By Elizabeth Bunnell

Advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology presents new questions for college professors and students when returning for the spring semester. 

Websites like ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, and QuillBot offer AI writing tools to aid students with homework assignments, essays, and more. Overall a negative attitude has been associated with students using AI while doing schoolwork, but that might be changing.

“My attitude has changed given this whole new world that was opened up to me on whether I should be encouraging you guys to use it,” honors world civilization professor Michael McCoy said. “That’s why I think it’s a good idea to say in your classes to invite you to get it out and play with it, and see how it can help you learn things let’s say about the ancient world on your own, without necessarily me having a spoon feed you information.”

McCoy attended a teaching symposium before the start of the spring semester where he went to a session informing educators about AI. 

“I think with the encouragement from the teaching symposium, that the attitude to take is, students are going to have to learn to use it,” McCoy said. “So we might as well give them assignments, and ask them to use specific forms of AI, where you’d like you maintain control over the prompts and over their searches.”

In McCoy’s World Civilization class he instructed students to research relevant topics with the aid of AI. For example, students researched Egyptian gods and mummification rituals and AI provided answers and links to websites with more information. 

While McCoy’s class takes a more experimental or positive stance towards AI, there are still lots of concerns regarding academic integrity and the use of AI.

Chris Bryson, the program director of the Office of Academic Integrity, explained the office’s role on campus is to foster a community that values academic integrity. 

“The advancement of generative artificial intelligence tools has required that we all become more aware of their capabilities,” Bryson said. 

Bryson explained there have been instances where students have been accused of using generative artificial intelligence tools without permission from their instructor, but the office does not track the number of instances where this has occurred. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether the use of AI presents a threat to academic honesty and integrity at this university. 

“I think the most important thing students should know is that they need to get permission from their instructor(s) before using any generative artificial intelligence tools in completing any academic work they submit for credit,” Bryson said.

With the rise in AI options available and constant improvement in it’s abilities it raises multiple questions for what the future of academia entails.

“It’s not like its future anymore. I told someone earlier today that I’m trying to break myself of the habit of talking about in the future because the future is now it’s here,” McCoy said. “We might as well start talking about it that way. In the present tense AI is here.”

McCoy compared the era we are in right now with the rapid evolution of AI to the “Dot-Com” boom of the 90s and we could experience a Y-2K crisis. 

“The whole corporate world is already getting ready for whatever this crazy new world of employment that we’re living in,” McCoy said. “It’s going to be like trying to keep your students from looking at their phones in class. You just can’t do it. You might as well embrace it.”

Although AI is viewed as something to make life easier for students, some students are against it altogether. 

“I think the whole purpose of going to school is to learn,” sophomore biology major Madelyn Abraham said. “I think it’s a form of cheating personally. I’ve never used AI for any of my homework but, if you don’t understand it, then it teaches you to go to your teacher and they can explain it.”

Abraham explained her professors have mentioned AI and they will be able to tell if students use it to write papers. 

“I think there are good things and bad things about AI. I think AI is really good in the medical field. I went to the dentist the other day they used an AI tool to find my cavity and it was like a lot faster and more efficient,” Abraham said. “So I definitely think it’s the future, but I also think that people are becoming more and more lazy because of AI. Which personally really annoys me.”

It’s difficult to speculate what the future will look like with AI as an integral part of our lives and education. McCoy mentioned he wished he could have a crystal ball to see what the future of college education looks like with AI. 

“In the end, we just do our best to share all of the information we gather with UARK faculty and students to make our community stronger,” Bryson said.