Roughly nine out of 10 students have used artificial intelligence to help with homework assignments according to May 7, 2025 New York Magazine article. Students are now relying on a machine to get through college instead of fully engaging with the ideas and information themselves.
AI being used as a “tool” in education is not allowing students to fully work through problems and learn to be self-efficient. Formats like ChatGPT can write prompts and essays, but what is missing is the human emotion and the understanding of what it is like to live life as a human.
Besides lacking human emotion, AI has been proven to be deeply biased and prone to error. Meta has stated that, “It’s well-known that all leading LLMs have had issues with bias—specifically, they historically have leaned left when it comes to debated political and social topics.”
A study from Columbia Journalism Review shows that AI search engines cited 60% of news sources incorrectly. This is a very alarming rate especially since AI is now being incorporated into education. As a student, teachers have always told me not to rely on certain sites for information because they are inaccurate. If AI is so inaccurate with its sources, why is its use being encouraged?
AI on campus
A syllabus for one environmental studies class at North Central College states that students are allowed to use AI to, “find articles, summarize papers, polish your writing, and help you think through data.” Students are not only allowed to use AI unpunished but are now encouraged to use it as a shortcut in research and writing. Professors should want students to put in the work and think critically; not depend on a machine to do the work for them. What is ironic about this syllabus is that it is for a class about climate change. The professor encourages AI use even though these big AI companies are worsening the environment by using enormous amounts of energy and fresh water to operate.
In another North Central College syllabus from the sports management department, students are given explicit permission to use AI. A student from this department who wished to remain anonymous said, “They want us to use it to learn the platform, but most students are using it to do their work for them, and this is allowed by the professors within reason.”
There is nothing wrong with learning AI programs in class to become experienced and prepare for the working field but using AI platforms to think and write for you is where the difference lies.
AI detection in classwork
I take a lot of pride in my work as someone who does not use AI. I was once accused of using AI to write a paper by a professor. She used an AI detector that said my paper was 100% AI generated. I am not the only student dealing with this, though. A May 17, 2025, article in The Wall Street Journal notes that, “For students who swear they are not having a chatbot write their essays, trying to prove their humanity has become a challenge.” Students should not get penalized for writing a well-written paper.
Many people think increasing AI use and abuse is unfixable, but I disagree. Because AI has been on the rise for only a couple of years, it is not too late to contain it and put restrictions on it. There is no erasing AI as it is the future. For example, the International Monetary Fund estimates that AI will affect almost 40% of jobs around the world and replace some altogether. It is crucial in the world we live in to understand AI, but AI is not a cheat code to learning.
Schools should offer more courses about AI and how it works, as it is becoming a growing part of society, but using AI in place of finding information or learning it on your own should not be allowed. Schools, colleges and universities need to adopt more policies that discourage students from using AI to help complete their schoolwork. According to NEA, “less than half of U.S. states have official policies about AI to guide educators and students.” There needs to be a consensus between educators about the proper use of AI in education and its use by students should not be allowed to interfere their learning and development.
