WAYNE- I was sitting in my graduate class on a Monday night when my professor revealed his current dilemma: his undergraduate students have been caught cheating on their assignments.

He stood in front of us and admitted that he was surprised at how many students submitted work that they didn’t write. He concluded the conversation by reiterating the importance of maintaining academic integrity and the consequences of plagiarism.

However, there was one piece of information that stopped everyone from eating their chips, typing on their computers and responding to the occasional ding of their cell phones.

Students weren’t cheating the old-fashioned way by having someone else write their paper.  

They were using ChatGPT.

ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, launched on Nov. 30, 2022, and produces texts, images, and videos as if the user had actually done the work.

The program is widely used by students and faculty to complete their daily responsibilities in a way that is simple, effortless and mostly appropriate, such as creating class lectures, creating syllabuses, and providing exam preparation.

Although, it has also created academic integrity issues through the use of plagiarism.   

In a survey done in March by BestColleges, 51% of college students said that using AI in school is considered cheating. However, It was revealed in a separate survey that nearly a third of college students in the nation have used artificial intelligence on written assignments during the last academic year.

Professors have failed students and banned the software for homework, but they are also using it to build assessments, assist with grading, and generate assignments for students, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The application does the work for students. They don’t have to write their own papers or solve their own math problems anymore. If they don’t have to work, they’re not going to develop a work ethic. It’s going to disappear.

On the other hand, AI softwares are useful resources that can be beneficial to student learning. Professors have found it convenient to create class activities that meet the academic needs of every student, especially those who may have a learning disability and require additional modifications.

It has also helped professors communicate to students in more than one language to ensure that everyone can understand the course material and be involved in class participation.

Additionally, it’s a time-saving and cost-efficient software that makes education more accessible to students, improves their academic vocabulary and written skills, and personalizes how they can learn course material to prepare for exams.

ChatGPT can add to the learning experience of students, but there has to be a balance between using it as a resource and doing your own work. That’s the part that’s missing.

AI is a complementary tool, but it shouldn’t become the only one used in schools or by schools. Unfortunately, it has redefined how students can complete assignments, how professors assess student’s performances, and how students can learn negatively.

As we become more dependent on this software, we lose the skills needed to do the work ourselves. We are less prepared to succeed in our academics and future jobs than we were before.

In due time, artificial intelligence will become more knowledgeable than we are. If universities don’t provide limits on the use of sources such as ChatGPT, they should expect a classroom of robots in the next few years.