As technology becomes an increasingly integral part of life, from work to school, so too has AI. While many students, in particular, use sites like Gauth, Claude, and ChatGPT to help them brainstorm and study, or to organize study guides, generate essay outlines, and create practice tests, it can definitely feel like an academic cheat code. However, AI can be used to support learning. Some students choose to use it unethically to help write essays or solve problems for them, which may improve their grades but defeats the true purpose of assignments in the first place. Freshman Fred Egan remarked how he used AI productively, stating he “uses AI because it helps me develop ideas, and then I can embellish on those ideas. The ideas that AI gives me are a good foundation, like a base for bigger plans.” 

Technology can be helpful for students in helping them study and work more efficiently. AI can help support learning and make studying easier, but it’s also a tool that is very easy to use, almost too easy to take advantage of. However, while AI can perform tasks accurately and solve problems quickly, it won’t make it any easier for people to understand the material they are supposed to learn. When asked about his opinion on the matter, junior Kaden Fraire said, “You might benefit from your grade, but in the long run, when you gotta write an essay on paper in class, you’re cooked.”