Artificial intelligence is quickly integrating itself into the fabric of any institution it touches. It comes as no surprise that academia, though resistant to the idea of students using AI to write their work, has already seen improvements to both student and faculty experiences as learners and teachers.
The importance of AI in academia can’t be understated. There may be a lot of clamor around generative AI and academic integrity, but AI is already fixing the problems that higher education couldn’t have done alone. Specifically, the use of AI-powered tools to ensure no student falls behind and that every student is prepared to enter the world and make meaningful contributions.
Table of Contents
- The Importance of AI for Students
- The Importance of AI for Teachers
- The Importance of AI for Academia
- The Future of Academia
- Conclusion
- FAQ
The Importance of AI For Students
AI tools that aid a student in writing text, be it something as simple as ChatGPT, or as all-encompassing as StealthGPT, make students produce better essays when used as writing assistants. If a student is having difficulty shaping an paragraph to achieve particular essay goals, generating immediate samples is often the best way to teach a student how to do it themselves.
AI writers teach by showing, not telling and this makes it an essential teaching tool when utilized correctly. One might have ethical considerations if these AI systems hinder a student’s learning experience, people often connect the hard work of doing homework as essential to developing critical thinking faculties. However, the opposite seems to be the case, with so many students using AI for school work and no decrease of such faculties being documented. If anything, there seems to be more competency exhibited by younger generations than ever.
There are so many new technologies available now and coming soon that use AI to automate the customization processes to ensure every student’s success. This article by Forbes predicts the coming wave of educational tech advancements which will allow professors to create curricula customized and personalized learning experiences unique to each student.
So, if a class features a handful of international students, some students with special needs, and some honors students, AI can generate a curriculum that will give each one what they need, creating homework that challenges them and improves each of their unique weaknesses.
The Importance of AI for Teachers
Beyond how customization of curricula will improve a teacher’s ability to manage their class, teachers are already utilizing a slew of AI tools to automate a variety of tasks. From reviewing assignments for plagiarism using AI detectors, to grading, to taking attendance, these jobs can all be done with a few simple clicks now, allowing teachers to refocus their efforts on creating meaningful work and improving the experiences of individual students.
Generative AI specifically allows teachers to create assignments to their specific needs and syllabi so they can run their classrooms with more orderliness. When new technology is embraced and not demonized, everyone benefits.
The Importance of AI in Academia
The AI capabilities academia has yet to see have unlimited potential for both students and teachers. All we really know is that we’re all running this experiment together, students and teachers are discovering the ethical implications of any application of AI at the same time.
Every higher education institution has different policymakers creating different initiatives, some are more restrictive while some are more progressive. It’s the more progressive institutions that are discovering the benefits of embracing AI, from better learning outcomes, to positive mental healthcare results, and more targeted enrollment. Letting students use AI tools that are available to the world at large without consequences is teaching them new skills for the real world and authoring more student success stories than before.
Like in every industry, AI streamlines workflow so professionals can focus on optimizing the most important elements of their job. In academia, that means learning and teaching. The more academia embraces AI, the better student performance will be. Universities that attempt interventions into inevitable technological changes will surely fall behind the more progressive institutions who put the future first in their decision-making.
Conclusion
Fears of how AI-driven changes will complicate the world are natural, however history has shown us that when we embrace technological change, those innovations improve the world by making us more intelligent and empathetic citizens of it.
The importance of AI in academia is simply that it will help make humanity smarter, more efficient, less wasteful and more caring for others. It prepares young people for the real world by making them more fully human, not just by helping them do homework.
The potential of AI is to create a world where no human is left behind. Today it begins with improving student outcomes, tomorrow AI will ensure every human outcome is improved to make us happier, healthier, more peaceful and more creative.
FAQ
What is Generative AI?
AI models that use large language models to create content, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are considered Generative AI. Technology like StealthGPT, that uses natural language processing to generate human-like text, is also categorized as generative AI. Any AI software that generates content a user asks for falls under this description.
Is Using Generative AI Plagiarism?
No. Plagiarism is the theft of another’s words or ideas without proper credit. Generative AI creates original content. StealthGPT offers in-text citations for the purpose of avoiding plagiarism at all costs.
What are the drawbacks of using AI in Academia?
Beyond anything that challenges academic integrity, universities are also concerned with students using AI to feed large tech companies inputs that the company can collect as datasets to improve their algorithm’s machine learning or can use for data analysis to achieve larger business goals. This along with environmental concerns poses a challenge to universities embracing AI.
