I recently found out that the International Baccalaureate – the diploma I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into – is letting students use AI. This news enraged me. I had worked so hard to produce work that was to their standard and now students were getting it easier than me. Not to mention, the university I go to has incontestably banned the use of AI in all academic work, meaning I have passed the point of being able to use AI in my education. Despite this, I think there is merit to the use of AI.

AI can be used as a tool to support learning, rather than a replacement for learning itself. When AI is employed transparently and responsibly, it can help students manage their time more effectively. In the current economic landscape – with a soaring cost of living – students are having to juggle multiple jobs to afford basic needs. Additionally, students are seeking internships to bolster their resumes to stand out amongst the competitive job market. Many students are also struggling with mental health issues, making it challenging to fulfil academic responsibilities. In light of these complexities, AI emerges as a beneficial tool, offering relief by effectively addressing the demands of an overwhelming workload.

AI is also a valuable tool for understanding complicated academic work. In the climate of academese – the unnecessary use of jargon in academia – there is an increasing demand for tools to help deconstruct complex scholarly language for people who struggle to understand. By providing no assistive tools to help decipher academese, it gatekeeps the world of academia, making it unwelcoming to those with learning disabilities or young people who unfamiliar with complex academia. Asking an expert to explain it would be preferable, but for those who do not have access to those contacts or prefer not to turn to help, AI is the perfect solution.

A few students use AI creatively. They use it to check if their work adheres to university criteria by pasting their work into the AI software, and then asking the AI what they would grade this paper based on the marking rubric for their degree, which they also upload for the AI to see. The software will then tell them what grade they would give them, the reasons as to why, and what they would suggest the student improves. This does not compromise the authenticity of the student’s work; it just gives them an alternative avenue to see what they can improve about their essay.

Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that AI falls short in producing a thoughtful and critically reflective essay, that meets university standards. The responsibility remains on the student to conduct thorough research and provide the AI with the necessary information to craft a well-written essay. The AI's role is to make the student's research sound better. For students who lack strong writing skills, AI functions as a valuable tool that saves grades and elevates the quality of their well-researched content.

An ethical concern would be how AI presents a roadblock to critical thinking and research skills. Will we have a less-educated workforce? I would argue the opposite. AI has already been welcomed into the working world, and isn’t the point of education to prepare students for entering the workforce? The use of AI in schools and university would prepare students for the use of it in their future careers, and learning how to use it transparently and effectively would prepare them for the workforce.

That being said, some students may feel cheated that while they wrote all the work themselves, there are others who can achieve the same grade – or better – with less effort put into it. This creates a demoralising learning environment, that seemingly rewards laziness and does not sufficiently reward authenticity. As a result, it would inadvertently push everyone into the use of AI. However, if educational institutions set up a system by which students must be transparent about their use of AI, the honesty would allow students to decide whether they wish to use AI or not.

Using AI to write academic papers also introduces the risk of plagiarism, a serious violation of academic ethics. Plagiarism undermines the credibility of educational institutions and devalues the hard work and dedication of students who adhere to ethical standards. AI runs the risk of inadvertently stealing ideas, phrases, or even entire passages from existing sources without proper attribution, leading to academic misconduct. However, if they run their work through plagiarism detectors first, they could remove or re-word these passages themselves.

There is no definitive answer, but personally I think, as long as someone is transparent about their AI usage, there should be no issue with using AI in academia.

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