AI In Education
With the rapid growth and accessibility of artificial intelligence, it is uncertain just how AI will change an educational environment. With the potential for “good” and “bad” depending on who wields this widely accessible tool, students and teachers alike are learning how to navigate this ever-changing technological advancement.
Dr. Siming Liu is a Missouri State University assistant professor in the computer science department.
“I believe that AI will serve as an invaluable tool for both educators and students to access the vast reservoir of existing knowledge in the world, such as libraries and web searches …” Liu said. “One of the research topics in AI is building Intelligent Learning Systems (ILS).
“Instead of providing standard learning materials to all the students, we want ILS to personalize students’ learning experience by analyzing their learning performance and provide customized questions or topics to maximize students’ learning outcomes.”
Although AI may be used as a potential learning tool in a classroom setting, it poses questions about open access cheating.
Advanced Placement literature and composition and Advanced Placement college composition teacher Shane Lawless said using AI has the potential for plagiarism.
“If we’re wanting students to learn and they are just taking something from ChatGPT other than learning how to use ChatGPT, they didn’t necessarily learn anything,” Lawless said.
However, Lawless also sees the value in inspiration that can be derived from AI.
“Personally, I think a great way to use stuff like ChatGPT is if you’re not sure how to do an assignment or write a paper or write a certain thing, you can ask ChatGPT to do it, look at ChatGPT as an example and then make your own version,” Lawless said.
Likewise, Sophomore Lucy Snook said she uses ChatGPT for inspiration in her honors classes.
“So, I’ll use it to get a more specific topic in school and that’s pretty much what I use it for,” Snook said. “ I try to use it to give me a more exact idea of what I want to do because sometimes I have an idea in my head but I don’t know how to put it into words so I’ll give [ChatGPT] a few words and I’ll get a few more specific sentences.”
Using AI effectively as a tool depends on who operates it. This can come with uncertainty for the future of AI in an academic setting and how teachers can navigate it.
Liu believes AI can be used by teachers and students alike so long as there is transparency.
“With the presence of AI, teachers should adjust their assignments by not asking the answers or solutions but by asking students why some solutions are superior to others and how to reason with the answers,” Liu said. “Critical thinking and problem-solving are more important than finding the answers.”
With the ever-changing technology and evolution of such machines, the future is uncertain in regards to AI. That is why Lawless said he thinks it is important for students and educators alike to understand how AI works first-hand.
“I think it’s important for students to realize even if it’s just for a school paper, they need to understand the bigger ramifications of AI because AI could put people out of businesses, could put people out of jobs [and] could take the credit for things that people in the past have done,” Lawless said. “[It can] really change the way we look at creativity, the way we look at art and we don’t want to lose the human side of that…”
AI, Social Media and Mental Health Implications
With the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence and what it entails, certain companies and corporations have taken to creating their own version of AI and implementing them. For example, the My AI feature on the social media app Snapchat, has emerged as access to any Snapchat user.
With even more accessibility to AI, there have been some concerns regarding the effects of chatting with AI bots on a deeper level.
Nixa High School Counselor Carrie Stormzand said that person-to-person communication is irreplaceable by AI.
“… You can ask for resources through that AI so that seems helpful, but a concern would be that I think [AI] can be a tool but I don’t think it could ever [replace] that … real life human contact,” Stormzand said.
Although AI chatbots may appear as a helpful resource to chat with in regards to personal issues, Stormzand said it’s important to go in knowing that AI is a tool and not the complete solution to personal struggles or mental health problems..
“…I think with anything … like social media, AI–things can be used for good or evil and just really focusing on how you can use it for good.”
Macy Burford, Market Manager in Digital Platforms at American National Insurance Company, said that she believes that moving forward, AI will grow in media and it will be something that future media professionals will need to be familiar with.
“Overall, I think that AI will be something that continues to become more and more invasive,” Burford said. “I think in terms of younger generations of creators that that’s something that future marketers or social media managers are going to have to not just deal with, but learn how to work with rather than against.”
Developments: Then Vs. Now
Recent developments of artificial intelligence have brought attention to machine learning capabilities. While AI has recently taken off, it has been in use for decades.
According to Stanford University studies, some of the very first uses of AI date back to the 1950s, where it was used in some of the first electronic computers as well as in the development of some of their first robots.
Since the 1950s AI has evolved over the years. Many began to hone in on studying and perfecting AI between the 1950s and the 1970s, which led to creations such as new mobile robotics in the 1970s then to popular arcade and video games in the 1980s.
Since the 2000s both the use and development of AI has spiked after the creation of Google around that time. As the 2000s went on, new developments such as the use of AI through the smartphone assistant, Siri and smart speaker, Alexa. However, the use of AI rapidly increased after 2015 when OpenAI was created. OpenAI was made to generate answers to people’s questions by pulling information from the internet.
Recently, the umbrella term of AI has been a topic of focus from schools to mainstream social media platforms. One reason for this increased attention is because of the development of ChatGPT in 2022, which has given people the ability to chat with AI as well as use it for photography, art and many other uses.
Is it really art if AI makes It?
Art created by artificial intelligence is emerging as a quick and effective way to illustrate the world. But this art form has brought about controversy.
Art teacher Ryan Widel said that in most cases, he believes that AI art can destroy the human touch in creativity.
“I think that [the students] can only use [AI] for inspiration, but even with that I don’t know that I would really want them to because that’s too much of an important part,” Widel said. “The process of being an artist is coming up with the idea. If you let AI come up with the idea and possibly the composition, that to me would be plagiarism and not inspiration.”
Senior Emma Snow is an art student at Nixa High School. She believes that AI should not be used beyond graphic design.
“I think AI art should probably just be used for logo design,” Snow said. “I don’t think there is AI art that’s not plagiarized because they obviously pulled it from somewhere.”
AI vs. Job Security
The new advancements in artificial intelligence has led to changes in the job market with the potential to transform many different industries.
Joanna Bloor, an expert in future-proofing jobs, helps people adjust their jobs to work together alongside the development of AI.
“We’re going through a work transformation that we haven’t seen since the Industrial Revolution,” Bloor said. “Beliefs and jobs we thought were going to be around forever are going to change in ways we never could have imagined.
Bloor has a list of tasks she said people should complete to future proof their roles in the workplace.
“One: Learn about how AI is being used in the industry they’re working in today and how it might be used in the industry they’re working in… and how it might be used in the future. Two: Experiment with using AI in their roles so they can get comfortable using the tools. Three: Share their experiments and results, both good and bad, with their managers and colleagues,” Bloor said.
Safety Concerns Caused by AI
The concern of people getting personal private data stolen by hackers has just worsened now that hackers have artificial intelligence at their disposal.
David Tunnah, a success catalyst at Kinext, works closely with AI and understands its dangers.
“While AI is primarily used to enhance cyber security by identifying and mitigating threats, it can also be exploited by malicious actors to create more sophisticated attacks,” Tunnah said.
Hannah Hopkins, a member of the Nixa High School speech and debate team, did research on AI and cyber security last year for a debate topic. In the process of researching she realized the importance of securing personal information. “We got to take into account of what [information] you’re putting in and what reason you’re using it for,” Hopkins said. “Always be mindful; If you’re going to do something, do it with the right intent behind it.”
