece of software and a valuable tool. But it’s how it’s deployed that makes it useful.
Both the calculator and spreadsheet are tools that increase efficiency, but we must first understand what we need them to do before we can use them effectively. We still have to problem-solve.
Are AI content generators all that different? To use AI to write an effective essay, the student must know the point they want to make, why it matters and what arguments help them make that case. Then once the initial content is generated, they must verify the sources, review the style, correct any errors, and produce a human-checked piece of work to hand in. I don’t know about you, but to me that still sounds like significant work on the student’s part—with a lot of learning happening along the way.
Similarly, students who use AI to solve a math problem won’t just get the answer (as a calculator would show). They will be shown every bit of the work, with reasons and explanations at every step. In essence, it teaches you how to get the answer—and isn’t that what we want students to learn?
Without AI, they are already behind
The role of education is, at least in part, to prepare the student for a successful future. But an education devoid of any training in the current technology of the time will fail to do that.
When young people enter the workforce, it will be assumed that they know how to use AI effectively. In fact, new skills like “prompt engineering” will be in high demand. We do students no favors by trying to pretend AI-generated content doesn’t exist. If they can’t use it when they launch their careers, they are already behind.
That’s why equitable access to tools like ChatGPT, GrammarlyGO and others is so vital. If AI is not going away, we need to equip young people of all backgrounds and walks of life to use it well in their future careers.
AI’s limitations
While it may feel like AI can do anything and everything for us, it can’t. AI can only generate content based on existing content; it cannot make ethical judgments, determine facts, or even ‘create’ anything in the purest sense of the word. It can only generate based on what is already out there.
Not to mention that sometimes, AI “hallucinates” and makes up fake sources to generate content, as two lawyers recently learned the hard way. You still need a human to understand what’s real and what isn’t.
I believe that in the near future, we will come up against the limits of AI. And it will remind us that no matter how shiny and impressive the technology is, it can never replace the human factor. We will always have something AI doesn’t have. This is a prime teaching moment for students who may think AI is the shortcut that eliminates all their effort. It doesn’t—but it will redirect where that effort is expended.
The AI opportunity
Because the AI wave seems so big and strong, it can be easy to overlook the fact that educators are in a unique position to influence the way that students use this tool. But they are.
Educators have a valuable chance to guide young people in using AI tools while maximizing their learning along the way. If we position ourselves as hardcore anti-AI, we sacrifice any influence we may have had with students, who will simply go elsewhere to learn how to best use it.
To leverage their influence, educators can:
- Join the AI discourse. As a culture, we urgently need the perspective of those on the front lines of educating the next generation. We need to listen to their concerns, value their expertise and, above all, trust their judgment.
- Be clear about their expectations around AI. At the syllabus level, on the first day of class, there should be no ambiguity about the expectations for AI usage—whatever they are for that particular learning setting.
- Teach students to cite AI. The temptation to plagiarize can be lessened by teaching students to include AI as a source if it’s used in their work.
- Help students focus on quality over quantity. It’s more important to produce a really compelling essay of five pages than turn in a 10-page paper padded out with filler. In light of how easy AI can make it to include all that fluff, maybe we reconsider length requirements and instead focus on the technical merits of the work.
- Implement learning moments where students must show their work. Young people still must demonstrate that they understand the process. This is one of the most vital areas where we need to listen to the educators who are already innovating the learning experience with AI.
I believe educators are our best hope of making AI tools an aid to learning, rather than a replacement for it. Students who use AI can and should be held to a different standard. It’s up to us to help them perform at a higher level, both today in their education and, someday, in their future careers.
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