PROF. JENKINS: Should you use AI on homework?

Rob Jenkins is a Higher Education Fellow with Campus Reform and a tenured associate professor of English at Georgia State University - Perimeter College. The opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his employer.

The impact of artificial intelligence on higher education has been the topic of much discussion and speculation lately, often producing industrial-grade angst among students and recent graduates alike.

As reported by Campus Reform, a recent survey by Kickresume found that “Gen Z college graduates are entering one of the toughest job markets in recent history, with 58% still unemployed after earning their degrees. Students attribute much of the difficulty to the proliferation of artificial intelligence.” 

Assuming those students’ perceptions are accurate, this is undoubtedly a problem, one everyone will have to deal with sooner or later.

However, if you’re a current college student, you might find yourself faced with a more immediate challenge: how to use AI in your college classes. More specifically, when is it ethical to use AI, when is it not, and how do you know?

A few weeks ago, one of my better students stopped by my office to inform me, confidentially, that some of her classmates were using AI to cheat in my writing class. Obviously, I was shocked.

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Just kidding. I was hardly shocked. Of course some students are using AI to write their papers, even though I officially forbid it in my syllabus. And of course I knew they were doing it. It’s not as though I can’t usually tell. 

The problem is proving it. If you’re going to accuse a student of cheating, you must have incontrovertible proof. Unlike traditional plagiarism detectors, AI “detectors” are notoriously unreliable, especially when clever students take minimal precautions (such as re-writing slightly what the bot generates).

This student was upset because she had refrained from using AI, and she felt her classmates had gotten an unfair advantage. What she didn’t necessarily know is how those other students fared. She made an A in part because she eschewed AI, and I could tell. Although she wasn’t a great writer—pretty good but not great—her work was notably original.

Some of her classmates’ work, on the other hand, was clearly not original. And whether that was because they used AI or for some other reason, it cost them, grade-wise. As I’ve explained elsewhere, my focus in college writing courses has shifted, since the advent of AI, from prioritizing correctness to placing greater value on authenticity.

I believe, in the years to come, those are the qualities that will ultimately distinguish workers who are able to communicate effectively from those who merely farm out their writing—and their thinking—to AI: originality and authenticity.

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So how should you, as a conservative college student, respond to the “AI revolution” on campus? 

My first piece of advice is very simple: Don’t cheat. As a conservative, you should regard academic dishonesty as anathema. If your professor states in the syllabus that you are not to use AI on your assignments, then don’t use it. That is the honest and ethical thing to do.

Will it cost you, grade-wise? Not necessarily. You might just have to work a little harder than your classmates who are using AI to cheat. Just remember that you’re also learning more than they are, and over time that will accrue to your benefit. 

Second, learn to use AI effectively where appropriate. You will doubtless have courses in which AI use is at least allowed, if not encouraged or even taught. You can also take online tutorials and just play around on sites like ChatGPT to develop some facility. Using AI well requires being able to write very specific, nuanced prompts, and research indicates that employers are looking for workers who have that skill. 

Personally, I’ve found AI to be better than most search engines—although it has a tendency to make things up, so you have to be careful. It’s also an effective proof-reader, as long as you prompt it carefully. Otherwise, it can make changes you didn’t want. I have friends and colleagues who use it to generate boilerplate reports and emails.

Just don’t forget, as you explore the wonders of AI, that you’re a human being, with ideas, passions, and points of view. AI is a machine. It can only mimic those things. In the end, you must be its master, not let it become yours.

 Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.