For many people all around the world, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has only existed for a couple of years, and it is a new form of technology. However, AI, in fact, has actually existed since the 1950s’, and was created by Alan Turin and John McCarthy with the intention of making computers smarter.

When people think of AI, they most likely think of the type of AI that generates photos and information, but AI can be found when people are googling information and scrolling through social media or any streaming service. Even though AI has been around for a while, it resurfaced when ChatGPT was released in November of 2022, and when the Snapchat AI was made public in 2022. 

AI can especially be found in schools. According to the website, Campus Technology, the Digital Education Council found that 86% of students have used AI on school related assignments, and also found that 24% of students use it daily. Also, according to CT, ChatGPT is the most commonly used AI software.

At Morgan, 18 people, across four grades, were asked if they had used AI on a school assignment, and out of those people, 89% of them had used AI on assignments. Some students have talked about using AI to answer a question on a worksheet, but none of the students talked about having AI write an entire essay or paragraph.

Some students, such as sophomore Savanah Stewart, do not use AI for school related things but rather for social endeavors, saying, “I use the Snapchat AI for random, fun things. I will ask it random questions, like, ‘How deep is the ocean?’ I don’t really use AI that much, but I’ve seen people use it to talk to it like it’s a real person, which is weird.”

Most teachers can detect when AI is used just by looking at it, such as Spanish teacher Laura Luther. “I have a policy that my students aren’t to use AI or Google Translate, or any other technology assisted language tools. I am pretty good at figuring out who does what.”

However, some teachers can also run students’ work through software that can detect the usage of AI, such as Turnitin.com, and even Google Classroom if the setting for it is turned on. However, there is a downside to this, because these software alerts teachers that AI was used, even though it was never there. 

The reason for this is because AI softwares, such as ChatGPT, scans the internet for information from different sources to create an answer. If a student were to use a website as a source of information, and not use AI at all, AI detecting software would still flag it down because a website was used as a source. This makes it difficult for teachers to find the usage of AI if they cannot do it naturally.

This was highlighted by Forbes magazine which had a copywriter run the Declaration of Independence, which was written in 1776, through an AI detector. It found that 98.51% of it was written by AI, which is impossible.

Currently, Morgan’s student handbook does not talk about the school’s rules on AI itself, but it does have a section dedicated to Academic Integrity. Morgan has a strict set of consequences if a student is caught plagiarizing/cheating on an assignment. The handbook states, “Consequences for cheating take into account the grade level of the student and the severity of the misrepresentation.” 

AI has caused a lot of people to have strong opinions about it. Some people think it is extremely dangerous, while others think there is a way for it to be beneficial to society and schools. Some teachers were asked their views on the subjects, and all of them had the agreement that it truly depends on the situation.

Brooke Mazzarella, an English teacher at Morgan, stated, “I think AI can be beneficial when used properly, but I think it’s very dangerous when you use it to generate work that you are then claiming is your own.”

Students use AI for many different reasons when it comes to school work. Some people use it to get ideas on what to do for an assignment, some use it to edit, but some students can use it for creating whole chunks of writing, such as writing answers to questions, paragraphs, and even whole essays.

Julie Frydenborg, an English Teacher, agreed that AI can have its benefits, but also spoke on how AI has its negative sides, especially in writing. “Using it [AI] as a writing tool is not good. It spits out clear writing, but there’s no voice whatsoever.”

Since AI can be an issue in schools, most teachers do not allow the use of any AI in their classrooms, such as the use of ChatGPT (a generative AI platform), Google Translate, or any other AI technology programs. Teachers typically put their policies on their syllables that are given to students at the beginning of the year, and some teachers keep their policies up in their classroom.

To combat the issues of AI, Frydenborg has a sheet of paper on her whiteboard that lists out her classroom policy on AI. It states, “My job as your teacher is to develop your foundation skills in reading and writing. Due to this responsibility, there will be a strict-no AI use policy in my classroom. In the event of this policy being broken, I have a three-strike rule.”

These consequences include the first strike being partial credit and a warning, the second being detention, and the third being a zero on an assignment, and notifying admin, parents, club leaders, and coaches.

However, Alex DiStefano, a digital media and graphic design teacher, talked about how AI is actually used in his class for assignments. “With the Adobe Suite, we use generative AI all the time to enhance our photos.” This website is used in digital media classes to create digital images, edit photos, enhance photos, and there is a setting that allows users to create photos with AI. It is also better at removing unwanted things in the image, which has never been done before. DiStefano talked about how this AI program can allow people to edit photos better, which can be helpful for people.

DiSefano also warns of the potential negative effects. “There’s times where people are forging work and making things up, which is not good. You have to find that right balance between forging work and learning it and using it for helpful things.”