AI has been the subject of a lot of controversy in recent years - especially in the education sector. There have been many stories of students using ChatGPT to write essays and teachers using AI to mark them. Other students and teachers have meanwhile rallied against AI - viewing it as a form of cheating that is stopping people from actually learning. Whatever way you sway, one thing is certain: AI isn’t going anywhere. It’s only going to become more advanced and more widespread in its adoption. Those who don’t use it will soon be at a disadvantage. But, of course, AI isn’t perfect, and there are ways that it can be harmful if you don’t use it correctly. This post briefly delves into some of the benefits and drawbacks of using AI to study in order to help you decide whether it’s time to embrace AI.
The benefits
qMany of us have encountered specific questions regarding tough topics that are hard to find an answer to. Instead of having to trawl through books or search engine results, AI tools like Chat GPT can give you an instant answer. This could save you hours while studying.
Enhanced research
AI tools can also be valuable for researching topics and tracking down sources. Perplexity AI is particularly effective at providing accurate, up to date sources with citations. This can be a huge help when writing essays when you quickly need a source to back up what you’re saying - especially as such sources are becoming much harder to find using search engines.
Free tutoring
Not everyone can afford to hire a premium tutor. AI has democratized education in this regard by acting as a free tutor - websites like Student Notes offer collaborative note sharing and integrate AI to allow you to create custom study guides using this shared content. This can greatly help when learning and revising topics.
The drawbacks
Potential for inaccuracy
AI tools are prone to ‘hallucinations’ - this is when they fabricate information, which can include coming up with false quotes or inaccurate facts. Certain facts therefore need to be verified elsewhere. Students that don’t take the time to fact-check could end up with bad grades.
Potential for plagiarism
Using certain AI programs can be dangerous when writing essays as AI can take sentences and quotes directly from other studies. If you’re copying and pasting AI results, there’s a risk you could plagiarise other essays. This is why essays still need to be written in your own words.
Hindered critical thinking skills
Overrelying on AI can hinder critical thinking skills. Students may not develop the ability to solve problems independently - a skill that is needed in the real world after leaving education. It can also lead to a shallow understanding of topics - when we do our own research, we learn all kinds of other things along the way that are skipped over by using AI.
