Artificial Intelligence boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic while most students and workers were left to work from home. Since then, AI has found a way to affect millions of people’s day-to-day lives. Tools such as ChatGPT, an AI that allows users to ask it questions where it can then formulate any kind of response in any format needed, and Quillbot, a paraphrasing tool where users input any form of writing following a paraphrased output, are among the many tools students have learned to utilize. On top of this, AI could also be used for things as simple as getting ideas for food recipes, getting information on current events and much more.
The use of AI has since become extremely widespread, without much control or restriction. Particularly in the school environment, with a few taps on a keyboard, students can get the answer to any question they want. They can even have AI do homework for them directly. Schools and universities have begun using AI tools to avoid plagiarism. Google Plagiarism Check and Turnitin are one of many tools of AI that check student-submitted works for AI and other unoriginal work. With the help of AI tools such as Turnitin and Google Plagiarism Check, teachers can now differentiate AI from original work.
The big downside for AI in classrooms is that it is still a fairly new technology, so very few teachers know how to access and use it. As time passes, more teachers are expected to better understand AI and adapt it to their classrooms.
In the 2023-24 school year, around 63% of students were accused of using AI in their schoolwork. In response to this high percentage of cheating, American schools banned students from using AI, but nothing was said about the case for teachers. Many believe teachers should not be allowed to use AI, but why? Teachers have no reason to cheat on things they already know. When a teacher uses AI, it is to make their already stressful job easier by giving them extra time to catch up on or complete other tasks. While students may be using AI to take shortcuts with their work, teachers can use it to help make their job less overwhelming.
Forbidding teachers from using AI can cause them to be less efficient and more overwhelmed with tasks. Expecting teachers to create lesson plans, grade all of their students’ work promptly, teach every class, and on top of this be flexible all on their own, is absurd. Using AI can take a big burden off the shoulders of these teachers, who work extremely hard every single day to make sure they do what is asked of them in a quality and efficient fashion.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but by restricting AI usage for teachers, stress is placed on them that can be easily avoided. These same teachers work extremely hard for their students, why bother making their job even harder?
