In the era of technological advances the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our lives has become an undoubtable reality. Being a student in this era of evolving AI technologies, the question I keep asking myself is not embracing AI but rather, consistently working with it in order to maximize its benefits. Unquestionably, the development of AI has changed how humans interact, learn, and communicate with the outside world. AI has created new educational opportunities by enabling more accessible and customized information, from smart assistants to personalized learning platforms. But in the middle of all the excitement and promise that comes with technological advancement, it is our responsibility as students to critically analyze how we may use the tools that AI offers, all the while being aware of any potential ethical and societal implications. What I am considering here is a more indirect way that people in learning institutions might use AI, those might include, personalized learning enhancement, efficient time management (productivity), and adaptable feedback and support.
ChatGPT was introduced to us fairly recently, I personally familiarized myself with it during the Spring semester of this year. When it was first known to the public in November 2022 it attracted a lot of attention from the people in higher education (Chan & Hu, 2023). In addition to that Dall-E was introduced later on in January 2023, I believe. Since then people were not just amazed by its ability to generate coherent and contextual text but also fascinated by the Dall-E model’s creativity.
In the article by Lysakov and Viswanathan (2023) it was mentioned that AI systems are capable of learning and updating using a variety of data sources, including text, audio, video, and quantitative data. AI systems have the ability of simulating nonroutine jobs that call for “tacit” human knowledge, in contrast to earlier technologies that mostly replaced humans in routine physical and standardized mental tasks (Lysakov & Viswanathan, 2023). And despite the main arguments of the article the authors also emphasize how humans still have traits like imagination, creativity, and emotion, which are especially valuable in design and art, even when AI systems have sophisticated deep learning skills (Lysakov & Viswanathan, 2023). So my take out here is that despite AI systems’ advanced learning ability, these human qualities remain invaluable.
Based on the research of Chan and Hu about “Students’ voices on generative AI in higher education”, most participants perceive AI as a valuable tool in learning and named a number of benefits that it brings to the learning system. One of which is “personalized and immediate learning support” (Chan & Hu, 2023). They discuss how AI can be used in the face of a virtual tutor. AI can help with personalized learning support, customize certain recommendations regarding the course work, and assist in language learning (Chan & Hu, 2023). And here it is important to highlight that I am not turning my point towards the educational institutions, what I am trying to emphasize is that AI can help with immediate answers to one’s struggles (Chan & Hu, 2023).
Another point made by students in the same case study is “research and analysis support” (Chan & Hu, 2023). Based on the participants’ answers GenAI helps students in research by finding information, summarizing readings, and even coming up with ideas based on data (Chan & Hu, 2023). It’s great for keeping up with the latest research and helps with collecting and understanding data (Chan & Hu, 2023). Students here mean that they are not actually asking for an answer, they say that it can be used as a quick analysis to start their work and make their own discoveries without spending too much time gathering information (Chan & Hu, 2023). Which actually seems convenient in terms of time management and productivity.
The last point from the article that I would like to mention is “visual and multimedia support”. AI is a tool that can be used beyond research and learning. Students are creating artworks using AI tools that make images based on prompts (Dall-E for example) or turn text into pictures (Chan & Hu, 2023). These technologies also help in making slides, audios, and videos when students need help visualizing things for their projects (Chan & Hu, 2023). I personally haven’t used Dall-E but I hear a lot of the same feedback from people around me, and even if they are not using it for projects they seem to like playing with it, just for fun. So that’s also a good side of it, because despite the ‘not work related’ motifs students still get creative with it.
Even if these arguments are built on the educational benefits of AI tools, I still wanted to briefly take ethical considerations into account. The importance of ethical issues is emphasized in Tung and Dong’s article on Malaysian medical students’ opinions regarding artificial intelligence in healthcare. According to the study, these students gave the ethics domain a higher readiness rating than they did for other areas, demonstrating a thorough comprehension of the moral implications of artificial intelligence (Tung & Dong, 2023). Even though their research represents a really narrow group of people (only medical students) I loved the questions that they used and wanted to highlight the outcomes of student’s thoughts towards ethics and AI. With a mean score of 11 out of 15 in the ethics factor, it’s evident that these students recognize the importance of ethical use of AI (Tung & Dong, 2023). So if the students are aware of the issue with codes of ethics around the AI it means that usage of the tools like ChatGPT or Dall-E is being thoughtfully done. At the same time it emphasized on the importance of the students being ready and well prepared to face the ethical challenges associated with AI (Tung & Dong, 2023). As long as people are aware of it we can see from the points made above, coming from a student’s perspective, that AI can actually be very useful in a number of educational aspects.
To conclude, the integration of Artificial intelligence into the education system is a transformative era of the way students create and learn. AI presents a range of advantages in many forms such as ChatGPT and Dall-E. It can improve individualized learning, support research, and encourage creativity in multimedia projects. Students in ways benefit from its fast responses, rapid research procedures, and expanded possibilities for creative expression. However, in the excitement of this technological advance, ethical issues, which Tung and Dong’s study on medical students’ perceptions highlights, remain a crucial turning point. Students’ high awareness of the ethical implications of using AI tools emphasizes the responsible use of these tools and also highlights the importance of being prepared to deal with ethical problems. The combination of these student ideas clarifies an existing diverse viewpoint, recognizing both the educational potential of AI and the need to remain aware about the ethical landscape. This combination of using AI’s benefits while keeping ethical considerations in mind will define a responsible and progressive integration of AI tools inside the academic sphere as education continues to benefit from it.
References
Chan, C. K. Y., & Hu, W. (2023). Students’ voices on generative AI: perceptions, benefits, and challenges in higher education. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 43–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-023-00411-8
Lysyakov, M., & Viswanathan, S. (2023). Threatened by AI: Analyzing Users’ Responses to the Introduction of AI in a Crowd-Sourcing Platform. Information Systems Research, 34(3), 1191–1210. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.1184
Tung, A. Y. Z., & Dong, L. W. (2023). Malaysian Medical Students’ Attitudes and Readiness Toward AI (Artificial Intelligence): A Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 10, 23821205231201164–23821205231201164. https://doi.org/10.1177/23821205231201164