The moment generative AI was released to the public, there was considerable debate over whether we should accept its generated words and images as authentic, human-made art. Besides the technicalities of copyright, the issue of AI being used for young minds to feed their homework into and passing it off as their own is also a growing concern for teachers.
The most common use of AI in our community is for school. “I have recently read a book, but no one else I know has read the book, and I wanted to explore some ideas and themes of that book from other sources, so I bounced some ideas off of it(AI),” English teacher Blaine Willard said.
Junior Hope Sagarnaga Solorio uses it to help understand math. “I hear a lot of side conversations about ‘I used ChatGPT on this’ when they’re doing homework. I usually mind my business, but it’s getting to a certain level where they use it on every single assignment and don’t use the knowledge they’re supposed to have,” Sagarnage Solorio said.
“There really isn’t that much incentive to use AI [for me] unless you need to do something outside your creative field. If I’m building a game, there’s an incentive for me, as a programmer who isn’t an artist, to use AI-generated art for the project. I don’t, though. I enjoy learning about art,” Junior Josiah Bright said.
Wallace and art teacher Babette Grunwald believe A.I.-generated images are art and that using AI is a slippery slope.
In recent years, AI has skyrocketed in use, with young adults more likely to use ChatGPT to learn, complete work-related tasks, and for entertainment. According to the Pew Research Center, ChatGPT has grown from 8% to 28% in work-related use.
“I hate it. Why are you creating music or poetry or writing a book if it’s all generated? I think it’s all an expression and can be cathartic, and if you’re not allowing yourself to feel that you’re doing a huge disservice to yourself and the art community,” English teacher Chris Martin said.
“AI usage is a symptom,” Bright said. “It makes it easier to give in to bad creative tendencies, but it isn’t the root cause just yet.”
