Who is to Blame—AI and Education
By Amruta Srinivasan
As I write this sentence, Grammarly is pointing out ways I could use its AI features to further refine my words. Microsoft Copilot is a mis-click away, and the very first prompt asks me if I would like a sample first draft. Google’s Gemini blinks invitingly at the corner of my screen, daring me to enter a question. Generative AI is quite literally everywhere, and seemingly inescapable. It’s embedded into so many of our digital resources, which makes not using it all the more difficult. Gemini’s AI Overview shows up in nearly every Google search, which could lead to students utilizing harmful misinformation in their assignments and daily lives. Corporations flaunt their AI tools, and attempt to reel in students with alluring advertisements. They do not care if a student is put on academic probation for cheating. They do not care about integrity. They simply care about profiting off of their users. Why in the world, then, would they care about cheating?
Cheating, unfortunately, has always existed. Sure, it was much harder in the past, but the urge to lie and dupe one’s way through a course or exam has been around since the very first exam. The rise of generative AI did not somehow turn every honest and upstanding student into a despicable cheater. Instead, it made cheating easier. Today, a cheater would copy and paste the essay prompt into Chat-GPT, while his ancestor would write down test answers on little chits of paper and sneak them into the exam room. These are just different manifestations of the same issue.
Of course, students who use AI to cheat are not guiltless. Cheating in any form is abhorrent and vile, and it is a completely inexcusable offense. I am merely pointing out the fault in the corporate rhetoric surrounding Artificial Intelligence and the issues built into our educational system. AI-based cheating is merely a symptom of the overarching problem plaguing students.
When education is centred around the result and not the process, generating an essay using Chat-GPT seems like a viable option for some students. The students are given no incentive but an abstract concept of integrity to write and create their work by themselves. The education system is deeply flawed, and the AI epidemic is unfortunately just a byproduct.
To fix my generation’s constant reliance on generative AI, we must first fix our education system. We shouldn’t just deliver hollow sermons on ethics and righteousness; rather, we need to restructure how students and young people are viewed. The AI crisis has just exacerbated a problem that has always lived in our world, and has made it painfully visible and nearly impossible to ignore.
