This will be a raw blog post, an observation straight from the belly of our education system.
Yesterday we provided an introduction on GAI for our students, like we did before. There were eight students in our class today. In contrast to other classes, a vast majority did not seem to care about what was being said.
Students on AI (1)
After some initial interactions, the students started opening up and started explaining the positive sides of GAI. They were so persistent in stressing the upsides that I asked them to write these down, by means of our method. This is their list:
· It facilitates work
· Artificial intelligence helps students at school because it solves questions and tasks to which they do not know the answers. [added later:] It helps students at school and at home
· It can help understand a given issue for e.g. a short test at the moment when there is no one to explain it to you
· If we do not understand something AI will help us expand knowledge on this topic
· It is worth using AI at school because it helps translate difficult topics from lessons in a simple and understandable way.
· Artificial intelligence helps with topics and tasks which we do not understand
· AI translates for us or solves for us when we do not know something
· If you did not understand the task then you can always ask AI for help
The answers do not reflect well on the support our educational system provides them. But do they also reflect poorly on the students?
Students on AI (2)
I asked the students to write down their thoughts the following topic: if GAI is so great, wouldn’t it not make sense for them to be allowed to use AI during exams? These are their answers:
· No because AI makes mistakes
· It would not be good, because AI itself makes many mistakes
· No because AI sometimes is wrong
· No because AI sometimes is wrong
· No because AI is not effective
· No because AI sometimes is wrong
· No because AI sometimes makes mistakes
· No because AI’s answers can be wrong
What is obvious, other than the apparent conformism, is that these students do not embrace GAI wholeheartedly and uncritically. They know that it is a subpar tool.
Paradox
It seems paradoxical: on the one hand, GAI is described as a useful tool; on the other, when it actually matters at school, it is described as flawed. I asked the students to help me understand how these two descriptions fit together. After an initial silence and a few “I don’t know” responses, two answers about using AI to support their schoolwork made me shiver:
· We take the risk.
· It is better than nothing.
Yes, we should worry about the potential harms of AI. But we should worry even more about the potential harm caused by the position we put our students in.
