Kids are back in the classroom supplied with pencils, crayons, even calculators.
Now some are adding Artificial Intelligence, otherwise known as AI, to the list. But is it being used as a tool or just another way to cheat?
KGUN 9’s Denelle Confair spoke with students and educators to find out.
“An obvious thing that’s changed is it’s just a little bit harder to detect,” Vail School District Chief Technology Officer Mark Breen said. “Some of the tools that we have in place to detect plagiarism right now, frankly, just haven’t caught up with the technology.”
Chat GPT, an online app that can write entire essays upon request, was an app that came up the most with students.
“Probably right now, it’s not fair because like, I think there’s students like me that like don’t want to use it,” University of Arizona student Kylin White said. “Don’t want to get caught cheating. But eventually, I think it should be a tool like a calculator.
Another student, Travis Gramm, an incoming sophomore at the UA, says he uses AI as a tool.
“Definitely a fan of it, and I think it can be used,” Gramm said. “If it’s used in the correct way.”
Many schools across Arizona seem to be leaning into the new AI technology, asking educators to teach students how to use it.
“We have those conversations with the students and that’s no different with AI or any other technology,” Breen said. “We’re going to work shoulder to shoulder and have those conversations and work through it. So, I don’t really see it as an issue.”
“It’s cool if students can use AI, but not to cheat; just to like, advance their knowledge,” Kyra Dillard, another UA student said.
As for cheating, Breen and other educators Confair spoke to, said they haven’t seen it as a big problem, at least not yet.