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By Emery Williamson

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a search engine; it’s shaping the future of education, business, and even sports by adapting to human needs with distinctive efficiency. In 1956, Dartmouth College professor John McCarthy “coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’ and aimed to create machines capable of reasoning and using human language.” Rather than having a fixed role, AI is something we, as students, teachers, and society, are still in the process of discovering, whether in education or in daily life. Due to this rapid shift, I wanted to explore how educators themselves perceive these changes. To gain insight, I interviewed Upper School history and economics teacher Rob Wedge about his opinions and predictions for the future of AI in education. 

ChatGPT’s logo. Image credit: Logos-World.

When asked about his concerns towards AI, Wedge remarked, “My biggest fear is that you are not ‘you,’ that you are a package that a robot has put together.” Wedge emphasized how easy it is in society for individuals to accept AI as their identity, allowing it to generate polished work for all of their needs. Chat GPT, Gauth, and other AI resources can strip creativity from an individual and basically turn them into a bot, having minimal intriguing personality traits. As AI produces more and more content for more and more people, society rationally begins to lose its identity. 

In school, grades have always been deemed the cornerstone of academic success, for they have the power to shape students’ futures. With these rapid technological advancements, many teachers are left questioning whether the task they assign to their students can be completed by AI, and is it possible that the work they receive from their students doesn’t truly reflect their effort? Wedge elaborated on this concern, asking, “Do you really know that the kid has earned straight A’s, or does the kid that gets straight A’s just better at cheating than everyone else?” Wedge highlighted the growing anxiety in education, especially among high school and college teachers and administrators. Can and will AI ever take over education? It is becoming difficult for teachers to distinguish genuine achievements and AI achievements, leaving them struggling to balance trust with self-responsibility. The New York Times’ Callie Holtermann delved into a situation where University of Houston student Leigh Burrell got a zero on an assignment that was worth 15% of her final grade. Burrell’s professor believed her work was AI, but Burrell proved otherwise. This exhibits one of the many troubles AI could potentially bring to education.

“What can students do to show us that we can trust you?” Wedge asked. Honor is a value regarded highly at Collegiate, and in education, as it is one of the foundations of learning. Wedge believes that by building trust within a community, students are given the ability to prove their learning abilities and strengthen their classmates’ learning abilities in a way that permits teachers to know “Johnny’s work is Johnny’s work.”  

From a student perspective, I asked Wedge what he believes teachers need to do to ensure their students are unable to use AI on their assessments. His response was, “If a bot can do the assignment, is it a legitimate assignment to give?” Elaborating on this, Wedge says some teachers are using AI, experimenting with it, “as if we were students,” to try and figure out whether the assignments given to the students can be completed with AI. But this raises a dilemma: nearly every type of assignment can now be completed by AI. Wedge did mention that some teachers are implementing more in-class assignments, like in-class essays, where the students’ computer screens are facing the teachers. This, he believes, is, as of right now, one of the most reasonable ways to handle this rapidly advancing technology.  

While much of the conversation surrounding AI in schools focuses on cheating, the technology also offers skills that enhance learning. AI can provide tutoring, mock quizzes, flashcards, and other study techniques to encourage users to learn effectively. Wedge suggested that if we as a society learn “how to use it in an ethical, responsible way,” it could play a pivotal role in enhancing the education students receive. He also asked, “When is it always, never, and sometimes appropriate to use AI?” conveying the importance of establishing guidelines and teaching students when and how to use AI as a supportive tool. Wedge would love to live in a world where AI is a “complement, not a supplement” of learning.   

Artificial intelligence is reshaping education in both exciting and frustrating ways. While it offers tools for learning, it also poses serious risks, like cheating. Grades, once considered an indicator of understanding, are now complicated by the ease with which AI can generate the work for you. As Wedge emphasized, the heart of education lies within honor; students must convey responsibility, and teachers must fight for genuine engagement. By learning to use AI ethically, schools can turn this potential threat into a powerful help engine. “We need to use it as a complement, not a supplement.”