AI transforms art, programming, writing and more industries daily. However, it’s become a somewhat controversial topic in the educational environment.
Chatbots such as ChatGPT were popularized in the 2022-2023 school year, creating challenges for educators in all subjects countywide. Instead of helping develop the educational process, these apps instead contributed to academic dishonesty. Almost one in 10 students across MCPS submitted essays, homework and projects that involved AI use. This led the MCPS Board of Education to implement anti-AI policies, such as recognition software, banning ChatGPT on school Chromebooks and issuing severe punishments for students caught using AI.
Ian Matthews, who primarily teaches AP Language & Composition, was asked about the effect AI had on his class and students.
“Last year mainly, there was quite a bit of student work that I know was AI-generated,” Matthews said. “I had students writing essays entirely using ChatGPT or Bard AI.”
Despite the challenges he faced, Matthews stated that AI can be helpful if embedded properly.
Many educators share Matthews’ opinion, such as computer science teacher Fedor Menchukov, who believes that although AI can cause a lot of problems, it can also be beneficial to use under specific circumstances.
“It’s helping with simple things that you would routinely type out,” computer science teacher Fedor Menchukov said. “You can plug it into the AI and it’ll save you quite a bit of time.”
Menchukov mentioned that new programmers shouldn’t use AI when learning the basics, but he does encourage his more learned students to utilize its tools.
Under any circumstance, he ensures that his door is always open for students who are unsure about this new technology and wish to discuss it in a safe environment.
The student body also feels that the curriculum could benefit from integration.
“It’s improving medical diagnosis,” senior Sadie Morgenstern said. “It’s creating better medical plans, as well as helping with data management.”
Morgenstern is on track to study pre-med. She feels that AI will be essential for the future of medicine, and went on to state that the benefits of AI go beyond medicine and can assist in specific tasks in the corporate world that may need more precise handling.
“It’s something that’s being used very widely across different fields,” junior Sonia Gass said. “Subjects that we’re learning will become irrelevant and we’re falling behind by learning skills we no longer need.”
Senior Leyton Seo also raised concerns about structural unemployment because of the lack of communication and knowledge about AI, which seems to be a common problem. In May 2023, 3,900 jobs were lost in the United States, making up for 5% of unemployment that month. Goldman Sachs economists estimated that up to 300 million jobs could be lost within five years due to the rise of AI.
However, the aura of academic dishonesty surrounding AI has caused it to be a somewhat taboo subject between students and teachers, especially when it comes to understanding and learning more about it.
“A lot of people I know are scared to talk to teachers about AI,” Seo said. “I think that barrier is preventing a lot of progressive learning.”
