In recent years, the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly popular across the world, and especially in schools throughout the United States. At Hays High School, about 49 percent of students, in a survey of 160, use AI in some way to complete their schoolwork, and many of these students are more likely to use AI forms after they have procrastinated completing their work. So, what effects does using AI at school have on the quality of a student’s work?

Students utilize different AI tools in a multitude of ways. From text generation tools like ChatGPT, QuillBot and Grammarly to math problem-solving tools like Mathway and Photomath, students can find a program to help complete their work for almost any subject.
Often times, especially after procrastinating an assignment, students will use AI programs to complete the entirety of their work and simply copy the material verbatim. However, their work often ends up being unoriginal and of course, they risk facing penalties for plagiarized work. This has become a frequent habit for many students at Hays High, leading to adverse effects on their performance in classes and on their work ethic.
“Unfortunately, I see students misusing AI to complete tasks that involve skills they have not yet developed,” said social science teacher Abby Gillan. “AI has so much potential to improve our efficiency and capabilities, but students are sometimes too quick to turn over the entire process to AI. It prevents them from developing critical thinking skills that will help them excel later in life.”
While many students have turned to using AI for all of their schoolwork, several students use AI to loosely create outlines or generate ideas to get an assignment started. This has better effects on the outcomes of their work as many teachers allow AI in their classes to develop the beginning ideas of a project.
“I will often use AI when I am facing writers block because it helps me come up with ideas that I can build on,” said senior Samara DeWitt. “I also like to use it to create outlines for my essays because it helps me create an idea of what I want to do without actually writing the whole thing.”
Overall, AI tools have the potential to be incredibly beneficial to students when used carefully, but if they rely on it too much, they risk curbing the development of crucial life skills. Students should be educated on the proper use of AI and utilize it only to improve their learning, making sure the learning process does not get completely ignored.

CLICK HERE to learn more about how to use AI ethically for school work.