Artificial Intelligence: A Partner or a Foe? 😈🤝🤔💭

What’s up Joyers! It’s nice to have you again on this blog! 😊👋🤭

To start things off, I have a question for you. Do you know what AI (Artificial Intelligence) is? Have you used it in class?

With any answer you have, I believe that you are already familiar with this buzzword called “AI”. Based on the online Cambridge Dictionary (2023), Artificial Intelligence is a particular computer system or machine that has some of the qualities that the human brain has, such as the ability to interpret and produce language in a way that seems human, recognize or create images, solve problems, and learn from data supplied to it. Moreover, AI also usually has “machine learning” ability. It is the process of computers to improve their own ability to carry out tasks by analysing new data without needing human instruction or program (Online Cambridge Dictionary, 2023). Thus, we can say that AI is a very remarkable technology discovery, right?

Talking about AI, do you know what can be categorized as AI? We have numerous examples for this. For instance, ChatGPT, Google Maps, and Google Search. ChatGPT is an chat-based AI which uses natural language processing so that we can “talk” to it with our daily language and get answers which sound natural enough. Moreover, Google Maps is also an AI-based application since it can provide reliable arrival time prediction. Then, Google Search, one of our most frequently used app, is also an AI since it can renew its data and put the most frequently opened site to the first order in the search result list. Therefore, in my own words, AI can be defined as a system or machine which can ease and help humans’ work and can learn or adapt to fix its performance besides just working according to its predefined rules.

Moreover, based on the explanation of some AIs above, I generally think that AI is beneficial for human life so we can call it our partner because it can make our tasks to be done way easier and faster. AI also offers overflowing benefits too especially in our field, education. Say, ChatGPT as an example. It can help students to brainstorm and develop new ideas. It can also check the grammar of texts so the students can revise their work easily. Besides, ChatGPT can provide great assistance for teachers to do easy but redundant tasks such as by restructuring the sentences format or changing the tense of one or two words only from a paragraph.  

Nevertheless, with every convenience provided, I can’t deny that people sometimes misuse AI, including in the education field. One noticeable example of this is the AI misused which is done by students. For instance, there was student having an essay writing task, and she wanted to utilize AI to lighten her work. She asked ChatGPT to write based on the topic or brainstorm ideas for her, but she directly copied and pasted the writing work of ChatGPT. One more example, a university student asked ChatGPT to write a complete thesis for her, and she used it for her thesis defence exam.

In these two cases, students took advantage the sophisticated AI technology by writing the suitable prompt and they will get the work result that they want in a blink of an eye. The wrong part is when they just copy and paste the work of AI without proof reading it and put the words in their own sentences. In other words, they plagiarize.

Realizing it or not, these misuse cases of AI will make students to be lazy and make them think critically less. Just imagine students create all their essays and tasks by asking ChatGPT to write it for them. It will make them rely on AI’s ability, and they will neither learn anything nor train their thinking skills, right? Thus, in simple words, slowly but surely, AI can destroy human natural thinking ability, so, that’s why AI can be our foe too.

Then, what we need to do after knowing this ‘dark’ side of AI. Is it totally wrong to ask AI for help? 🤔

The answer is no. Using AI is right as long as we can use it responsibly. Being responsible in using AI should be our utmost priority now. But, how can we make sure that people use AI responsibly? The only answer is by educating people on how to use it responsibly and giving strict and clear rules on how AI should be used.

In the education context, we can hold a short student gathering event to talk about AI use. We can inform them the rules to use AI; for example, they must not copy and paste the exact reply from AI, say ChatGPT. Then, we can say that they may use AI for brainstorming and check their grammar only, so they will create the original writing by themselves, but they can use the information they get from AI. 

Then, in the end, do you think AI is a foe or a partner? Do you have more tips to make sure people or our students use AI properly? 😉😄

References: 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/artificial-intelligence

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/machine-learning?q=machine-learning.%2B