In a world where science fiction blends with reality, artificial intelligence has become the trailblazer in the start of a digital revolution. In this new era, this technology is no longer a fantastical concept imagined by movie directors, rather its influence spans from the time-consuming task of writing an essay to the creation of life-changing antibiotics.
Students, teachers, and administrators alike are recognizing the palpable effects of this sophisticated technology. As a result, some teachers are already allowing their students to utilize its benefits.
“Everyone is pretty familiar with ChatGPT now, and knows that it’s a resource a lot of people use. Not everyone uses it in the best way, but some of my ELA teachers have said to get ideas from it, but not if you’re taking those ideas and putting them directly on the paper,” said Callie Garraway, junior.
Students are recognizing the advancements they can make to their educational journeys with AI, using ChatGPT to aid in their understanding.
“A lot of times I’ll use it to correct errors or anything in my writing, or if I’m going through a math problem and I don’t know how to solve it, I’ll have it explain that,” said Blake Mccarthy, sophomore.
The major concern with anything unfamiliar on such a substantial scale is abusing its power. For this reason, teachers are acknowledging the importance of educating their students on the proper uses of this anomaly.
“Like anything, you have to learn how to use it appropriately, in any aspect. I think as a teacher it’s my responsibility to make sure that I show kids how to use it appropriately and how it can be beneficial,” said Kelly Simon, English teacher.
A concern for some people is the full reliance society may grow to have on artificial intelligence systems. However, people usually recognize these shortfallings and use technology like ChatGPT accordingly, calculating the probability of the information’s accuracy.
“It’s helpful as long as you have a base knowledge so you can see where it’s wrong… it’s kind of iffy because it can give you wrong info sometimes. You have to fact check it,” Mccarthy said.
General arguments have been highly divisive, with individuals from both sides voicing their contrasting opinions on implementation. These barriers have been exemplified at AP summer conferences, where AI was a notable topic of discussion.
“It was kind of split. You had teachers there who were very much proactive and learning how to use it and how it can make, as a teacher, their job more efficient…then you had others who were just anti and thinking this is detrimental to society,” Simon said.
Thankfully, the district has been very supportive of welcoming this technology, instead of hiding under the tempting shield of disregard. Prominent teachers at OHS have taken the steps to push for this initiative, appreciating the importance of proactivity.
“I’ve met with the senior leadership of the school to try and initially raise awareness about this technology and I’m happy to say they were very receptive to trying to embrace this technology and use it… and Deer Valley Unified School District ended up hosting a series of meetings over the summer about what approach to take,” said Richard Weyker, government and macroeconomics teacher.
Within the classroom, artificial intelligence has the potential to bridge the gap between teacher and student, ensuring everyone’s unique learning style is being demonstrated.
“One of those things that we struggle with as teachers is we have to somehow cater a lesson to a classroom full of anywhere from 20 to 40 kids who have vastly different skill sets, vastly different needs, vastly different ways of learning…the potential for artificial intelligence within the classroom is now you have systems that may be able to cater the education to the specific needs and efficiencies and abilities of the students,” Weyker said.
With every day seemingly marking the discovery of a new usage, it is evident that artificial intelligence is here to stay.
“I feel like it’s definitely going to evolve. Now it’s already a big thing when AI two years ago wasn’t even a thing. Now it’s in our social media, like Snapchat, and it’s in our schools” Garraway said.
This inevitable evolution has allowed individuals to begin crafting a vision of the future, recognizing that jobs will be heavily impacted by this revolutionary boom in innovation.
“I’m of the belief that no job is completely safe, in that it’s either going to be impacted by this technology or it could be potentially replaced. And that sounds far-fetched but I’ve seen versions of ChatGPT that have a digital avatar that you ask the questions to by talking to it…it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how that can be employed into an educational environment,” Weyker said.
Though the thoughts of eliminating jobs sounds jarring and concerning, many recognize the prospective improvement this reality provides. The world can shift towards more hobby-centered work, alleviating workers from strenuous jobs.
“When you see machines writing essays, when you see them answering calls, when you see some artificial intelligence programs engineering new antibiotics and synthesizing new proteins; doing the work of the mind, the creative work of the mind, makes you have to truly embrace the possibility that work itself will no longer be needed in the way that we’ve traditionally been used to it,” Weyker said.
With the rise of any new technology, there are experts prepared to eliminate any barriers of confusion for the general public. The difference now is the power these systems yield; their potential stems far beyond something explainable in a YouTube video.
“If you look around you, we are hopelessly reliant on our machines but at least we understand what they’re doing because we have been responsible for their creation from point A to point B. Now we have machines that go from point A to point Z and we are barely going to understand anything in between,” Weyker said.
Just like with the societal divide that occurred in the past between the people learning how to use computers and those refusing to dive into this realm, artificial intelligence is not going away and becoming familiar with its impacts seems to be the advantageous choice.
“Everyone should be aware of it, they should be learning about it, and they should be figuring out the best ways to use it because either you’re learning how to use it or you’re getting left behind,” Weyker said.
