Artificial Intelligence and its place in the classroom
How teachers and students have adapted to include AI in their learning, and the dangers it poses.
ChatGPT’s homepage slogan. Photo credit-Rebecca Tittl
By: Rebecca Tittl ‘26
The growing discourse around Artificial intelligence (AI) has highlighted the dangers and benefits of technological assistance in and out of the SUA classroom.
As AI technology has evolved, it has begun to appear in the classroom setting. Many teachers have seen AI’s writing software as a potential cheating instrument, but some have embraced AI as an educational tool to enhance learning.
AVLI technical coordinator and high school teacher Brian Tittl has seen firsthand how AI technology can be used in both good and bad ways in the classroom and how AI has evolved over the past few years.
“The difference with what we are seeing today is with the development of neural networks…there is not a set number of outputs for what you put in,” Tittl said when asked how AI has evolved in recent years. He goes on to describe how AI has become more creative by learning how to analyze questions, and answer them by using information from the internet.
When asked about how AI has affected the learning environment, Tittl said, “I think AI is a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, it could be a good tool for students to study. And on the other hand, it could do a lot of the work for students that they should be doing themselves in order to practice the ideas.”
The current leader in the AI development field, OpenAI, says in its mission statement, “OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”
“Output may not always be accurate. You should not rely on Output from our Services as a sole source of truth, factual information or as a substitute for professional advice,” OpenAI warns.
The use of AI for assignments can also be considered plagiarism because it is passing off someone else’s work as your own. Some teachers have begun using AI detection programs to avoid this, and most things written by AI can be detected by TurnItIn.
As students and teachers begin experimenting with Artificial Intelligence, it is important to understand how it can be used in the classroom and what pitfalls should be avoided.
