Ethical Use of AI For Students

Recently, there has been a surge in the use of AI in academic settings. As a student, I often find myself struggling to complete an assignment - either because I procrastinated too long, doubted my capabilities to produce something worthy enough, or didn’t have enough creative energy to exemplify my true capabilities. 

Whenever I have these feelings, I have two options - either submitting a mediocre version of my work or using an AI tool, such as ChatGPT, to curate my essay/assignment. 

I’m not the only one either; according to a study conducted in a German university, around 63.4% of students have used AI tools in their studies. (von Garrel & Mayer, 2023) With the rise of AI, many universities and educational institutions created policies that limit the usage of AI in classrooms. 

In this essay, I will go over ways students can use AI in an ethical manner, where AI usage does not affect a student’s own creativity and allows a student to gain an education rather than obtain a degree. 

Firstly, when it comes to writing essays, AI can be used throughout the writing process. The 7-Step Writing Process includes the steps of choosing a topic, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, soliciting feedback, revising, and proofreading. In the fifth step, soliciting feedback, AI can be effectively used by prompting the tool to give feedback on an essay based on the professor’s rubrics. This will help maintain the student’s original thoughts, but also make use of an effective tool to help enhance their writing composition and efficiently communicate their thoughts. 

Another way of using AI in an academic setting is using a professor stimulation. With a simple prompt, a student can ask ChatGPT (or another AI tool) to explain a concept they may be struggling with in class. For example, a student may enter this prompt: “Please act as my university philosophy professor. Pretend that we are in class and ask me 3 questions of different difficulty on Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” one at a time, that my professor might ask. Let me answer, do not answer for me. Give me feedback, and then ask me another question. After all three questions have been asked, give me overall feedback.” (Brent, 2024), or “Explain the Seven Years War to a fifth grader.” This would allow the student to gain a deeper understanding of the material in a personalized manner. 

Lastly, a more controversial way of using AI is by asking it to produce a topic for an essay assignment or to solve a homework problem. While some people argue that AI helps them start the assignment and cut down the solving time, others argue that this plan interferes with the learning process and would, over time, prevent the accumulation of a true education and experience. A student who has written their essay using an AI-generated topic would not gain the same benefits as another student who has wrote their essay from scratch. 

In conclusion, generative AI can be manipulated in an academic setting to benefit the student, rather than to be considered plagiarism. By using AI for feedback in the writing process and to explain concepts, students can use AI to enhance their original thoughts and to gain a deeper understanding of the course material.

Bibliography

bbc. (2019, August 9). What is AI? What does artificial intelligence do? - CBBC Newsround. Bbc.co.uk. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49274918 [IMAGE]

Ph.D, B. A. A. (2024, April 16). How Students Can Use AI Ethically. EduCreate. https://medium.com/educreation/how-students-can-use-ai-ethically-98a64b4edafc

von Garrel, J., & Mayer, J. (2023). Artificial Intelligence in studies—use of ChatGPT and AI-based tools among students in Germany. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02304-7