By: Bailey Wheeler 

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems perform human tasks by using predictive algorithms, according to the AI at Walton College website. As reported by IBM, many headlines are focused on Generative AI which has the ability to create original images, videos and texts. Examples of generative AI include the popular chatbot ChatGPT, Google’s AI assistant Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot. 

In August 2025, the University of Arkansas released a website which provides information about AI resources and ethical usage. The AI informational website lists several U of A approved AI resources including ChatGPT, Google NotebookLM and Copilot Chat. 

“I used Copilot once to organize some information for an exam,” said Jocilyn Cummings, a senior at the U of A. During her freshman year, she also used ChatGPT to write a different ending of a book she liked. 

Cummings said that she is not a fan of AI. She is particularly against the use of generative AI because it is bad for the environment and bad for humanity. According to CBS, AI data centers use the same amount of energy as 100,000 homes and can consume up to 500 millians gallons of water per day. Not to mention, Data centers use diesel generators which emit pollutants harmful to human health.

Rowan Swendner, a senior mechanical engineering major, stated that he has used several AI platforms for coursework including ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Claude. In Swender’s opinion, AI has changed everything because it is an incredibly flexible tool.

 Leonardo Ahaus, a fourth year University of Arkansas student, reported that he is concerned by the amount of students he has seen use AI across campus, especially from STEM students.

“You want to be a therapist, and you can’t write your undergraduate paper for this class, and you want to go to grad school and do all this stuff. It doesn’t seem very plausible here,” Ahaus said.

Ahaus reported that he had never used AI and is very against it. Ahaus listed several reasons for his stance against AI including environmental effects, the recycling of artists’ work and negative effects on intelligence.

“I don’t want to rely on a robot to do my work for me,” Cummings said. She feels that she has to work harder for information compared to her peers. 

While she feels that she has to work harder, Cummings is motivated because she wants to be smarter and to get something out of her experience at the U of A and she’s spending thousands to get her degree. However, Cummings understands that college is difficult and AI represents an easy way out.

“So in one of my classes called Project Management we were given an assignment to feed the project into AI and  make a plan for this project using these guidelines on the rubric and upload what it tells you,” Swendner said. 

However, not all of Swendner’s professors actively use AI in the classroom. Several of Swendner’s professors list AI as an academic dishonesty violation, similar to sharing homework with another student. 

In one class, Swendner’s professor discovered several students using AI to write essays. The professor planned to figure out the number of students that used AI, and is still working on it after 5 months. Many of those students who used AI were senior engineering students and the assingment did not align with their career goals, according to Swendner.

Ahaus is a fine arts student and said that many art students are anti-AI. However, several of his art professors have used AI in their courses. 

“There was a professor who generated AI images, and used them as still lives, instead of actually setting up one,” Ahaus explained.“I’ve had a few professors ask students to use generative AI in order to brainstorm ideas or define ideas in our art practice. I’ve also had professors ask us to use generated AI and then input a prompt to get a picture and then adapt that picture into our own work.” 

Ahuas recalled a time when a professor wrote the course’s final and final study guide using generative AI tools. This came as a shock because it was drastically different from prior exams and study guides given by the professor. 

“I took a technology and education class. It’s like one of the main classes that you have to take as an ed studies major. 
And most of that course was actually, here’s how to use AI in your classroom,” Cummings said 

She reported feeling a bit shocked, as she had thought the course would be about implementing computer programs into the classroom. Many of the assignments required using AI platforms and comparing the outputs. 

Cummings has also had professors with more strict AI policies. Cummings explained that one of her professors has an AI policy outlined in his syllabus. The policy calls for student transparency by requiring students to report which AI tools they use. The policy also prohibits students from copying and pasting information from AI tools.

 “You’re kind of not in charge of your own learning and education,” Cummings said about AI. “And so, I would love to say that it’s gonna go away. I don’t know that it will.”

“I think in general, we can assume people will be lazy and take the cheaper route most of the time, which is what AI does for people,” Ahaus said. However, he hopes that the art world will take a stance against AI. 

In Swendner’s opinion, AI has the potential to be everywhere because it is a tool that can be used for everything.